Page 61 of The Enforcer’s Revenge (Untamed Hearts #4)

“Tino, man, he had a gun on us,” Gino said slowly. “They had us hostage in here. What the fuck were we supposed to do?”

Monte was just glaring, doing that Zu thing, like he was too boss to answer to shitstain enforcers. “Put your gun away, Tino.”

“This gun fucking saved your life. You would’ve ended up in a Brambino basement without me,” Tino reminded him sharply. “And what the hell, neither of you could overpower one guy in all this time? Are you fucking gangsters or not?”

“You better remember who you’re talking to and show some respect,” Monte warned him in a low, dangerous voice. “Where the hell were you when this motherfucker had a gun to my head? What exactly is it you’re supposed to be doing here, Tino, besides snorting all the good blow with Carlo?”

Tino stared hard at Monte in response, letting the fury and insult show on his face to the point that the smaller man seemed to wilt in front of him, hesitating on the attitude he was flexing.

He should, because Tino had an answer for him, and he didn’t even have to think about it. He was going to kill Monte, let Gino live, and then handle his headache.

Problem solved.

Tino hadn’t lowered his weapon, but heavy footsteps in the hallway stopped him.

“Tino! Answer me!” The echo of Nova’s voice, manic and terrified, was too hard to ignore. “Where are you?”

Tino dropped his gun in defeat and turned around, seeing that Tony still had his back as he stood at the door to the bathroom. Tony had his gun out too, like the good team player he was, looking intent on shooting Monte if Tino didn’t.

“In here,” Tony called out for both of them and then lowered his gun while giving Monte another dark, intimidating look of warning, doing it much better than Tino could ever do.

Tony didn’t say anything, but it was written all over his face, and Monte looked away rather than deal with two of them.

“Oh, grazie. Jesus, fuck. Thank you, Ma.” Nova walked in wearing only his white tank top and gray suit pants since he’d sacrificed his dress shirt to save Brianna.

It made him look extra gangster, even for Nova, especially since all of it was splattered with blood, and the tattoo on his back was showing when usually he kept his ink covered around the rest of the Borgata.

He didn’t seem to care as he grabbed Tino to kiss his forehead like they both weren’t standing with a dead man at their feet. “Are you okay?”

Tino shrugged because he wasn’t, but he didn’t want Monte and Gino to know that.

“She’s gonna make it, I promise.” Nova kissed his temple once more.

“ Te lo prometto . She just passed out, but she was lucid by the time I got her to the ambulance. It’s fine, everything’s gonna be fine.

” He looked from Gino to Monte, who was crawling out of the tub. “You guys okay? No one’s hurt?”

“We’re fine.” Gino looked embarrassed at being caught by the Brambinos and held hostage, but he still shrugged it off. “Tino had our back.”

Monte dusted off his suit once he was out of the bathtub. “Lucky we had him to save the day.”

Nova looked at the Brambino lying dead on the floor and said distantly, “Yeah, that was lucky.”

Monte had the balls to pat Tino’s cheek and said, “Thanks, pal,” as he walked past.

Tino looked at Monte’s back. His feelings must have shown because Nova grabbed Tino’s face, forcing Tino to look back at him as he barked in his Zu voice, “Hey.”

Tino tilted his head and gave his brother a look. He knew Nova understood because Monte always treated them like shit.

Tino was tired of it.

Monte seemed oblivious to the very real danger he was in as he pulled his phone out of his suit pocket. “I gotta call the Don.”

“I already called him.” Nova shook his head at Tino, his eyes narrowed in warning, and then turned to Monte. “He’ll be here?—”

Nova stopped talking when the Don’s voice echoed from downstairs. “Jesus fucking Christ! Look at my goddamn door! Nova!”

“Up here!” Nova turned to leave like any good lap dog would.

Gino and Monte walked out behind Nova, rushing to do the Don’s bidding, but Tino just stood there.

Still angry.

