Page 53 of The Enforcer’s Revenge (Untamed Hearts #4)
CHAPTER THIRTY
D espite the doctor’s argument that it wouldn’t work, Carina sent Gino to the closest burger place since he was so desperate for a different job.
Next, she produced a secret stash of weed—all sorts. Carina had it stored in a handheld wooden chest, which she opened to reveal folding trays displaying a collection of ornate containers.
Carina stood by the bathroom sink while Nova sat on the floor with Dr. Acciai, who had taped up the old IV wound and started a new line in Nova’s other arm to give him more fluids.
Nova was bare-chested and barefoot, wearing only a pair of black sweatpants.
He always looked like a completely different man without a suit.
Unlike other gangsters who used their expensive threads to induce fear, what was underneath Nova’s power suits seemed so much harder and unapologetically gangster than any of the custom Italian he wore.
The Omertà tattoo stained his side, and Nova’s thick, muscled back revealed the warning ‘ Solo Dio può giudicarmi ’ across the broad expanse of his shoulders.
‘Only God can judge me.’
Brianna knew what it meant because she asked Carina once.
“This is my top-shelf shit, boss.” Carina lifted her prized box of weed to take his order. “Sativa or hybrid?”
“Sativa,” Nova said without hesitating, and then got specific about his marijuana strain choices. “Something up and focused.”
“I have Jack Herer.”
“That works.” Nova was still sweating, looking green, with his forehead resting on his knees. “I don’t understand. Why would they raid us?” He was questioning Brianna while she leaned against the doorway. “The Feds don’t show their hand for nothing. They’d need a really good reason.”
“Maybe because the Brambino compound was burned to the ground with Brambinos in it.” Brianna shrugged. “Seems like a good reason.”
“Right, the fire.” Nova lifted his head and squinted at her, obviously still fighting to think clearly. “And Tino didn’t burn it down?”
“No.”
“Okay.” Nova dropped his head back to his knees. “But how would they get the warrant? For what? They didn’t grab Tino, so he wasn’t it. Something’s missing.”
Brianna got the impression he was talking to himself, but still, she asked, “Am I supposed to know the answers to these questions?”
Nova was quiet rather than responding, while Carina used a small metal grinder to break up the weed. She rolled it with light brown paper, which she claimed was pure organic hemp. Nova didn’t seem too impressed with her attention to fine details.
Carina lit her top-shelf organic joint and took two long pulls herself before she handed it to him. “This’ll work.” She looked at Nova hopefully. “Right?”
“Yeah, gimme a minute, princess.”
Nova closed his eyes while he smoked, breathing deeply and taking another large draw before he blew out the smoke slowly. He coughed, which seemed to surprise him. He opened his eyes and stared at Carina with a bloodshot gaze that was clearly impressed.
“Nice, right?”
Nova hummed in agreement.
Carina put an ashtray in front of him, and Nova was tapping the joint against the glass bottom when he whispered, “Where’s Carlo?”
Carina glanced to Brianna with wide eyes, both of them clearly understanding his confusion now. There wasn’t a something missing from the details—there was a someone .
Carmen looked at them too and then rubbed at the back of her neck from her spot sitting on the edge of the tub.
Dr. Acciai was doing a very good job of trying to be invisible while holding the bag of fluids above Nova’s head.
Nova swallowed hard again and tilted his head to stare at Carina in silent question.
“He got out,” Carina whispered.
Nova looked back at the ashtray, still rolling the joint against the bottom of the glass while keeping it lit like he needed something to do with his hands. “How long?”
“We lost him when Tino called and told us you were shot.” Carina shrugged. “So, whenever that was.”
Nova lifted his head and blinked a few more times. “What day is it?”
“It’s the eighth of July,” Dr. Acciai answered. “About nine o’clock in the evening.”
“That’s two days.” Nova still sounded like he was talking to himself, but now there was a dangerous edge to his voice. “When did the Brambino compound burn?”
“I’m not sure.” Brianna flinched when she said it. “I guess sometime this morning.”
Nova was quiet once more, and something about the silence was terrifying. His gaze looked less foggy, like reality was seeping in past the rum and morphine cocktail.
A knock echoed in the basement, and they all jumped.
“Hey, Zu!” Gino called out. “I got your burger!”
Everyone in the basement breathed a collective sigh of relief.
Carina ran upstairs to grab Nova’s burger and fries.
“I need a television and my phone. Not that one,” Nova grunted when Brianna held out his burner. “My real one. It was in the pocket of the white pants I was wearing when I got here.”
“We burned those, bello,” Carmen said softly. “Everything’s gone.”
