Page 73 of The Enforcer’s Revenge (Untamed Hearts #4)

“Yeah, and he took out Enzo today.” Nova swallowed hard like he was fighting tears. “He got their whole administration. Wiped ’em out. That hasn’t happened for over eighty years, a Borgata losing their entire upper level of management—just like that—in less than a week.”

“Alesso’s gone too?” Maria walked over with two plates and put one in front of Tino. “No shit?”

“No shit,” Nova confirmed. “He got another guy at Alesso’s house. They haven’t released the name, but I think it was one of their enforcers. It had to be. They wouldn’t have regular muscle protecting him after what happened at Carmine’s place.”

Maria gave Tino silverware and then sat between Tony and Nova with her plate.

After a moment of getting herself settled, she started twirling the long spaghetti noodles on her fork, looking at it in a daze like her mind was somewhere else completely.

“God, I hated Alesso. I used to dread him on my schedule. He was horrible.”

“He was one of the bad ones, for sure,” Tony agreed.

“He was so terrible, twisted, just a mean, mean person. That whole family was awful. No kidding.” Maria kept twirling her pasta. “He was almost as bad as Mary.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Tony worked on his own pasta.

“No one’s as bad as Mary. You never spent as much time with her as we did.

We made sure of it because that cunt was next level.

Poor Tino fucking took it for all of us ninety-five percent of the time.

” He reached over and squeezed Tino’s knee under the table.

“Don’t ever let anyone tell you that you aren’t a team player.

You always brought her back around when she had her eye on one of us. ”

“Well, I was used to her. I lived in her house, and I had the right disposition for her,” Tino mumbled, even though the back of his neck burned and his stomach knotted just talking about it. “You did a lot for me, too.”

“Whew, still, I’d take Alesso any day over that sadistic bitch, but Maria’s not wrong. That whole family’s fucked. He was top five for sure. Fuck Alesso. I’m glad he’s gone, and I hope he suffered on the way out. A lot of people are appreciating the hell out of your uncle today, Zu. I promise.”

Tino met Nova’s gaze across the table at the mention of Mary, seeing the pained, knowing look on his brother’s face. The two of them didn’t say anything. Tino would never tell Maria or Tony to hide their trauma on his account—it was their trauma, too—and he knew it was good to talk about.

At least, that was what everyone kept telling him.

Maybe it did help.

Brianna knowing had helped him—while it lasted.

And worrying over what Nova found out about Mary seemed like a small problem when, for a long time, it was a very real fear for Tino. Now, everything was so much harder, darker, and more painful than it had been before Lola died. It made the problems before the Fourth of July seem microscopic.

Tino was struck by what they took for granted.

He would love to go back to stressing about little things like that.

This war wiped out all their once-big worries.

Just swept them away like they never existed to begin with.

Tino would tell the whole world every single detail about Mary if he could get his zio back in the exchange.

Nova suddenly turned and looked at the television, and Tino could see something was wrong. It showed on his face so potently that, for a moment, all the oxygen seemed to suck out of Tino.

It felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Or he was having a heart attack.

On a very cellular level, Tino knew a look like that on Nova’s face meant something awful was happening.

Tino turned around on instinct, looking at the television. He expected to see Carlo’s picture, but it was breaking news instead. The ticker on the bottom announced:

Bank robbery in progress at East National Bank in Washington Heights .

Tino turned back around and frowned at Nova. “That’s not him.”

Nova didn’t listen. He jumped up and went to the living room, Maria’s late lunch completely forgotten. He didn’t even sit on the couch. He sat down on the floor right in front of the television.

Tino looked to Tony, who was also turned in his chair and watching the television like it was concerning. Maria was biting her lip, watching too.

“My uncle doesn’t need money,” he assured them and then said louder for Nova to hear, “He has cash stashed everywhere. In safety deposit boxes. In safe houses. He has a lot, I promise. There’s no fucking way he would rob a bank for money.”

Nova didn’t say anything, he just stared at the television like he was watching a news report about the end of the world, and it was scaring the ever-loving fuck out of him.

“Casanova, you are freaking me the hell out.” Tino used his hardest voice because Nova wasn’t usually wrong about things, but still. “This time, you’re wrong. I know you’re wrong. I have worked with Carlo for years. I know what kinda criminal he is, and I promise he wouldn’t rob a bank for cash.”