Thinking about Brianna, scared and dying, while he was here—being the Borgata’s whore—again.

Tony stayed behind too, like he wasn’t any more excited to see Don Moretti than Tino was. They both needed something to do to stay away from the accountants and the bullshit.

Tino’s first thought was all the bodies. He’d have to dump the dead Morettis somewhere easy for authorities to find quickly, since their families would want to bury them.

Taking care of the family was part of the job.

The Brambinos wouldn’t be so lucky.

He couldn’t take the boat out to dump the Brambinos because Mills Basin was probably still a crime scene. They’d have to use chemicals, which were still at Carlo’s house in Jersey, which meant Tino was going to have to drive all the way over there, grab the shit, and drag it down to the basement.

Mentally taking a tally of all the bodies scattered all over the fucking house, Tino remembered something and turned to Tony. “We forgot the guy in the basement. He’s still alive.”

He dashed back downstairs, worried that someone had forgotten he was there. The don and Nova were standing at the base of the stairs, talking amid the destruction of the blown-apart entryway.

“She went with Brianna to the hospital. I had her take the burner phone I called you from,” Nova explained as Tino walked past. “Tino, where are you going?”

Tino didn’t stop, but he did answer him. “The basement. We forgot the other guy down there.”

“It’s fine,” Nova said quickly. “Carmen’s still watching him. She stayed behind while I took Brianna to meet the ambulance.”

Tino stopped walking, feeling a wave of disappointment wash over him. It was over. There were no more Brambinos to get rid of, but Tino didn’t want it to end. Not like this. He didn’t want to stop working and deal with the real problems.

This he could do.

The rest was still too hard.

“You’re telling me you actually called 911, the motherfucking heat,” the Don’s anger cut through Tino’s adrenaline crash like a knife, “while we had a fuckton of dead bodies lying all over my house? Then you left Carmen Brambino to watch a guy from the Brambino Borgata? I’m standing here right now hearing you say we could all go down for Brianna motherfucking Darcy and Carmen fucking Brambino?

” he repeated incredulously like he couldn’t believe his ears.

“I like top-shelf pussy as much as the next guy, but how fucking high are you right now, Nova?”

Tino tightened his hand around his gun.

Maybe it wasn’t over yet.

“And who the fuck is this?” the Don barked as an afterthought.

Tino turned around and saw the Don glaring at Tony standing at Tino’s back.

For his part, Tony looked mostly unfazed as he stepped forward and held out his hand. “Tony.” When the Don didn’t move or say anything, Tony said the full name he hated and usually kept to himself unless he had to, “Tony De Luca.”

The Don still stared at Tony’s hand rather than shake it. Then he turned back to Nova, looking highly, irrevocably pissed off. “I have a lotta fucking questions.”

Nova gestured in the direction of the basement, like he was more than prepared to answer them, right after they relieved Carmen of soldier duty.

Tino didn’t follow them. He let the Don and Nova and all their henchmen walk past. When the last of them disappeared down the hallway toward the basement door, Tino took the magazine out of his gun and checked it curiously.

It was empty.

All he had left was the last bullet in the chamber. Usually, he kept good tabs on his ammunition, but he forgot about the shitshow in Tampa. He’d shot the other bouncer in the hand. Either Carmen or Nova must have used Tino’s gun to end him after Tino was knocked out.

That was okay.

It only took one bullet.

“You think he has questions now? Wait until he sees his closest,” Tony said casually as he looked at the grand staircase rather than the magazine Tino was staring at longingly in his hand.

“You know you can’t kill him, Tino.” He gave Tino a look that made his entire poker hand crystal clear.

“Not yet, but the Zu won’t be kissing his ass forever.

It’s gonna end one day soon. You know it, and I know it. ”

Jesus, the balls on Tony .

Tino had forgotten how fucking ice cold and fearless he was. Nothing rattled him. Tino glanced around, making sure everyone was out of earshot because even he wasn’t pissed off enough to say it out loud like that.

Not yet.