Page 55 of The Enforcer's Revenge
“Come here.” Tino just wrapped his arms around both girls because Brianna and Carina weren’t letting go of each other. He kissed his sister’s forehead like Brianna had. “We’ll get Carlo, go to the Don’s place, shower, maybe chill out?—”
“I’m not chilling out!” Carina tried to pull away, but neither Brianna nor Tino was letting her. “I’m not her! You think I’m my mother, but I’m not!”
If there was any day where weed and benzos were justified, this was it, but if Carina was sticking with staying clean, then Tino would too. “Okay,” he agreed. “Me neither.”
“Yeah?” Carina looked at him and then asked what the others probably wanted to. “Why didn’t the dogs get your boots?”
They all knew if Carlo kept his blow in his boots, Tino did too.
“I guess we’re cosmic twins.” Tino shrugged and looked away from his sister. “I haven’t done it since that morning, and I don’t think you’re like your mother, Rina. Not even close.”
“I don’t know what happened that morning, but thank fucking God it did.” Nova sighed. “I gotta figure out how to get the old man outta lock-up. He confessed to that shit. At least he wasn’t on probation.”
“Mr. Moretti.”
Tino and Nova both turned at the same time to see the medical examiner who’d taken Tino’s pictures walk up to them.
“Yeah?” Tino asked him.
With his luck, they were going to ask for that other sample now.
“Um.” The doctor glanced down the hallway. “We can’t get him to leave.”
Tino’s breath caught when he realized they were talking about Carlo.
“We may have to call an ambulance for him. It happens sometimes. He’s in shock, and I don’t think he understands she’s gone.” The examiner looked really uncomfortable. “Your uncle doesn’t want to leave her. He heard them bring her in, and he wants to see her. We can’t allow that.” He swallowed hard, like he was suddenly very intimidated. “I explained he doesn’t have the right to her body. I know her mother’s deceased, so it’ll have to be another family member?—”
“Oh my God,” Carina choked.
“Can we talk to him?” Nova asked quickly. “Can you let my brother and me in to see him before you call it in?”
“Yeah.” The medical examiner nodded and tilted his head back to the hallway. “Follow me.”
“We’ll be right back.” Tino kissed both Carina’s and Brianna’s foreheads before he followed Nova and the examiner down the hallway.
They could hear Carlo long before they got to him.
“He’s the one who fucking killed her! He did it! He wrote her name on a piece of paper and fucking killed his own daughter, and you’re going to turn her over to him! I’m the one who loves her! I’m supposed to be with her! I was supposed to protect her! That was my job, and if you think I’m letting him have her now?—”
Nova started running.
Tino did, too.
They both shoved past the medical examiner.
They didn’t ask to be let into the room he was in; they burst in just as Carlo yelled, “Do you know what I could do to you?”
“You could say sorry!” Nova switched to Italian and reiterated, “That’s what you could do to them. You could say sorry to them! Say sorry!”
Carlo was wearing the clothes Nova brought him, but his hair was standing up at odd angles. His face was swollen from crying, and his blue eyes were wild and crazed with pain.
He shook his head in denial and started ranting in English, which made it worse, “Nah, I’m not saying that. I told them she has a sister. She has a fucking sister. I just don’t know her number. I don’t have anything on my burner other than Lola’s number. Tell them I don’t carry a regular phone. It’s on Lola’s phone, but they won’t let me look at Lola’s phone to give it to them even though we all know it’s in a plastic bag somewhere in this fucking building! If they try to give her to the Brambinos first, I will help Carmen light the fire that sends this place to hell.”
“I’ll find her sister,” Nova said quickly as he grabbed their zio. He wrapped one hand around the back of Carlo’s neck and forced Carlo to focus on him. “Look at me. Look at who is promising you that. I will personally find Carmen for you, andI will bring her back here. The Brambinos arenottaking Lola’s body.”
Carlo sucked in a hard breath because Nova was so easy to believe when he was making promises like that, but still, Carlo tried to shake his head in denial. He also switched languages and brokenly admitted to Nova in Italian, “I don’t want to leave her here.”
“You have to.” Nova’s voice cracked when he said it. “But I will get her out of this place, and I will make sure she’s taken care of.” Nova grabbed Carlo’s face in both his palms. He kissed Carlo’s forehead and went on in whispered Italian, “You have to listen to me right now,paisan. You have to trust me. If you want me to get the job done, you have to do your part, and that means saying sorry to these poor men who have a fucking shitty job without you screaming at them. They didn’t do this. You need to be angry at someone else.”
