Page 28 of The Enforcer’s Revenge (Untamed Hearts #4)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
T ino nearly drowned himself in the shower.
Then he dragged his zio to the bathroom and got him clean too, which was no easy task.
Tino encountered a lot of horrific shit in a very short period of time, but dealing with Carlo collapsing naked in the shower, sobbing and cursing him out in Italian for washing the last of Lola off him, was easily the worst of it.
Tino had just gotten Carlo into bed when the girls came back into the room.
Carina’s hair was still wet, and she held one of the expensive crystal tumblers from the Don’s study.
The dark amber liquid glimmered under the lights in the bedroom.
Carlo gave them shit about drinking it, but after he did, he passed out cold.
Tino was one hundred percent certain there was more than booze in that cup. He was just about to ask Carina to make him a drink like that and fuck his promises when Nova texted him to meet in the kitchen.
It figured.
He rolled out of bed, leaving a snoring Carlo to be watched by Carina and Brianna, who were sitting together on the couch, doing nothing and saying even less. They weren’t even on their phones. Carina just rested her head on Brianna’s shoulder, as if making conversation was too painful.
“I love you,” Tino whispered against Brianna’s lips when he kissed her. “I’ll be back.”
Brianna caressed his cheek rather than say anything, rubbing her thumb over the stubble there. Carina squeezed his hand before he could walk away, like she was scared to let him go, but she did anyway.
It was late now.
Most of the families crammed into the house had gone to bed, but there were still soldiers mulling around. Tino found Romeo and Nova sitting alone in the kitchen in front of the large, open bay windows facing the darkened grounds behind the Don’s mansion.
The first thought Tino had was an insane worry that anyone could shoot either of them through the glass. He felt like everyone and everything he loved in this world could be yanked from him at any moment.
Crashing off the blow probably wasn’t helping his problem.
Tino walked fully into the kitchen, shirtless and wearing only the basketball shorts he had borrowed from Carlo. He immediately went for the pot of coffee because he needed it desperately.
“How’s your uncle?” Romeo asked.
“His girlfriend was murdered,” Tino reminded Romeo as he poured himself a cup. “So not that great.”
They were all quiet while Tino put cream and sugar in his coffee.
Then Romeo said, “I’m sorry about Lola. I know she was your friend. The world lost her too young. It’s too unfair to process.”
It wasn’t hard for Tino to process.
He’d been dealing with horrifically unfair shit most of his life, but all he said was, “Yeah,” as he sat down next to his oldest brother. Then, he leaned over and hugged Romeo tightly on reflex because Tino knew how precarious this life was. “Ti voglio bene .”
“I love you too.” Romeo kissed his forehead with brotherly affection. “What can I do? Tell me.”
“I called Lola’s sister,” Nova confessed to the two of them. “What I told Carlo was bullshit. She was deep in the network, but I did find her number. Old-school landline, just like Carlo.”
“And?” Tino asked because he knew if Nova lied to Carlo, there must be a reason.
“I talked to her roommate. She said Carmen was at work.”
Tino frowned. “So?”
“At Club Starlight.” Nova looked at Tino, his gaze hard, his voice tight as he said, “It’s a strip club.”
“And you have an issue with that?” Romeo looked between the two of them, clearly insulted because he worked as a stripper after their mother died. “You two would’ve starved if it wasn’t for stripping. She’s probably got bills to pay.”
“Yeah, probably.” Nova met Tino’s gaze again and then looked at his phone on the kitchen counter.
He turned it on its side like he needed something to do with his hands.
“Just thought Tino should know before he agrees to go with me.” He glanced back at Tino once more.
“Or I could bring Rome, and you could stay here with the girls, keep an eye on Carlo and the old man once I spring him from lock-up. The lawyers are still waiting for the all-clear to post bond. It’ll probably be past midnight. ”
“I vote for keeping him in lock-up,” Romeo said under his breath.
“ Stai zitto,” Nova hissed at him and looked over his shoulder in obvious paranoia. Even though they had been speaking Italian and very few Morettis were fluent, a lot of the guys in the Borgata understood some of it. “You’re in his house right now. You have to show respect here. Always.”
