The Capozzi Family: Joey #1

Downtown, the lounge glows behind smoked glass and brass. Music thumps low. Tommy stands near the entrance with his phone up, eyes locked on a map pin that keeps blinking Rina's last known location inside.

Vicky takes in the velvet booths, the polished crowd, and Joey beside her. The contrast with the apartment still hangs on all of them.

Tommy angles the screen so Joey and Vicky can see it, highlighting a back hallway, a service door, and a private stairwell.

Across the room, a hostess in a black dress glances their way, then looks away fast. The crowd keeps drinking, oblivious. Rina's trail points straight through the lounge, and the hunt starts here.

Joey scans the room while they start down the lounge, and one face across the floor clicks into place. Rina is here, tucked near the mirrored bar, half-hidden by a passing server and a row of gold lamps.

She turns just enough for Joey to catch her profile, then reaches for her clutch like she is already thinking about leaving.

Vicky shifts with him, shoulders tightening as the three angle toward the back hallway without breaking pace.

The hostess by the front desk looks past them, then back to the bar, and Joey knows the trail is still warm, still invisible to Rina.

Joey lunges through the lounge traffic and hits Rina from the side, driving her clutch hand down before it can reach the exit. A nearby glass trembles as she stumbles into the banquette.

Tommy stops short behind them, phone still up, the map glow washing over his grim face as he catches the sudden movement.

Rina twists hard under Joey’s weight, but she is pinned in place before she can stand or slip away. Her eyes cut toward the hallway, then back to Joey, startled and cornered.

The lounge keeps moving around them, music and glasses and strangers all pretending not to see, while the back hallway stays open a few yards away and now points straight at the hunted woman.

Vicky shifts her weight closer, one hand hovering near Joey's shoulder, not touching, just anchoring the moment.

The lounge keeps humming around them, but the gap by the hallway feels narrower now, like the night is holding its breath.

Joey eases his weight down, keeping Rina trapped but giving her a sliver of space to breathe. The threat lands cleanly, and the room seems to tighten around it.

Vicky’s hand drops from hovering near Joey’s shoulder to her side, her posture shifting from alarm to focus. Tommy’s phone glows at the edge of frame, its map still open, as the hallway behind Rina hangs dark and waiting.

Rina goes still under Joey’s weight, then tips her chin toward the hallway like she has decided the math. She blurts the name and a downtown address, fast enough to sound rehearsed, and the word lands harder than the threat did.

Vicky’s shoulders ease a fraction, then lock again. Tommy’s phone swings closer in the edge of the room, the map already open to a tower blocks away, and a route line pops into view like he has been ready for this exact answer.

Joey gets more than the name. Rina slips and adds that Sal did not come alone, he came with a black case and a parking validation ticket from the hotel garage downstairs.

Joey eases up just enough to let the threat breathe. Rina’s eyes flick to the hallway, then back to him, and the color drains from her face.

Tommy glances up from his phone, the map still lit in his hand, while Vicky’s mouth twitches at the corner, not quite a smile.

Rina swallows and turns her head away from Joey, already measuring the banquette gap like it might still save her. The lounge noise keeps rolling around them, but her breathing goes thin and fast.