Page 132 of The Enforcer

“I have an interesting last name.” Lola shrugged. “Maybe it’s exciting. Maybe it’s a power trip. I don’t know why it’s appealing to sleep with a mafia daughter, but it is, and my father understands that. There are others, children of particularly talented or beautiful slaves who were raised to do what we do. I’ve met a few of them.” She looked to Carina. “You have other cousins.”

“Lola,” Carlo whispered, and Brianna turned to see him physically pale.

“Anyway.” Lola looked back to Nova, deliberately ignoring Carlo. “Your brother also has an interesting last name. It made him valuable, but when I met him, they were trying to decide what to do with him. Obviously, men were the likely choice, except—”

“Tino doesn’t like men,” Brianna said to the entire table.

“No, not at all. He wasn’t going to be able to pretend it was his thing,” Lola assured them. “He was older. It’s not like he was raised to be accustomed to it like others. Plus, he’d never been with a man, but he was fairly adept with women. So they thought maybe, with the right partner, they could make him valuable to a different type of client.”

“I need more information.” Nova waved his hand back. “You said he was older. How old—”

Lola shrugged, clearly thinking back. “Maybe fourteen.”

“That’s older?” Carlo asked her incredulously.

Lola nodded. “It is.”

Carlo glanced away, his face still pale like he might be sick.

“Tino had been with his benefactor for a while. She was pleased with him, but—”

“She—” Carina said with a glare. “I thought you said my Zio Carmine did this.”

Lola just stared at her but didn’t say anything.

Nova looked at his sister too. Then he said, “Maybe you should leave, Carina.”

That stunned the entire table, because they’d never actually heard Nova acknowledge his sister by using her name. It was always some sort of jab, but he sounded so earnest all of a sudden… Like hecared.

“Did you know?” Carlo asked Nova in disbelief. “You’ve known the whole time we’ve been sitting here?”

“It’s the only gap of time we can’t account for,” Nova whispered, his gaze still on Carina. “He’s always doing errands for her. Mowing lawns. Shoveling driveways. And I told him to do it. I literally whored him out.” Nova’s voice cracked when he said it. “Because it was easier than pissing her off.”

“Are you saying it’s my ma?” Carina asked all of them and then turned on Lola. “Is it my ma?”

Lola was silent, looking back to Nova hesitantly.

“You said his benefactor was happy with him,” Carina went on, her voice shaking in fury. “Are you saying that my ma—” She pointed to the door. “With Tino?”

“Carina—” Nova started.

“It means your brother loves you very much,” Lola said before Nova could go on. “Youalsohave a very interesting last name, Carina.”

“What does that mean?” Carina shouted. “What are you saying to me?”

“Your mother’s very angry at the Morettis,” Lola went on, remarkably poised under the circumstances. “Some of us were made for money. Some of us were made for revenge,” she whispered sadly. “Brambinos don’t make babies for nothing, Carina, but lucky for you—”

“A different Moretti showed up.” Nova choked as he said it. “Why didn’t she pick me?”

Lola tilted her head and looked at Nova. “You’re very handsome, but—”

“You’re not Tino,” Brianna interjected as she wiped at the tears on her cheeks. “Tino’s—”

“He’s beautiful,” Lola said with the first radiant smile they’d seen from her, and it made it obvious why she lived on the Upper East Side. “And he’s kind when he’s supposed to be kind, and he’s strong when he’s supposed to be strong. He’s the only slave I’ve ever met with lines of women wanting to be with him.”

“No men?” Nova asked, like it was something that had been weighing on him. “They didn’t force him?”

“No.” Lola shook her head. “Not yet. Eventually we all end up where we don’t want to be. We lose our value, but right now, he’s unique. It’s not the easiest thing to sell to women, but sometimes someone special shows up. Someone handsome. And talented. And strong, with the right last name that gives the right kind of thrill. And there are certain women who don’t have the luxury of cheating on their husbands. They can’t afford an emotional entanglement showing up, but someone paid works well. It makes what Tino does very dangerous, but he earns Mary a lot of money, and I guess that was a risk she was willing to take.”