Page 76 of The Enforcer's Revenge

He even began channeling his anger into that Tino, giving him a stockpile of cash and supplies to use in case he needed to take it all down just to be a motherfucker.

Tino pinned all his rage on that guy, setting it in nice, neat corners across the city so he could manage the rest of his life.

And Tino knew for fucking certain that if he had safe houses full of guns and cash, Nova must have a secret empire designed to nuke the entire existence of Cosa Nostra off the map because the bullshit never stopped.

It only got worse and worse until they were all ticking time bombs. Any one of them—at any time—could start trying to hurt back instead of just surviving. They had the tools and the skill sets. All they required was the motivation, and it didn’t take much.

Nova just proved that.

Tino needed to give Carmen a reason to stay good so desperately that he bet his brother on it.

He got behind the wheel without another word and pulled out of the mangrove enclave by the water, praying the whole time he didn’t accidentally unleash his own monster by trying to save Carmen from hers.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

Dyker Heights, New York

July 6th, 2010

Early Morning

Brianna was bone tired, emotionally and physically, to the point that she wasn’t sure what was fully real anymore.

They hadn’t slept much the night before; the two of them were stuck on the pull-out mattress from the couch in Carlo’s room. Carina had tossed and turned next to her, and when Carina did fall asleep, she would jerk awake a few minutes later. It happened at least five times, and every time, Brianna would hug her, noticing that Carina was covered in sweat and shaking. The dreams were that bad, but Brianna didn’t ask Carina what she saw on the other side of the door with Carlo.

For the first time since they were young children, they barely spoke. They finally found something they couldn’t discuss as best friends, openly, without rules, and they had been through a lot of shit together up until that point. Maybe one day, but right then, it was still too new and horrible to put a voice to.

So, Brianna spent most of the night staring at the ceiling and wishing she was in bed with Tino instead of Carina.

At least Carlo slept.

Hard.

Brianna was a little worried that Carina was too generous with the extra ingredients in his drink, since they were the official Carlo babysitters.

“Don’t leave Carlo alone,”Nova reminded Brianna and Carina before he and Tino took off to find Lola’s sister and bring her home. “Keep him in this house until we get back. Promise me, princess.”

Nova said it like he didn’t trust anyone else in the sea of people packed into the Don’s mansion. Carina was the only one. Even though Nova managed to get the Don out on bond an hour earlier, he was looking to his sister instead.

“I promise,” Carina said solemnly. “We’ll distract him. I know Nonno has enough to deal with.”

Nova let out a sigh of relief, like having one less thing on his shoulders helped him breathe a little easier. “Grazie.”

So,they kept Carlo company, even though neither of them had much sleep. On the outside, it wasn’t a hard job. It consisted mainly of Carina watching a lot of soap operas and B movies in Carlo’s room and Carlo staring out the window for hours on end after he woke up early, like Carina never drugged him to begin with.

He wasn’t crying like he had when he found Lola.

He wasn’t raging like he had with the medical examiner.

Carlo was just sitting there.

It started raining shortly after the sun rose, and it hadn’t stopped. For hours, the rain fell, taming the hot July weather,and the whole time, Carlo sat at the table by his window, staring at the rain until dark.

He was fully dressed in jeans and a t-shirt.

He even had boots on, but he wasn’t moving.

He wasn’t talking.