For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 22

JOHN PAUL

The sound of my phone chiming as a text message comes through breaks through the morning sleep haze. I glance at it quickly and see it's from Tobias.

*Tobias: Timo called. Mtg, my room—ASAP.

I hurry and take a shower, and get dressed quickly. As I'm putting on my clothes, I hear Joey groan over on his side of the room. "Damn, man, I didn't even drink as much as I usually do and still feel like shit." He says, sitting on his bed, holding his head.

I look over at him and relay the message from Tobias. He waves me off and falls back on the bed as I walk out of our room.

I decided to check on Charmaine first before heading to Tobias's room. After a few knocks, Annalisa finally answers the door in a robe, with a towel on her head and an annoyed expression plastered on her face.

I ask how Charmaine's doing, and she informs me she's still sleeping. She brushes me off and shuts the door in my face after asking if we should have someone check on her.

I know better than to push her when she's in a mood, so I turn down the hall and knock on Tobias' door. He answers the door quickly, looking agitated. "Where's Joey?"

"Taking a shower."

"Fucking chooch," Tobias mutters as he turns to walk towards the desk in his room. He sits on the chair with his elbows on his knees and runs his hands through his hair.

An unsettling feeling comes over me from the silence and the look he's giving me. "What is it?"

He runs his hand down his face. "Dominic and Shorty were taken last night, and it looks like Gio's behind it."

George "Shorty" De Carlo is another one of Timo's men. "We're not even sure they made it to the airport yesterday. But Timo's associate in Chicago called him late last night, knowing they were coming, and when they didn't show up, he notified Timo right away, and this morning Giovanni called Timo telling him, payback's a bitch."

"Should we leave? We should help find Dominic and Shorty," I'm trying to stay calm, but then my mind goes to Charmaine.

"No. Timo instructed us to stay here. Charmaine's safer here, for now." Tobias tells me. "He also said not to say anything to her yet..."

"Dammit, it never ends." I groan in frustration. "I don't know if I can continue lying to her, Tobias."

"You have to, JP. If you care about her, you will do as Timo instructs and wait." Tobias stands to look directly at me.

"So we just pretend everything's okay?" I ask him, irritated, as I start to pace the room.

He tells me we don't have a choice when we hear a knock, and Joey walks in, yawning, looking at our serious faces. "What'd I miss?"

Tobias sighs deeply then informs Joey about what has happened; then Tobias goes over the schedule today with work detail.

Joey says he needs to get coffee to wake up to focus on anything and heads to the kitchen.

"He needs to get his shit together if he wants to continue working for Timo," Tobias tells me.

Joey comes across as a careless goof-off, but he does take his work seriously when he's in work mode. He's been my friend for as long as I can remember, and I know he doesn't get credit when he deserves it. He's good at thinking outside the box and seeing things from all angles.

"I know he seems careless, but when it comes to working, he's legit."

Tobias snorts. "Sure."

I ignore his comment and focus on the work schedule. "Can I ask you something?" I turn to Tobias and see he's watching me already. He nods at me in response. "How do you balance this life, this work, you do...with your family?"