For the Empire - Inganno

Chapter 37

JOHN PAUL

My Princess: *Hey John Paul, I hope you had a good trip. I wish we could have talked, but I know you were busy.*

*Maybe I'll see you when I get back if you're not too busy.*

I keep re-reading her text, not believing my horrible fucking luck.

From the tone of her message, it seems she thinks I didn't make time for her. Damn it.

I send her a quick text in response hoping she responds back.

I should have talked to her sooner; I just didn't think it was appropriate to have that type of talk over text or phone, in general.

"Did you hear me, bro?"

I turn to Joey, completely forgetting he was standing next to me. "Sorry, what?"

"I asked if you thought about my invite to come with me, to visit my sister?"

I hadn't given it any thought. But maybe some distance from everything might do me good and clear my head.

My mind was a jumbled mess the entire time I was in Chicago, and I hope Timo's associate doesn't mention anything to him about my lack of attention initially.

And now, with Charmaine gone, it will be good to get away and not obsess over what I did or didn't say.

"Yes. I'll go, as long as Timo doesn't need me."

We head to his office to brief Timo on the Chicago trip, and my dad said he had some other things to go over as well.

"Sweet. How was Chicago, by the way?"

"It was alright, man. I didn't get to do much other than going to the endless business meetings Timo had set up. But from what I could see, it's similar to New York but different in a lot of ways, too." I tell him as we make our way down the stairs.

"And the women?" He asks, grinning at me.

"I wasn't there for women, Joey." Joey laughs as we walk into the office.

Timo stands to shake my hand as I walk in. "John Paul, nice to have you back. How was Chicago?"

"Fine." I shrug. "Not much time to do anything outside of the meetings and business deals set up for the week," I say, sighing as I sit in the leather chair in front of him.

He asks me to brief him on the meeting notes and what was discussed. He nods, commenting here and there with the information I relay.

"Well, it sounds like it was a good week. Thank you for stepping in for me last minute." I nod in response.

"Now, there's information we wanted to go over in regards to the attack on Charmaine at the restaurant." I sit up, alert at the mention of her name.

"She mentioned to Tobias the gunman had given her a message from a Bobby Cardinale, a ruthless Don in Chicago. We were old friends and business associates years ago before there was a...falling out of sorts.

Do you remember before the trip to Atlantic City, I had asked you to go to Chicago, to meet with an associate of mine, to determine if the theory we had on Furia was credible?"

I nod my head again in response.

"It turns out we were right, and it's worse than we thought. Annalisa had her father, Federico De Luca, look into their friend Elena. She had suspicions about Elena and should have trusted her instincts sooner." He says, shaking his head.