Page 25 of The Enforcer's Revenge
Over the next several months, Nova and Carina ironed out their differences, aided largely by Tino’s reminder to Carina that Nova did give her a waterfront mansion.
Tino knew his brother. That was Nova’s olive branch after years of shoving her away. Money was the one thing in their crazy lives his brother could control, and he used it to give Carina the love she desperately wanted, but he was too scared to go past that with their sister. Not that it was a mild gesture. It wasn’t just any ol’ property he signed over to her. The Mills Basin place was the most valuable in the Moretti Borgata.
That said a lot to Tino.
It screamed, in blaring black and white, that Nova cared.
It may be the closest Nova ever got to telling Carina he loved her, but it was something. A part of Nova wanted Carina protected and happy. He showed it all the time, in weird little Nova ways, but only Tino could see through the lines enough tointerpret. Tino didn’t feel too bad telling Nova’s secrets to Carina by explaining them to her.
He did owe her after the Sister Justina thing.
Carina might not have believed him if Nova hadn’t left a card with the address for his GED study group on the kitchen table of the Mills Basin mansion. And Nova might have stayed pissed off at her, but Carina took the initiative and started showing up on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
And Nova loved fixing things.
Life was fucking golden…
Almost.
“Come with us,” Tino begged Romeo. “It’s perfect out, and we’re taking the yacht. Usually, we take the girls out to use the skeet trap for target practice, but today, it’s all fun. No work. And there’s room for everyone. Get some fucking sunshine for once. All you do is train.”
“Yeah, come get tan with the rest of theguineas,” Nova added as his way of being helpful. “It’s your birthright. Might as well utilize it.”
“Half his birthright.” Tino laughed before he had to add, “The better half.”
“Why do you say that shit all the time?” Romeo barked in Italian at Nova, who was sitting at the table in Romeo’s apartment, working on his laptop while he ate the breakfast Romeo put in front of him. “Ma would roll over in her grave if she heard you call yourself a fucking guinea.”
“I am a guinea,” Nova said without an ounce of apology. “I’m Siciliano. That’s what I am, and it doesn’t matter what label you put on it. I’ll claim it because I’m not ashamed of it. I fucking earned the right to say it, and maybe one day, I’ll tell you how.”
“Okay.” Tino threw up his hands because Nova wasn’t making this battle any easier. He decided to ignore the guinea issue as he leaned against the kitchen counter while Romeocleaned up from breakfast. “Please come,” he pleaded in Italian. “You never spend time with our family.” He gestured back and forth between himself and Nova when he said it. “This isn’t the Don. It’s not mob muscle. These are the people we love. If you gave Carina a chance?—”
“Valentino.” Romeo stopped washing dishes and rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t have a problem with your sister. It’s just?—”
“We won’t drink,” Tino promised, even though Nova turned around and gave him a dubious look. “We won’t smoke either.”
“You smoke?” Romeo barked at him. “Youbetter notbe smoking, Valentino!”
“No,” Tino said quickly, wincing internally over the slip-up because drugs were so far removed from Romeo’s world, he assumed Tino was talking about cigarettes. “I meant Nova and Carina. I’ll make them leave their packs on the dock.”
“Fuck you,” Nova said with a snort of laughter. “The boat is the only place where I don’t get reception. That means it’s the closest thing to a real vacation I ever get. I’m not leaving my pack on the dock, and I guarantee you Carina’s not either.”
“But you’re a social smoker,” Romeo clarified. “You’re not doing it all the time now, right? I don’t like that you’re doing it at all, but once in a while is very different than every day.”
“The boat is social,” Nova said as though it were obvious.
When Romeo looked away and went back to the dishes, Nova rolled his eyes and lifted his hand so only Tino could see him giving the middle finger to the idea of him being a social smoker.
It got too hard for Nova to hide his smoking. He couldn’t be fucked with it lately. He chose to deal with the bitching instead, and since he laced them with weed, hewasa social smoker. He didn’t smoke all the time, usually just when he needed to calm down and the stress was messing up his stomach, or if he had reasons to be less of a stronzo.
Like the boat.
“I’ll make them leave their packs on the dock,” Tino promised in a whisper as he looked at Romeo in desperation and completely ignored Nova. “Come out with us. No phones. No laptops. No training. No stress. We’re going to stay the night and sleep under the stars,” he said quickly, and then added in English, “It’ll be friggin’ beautiful, Rome.”
Romeo went back to washing the dishes, but he was quiet, like he was considering it. Nova turned around in his seat, making it obvious he saw the crack in Romeo’s veneer, too. Only Nova was watching it unfold like he wasn’t sure what outcome would be the safest bet.
“Carina’s bringing her guitar. She can rock outanyparty,” Tino added cautiously. “Have you ever heard her sing?”
“No.” Romeo looked embarrassed to admit it. “I know I should go to mass with you and Nova.”
