Page 167 of The Slayer
“Doesn’t the old man have those?” Tino asked his brother.
“No. There’s too many accounts for him to keep track of. He’s been letting me handle it for years. It made him lazy.” Nova looked grim. “After the whole thing with Romeo, I started changing the passwords every day. Just in case. I told Aldo it was for security purposes. I give him the information if he asks, but he must’ve thought it’d be too obvious to ask me today. He figured the Russians could get it out of me. Sorta nasty of him, considering all I’ve done for the Borgata.”
Tino thought about that for a moment and then turned back to look at the Russians. “What were you gonna do to him to get those fucking passwords? You were gonna torture my brother after you got done raping my best friend’s woman?”
They would never find out the answer. Two shots rang out as Nova did Tino’s job for him and killed both of the Russians.
Like Tino promised, they were dead almost instantly.
“What the fuck?” Tino and Chuito shouted in unison.
“I’m done with this party,” Nova said as he looked from Tino to Chuito. “Kill that motherfucker, Chuito. We need to go.”
Chuito looked back to Angel, who had tears running down his face, his eyes wide and silently pleading for death. “It’s too easy,” he whispered.
“It wasn’t that fucking easy. It’s gonna go pretty high on my list of shit I wish I could forget seeing.” Nova walked over and pointed his gun at Angel. “Do it or I will.”
Chuito lifted his gun and shot Angel in the face, because chest wounds bothered him ever since Juan.
Angel’s end was grim and dirty—the only way Chuito knew how to do it.
Tino and Nova gave Chuito another moment to just look at Angel’s dead body, before Tino finally asked, “So what do we do now?”
“Russians didn’t give up anything,” Nova offered. “Be pissed off about it when we go outside.”
“What?” Tino snapped. “You want us to just pretend we don’t know Aldo wants you dead?”
“Yeah, that’s what I want you to do.” Nova patted Tino’s cheek. “You don’t want the other players to know you can see their cards.”
“Nova—” Tino started, still sounding horrified, as if the entire day had just completely broken him.
“You think, after I killed his son, that I haven’t been expecting this.” Nova let out a bark of laugher. “It’s okay, Valentino. I’ve been playing Aldo’s game since I was fourteen. Now I get to play my own game. Let me play it. Don’t look so fucking miserable about it.” Nova looked back to Chuito. “Are we good, Chuito? Can we go?”
Chuito glanced to Angel’s body before he nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
“Then let’s get outta here. Can we meet at your mother’s house? Regroup?” Nova asked. “I sorta need an alibi not just for us, but for my boys too. A gathering at your mother’s would make sense if she can accommodate everyone after they get rid of the bodies.”
Chuito looked to Tino, who glanced away as if the gravity of what he had done slammed into him, and he lost the veil of fierceness he’d been wearing since all this started.
“You didn’t know Junior was on our side,” Chuito whispered to Tino. “You thought you were selling Alaine to buy time.Actuallyselling her.”
“Look, it’s not like I had a lot of great choices. I did the best I could. I knew Nova was coming. That’s why I ran upstairs, to text him. Backup was coming, and even if it wasn’t, I knew we could take ’em if they dispersed a little. I just needed time.” Tino met Chuito’s gaze, his dark eyes glassy. “They were gonna put a bullet in her brain, and they were gonna let you watch her die. Then they were gonna kill you too, and I couldn’t let that happen. To any of us. You’re my brother, Chu. If Nova or Romeo had been in the same situation, if it had been Jules they were gonna shoot in front of Rome, I would’ve done the same fucking thing to prevent it, I promise.”
“You told them about my mother,” Chuito reminded him. “You used that.”
“They’re all dead now. I knew I was gonna kill them. I knew you were gonna help me kill them. Who gives a shit what a buncha dead motherfuckers think?” Tino shrugged as tears rolled down his cheeks. “I couldn’t let you die, but I am sorry. I’m so fucking sorry, Chu. I didn’t want this to happen.”
“Alaine didn’t know,” Chuito choked out. “I didn’t want her to know that about me.”
“I’m sorry,” Tino whispered again and swallowed hard as if he was fighting completely breaking down. “We’re gonna destroy the phones. No one’s gonna know what happened downstairs. That Junior motherfucker didn’t see what happened after he took her up.”
Chuito shook his head and turned to leave. “You can crash at my mother’s place. I own most of the street. We’ll make an alibi for your boys.”
“Chu—” Tino called out.
“Don’t talk to me,” Chuito said as he opened the front door. “You said you were willing to deal with me hating you. So fucking deal with it.”
Chapter Forty-Three
