25. Josephine

25

JOSEPHINE

T he way my entire body shakes at the thought of never seeing my son again is paralyzing. Fear engulfs every inch of me as I stare into the eyes of a woman who knows she fucked up.

"Play it again," I demand as we wait for the police to show up to the school.

The administrative secretary plays the morning security tape from the office where Duke stumbles inside, demanding his son.

"He had the proper identification," she begins.

I slam my hand on the desk, so hard the people in the office jump and flinch away. "LOOK AT HIM! He's so doped up, he can't even stand up straight. He was in the hospital last night after he broke into my house to do god knows what to me and Jett. You handed him over to him. You let that eight-year-old little boy just walk out of this school with a monster."

"He's the father listed, Miss Hansen. We're very sorry. We didn't know the circumstances."

"LOOK AT HIM!" I point at the monitor again. "You let my son get in a car and that fucker drive off in that condition? What kind of fucking guardians are you people?"

"He wasn't driving." One of the other staff speaks up. He approaches me with hesitation. "He, um, wasn't driving. There was a dark SUV with tinted windows. He and the boy got into the back seat."

My eyes sting from the tears falling as I desperately try to hold myself together. It's only when Luca darkens the doorway of the office that I feel a sense of peace. He's here to help. However, as the police arrive seconds after him, I know his hands are tied from how he likes to handle situations like this.

More and more, I'm okay with whatever has to be done to make sure Duke never bothers us again. Even if that means he disappears for the rest of our lives, or his.

Luca pulls me into his arms, breathing heavily as if he ran the entire way here.

"We're setting up an Amber Alert." One officer says.

The sound of my phone ringing pulls me out of Luca's embrace. It's Mojo.

I answer the call right away with everyone else falling into a silence. "Mojo, did you see Duke this morning? Do you know where he is? He took Jett."

I'm spitting out words and questions, but something's off in her tone. "Hey, JoJo Mojo, I need you to come make movies with me. If you don't it will cost ya like Dacosta."

She giggles and the call drops. I try desperately to get her back on the line, but nothing.

"What did she say?" Luca asks.

"She said I need to go make movies with her or it will cost me like Dacosta," I tell him.

Luca growls. "I'm going to kill them both."

"I'm sorry, Sir, what was that?" The officer asks from behind us.

"Nothing. We're going to step outside and get some air." Luca ushers me out of the door, shaking his head. "They're only going to make things worse."

"They just handed Jett over to him. If you saw the footage…" My eyes well with tears again, thinking about how scared Jett must be. "They just gave him away to that monster."

"We're going to get him back, Jo. I swear. I'm pretty sure Vito will have them at Trips since Monique mentioned making a movie with you. I'm going to get Agent Shaw to meet us there, and hopefully she can get some back up." His calmness doesn't sit well with me.

"Wasn't she just holding Sonny and Gina hostage or something?"

"It was a misunderstanding of sorts, but I helped her see things differently. Now we have a common enemy, we can use this to our advantage."

I shake my head. "I don't want Jett to get hurt."

"I don't either, but we need to leverage Agent Shaw's behavior and use the power of federal agents to help us get him back. Once that happens, I can be the guy Agent Shaw believes I am." Luca gazes down at me with a mixture of danger and sorrow in his eyes. "I'm going to do some things that will leave me in a state like last night, Jo. If that's too much, once we get Jett back, I'll understand if you walk away."

"I'm not going anywhere, Luca." I reach up, cupping the side of his face, assuring him the man he needs to be is the man I want. He's the man that will go through hell and high water to save me, to save Jett. How could I ever walk away from that?

"Good. Stay here with these guys. Make sure they have copies of that restraining order and you get copies of that security footage. Anyone who releases a child to someone in an inebriated state needs to be sued. At best, they're inept, and at worst? They're culpable, helping a delusional father kidnap his child. I'm going to coordinate with Sonny and some of Don Marzano's guys for after we get Agent Shaw to help us with Jett and Mojo."

Luca gives me a kiss of assurance before walking back to a car where someone else is driving. The security guard, Steve, is standing by Luca's Land Rover. As Luca drives away, my phone rings again.

"Mojo?" I ask anxiously.

"No, no, my sweet Josephine." It kind of sounds like Vito, but I can barely hear him. "You come alone and you get your boy. Tell the police you need to go home and grab some things for the search dogs and then you get your ass down to Trips . If I see anyone but you, I'll make sure your cute friend, Monique here, stars in my next project. It's a slasher flick and believe me, she'll be doing her own stunts. Oh, and if you take too long, I'll make sure this bitch's next feature is a snuff film."

The call ends and I approach Steve, wondering how I can ditch him or even if I should. I'd be stupid to go there alone. It wouldn't be the first reckless decision I've made over the past few days, and I'm sure it wouldn't be the last. But I don't want things to get any worse.

"Whatever you're thinking, call Mr. Devlin, ma'am." Steve nods his head toward the phone in my hand.

"I can't. Luca's going to kill everything moving in that place."

Steve offers me a slightly raised brow of nonchalance. "And if he does? I'm sure he's not going to let your people get hurt. He'll get them out. That's what he does. The only way you're going to get me away from you is if you knock me out."

I take a step back, my eyes taking the guy in from head to toe. He's about 6'2 and a solid two hundred and fifty pounds. There's no way I can knock him out without some sort of drug or weapon. He makes sense. I want him with me, but all I hear are Vito's words echoing through my mind.

"Okay," I tell Steve. "I'm going to go inside to tell the police I need to grab some clothes for the dogs to sniff once they get here. Then we can go to Trips together."

I make my way inside the school where the staff moves out of my way like I'm the grim reaper. They should be scared of me. If Jett gets hurt, they're going to have hell of a lawsuit on their hands. I pull an officer to the side and tell them. "I'm not sure about this, but the guy standing by my car outside? I think he may be working with my child's father to keep me distracted while he takes Jett out of the state."

The officer signals to another as I continue to spew lies about poor Steve. "You need to check his phone and he won't let me leave. I have to get back to the house to get the stuff for the search and rescue people. Please just keep him here."

"Don't worry, Ma'am. We'll have an officer run you to your house." The officer replies as they both walk out of the school with their hands hovering above their weapons. Once they draw them to arrest Steve, I hop into the driver's seat of the SUV and take off toward Trips .

My heart thumps loudly in my ears, drowning out the incessant ringing of my phone. I'm not taking any calls from anyone who can't help. It doesn't take long to get out there and I nearly forget to shut the car off. I throw the gear into park to run inside where the result of Luca's handiwork stares me in the face.

"You see what that guy did to me?" Vito slurs from a mouth that's puffy from a cracked lip and what looks to be a broken jaw. There's a large bandage wrapping around Vito's head like a mummy.

I hear shuffling from off in the distance. Three stages split like a fork are empty of pole dancers. The tables don't have any patrons seated at them waiting for the next performance. The bar is empty except for one guy on a stool. When he spins around, I'm ready to throw something at him.

"Where is he, Duke? Where's my son? Where is Jett?" I demand.

" My son is perfectly safe from the likes of you. Look at all the trouble you've caused," Duke snarls and turns to Vito. "I kept my word. I got her here, no Luca, no police. We can leave now, right?"

"No. I've changed my mind. You and the boy will stay to see the show. I want Luca to see the devastation that comes from his actions. The fallout will be marvelous. Bring her backstage to get ready. When Luca shows up for her, I want him to be too late … again."