“I didn’t see a phone,” Dr. Acciai agreed.
“Then it’s in my car.” Nova tapped his joint against the ashtray before he sighed with frustration. “My car’s gone too, isn’t it?”
Brianna nodded. “Tino must’ve left with it.”
Carina had unwrapped his burger on the way down the stairs. She held it out to him as she walked back into the bathroom.
Nova looked genuinely disgusted at the idea of eating it.
Carina put it in his face. “You know I’m right.”
Nova must’ve agreed because he took the burger and handed her the joint.
Carina took a long drag while Nova worked on the burger.
Both of them looked positively ill.
“You can’t hate me over this,” Carina started in a sudden rush, like she had been mentally practicing for a long time. “Because if you hadn’t gotten shot, then Tino wouldn’t have called Brianna and used aiuto on her and?—”
“I need a television,” Nova repeated again, his voice icy.
“This is your fault!” Carina said passionately. “’Cause your dumb puttaniere ass went and got shot!” Then her dark gaze narrowed like she knew things. “So, I really hope it’s worth it, boss. Maybe it’ll be extra tight for you this time.”
Nova got up by himself, forcing Dr. Acciai to follow him with the bag of IV fluids held high. Carina, Brianna, and Carmen let them go and stayed in the bathroom.
“I’m sorry, but you don’t know him like I do.” Carina didn’t look at Carmen as she said it. “He’d hurt me worse if I let him.”
“I get it.” Carmen sounded honest as she stood. Then, she leaned in and whispered in her ear, “It is extra tight, by the way.”
She winked at Brianna as she stepped past her.
Brianna turned and watched Carmen follow Nova. Even after she disappeared into the bedroom with the television, Brianna avoided looking at Carina.
She bit her lip to hide her smile.
Carina saw it anyway and hit Brianna’s shoulder.
Brianna held up her hands in defeat. “You were being so cunty to her, and she gave zero fucks. That’s impressive and a little funny.”
“You’re calling me a cunt?” Carina sounded genuinely insulted. “You’re saying that merda to my face?”
Brianna gave her a pointed look. “Did you not know that?”
Carina opened her mouth like she wanted to argue. Instead, she huffed in defeat and took a long puff of the forgotten joint in her hand. Then she sat down on the carpet in front of the sink and grabbed the ashtray Nova had abandoned.
Brianna left her to it.
In the bedroom, Nova sat on the edge of the bed, the shadows of the news reflecting off his face in the dark room. The doctor stood over him, still holding up the IV bag, and Carmen was leaning against the dresser, her arms folded, her features masked while they reported on the death of her father.
Then Nova leaned his elbows against his knees and dropped his head into his hands. He pushed his fingers into his hair, forcing it off his sweaty forehead, and kept them there as he turned his head to look at Carmen.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered into the near darkness, with the images from the television casting a haunting glow over her face. “Even dead, he’s ruining lives.”
“I know, bella. This isn’t your fault.” Nova looked back to the news.
He watched it quietly for a few minutes before he glanced at Brianna in acknowledgment.
“Tino’s probably right. A raid could happen.
” He blanched like he was going to be sick again and ended up resting his forehead on his knees, looking like it was taking all his strength not to completely fall apart.
“Just to be safe, we need to get rid of everything. All drugs. All weapons. All paperwork needs to be in small drawers.”
“I think Monte’s already doing that upstairs,” Brianna assured him. “We told him the Feds were following Tino.”
“It’s not the Feds. It can’t be, not for this.
The murders weren’t over state lines. Lola and the Brambino compound burning down both happened in Brooklyn.
It’ll be NYPD, but that’s what I don’t get.
We have family there who would’ve told me if Tino was suspect enough to have a warrant issued for him.
Not that I’ve been looking at my phone, but he would’ve called Tino.
” Nova still sounded like he was fighting for clarity as he repeated, “Something’s missing. ”
“You sure there weren’t murders over state lines?” Carmen asked cryptically. “Maybe the Feds know something you don’t.”
Nova was quiet for another long moment before he sighed. “How’d Tino call you?”
“He said he was using a friend’s burner.”
“Did he say what friend?”
Brianna shook her head. “No.”
“Cazzo, then we can’t risk calling him.” Nova looked back to the news and swallowed hard.
“I guess we have to plan on a raid. Carmen, you need to call the medical examiner. You came here to make final arrangements. We need you to be doing that to protect yourself from our merda. Your father’s dead. No one’s going to fight you for Lola.”
Carmen flinched and looked away, like she’d rather be dealing with a raid.
“I’m sorry too,” Nova whispered. “Truly.”