The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3)(108)

He thought he read somewhere forty-eight hours was the cutoff, but here he was, still f*cking alive, sitting there naked with his hands cuffed behind his back.

He would give anything to be able to lie down.

Instead he just stared at Brianna, who sat on the stairs in that golden glow of light and waited for him to die. It was quiet, sort of peaceful, even if getting here had sucked.

He was still blinking heavy-lidded eyes at her, trying to keep her in focus when she started to fade out into shimmers of sunlight, but then voices echoed down the stairs.

Brianna turned and looked up to the door as the sounds seemed to fracture her image with the anger and fear.

“They’ve been raiding houses for the past day, and you didn’t think to f*cking tell me you got this motherf*cker in your basement!”

The door burst open, and Brianna moved aside in disgust, scooting to the edge of the stairs as highline shoes appeared, the hard thump of them echoing down the stairs.

Only because they were blocking Brianna, Tino blinked up at Lorenzo Campelli with his three goons, and standing in front of them in one of those highline suits like the kind Nova wore was a man Tino had never seen before.

Thin for an Italian, middle-aged, but confident as he folded his arms over his chest and sighed. “Cazzo.”

“He f*cked my wife.” Lorenzo gestured at Tino. “He made me kill Rosie.”

“You killed Rosie? The De Lucas’ Rosie?” The suit’s voice was sharp, incredulous as he turned to glare at Lorenzo. “I don’t think I can save you, motherf*cker.”

“I’m a made man! He f*cked my wife! I could’ve killed him at the house!”

“He’s sixteen.” The suit pointed at Tino. “Your wife was f*cking a teenager, and she was paying for it. I don’t think you’re worth saving. There’s a f*cking war going on out there. The Morettis have raided houses in four families looking for this little shit, and you just put us in the middle of it.”

“He’s not sixteen,” Lorenzo argued as he looked at Tino. “Is he?”

“Coglione.” The suit got down on his knees and reached out to grab Tino’s face, but Tino jerked away, looking to the corner instead. The suit grabbed Tino’s face anyway and studied him with a critical eye. “What the f*ck is wrong with him? He’s burning up with fever.” He looked at Tino’s leg with a grimace. “He’s just got the one bullet hole?”

“The f*ck if I know.” Lorenzo sounded genuinely mystified.

The suit squeezed Tino’s cheeks tighter. “What’s wrong with you, kid?”

Tino just looked at him, and then he licked his parched lips, knowing he could ask for water. Instead he rasped, “Vaffanculo,” and jerked his face out of his gasp.

“Yeah, how’re those Moretti balls working out for you now, huh?” The suit snorted in amusement. He patted Tino’s cheek and stood up. “This is the Brambinos’ shit. They sent those tapes knowing someone would be dumb enough to try and kill this kid. You were just the stupid motherf*cker to do it, and you were the only one to knock off your wife in the process. Thank God you don’t have kids, but now the De Lucas are going to be sitting next to the Morettis in the commission meeting, and that’s bad for everyone. This is the biggest f*ckup I’ve ever seen in my life. You’re lucky this little shit isn’t dead.”

“Zu, listen—” Lorenzo started.

“I don’t wanna hear it! Put a f*cking suit on! You’re coming to the commission meeting! You created this shit storm! You put us in bed with the f*cking Brambinos! Now you’re gonna sit there next to those sick f*cks and deal with it!”

The suit turned around and walked back up the stairs like suits did.

Brianna moved out of the way again, like any good mafia girl would when dealing with an opposing Borgata. Disgusted and annoyed, she silently watched the suit stop at the top stairs and call down, “Someone give this motherf*cker an aspirin! And put some goddamn clothes on him before Moretti’s freak bastardo grandson shows up losing his shit and crashes the f*cking stock market!”



“I’m going in.”

“Fine.” The don nodded as he sat across from Nova in the limo. “You can come in. He’s your brother. Let those f*ckers sit there and look you in the eye.”

“No.” Nova shook his head. Going on nearly three days with no sleep, he was beyond exhausted. Whoever Tino had been with was off his schedule. They’d been raiding houses in four families and still hadn’t found a lead until this meeting was called. “I need to go in with power. I need a voice they can listen to.”

“You’re a Moretti. You have power,” Aldo assured him.

“Give me the consigliere spot,” Nova said, because at this point he felt like he had nothing to lose. “Let me go in with a recognized voice on the commission.”

The limo was silent afterward.

All they could hear was the hum of tires against asphalt as they headed toward the commission meeting.

Monte Breda, the don’s nephew, sputtered indignantly. “You’re not actually considering that.”

Aldo didn’t say anything. He just stared at Nova critically.

“Temporarily,” Nova added as he glanced to Monte. “You’re not an official consigliere. I can step in for this.”