“It’s complicated,” says Joey. “It’s so—it’s so complicated, Tonia, and I am so sorry. I never should have hired him. I take the blame for everything.” What Joey wants, what he always wants, is to spare his family any pain. To take charge, to solve the problem, to be the dumping ground for everyone else’s fear and anger for as long as it takes them to heal. He cannot believe he has found himself in this situation again: someone Joey loves is going to die. It is the only way Joey can protect his family. And it is Joey’s fault.

“Uncle Joey, there is no time for sorry,” says Antonia, urgency in the way she leans forward toward Joey as though she might take off. “We have to stop him, we have to help Sofia!”

“This is how we will help Sofia,” says Joey sadly. “This is how it works.”

Joey cannot know how tired Antonia is of being told how things work. So he is surprised when she flies at him, screaming. “There is no how it works! You decided! You decided how it works when my father died! You decided how it works when you hired Saul, when you promoted him, when you gave Sofia a job she loves more than her own—” And then Antonia stops, abruptly, because she can see that Julia and Robbie have crept up behind Joey and are hovering in the shadowed hallway, listening. Hearing everything. Learning how it works. Antonia controls herself with a great effort. “We are going to save Saul, and Sofia. We are going to fix this. You are going to tell us where he is. That will be how it works.”

Joey looks down at Antonia and feels a great surge of love. Antonia is so sure of herself he almost believes she can do it. All of his power will not prevent her from trying.

“Where are they?” Antonia asks again. Her voice is calm now.

But it is not Joey who speaks. It is Rosa. “The Fianzo dock building,” Rosa says. “You know where it is?”

“Of course I do,” says Antonia, who has never been there, but who of course knows where it is. “I’ve been doing this my whole life.”