Page 47 of The Enforcer’s Revenge (Untamed Hearts #4)
Tino shrugged, realizing right then that he’d already done it.
He was siding with Tony against Nova.
The truth was, on both sides, there was an unabashed, unfailing loyalty carved into his soul because of what they’d been through together, and that was what really made Tino uncomfortable around Tony.
How indebted Tino felt to him.
There was a time when Tino and Tony depended on each other very deeply.
To survive, the two of them had to be unfailingly reliable for each other, and that level of loyalty didn’t go away, no matter how much time had passed.
He didn’t have any control over it. It was just there, which Tino had mostly been okay with.
Lola wasn’t the only one Tino worked with to endure the Brambinos’ cruelty. They had a team—a crew—who would do just about anything for each other in the name of survival. Tony had been, without a doubt, a leader of that crew, and it was for a very good reason.
Like Lola, he’d been born into that life, and he was built differently because of it.
He was one of the few who managed to stay sane, to keep his cool no matter what, and his ability to deal with bullshit was epic.
He used that big, broad De Luca build and stoic presence to shoulder a lot of abuse so the rest of them didn’t have to.
Nova may have gotten them out, but they survived it all because of Tony.
Even if Tino avoided that old life like the plague, he wasn’t going to turn his back on his past when it was sitting at the table asking for help.
“I’m not an accountant, but if his father was okay with letting him rot away with the Brambinos, that makes Tony a free fucking agent now, right?” Tino said to his brother with a low growl of protectiveness in his voice. “Fuck the De Lucas and fuck you if you don’t get it.”
“Fine. Side with him, I don’t give a shit.” Nova folded his arms. “I’m still not doing it, and it’s not ’cause of the politics. It’s the principle. I’m not signing him up for this life if he can avoid it instead. I have enough shit on my conscience.”
Tino grabbed his ten dollars out of the ante pile and shoved it back in his pocket. “I’m out.”
“You’re leaving?” Nova asked him incredulously. “’Cause I won’t let him get made to be a fucking criminal for the rest of his life? That’s why you’re walking away? Are you shitting me right now, Valentino?”
Tino didn’t even turn to look back.
He just left.
And he was going to have to take the motherfucking bus to the subway because Nova drove, and there wasn’t a station nearby. He could walk. It wasn’t that far, but still
“Hey,” Tony called out when Tino rounded the corner.
Tino turned to him, feeling embarrassed to face him. “He doesn’t understand. He thinks he does, but he doesn’t. If he did?—”
“Don’t fight with him.” Tony grabbed his shoulder. “Not over me.”
“Don’t say that.” Tino shook his head. “You matter. I hope you know you matter.”
“Your brother’s good. Don’t let an asshole like me pull you two apart. Go back and finish the game. I’ll figure my shit out.” Tony used his hold on Tino’s shoulder and shook him lightly until Tino looked at him. “Okay?”
Tino stared at Tony for a long moment and then looked in the direction he had left Nova and Carlo at the coffee shop around the corner. He shook his head, realizing he couldn’t bring himself to go back. Even if he wanted to, he couldn’t. Everything in him protested against it.
“I owe you so much. This is nothing in comparison to what you did for me. I can make it happen for you, Tony, and I will,” Tino confessed, knowing if he applied enough pressure on Nova, he could talk him into it. “Do you really want it?”
“Not like this.” Tony was quick to answer. “I don’t wanna hurt the Zu, and I don’t wanna hurt you either.”
Tino looked away, still feeling embarrassed. “I know I bounced on our friendship, but it’s still there. Always . And if you need me for anything?—”
“I know,” Tony assured him before Tino had to finish. “Same here. You know I got your back, son. No matter what. I’m gonna give you my new number. If your family ever needs me, just call me.”
“Not if you’re on the Savios’ books. We’ll never be that desperate. If you’re loyal to them…” Tino argued.
“I’ll stay a free agent,” Tony promised. “I’ll keep the gig with the Savios as side work until your brother warms up to the idea.”
That was a big commitment on Tony’s part, to turn down the protection of being made by another family.
Made men were much safer within the walls of Cosa Nostra.
The two of them stood there and exchanged numbers.
Again, something unspoken between them. They had once been very close, and Tino hadn’t reached out once since Nova got them out.
He had deliberately cut ties despite what they’d been through together.
Tony didn’t seem to be even remotely pissed about it, which was pretty typical of Tony, but it didn’t make Tino feel any better about it.
Tino put his phone back in his pocket and asked, “Hey, what’re you doing for the Savios?”
“Man, what don’t I do?” Tony laughed at that. “I’m a jack of all trades. That’s still my magic trick.”
“You know you gotta make your bones to get made,” Tino said rather than flat out ask Tony if he was digging graves for the Savios.
Tony smiled and arched a dark eyebrow at Tino’s warning that he’d have to kill someone in cold blood in order to earn the right to be a made man. “You worried about my cherry, Tino?”
Tino just nodded. “Yeah.”
“Don’t worry.” Tony hit his shoulder. “Tell your brother I come with references. It won’t be on him.”
“Okay,” Tino lied and promptly started working hard on forgetting that Tony De Luca had just admitted to being a rentable hitman.
The scariest type of hitman, in Tino’s opinion, because it wasn’t out of family loyalty.
It was something much darker.
There just wasn’t anything to save after that.
A Lost Boy, forever lost like the rest of them.
Tino never told Nova.