Page 105 of The Enforcer's Revenge

Dr. Acciai ended up following Carmen’s lead and used the lull in the storm to take a nap on a couch in the basement.

They turned off all televisions and were trying to keep the basement extra quiet with so many of them sleeping. Brianna should probably be trying for a nap, too. Instead, she kept staring at her phone, waiting for it to make a sound and give her some sort of indication that Tino was safe. A text. A call.Anything.

“Does glaring at it make it work better?” Carina asked from her seat next to Brianna. “Little woman, sitting by the phone, waiting for Prince Charming to show up and save the day.”

“Please shut up,” Brianna whispered because it seemed the Moretti way of dealing with stress was to bicker.

As though Brianna fell perfectly into her trap, Carina tilted her head and asked in a dangerous voice, “What did you just say to me?”

“I said, shut up. I’m sick of listening to you bitch about Tino, like you’re so much better than me because you can’t commit.” Brianna loved Carina, but she was officially sick of her. “Fuck you.”

“Okay, brave.” Carina let out a harsh laugh and had the gall to say, “Starting shit with me on purpose.”

Brianna just raised her hand, giving Carina the middle finger as she went back to looking at her phone.

“I do commit, by the way,” Carina growled. “Just because it’s not to theAll Mighty Ddoesn’t mean I’m not loyal. I give you shit because I care about you, Bri.”

Brianna rounded on her. “What is wrong with loving him? What is wrong with that?”

Carina looked back to Nova and held up her hands. “Thisis what’s wrong with it.” She pointed to Brianna’s phone with exaggeration. “That’s what’s wrong with it. He will always be running from something, and every time, you’ll be staring at a phone that won’t?—”

A shrill ring cut Carina off.

Brianna jumped up, recognizing the ring as Nova’s burner phone. Only she didn’t remember where the hell she left it. The sound echoed around the basement, making her breathing shallow in fear since burner phones always seemed to bring bad news.

By the time she got to the bedroom, Carmen was sitting up in bed and holding out the phone from where it had been left on the nightstand. Brianna grabbed it from her. Again, she didn’t recognize the number, but it was Brooklyn’s area code. She was certain it was Tino.

She answered quickly, “Hello?”

“Hey, baby,” Tino said quickly. “Can I talk to Nova? Is he up? I just saw your texts. Has he been watching the news about the fire?”

“We haven’t told him about the fire. He’s really confrontational when he’s awake. We gave him something to help him rest a couple of hours ago, and he’s finally sleeping.”

“Cazzo,” Tino groaned. “Is the Don there?”

“No, he left to the other house now that he’s sure Nova will be okay.”

“God, fuck, that means I have to call him there. Shit’s closing in. I’ve got teams on my ass. I’ll get there as fast as I can, but I don’t want to drag the heat with me. Assume you’re getting raided soon. I’m using my friend’s burner, but I don’t want to stay on long. Wake Nova up, turn on the news for him. He’ll know what to do.”

“How soon do you think an actual raid could happen?”

“It could be any minute,” Tino barked, sounding frantic enough to terrify her. “The Feds are staking out our hangouts like they’re after something.”

“I can’t just wake him up! It’s not that easy!” Brianna shouted back at him. “We’ll have to hide him instead.”

“You said he was okay!”

“He is okay, but he’s still recovering! What if he’s groggy in front of the investigators?”

“Make him some fucking coffee. Ask the doctor for something,” Tino said in grim warning. “He’s Nova, he can do it. I promise. Get him up right now.”

“But—” Brianna looked past the open door to Nova’s bed, where he was still passed out.

“I love you. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Tino said quickly and then added, “I’m sorry.”

Brianna nodded and whispered, “Okay.”

“See you soon.”