“Yeah, like the Pope,” Tino offered helpfully.
Only he was bitter as fuck this evening, and it must have shown enough that Nova sent him a dirty glare, too.
“I’m just giving him a visual.” Tino rolled his eyes. “So, he better understand the level of reverence required.”
“He’s not my fucking Pope,” Romeo reminded both of them. Speaking Italian was clearly about as far as he was willing to go to keep his feelings to himself.
Nova looked like he was going to drop dead from a heart attack.
Tino had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Sometimes, Romeo’s epic level of ‘I don’t give a fuck’ when it came to Cosa Nostra was very refreshing and rejuvenating for Tino.
Maybe, if he hung around Romeo long enough, it’d rub off.
As it was, he reached over and squeezed Romeo’s thick bicep as he said in English, “The friggin’ stugots on him, though. Come on, Casanova, you gotta admire that a little.”
Nova shook his head, looking disgusted with both of them, and switched to English, too. “I’ll just take Rome. It’ll get him outta this house, and you won’t have to deal with whatever the hell’s going on in Tampa.”
“ That’s what you’re going to protect Tino from? A strip club?” Romeo snorted in disbelief. “You need out, Casanova. Quickly. I love you, but this needs to be your wake-up call.”
“Yeah, I hear you,” Nova said rather than argue it. He knocked his phone against the table lightly, avoiding eye contact. “And the anger’s more justified than you think.”
This was the closest they came to just outing themselves to Romeo. It was like all their protective barriers had been ripped down, and that scared Tino a little. Not for him so much because he was long past giving a fuck.
Tino and Nova had years to get over the great rifts Cosa Nostra forced in their relationship. They couldn’t just throw it on Romeo all at once because they were in the middle of a crisis. It would only make things worse.
And Tino didn’t trust Nova not to crack right now.
“I’ll go,” Tino decided for all of them. “I promised Carlo I’d go.”
Nova might need an enforcer with him instead of a brother if they were busting Carmen out of an underground Brambino sex ring in Tampa, Florida, of all the fucking places.
And it made sense.
Tampa was one of the few cold spots the rest of Cosa Nostra went out of their way to stay away from because of the brewing De Luca civil war.
It was a good city for the Brambinos to get back into the business if they were willing to risk everything by clashing with the De Lucas, which was scary.
The ones with nothing to lose were always the worst targets, and if their Borgata had somehow managed to manipulate Carmen Brambino to work for them again—they were definitely fuck-crazy desperate.
Unless she was in on it.
It was anyone’s guess, especially since Carlo clearly hadn’t made a great case for the Morettis.
Lola was dead now.
Tino couldn’t pretend he hadn’t heard things about her sister anymore.
’Cause he had.
They all did.
Carmen Brambino was one of those people everyone liked to talk about. He wasn’t sure what parts were true, but some of it had to be.
She created a lot of intrigue among the other Lost Girls and Boys. There were whispers everywhere about her tendency to dabble in magic and rumors about sponsors dying. Tino never got to know her because Lola always kept her life separate from work like Tino had.
But he heard about it.
And he saw how it affected her sister, who worked so fucking hard to protect her.
Tino just assumed the magic thing was part of her game, being dangerous and mystical.
It was a very sexy narrative. It worked like a motherfucker, especially to men of Cosa Nostra, who typically leaned into the forbidden just to prove they could, but he never bought into it.
Tino knew how easy it was to make people believe things that weren’t true, and he couldn’t think of a better protection mechanism than scaring people to death with witchcraft.
Even Carlo believed it, and Tino had seen gangsters start sobbing when they spotted Carlo walking into their place of business.
He was easily one of the most intimidating men on the planet, and he was terrified of Lola’s sister.
Well played, Carmen.
Her game was clearly top-tier, and that, more than any rumors of witchcraft, made him nervous.
“I’m going,” Tino repeated, knowing full well what a Brambino woman with an agenda was capable of. “I’m definitely going.”