Page 123 of The Enforcer

“We can wait a few weeks to tell the commission,” Lorenzo said darkly. “I don’t recognize this kid. Do you recognize him?”

Lorenzo was one of the Savios’ top capos. He got the spot thanks to his mother, and Tino knew it because Rosie talked about it sometimes, even though Tino had zero interest in the Savios’ hierarchy. Nephew to their don, Lorenzo was one of those entitled suburban gangsters Nova hated. He had power without bleeding for it, but that didn’t make the Savios unique.

Lorenzo glared at the other guys in his crew, daring them to acknowledge Tino.

“Nah, we don’t know him,” one decided, and the others all seemed to grunt in agreement like good button men were supposed to do. “Never seen him in my life.”

Tino closed his eyes, knowing right then he wasn’t going to end up with his brains blown out on the carpet like Rosie. It was never that fucking easy.

Never.

* * * *

“Why do I need to know this shit?” Carina sounded frustrated and whiny. “Who gives a fuck when the Alamo happened?”

“I give a fuck,” Brianna said as she looked up from her book. “If we forget history, we repeat it.”

Carina gave her an annoyed look. “Geek.”

“Probably.” Brianna sighed and went back to taking notes for their test tomorrow. “I wonder if Tino’s studied.”

“Yeah, right,” Carina said dismissively. “He’s failing this class almost as badly as I am. I doubt that’s changed in a week.”

Brianna realized right after the fight that so much of her life was tangled with Tino’s. Usually they’d be cramming for this test with him. He’d be agreeing with Carina over history being useless, but Brianna would make them keep studying, and they would get good enough grades to pass like they did every year.

“If he doesn’t study, he’ll fail.Actually fail,” she added, because even though Carina said she was failing, Brianna knew she was passing the class. Barely. “Jasmine said he could get a scholarship, but if he doesn’t study—”

“He dropped out of dance.”

“I’ve been thinking about that.” Brianna closed her book, because this seemed so much more important than a history test. “He can’t ruin his life just for a fight with me. You should talk him into coming back to dance. Jasmine helps us get into some of the best performance colleges. He could get a scholarship. Jasmine said he has a real chance. He could actuallydosomething, Carina.”

“He hurt you,” Carina reminded her.

Brianna couldn’t hide the way hearing it stole her breath, but she fought down the urge to cry because she’d been crying for a week, and there came a time when she was done.

“Yes, he did.” Brianna took another hard breath. “But I don’t want him to ruin his life because of it.”

“You’re nicer than me,” Carina said with a roll of her eyes.

“That’s a given,” Brianna couldn’t help but point out. “And everyone knows it.”

Carina laughed, but then a knock had her looking toward the door. Another knock, and they both turned to the window. For one crazy, insane moment, Brianna’s heart soared. Tino knocked on the window like that because he didn’t like going through the house to see Carina.

Then just as quickly, Brianna was mad at herself for missing him as much as she did. She squinted into the darkness, seeing Nova there instead of Tino, and disappointment settled down to the dull ache that had been her constant companion since the fight.

Carina rolled off the bed and pushed open the window. “What?”

“Do you know where Tino is?” Nova asked.

“He could be rotting in hell for all I care.” Carina shrugged. “And you can tell him I said that.”

“No, I can’t, princess,” Nova snapped at her. “’Cause he’s not home. Are you sure you don’t know where he could be?”

“He’s probably off fucking his rave girlfriends.” Carina tugged the window down, but Nova caught it before she could close it, and Carina huffed in annoyance. “What?”

“His phone’s off. If he calls you—”

“He won’t,” Carina assured him. “I haven’t talked to him in over a week.”