Page 84 of The Enforcer's Revenge
“Okay.” Brianna went back to work on washing him, knowing that Tino probably had a very good reason for keeping quiet. “Do you think Carmen can keep the secret?”
“I’m not worried about Carmen,” Tino whispered distantly. “She won’t talk—no way—not after all that.”
“I think that poor girl’s going to have a nervous breakdown,” Brianna whispered. “This was too much after losing Lola.”
“Maybe.” Tino stepped back and leaned against the shower stall. “I feel like I’m gonna have one, and I was just the driver.You have no idea how badly she hurt him packing that bullet wound, and he had to just lie there and take it. Thank God it was Nova. Anyone else, and we would’ve had to take him to the hospital. Talk about a fucking boss. I don’t think even I could have pulled that off, not with just rum.”
“Which part?” Brianna asked because she wasn’t sure which was worse, enduring the pain or causing it.
Tino thought about it for a second and then closed his eyes. “Either one. Jesus, Carmen’s got stugots. No wonder her father doesn’t trust her.”
Brianna leaned into Tino and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around her, squeezing her tightly, and together, the two of them stood naked in the shower for a long time.
Tino looked around the shower, as if he was just now noticing where they were, and asked, “Why’d Carina take Carmen to Carlo’s room? We should’ve been the ones using his shower. She should not be around my zio right now. You know they don’t get along.”
Brianna just looked at him rather than answer, and the truth must’ve shown on her face.
“Carina wouldn’t have taken her there if Carlo was still lying in bed. She knows Carmen has enough of her own shit to deal with,” Tino whispered in horror. “Where is he?”
Brianna bit her lip, knowing she was lucky they got this far without Tino noticing his zio was gone.
“Madonn’, Carlo didn’t come down to see Nova after he took a bullet to the chest. He’s not that fucking sad. Nova’s his best friend.” Tino tensed in her arms and pushed her back, looking at Brianna with a dark, horrified gaze. “He got out!”
Brianna thought of lying, but the truth was, if Carlo knew Nova was shot, he would’ve been the first one in that garage.
Carlo’s absence was extremely noticeable.
“It was my fault,” Brianna said quickly. “You said auito, and I took off looking for Nova’s burner phone. By the time I got back, Carlo was gone. He crawled out the window.”
“He’s been gone that long?” Tino’s voice echoed off the shower tiles. “Why didn’t you tell me when I checked in?”
Brianna threw up her hands. “What could you have done?”
He stared at her for one long moment, like he was making another life-altering decision. Then he pushed past Brianna and opened the shower door. “I have to go.”
“You can’t go!” Brianna followed him out of the shower. Both of them were dripping wet as she ran after him into Carina’s bedroom. “Baby, you haven’t slept in days! Stay and wait to see what happens with Nova. You can’t leave him.”
Tino stood there, completely naked, and looked around Carina’s bedroom, which had exactly zero of his clothes. They were across the mansion in Nova’s room, and the ones he took off certainly weren’t wearable.
Brianna stopped in front of the door, blocking it, and folded her arms. “You’ll have to hurt me to move me.”
“Get out of the way.” His voice shook with fear and exhaustion. “I’m the only one who knows Carlo’s network. There is literally no one else.”
“I think you need to rest first.”
“I can’t lose my zio! I don’t have that many people who love me!” Tino sounded frantic, one small step away from the breakdown he warned her about. “He’s not going to survive this. I know it, Bri. I know it because…” He took a long, shuddering breath and looked at her with dark eyes swimming with tears of terror. “I would do the exact same thing he’s doing right now. I’d get out, and I’d end it. If I found you on a doorstep, you think I’d let you leave me behind in this shithole of a life? You honestly believe that? You think I’d let myself get arrested after I took them out?”
Brianna opened her mouth, knowing he was telling the truth.
“Fine.” She relented and threw up her hands, hating Cosa Nostra more than ever. “You win.”
If anyone could survive with no sleep, it was Tino. They couldn’t risk losing Carlo. She loved him too, and it had already been so long, but she still hated gambling with Tino’s health and sanity like this.
“I can’t go in Carlo’s room if Carmen’s cleaning up in there.” Tino looked to the window and then turned back to Brianna with a sigh of defeat. “I need you to check and see if my zio took his boots with him. I know he keeps a spare pair here.”
“You have boots in Nova’s room.” Brianna folded her arms again. “I know you do.”
“But I need Carlo’s.” Tino flinched as he glanced away from her. “Please don’t make me say why, baby. I need you to cut me a small break tonight.”
