Page 68 of The Enforcer's Revenge

The more Nova worked himself up, the more enamored it seemed she became. “Oh, bello. You have to know, if I’m not walking out of here with you, there’s a very good reason. You need to leave. Take Tino and go back to New York, where you’re safe. I know what a good partner he was to Lola once upon a time. My sister will never forgive me if I don’t look out for him—and you.”

Tino nearly blew their cover at the mention of Lola.

It felt like she’d stabbed him and turned the knife.

Nova looked ill, too. He considered Carmen for a second before he leaned up and reached into his pocket, pulling out his money roll.

“What are you doing?” Carmen choked as Nova slipped several hundred-dollar bills out of the fold and held them up. She glanced back to the bouncer and then whispered under her breath, “You’re not listening to me. They’ll make me go back with you. They’ll expect it. Fine for the ordinary, but that doesn’t always end well for pretty Siciliani with interesting last names. Get it? Just tell me here if it’s so important.”

“I’m done playing this game with you. Leave with us.” Nova was unflinching as he said it. “Right now.”

She shook her head, eyes wild with panic. “No. I can’t leave with two Morettis—especially you two. It would ruin everything. How many times do I have to tell you? You’re going to get hurt. I thought you were smart.”

“Listen to me,” Nova said in his Zu voice, low and commanding as he leaned into her, “on my mother’s grave, this is important, and what I have to tell you needs to be done in private. So, it’s either leave with me now, or we’re going into that room, and I don’t want that to happen. Not even a little. I am easily the most uncomfortable person in this situation.”

She couldn’t respond because the waitress showed up and looked between them curiously. “You want me to give it to the bar to book a room?”

Carmen’s breathing was harsh. She glanced behind her, looking to the bouncer. Then she reached up and touched Nova’s face again, caressing his cheek. Tino realized she was trying to decide if she should expose them, leave with them, or go in back with Nova to keep the secret of them being there without pissing off her Borgata.

“He watches, and he has had his eye on you from the moment you walked in.” She glanced down at his lap. “He doesn’t know who you are, but you look very pretty in those pants, like you’re just waiting to be taken advantage of. It’ll do it for him, I promise.”

“Please leave with us,” Nova begged, sounding anxious. “I’m not good at this.”

“I can’t leave with you.” Carmen grabbed the money out of Nova’s hand and handed it to the waitress as she said in English, “Give us the VIP room.”

“Sure.”

The waitress leaned into Tino and asked, “Does he want to buy her a drink?” because that was the game these clubs played.Nickels and dimes added up, too, and most strippers had quotas on the drinks.

Tino shrugged, feeling gutted for both of them. “I guess.”

He was the one who paid for the drink while Carmen and Nova slid out of the booth.

“Does he speak Italian?” Nova asked.

Carmen nodded. “Not like you, but he does pretty well.”

Nova grabbed her arm gently, holding her back, and asked,“¿Qué pasa con el español?”

“No.” Carmen looked stunned as the two of them started walking again. “Solo Italiano.”

Tino wasn’t sure if she was shocked he spoke Spanish, which really, she shouldn’t be. Or if she was surprised he sounded Dominican when he did it. Lola obviously didn’t mention that Nova could do that little trick when she told her sister about his memory.

Tino watched them stop at the bar.

Carmen picked up the drink Tino brought her before they headed into the back. The bouncer left the floor, too, as if the other girls didn’t matter. Tino glanced around, seeing another guy in the corner keeping an eye on things, making Tino think the first guy may be there to manage Carmen exclusively.

That was strange.

Exclusive muscle was expensive. Carmen was drop-dead gorgeous, but even still… Tino wasverynervous.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“Hey, sexy.”

Tino jumped when Heather slid into the booth next to him. He’d been paying attention to everything else, and getting caught off guard made him feel like he was slipping. Immediately, he thought about blow—that he didn’t have but wished he did.

“So, now that we got your brother busy, you wanna buy a girl a drink?”