Page 147 of The Enforcer

Lorenzo was hoping for a scene.

For cops to be called.

In that one moment, it was obvious to everyone in that room that he would flip in a fucking heartbeat to save himself. The enforcers cursed behind Nova, but Nova still got to Lorenzo first, catching him two steps down the restaurant stairway.

Nova sensed the scream before it happened. He slammed Lorenzo’s head against the wall, but the fucking drywall gave way, leaving a huge dent. The restaurant was noisy downstairs, and it helped muffle Lorenzo’s shout. The drywall helped too, but Nova couldn’t risk it. He pushed him against the stairs and fisted his hair despite Lorenzo flailing.

Nova used his hold on Lorenzo’s hair to slam his head against the floor at the top of the stairs. The dull thud of flesh against marble echoed over the restaurant buzz from downstairs. No one upstairs was saying anything. They were barely breathing when Nova started slamming Lorenzo’s head against the marble over and over. The blood splattered on the walls, the pool of red growing bigger and dripping down the stairs, because it was about so much more than losing Tino now.

It was about losing him a long time ago.

It was about the fucking basement.

Not just the first time, but all the times after. Every fuckup Nova had made in the past four years had been taken out on Tino. Then to find out Mary had been using him too, punishing him for being named Moretti, when no one hated that name more than Tino.

It wasn’t until that exact moment that Nova had someone he could hurt in return. Before now the horrible echo of his father’s voice from the past had haunted him. Nova closed his eyes a thousand times over the past four years, remembering Frankie doubling Tino’s punishment when Nova tried to fight back.

And nearly killing Tino in the process.

No one was doubling it this time, or if they were, Nova was past giving a fuck. They’d already taken everything. So Nova had a Carina moment and beat his demons out of Lorenzo Campelli, slamming Lorenzo’s head against the marble so many times Nova’s hand started slipping through his hair from all the blood.

Finally it was Sergio who pointed out, “He’s…very dead, Moretti.”

Nova still had a lifetime of demons, so he thumped Lorenzo’s skull against the floor one last time and spit on him. He got to his feet, breathing hard, nearly busting his ass in his Versace shoes when he stepped around Lorenzo’s prone body into puddles of blood. Then, just because he was still raging and Carlo, his uncle, his friend, Nova’sonly friendexcept for his brothers, was on his way to probably kill Tino, Nova kicked Lorenzo violently enough that it forced his body over.

Several of the council members blanched at the gruesome sight, but Dante De Luca just looked at the body and said, “That’s why it’sour thing. Siciliani get the job done.”

Nova wiped his hands on his pants and used the sleeve of his jacket to brush his face off. He spit on Lorenzo’s dead body one more, because he didn’t want that motherfucker’s blood anywhere near his mouth.

Then Nova said, “There’s your bones, Brambino. Succhiacazzi.”

“Yeah, I feel better now,” Dante said when the rest of the commission was still silent. “I’ll ride with you, Moretti.”

“Fine,” Nova agreed. His heart was still thundering, and way in the back of his mind behind the throbbing fear over Tino, he realized he’d just killed a man in front of a dozen witnesses. Any one of whom could flip to the feds and send Nova to prison for life, but it was fucking done now, so he found his briefcase where he’d left it and brushed at his suit again. “You coming, Monte?”

Monte was still standing there, staring at Lorenzo’s dead body. He shook his head slowly and said, “I was gonna wrap things up here.”

“Whatever,” Nova said dismissively and started walking toward the stairs to the back entrance, knowing Monte didn’t want to be there if Tino ended up dead.

The same couldn’t be said for Dante De Luca. He followed after Nova, only stopping to call out, “Help them clean that up, Serg. It’s the least we can fucking do.”

“Yeah, sure, Zu,” Sergio agreed like it was nothing. “Call me.”

Dante waved at him, and together he and Nova walked out the back door toward Tino’s fate. They took the Moretti limo, and Dante was quiet as Nova used hand sanitizer to clean off his hands and then brushed his face against his suit sleeve again to get the last of Lorenzo Campelli off him.

“Who was the other picture?” Dante asked when Nova had resorted to staring out the window, trying to keep himself from breaking down in front of this mafia underboss who was a temporary ally for now, and the most dangerous of potential enemies the rest of the time.

“Don’t worry about it.” Nova continued to stare out the window as he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from losing it over Tino. “It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m worried about it. Who is it, Moretti?”

“I’m having a bad fucking day, De Luca,” Nova growled at him, his voice still shaking in fury as he turned back to glare at him. “Back off!”

“Yeah.” Dante looked to the ceiling thoughtfully and then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I had your back. I threw my weight behind an eighteen-year-old kid. I know you think you’re smart—”

Nova snorted and looked away at that.

“And you made a helluva first impression with the Lorenzo shit. Very old-school. Very Siciliano,” Dante went on as he stretched out in the seat across from Nova, making room for his long legs. “But you’re still green, and it’s obvious. Now, we can be friends, or I can turn into a real asshole. Your choice.”