Page 83 of The Enforcer's Revenge

The two doctors started talking about Nova’s vitals as they quickly tried to assess him. Brianna realized Nova passed out the second Carmen crawled off him, as though she had been holding him together by sheer strength of will until they pulled into this garage.

“How much has he had to drink?” the Don asked, looking pale with fear as he glanced from Tino to the bloody horror show in the car.

“A lot.” Tino leaned against the open door to the back seat while he watched the doctors help Nova. “He passed out a few times before.”

“But he always wakes up,” Carmen added.

“Let’s get him downstairs. Quickly.” Dr. Acciai still sounded a little too frantic for comfort. He crawled out of the back seat and looked at the Don. “Honestly, I’d really like to take him in, Don. I don’t want to do this one in the basement. Maybe we should just have Tino drive him to the hospital and deal with the fallout. His pulse is pretty steady. He’ll survive a few more minutes in the car, and I can meet them there.”

The Don looked at Tino, and the two of them shared some sort of private exchange. The look on Tino’s face was anguished, his breathing harsh and shallow in obvious fear. Then Tino shook his head slightly, and the Don groaned before he turned back to Dr. Acciai. “See what you can do downstairs, but that’s my right-hand man you got there, Doc. I need him to be alright.”

“Okay.” Dr. Acciai sighed. “Let’s move.”

“I gotta stay with him. You gotta let me go down with him, Dr. Acciai,” Tino cut in, his voice shaking. “I can do something. Help with something, or?—”

“Youcando something,” Dr. Acciai said without hesitating. “Help us get him on the stretcher.”

It took Tino and the Don working together to help the doctors get Nova on the stretcher because Nova Moretti was a lot of dead weight. Brianna thought she heard Nova grunt in pain a few times, and Tino was talking to him in whispered Italian, but for the most part, Nova wasn’t super responsive.

Carmen was physically shivering, and Brianna got the impression it was taking a lot to sit there and just watch. Whenthey opened the wood panel that hid the secret elevator in the garage, Dr. Acciai stopped Tino from going down with them.

“Go clean up,” Dr. Acciai said in the kind but firm voice of a man who had cared for Tino at his lowest points since he was twelve. “Let us take care of him. I promise you’ll get to see him as soon as possible.”

The Don stepped around Tino, getting on the elevator with Nova and the two doctors.

“Why does he get to go? He’smybrother!” Tino’s voice shook. “Just let me sit in the corner so he knows I’m there. He doesn’t like being outta control, and?—”

“I have to go,” Dr. Acciai said rather than argue. “Take a shower, Tino.”

“I’ve got his back, Chief.” The Don hit Tino’s shoulder. “You did good.”

Tino was still shaking, and Brianna knew he was about to say something that the Don may not forgive, but Carina came up behind Tino and wrapped her arms around his waist. She rested her forehead against his back, and something about it must have communicated enough to keep Tino quiet.

“Okay, I’ll take a shower.” Tino seemed to be choking on every word as he put his hands on either side of the elevator door. “Then, I’m coming down there.”

The elevator closed before anyone could respond, but Tino stood there, clutching the sides, staring at the shiny metal. Carina held onto him, like she was afraid he’d do something drastic if she let go.

“He’ll be okay,” Carina promised. “Nonno will make sure of it.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Tino kept staring at the closed door. “So, he can keep making bank off him once he heals ’cause that’s all your nonno cares about.Right-hand man,” he repeated with a snort and then shook his head. “Coglione.”

Carina poked his back. “You can’t say that. He’s the Don, Tino.”

“I can say whatever the fuck I want.” Tino said it like he was daring her to argue. “He’s not my Don. He’s never been my Don.”

“Nonno loves Nova,” Carina whispered. “He loves you too.”

“You need a shower,” Brianna reminded him before Tino could argue with Carina about it. “Dr. Acciai wasn’t wrong about that.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Brianna helped Tino with his shower while Carina took care of Carmen. Tino was obviously so shaken up about not being allowed to follow Nova that he didn’t think it was odd when Brianna led him to the large bathroom in Carina’s suite instead of going to Carlo’s room, where he’d been staying before.

In fact, Tino wasn’t saying much of anything. He just stood there, wavering on his feet while Brianna scrubbed at his skin, trying to erase the nightmare of the last eighteen hours.

“Can you tell me what happened?” Brianna finally asked, knowing Tino’s protective walls were about as low as they were going to get.

He shook his head. “No.”