Page 70 of The Enforcer's Revenge

“I can’t,” Nova choked. “I’m so sorry.”

Carmen just stared at him, light eyes wide and horrified, her breathing harsh and labored as she silently shook her head. “No.”

Nova swallowed hard and held up his hands, looking sick as tears rolled down his cheeks.

“This isn’t fair.” Carmen wasn’t crying; she was frantic instead, as if she truly believed Nova somehow had the ability to roll back time. “It’s not fair to her. I’ll take care of you, just?—”

Nova leaned down and picked her up, then he gave up on their cover and started speaking English, too. “Come on,bella. Let’s get outta here.”

Carmen curled into him instead of shoving him away. She wrapped her arms around his neck as Nova stood with her. Even if she was on a gangster diet, she did it anyway.

There was a lit exit sign at the end of the hallway, and Tino gestured at it with his gun. Then he pushed past Nova and shoved at the bar to open the back exit. A siren blared, but Tino simply kicked the door open wider.

From behind them, someone shouted, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Tino let Nova take Carmen and turned around as he stepped into the parking lot with his gun level at the door.

Carmen’s bouncer had his gun out too, and Tino warned, “Watch out, pal. My trigger finger’s twitchy tonight.”

“She’s protected!” the bouncer growled. “Tell your guy to bring her back right now, or this night is gonna end badly for both of you!”

A second bouncer showed up, and both of them stepped out into the parking lot with Tino as the new arrival said, “You can’t just take off with one of our girls, bro, especially not that one. Do you know who she is? They will destroy you, your entire family, and anyone who even remotely likes you.”

Just because two guns made Tino nervous, he decided to even the odds and clip the second bouncer. He aimed at the gun but got him in the hand instead.

The guy shouted and crumpled. There was more blood than Tino planned on, and he realized they needed to get lost—quickly.

This whole situation was getting less awesome by the second.

Tino kept backing up, sparing one quick glance at the rear lot, silently thanking his intuition about parking the Bentley out back. He was the one with the keys, so he was forced to awkwardly reach into his pocket with his left hand. He pushed the button to unlock it and then heard Nova jerk the door open a moment later.

Carmen’s bouncer was following him, step by step, the two of them doing a slow, dangerous dance toward the car. Tino didn’t want to bring him closer to Carmen and Nova, but he also didn’t want to go to prison for murder after shooting this asshole in the parking lot where anyone could see.

The guy with the bleeding hand was bad enough.

Tino felt like the bouncer was getting too close to the Bentley, so he stopped walking. He was trying to figure out how he wasgoing to get into the car and leave without more blood on the pavement when a new problem showed up.

“Think you’re tough with that 9mm?” Nova shouted from behind Tino in a voice shaking with fury. His footsteps were stomping and heavy on the asphalt like he suddenly became bigger, more powerful, and a whole lot meaner. “Think it makes you a fucking boss now?”

“Yeah, I think I’m a boss.” The guy had the balls to laugh. “What the fuck are you gonna do about it?”

Did that stronzo just dare Nova to do something about it?

Nova was a full-blooded Siciliano gangster in his prime.

A made man.

And a motherfucking Zu.

Tino couldn’t believe it, but he decided right then that the white pants were a bad idea.

This was one of those rules of society Carlo always talked about.

The world needed Nova in a suit, with clear, uncrossable lines of respect and power that scared dumb button men into staying very quiet, especially when the Zu was having a really bad week.

“Hey!” Tino shouted because he didn’t dare say Nova’s name and growled in Italian,“Get in the car!”

Tino reached out blindly, trying to catch his arm, but Nova slipped through his grasp as he stormed at the bouncer like a man with a death wish. Tino’s heartbeat was thundering in his ears with fear, and he decided to play his last card.