Page 81 of The Enforcer's Revenge
And Brianna realized they understood what she was saying all along.
So, the three of them sat waiting for Nova and Tino to get there, watching the news and silently anticipating the moment when the rest of the world found out the Moretti Borgata was sinking.
“Don.”
Brianna jerked awake.
Carina sat up next to her.
The Don lifted his head from where he’d been sleeping against his desk and barked, “What?” at the soldier standing by his office door.
The news on the television was just wrapping up, so it couldn’t have been that long, but Brianna was extremely disoriented, and it was obvious she wasn’t the only one. The Don blinked heavy-lidded eyes at the soldier standing there apprehensively.
“Tino’s here in Zu’s car. He’s at the back entrance. You told me not to let anyone in, but?—”
They hadn’t told the soldiers about Nova getting shot.
The Don had been very serious about no one knowing, but he made sure the guards knew to notify him the moment someone tried to get in. They were in a war situation, so his paranoia was more than normal.
With all that effort to keep the secret, the urgency was probably more than obvious to the guard when Brianna, Carina, and the Don all ran past him, even though they’d been dead to the world asleep thirty seconds before.
“Radio them to let him in,” the Don shouted at the guard, then he told Carina, “I’m grabbing backup. Have Tino park over in the garages.”
“You get them,” Carina said quickly to Brianna. “And I’ll open the garage.”
It made sense for Brianna to make the run across the property. Not that Carina couldn’t run fast, but Brianna was a professional athlete. She flew across the grounds and got there just in time to see Nova’s Bentley roll past the guard gate.
Tino stopped when she got to the car and unlocked the doors as Brianna ran up to the passenger side. Their luggage was in the front seat, and Tino shoved it down to the floorboard.
She jumped in, keeping her feet up since their bags were on the floor, and said, “The Don said take him to the garages. We’llsneak him into the basement from there. No one knows about Nova being shot.”
“Good call,” Tino agreed.
It took a second for Brianna’s eyes to adjust to what she was seeing.
Tino was wearing a designer white shirt, like one usually worn under a suit. The sleeves were pushed up, and she could see blood splattered on Tino’s arms. There was more on his forehead, like it ended up there when Tino ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes were bloodshot. His hair was a mess, and dark stubble was starting to show because he was one of those men who had to shave every single day.
Tino looked like he’d been through hell.
And the car smelled grim.
It was sort of like an emergency room, only worse, a horrible combination of stale blood, sweat, and alcohol. She wasn’t sure why it hit her like it did, but she cupped her hand to her face and turned around on instinct.
She let out a choked sound of shock.
Brianna knew Nova had been shot in the chest.
She understood there was a lot of blood.
And packing the wound made sense when she heard about it.
But the reality of it was ghastly.
Brianna tilted her head, looking at the floorboard, seeing all the bloody medical supplies that had been tossed aside: bottles of water and rubbing alcohol, a box of gloves, several empty containers of saline solution, and tons of red-soaked gauze.
Nova was bare-chested, wearing only a pair of pants that had once been white but now were drenched with blood like everything else. She couldn’t see the wound in his chest because a woman was straddling him, holding stacks of gauze to the injury. She had on a thin, blood-stained dress that left very little to the imagination, but she was still unbelievably beautiful.
Even with her wild, curly blonde hair streaked pink with blood.