“Oh my God,” Maria whispered and looked to Tony. “Daddy, you gotta do something. You gotta help them.”

“What the fuck am I supposed to do?” Tony whispered back at her. “I can’t get to Washington Heights. It’s an hour away. I’ll never make it in time.”

Maria stood up, shaking her hands, and said in a low, frantic voice, “No, no, you gotta help them!”

That wasn’t improving Tino’s fear problem at all.

Maria had been through a lot of shit in her life.

Half the reason Tony was so fucking ice cold was because of her.

This was a woman who survived being a born-in victim of the underground sex market and was still pretty fucking sane on the other side.

Maria was a real, honest-to-God Cosa Nostra Lost Girl.

Watching her freak out was worse than seeing Nova’s panic.

Tino reached over and grabbed Tony. He cupped his face with both his hands and stared straight into Tony’s wide, dark gaze, making him look very nervous.

“What am I not getting?” Tino barked because if Tony was scared of something, Tino was fucking terrified. “I’m a little strung out right now. I know I’m missing something.”

“I don’t think it’s the blow, Tino.” Tony tried to look at Maria, like he needed her to step in, but Tino wasn’t letting him go. “It’s probably, like, self-defense or something. ’Cause you’re sensitive, and?—”

“Where’s his blow?”

Tino looked to Maria like she was crazy. “I’m not telling you that.”

“It’s in my glove compartment,” Tony answered like Tino hadn’t said anything. “Go get it. My keys are on the hook.”

Maria took off, still wearing her robe, and that was it.

Tino couldn’t breathe.

He let go of Tony and put a hand to his chest. His heart rate was going crazy. The ringing in his ears that had been annoying before nearly deafened him. He had to physically remind himself to breathe, and still, he wasn’t sure why.

“My zio would not rob a bank…” Tino said each word slowly because talking was hard.

It was like his brain froze, and he forgot how to do it.

“He doesn’t need money. Even if the heat is tracking his credit cards and bank accounts, we have millions of dollars hidden in every borough. It’s crazy how much cash we have.”

He looked back to Nova, who was sitting on the ground in front of the television with his knees up. His body was shaking, and that was enough to put Tino’s whole world into slow motion.

Nova was an amazing problem solver.

Probably one of the best on the planet.

Tino suspected that when he ended up in a situation he couldn’t fix, it affected him physically, as if his body didn’t know how to handle not having a solution.

Most of the time, he just threw up.

Tino hadn’t seen Nova shake like that since their father had taken them down to his basement for the first time.

Tino didn’t have Nova’s memory, but the image of his brother kneeling on the ground, shaking at their father’s feet, was burned into his brain so vividly he could see it in his mind’s eye like it was happening right now.

Only, instead of their father’s hand in Nova’s hair, it was his own, tugging at the inky black strands, shoulders shaking like he knew something fucking horrible was about to happen.

Tino looked back to Tony, who was staring at the television again, and reminded him, “You’re supposed to have my back.”

Tony closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath.

Then, he turned to Tino, grabbed his hand under the table, and held it tight.

“You never thought about it?” he asked softly, looking at Tino straight on, his dark eyes wide and clear.

“Like, what would you do if it was all over? If you were done with this hard life we’re all living? ”

Of course, he thought about it.

He thought about it all the fucking time.

That was part of the reason he’d been snorting blow non-stop since breaking up with Brianna and seeing Carlo’s mug shot on the news.

Tino couldn’t do anything but hide from the knowledge that there was no way to keep his zio from going down for the rest of his life for doing the world a favor and annihilating the Brambino Borgata.

Tino would probably end it all if it weren’t for Nova and his co-dependent bullshit. The world didn’t need Tino, but it definitely needed Nova.

Tino didn’t answer him, but Tony must have seen the answer on his face because he just asked, “How would you do it?”

“I dunno.” Tino shrugged. “Probably drugs.”

“What if it had to be fast?” Tony pressed, giving him a pointed look.

“Before they sent your family’s enforcer to end it for you since you pissed off all of Cosa Nostra by killing everyone in another Borgata’s administration.

That’s a lotta made men, Tino. There is no way the commission will let that slide. You know that’s a death sentence.”