The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3)(112)

“Maledizione, Casanova!” His mother came into the men’s bathroom like a hawk, swooping up Tino and then smacking the back of Nova’s head. “You don’t hit the baby!”

Tino rested his cheek on their mother’s shoulder and stuck his tongue out at Nova before she disappeared out the door.

“You okay?” Carlo asked him.

Nova was still looking at the door. “I guess.”

People weren’t meant to remember things forever.

No one knew how hard it was to see all the faces, from all the years, and not forget the details. No one but him understood how much people changed and how much they stayed the same. He lived it every day. He saw it every time he closed his eyes.

“Strunzu—” Carlo started cautiously.

Rationally, Nova knew it wasn’t his mother’s four-year-old baby out there missing, but to him it felt the exact same, because it was the same to Nova. Little Tino was every bit as real to him as sixteen-year-old Tino.

“I’m okay,” Nova lied and turned back to the mirror to run his hands through his hair one more time before the gel fully dried. “Let’s do this.”



“Where the f*ck is Rosie? Where’s my cousin?”

The voice echoed from behind the closed door. Nova frowned as he stood outside the meeting room.

“What’s in the briefcase?” Monte asked next to him.

“Shh,” Nova said quickly and leaned in to hear past the thick wood door.

The guards outside watched him do it, but no one said anything.

“You got the Moretti kid! I know you f*cking got him! Move the f*ck over, Lupo. We’re sitting next to Moretti, and I want Marcell and this cuntface to sit right there. That’s where I want them. Move, Lombardis! Give them your seats, ’cause I wanna f*cking watch!”

“We’re not moving. This is my seat. I’m keeping it.”

“Where’s Rosie, then? Tell me where my cousin is, and you can keep the f*cking seat. You called this meeting, Marcell. We all know it’s you.”

“Me. No. I called this meeting the second I found out. It wasn’t me.”

“Lorenzo, you motherf*cker, is Rosie dead?”

There was a deafening silence in the room, and Nova looked to Carlo, who mouthed, Savios.

“He brought you as a sacrificial lamb. I hope you know that, Lorenzo. I’m just gonna sit here and watch, and I’m gonna f*cking enjoy it.”

Nova’s heartbeat was thundering in his ears, because he realized the Savios knew if Tino was alive or dead. A part of him wanted to run away from the reality, but he opened the door instead.

Everyone paused, even though there was the hassle of changing seats. Dante De Luca was already sitting. Young for a capo bastone, his entire body seemed tense as he looked across the table at the Brambinos.

He pointed to the empty seats next to Enzo Brambino, the Brambino Borgata’s capo bastone. “Right there, motherf*ckers. That’s where the Savios sit now.”

“Is my brother dead?” Nova directed the question at the Savios. His hands were shaking again, and his voice cracked but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m a made man,” Lorenzo started.

“Shut up,” Marcell Mazza, long-standing consigliere for the Savios, growled at Lorenzo before he asked, “Where’s Aldo?”

“IS MY BROTHER DEAD?” Nova shouted at the room.

“No.” Marcell shook his head. “He’s fine. A little bruised, but fine. We have him, but he did f*ck a made man’s wife. He f*cked a lotta wives—” Marcell looked pointedly around the table. “That’s a death offense. Lorenzo could’ve killed him. We didn’t outta respect. Your brother’s not made. He’s not protected. We could’ve killed him immediately, but we’re taking it to the commission instead. That’s why we called the meeting.”

“Are you shitting me right now?” Nova asked them incredulously. “He’s sixteen. Those f*ckers were selling him”—he pointed at Enzo Brambino—“and your wives were buying him. You cannot possibly be serious.”

“I don’t have a wife, but—” Dante De Luca shrugged and then glanced to the thick, angry-looking enforcer standing behind him. “Were any of our houses raided, Sergio?”

Sergio shook his head, his dark gaze narrowed at the Brambinos. “No, Zu.”

“De Lucas take care of our shit,” Dante said to the table. “Ours wives don’t rent kids. If his brother doesn’t get a pass—”

“He’s getting a pass,” Nova said before Dante could finish, because this was honestly a problem he hadn’t considered, and Nova had spent three days thinking of every possible problem. “They’ve been blackmailing him for years. They made him believe they would kill our brother in prison if he didn’t go along with their f*cked-up shit. Maybe they would’ve killed Romeo. They break all the other pacts. They manipulated a kid to humiliate the Morettis because they know our dicks are bigger than theirs, and the only way they could get back at us was to screw a twelve-year-old!”

The table was quiet again, as everyone but Nova, Carlo, and Monte took their seats in uncomfortable silence. Nova just stood there looking at them. “Is it funny to you that the Brambinos took one of our kids and used his last name to humiliate us? Because you may not be laughing when you hear everything I have to say.”