The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(111)

Nova nodded. “I understand.”

“So, I knew I had to come back to Miami, but I got sidetracked—”

“By Alaine,” Nova supplied.

“Right, but then after it happened, I knew it was a mistake—”

“You thought it was a mistake,” Alaine snapped at him, feeling her cheeks heat in fury. “How—”

“Let me tell my story, mami,” Chuito cut her off and then turned back to Nova. “So I went to Tino’s. I told him shit was about to get real in Miami, and this motherf*cker”—he gestured to Tino—“comes up with the brilliant idea that he should come with me.”

“I don’t love that idea.” Nova’s voice was suddenly icy. “Why didn’t you call me? I’ve invested a lotta time and energy into making the business with Angel profitable. That has nothing to do with Tino. He is retired.”

“I didn’t love it either,” Chuito agreed. “I waited a few hours after he went to sleep. Jacked his car and drove to Miami without him. I was gonna scope out the situation, and then I was gonna call you after I had a clearer picture of everything. Except—”

“Tino followed you,” Nova finished.

“I can f*cking feel the bus tires on my back,” Tino growled at Chuito. “Let me tell my version now.”

Nova gave his brother an annoyed look. “Oh, please do.”

“He was gonna come down here and whack this motherf*cker Angel, like a vigilante suicide mission. I can’t let him do that. He saved my life—”

“I paid him for that,” Nova cut him off and pointed to Chuito with his cigarette. “I paid you!”

“I didn’t ask him to follow me!” Chuito countered. “That was his idea.”

“So we get down here,” Tino went on. “I find him scoping out a club and shopping for candy!”

“I wasn’t shopping for candy,” Chuito growled at him. “I was paying attention to my surroundings.”

“Bullshit!” Tino shouted at him. “You were shopping! This was a suicide mission, and you were gonna go down in snowy flames!”

“Do we own this house?” Nova asked as he looked around at all of them. When Chuito shook his head, Nova looked to Tino. “Your voice could wake the dead.”

“So it was a good f*cking thing I came down here,” Tino went on in a sarcastically low voice. “’Cause while we’re sitting there, his boy Angel shows up with a bunch of guys this motherf*cker”—he pointed at Chuito—“thought was the heat, but I recognized as comrades.”

All the humor seemed to fall out of Nova as he said, “What?”

“Yeah,” Tino agreed. “So I let Angel’s boys jack the Ferrari, and we tracked them to the warehouse across the way, because the other warehouse Angel was using is a decoy. Now we’re hiding out here to check out the warehouse and see what the f*ck is going on.”

Nova was a quiet for a long time while he absorbed that. Then he dropped his cigarette and stomped on it. “Okay.” He rubbed a hand over his face as he looked at them. “So this is a love story. I’m Italian. I like love stories.”

“Merda,” Tino groaned under his breath.

Nova pulled back and gave his brother a look. “What?”

“You don’t like love stories. You hate them.”

“Yeah, you know what, I do hate them,” Nova agreed as if all his anger had just sprung free at once. “I hate them more than anything because nothing will f*ck up business faster than a friggin’ love story, and this one”—he gestured around the kitchen furiously—“is f*cking epic. This is a threesome. It’s you being in love with my brother.” Nova pointed at Chuito. “Enough to jack his car and run away to Miami instead of just calling me and letting me help. And it’s you”—he pointed to Tino—“being in love with Chuito enough to follow him. But the part I’m not getting is you.” He pointed to Alaine. “There is one key piece of information that no one in this room has supplied. Why are you here, sweetheart?”

“They’re gonna get married.” Tino looked to Chuito with wide eyes. “You’re gonna get married.”

“I—” Chuito glanced to Nova. “Yes.”

“We are?” Alaine asked in shock.

“They’re gonna get married,” Tino said before Alaine could say anything else, and then pointed to her. “And she’s a lawyer. I hired her. It’s attorney-client privilege. She can’t narc on me.”

“Is that what she told you?” Nova laughed manically. “Did she tell you that you can just spill your guts to her about a crime that hasn’t happened yet because of attorney-client privilege? And you believed it?”

“I’m not going to say anything. It wasn’t nice to trick Tino, but I needed to know everything Chu was facing,” Alaine said in a rush. “I wasn’t lying when I said he’s my love story.”

Nova ran a hand over his face and took a deep breath before mumbling against his fingers, “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.”

“They’re gonna get married,” Tino said again. “If they get married, she can’t testify against him. I know that. Everyone knows that.”