The Slayer (Untamed Hearts #2)(83)

“I want to know details too,” Tino added. “What the f*ck happened?”

“The guy Wyatt shot.” Nova looked away and shook his head. “He raped Tabitha. Wyatt didn’t handle the news well. Is that enough details for you?”

Chuito felt something hard and painful stab him in the chest. He’d seen a lot of terrible shit in his life, but rape was a particularly sore subject for him. So much so he couldn’t even find a way to speak for a second.

“Why is the f*cker still alive? Tabitha’s his wife.” Tino sounded as stunned as Chuito felt. “Why didn’t he shoot him a second time if he didn’t hit the mark?”

“Because he’s Wyatt. He’s got friggin’ ethics to complicate shit for me.” Nova shook his head in disbelief. “And that’s only half the problem. The two of them have some long-standing issues. This f*cker could put Wyatt down. For a long time. Can you imagine what prison would be like for a sheriff? They’d have to keep him in solitary the whole friggin’ time.”

“But—” Tino started as if that was hard to believe. “You can fix that, can’t you?”

“I can’t fix it, Valentino.” Nova sighed as he looked at the two of them. “I wish I could, but I can’t. We have to sink this problem. Permanently. There’s actually two of them. I need to sink Tabitha’s brother too.”

“Why her brother?” Tino asked.

“I don’t want to go into details and implicate Wyatt, but let’s just say he’s a loose end. Considering he sold Tabitha to the * who raped her, I’m not too torn up about it.”

Tino coughed. “He sold her? His sister?”

“He drugged Tabitha, let the guy have her in exchange for whatever got him loaded. He did it for the fix.”

Chuito met Tino’s gaze again. It wasn’t the greatest thing for two ex-addicts to hear. Granted, neither of them would have done that, but it still sort of felt like guilt by association.

“You can’t have one of your guys do it,” Chuito said when he found his voice. He considered the situation for a moment and knew he was right. “It has to be me. Wyatt’s a cop.”

“We can’t help law enforcement,” Nova agreed. “It’s a rule. A big one. Technically, Tino and I should’ve been ousted when Romeo married Jules. He put law enforcement in our family, but she’s more lawyer than cop. I’m already on thin ice with the old man for killing my father. I get busted helping a sheriff, and someone will sink me for it. Guaranteed.”

“But you are helping him,” Chuito pointed out, because that took some serious cojones when Nova was already under the microscope.

“I’m making a small exception, but I can’t f*cking whack these *s,” Nova argued as he looked at them. “And I can’t get anyone in the family to do it. I really need a third party, and Tino says he trusts you.”

“I can whack them,” Tino said before Chuito responded. “Just let me do it, and it won’t leave the room. No one in the Borgata needs to know.”

“Wyatt doesn’t know I have to do this. He thinks I’m just helping him get his story straight,” Nova argued. “We really can’t afford to have him suspect you, Valentino. He sounds like a redneck, but he’s smart. He will figure it out if you do it. I need you to be home. All the time. Be where the Conners can see you until it’s done.”

“What makes you think he won’t suspect Chuito instead?”

“I just don’t think he will.” Nova shrugged as he said it. “Chuito’s a successful fighter. He’s not part of this family. Wyatt has no reason to suspect him.”

“What does Cosa Nostra think of you hanging out here all the time?” Chuito asked curiously.

“They think I got Wyatt in my pocket,” Nova said with a smile. “I mean, he did keep me from going down for whacking my father and my cousin. That’s not a hard idea to sell. We’re not supposed to help them, but we can sure as f*ck buy them.”

Chuito nodded at that, because he knew Wyatt wasn’t in anyone’s pocket. At least not yet. Chuito wasn’t so certain where Wyatt would stand after all this.

“What are you gonna expect from Wyatt if I do this for you?” Chuito gave Nova a harsh look. “I’m not gonna do something that’ll stick Wyatt in bed with you guys. He’d hate that.”

“He won’t owe me anything,” Nova promised him. “I owed him. I’m paying it back. I’m paying back Tabitha too.”

“Why do you owe Tabitha?” Tino asked.

Nova looked away and rubbed at the back of his neck again. “I just do.”

“Did you f*ck her?” Tino asked.

“What?” Nova turned back to him with a glare. “No, I didn’t f*ck her. Why is it always about f*cking with you? She did something for me when I was a kid. She used to live in New York. She gave me a hundred bucks once. I almost fell on my face when I saw her at the hospital.”

“Tabitha is the chick who gave you a hundred bucks at the bar? Even I remember that,” Tino said in surprise. “That was her? No shit?”

“Yeah.” Nova smiled at his brother. “How friggin’ weird is that?”

“That is weird,” Tino agreed. “Let me whack these f*ckers. Chuito doesn’t need to get his hands dirty.”