The Enforcer (Untamed Hearts Book 3) (42 page)

“Strunzu—” Carlo started cautiously.

Rationally, Nova knew it wasn’t his mother’s four-year-old baby out there missing, but to him it felt the exact same, because it
was
the same to Nova. Little Tino was every bit as real to him as sixteen-year-old Tino.

“I’m okay,” Nova lied and turned back to the mirror to run his hands through his hair one more time before the gel fully dried. “Let’s do this.”

* * * *

“Where the fuck is Rosie? Where’s my cousin?”

The voice echoed from behind the closed door. Nova frowned as he stood outside the meeting room.

“What’s in the briefcase?” Monte asked next to him.

“Shh,” Nova said quickly and leaned in to hear past the thick wood door.

The guards outside watched him do it, but no one said anything.

“You got the Moretti kid! I know you fucking got him! Move the fuck over, Lupo. We’re sitting next to Moretti, and I want Marcell and this cuntface to sit right there. That’s where I want them. Move, Lombardis! Give them your seats, ’cause I wanna fucking watch!”

“We’re not moving. This is my seat. I’m keeping it.”

“Where’s Rosie, then? Tell me where my cousin is, and you can keep the fucking seat. You called this meeting, Marcell. We all know it’s you.”

“Me. No. I called this meeting the second I found out. It
wasn’t
me.”

“Lorenzo, you motherfucker, is Rosie dead?”

There was a deafening silence in the room, and Nova looked to Carlo, who mouthed,
Savios
.

“He brought you as a sacrificial lamb. I hope you know that, Lorenzo. I’m just gonna sit here and watch, and I’m gonna fucking enjoy it.”

Nova’s heartbeat was thundering in his ears, because he realized the Savios knew if Tino was alive or dead. A part of him wanted to run away from the reality, but he opened the door instead.

Everyone paused, even though there was the hassle of changing seats. Dante De Luca was already sitting. Young for a capo bastone, his entire body seemed tense as he looked across the table at the Brambinos.

He pointed to the empty seats next to Enzo Brambino, the Brambino Borgata’s capo bastone. “Right there, motherfuckers. That’s where the Savios sit now.”

“Is my brother dead?” Nova directed the question at the Savios. His hands were shaking again, and his voice cracked but he couldn’t help it.

“I’m a made man,” Lorenzo started.

“Shut up,” Marcell Mazza, long-standing consigliere for the Savios, growled at Lorenzo before he asked, “Where’s Aldo?”

“IS MY BROTHER DEAD?” Nova shouted at the room.

“No.” Marcell shook his head. “He’s fine. A little bruised, but fine. We have him, but he did fuck a made man’s wife. He fucked a lotta wives—” Marcell looked pointedly around the table. “That’s a death offense. Lorenzo could’ve killed him. We didn’t outta respect. Your brother’s not made. He’s not protected. We could’ve killed him immediately, but we’re taking it to the commission instead. That’s why we called the meeting.”

“Are you shitting me right now?” Nova asked them incredulously. “He’s sixteen. Those fuckers were selling him”—he pointed at Enzo Brambino—“and your wives were buying him. You cannot possibly be serious.”

“I don’t have a wife, but—” Dante De Luca shrugged and then glanced to the thick, angry-looking enforcer standing behind him. “Were any of our houses raided, Sergio?”

Sergio shook his head, his dark gaze narrowed at the Brambinos. “No, Zu.”

“De Lucas take care of our shit,” Dante said to the table. “Ours wives don’t rent kids. If his brother doesn’t get a pass—”

“He’s getting a pass,” Nova said before Dante could finish, because this was honestly a problem he hadn’t considered, and Nova had spent three days thinking of every possible problem. “They’ve been blackmailing him for years. They made him believe they would kill our brother in prison if he didn’t go along with their fucked-up shit. Maybe they would’ve killed Romeo. They break all the other pacts. They manipulated a kid to humiliate the Morettis because they know our dicks are bigger than theirs, and the only way they could get back at us was to screw a twelve-year-old!”

The table was quiet again, as everyone but Nova, Carlo, and Monte took their seats in uncomfortable silence. Nova just stood there looking at them. “Is it funny to you that the Brambinos took one of our kids and used his last name to humiliate us? Because you may not be laughing when you hear everything I have to say.”

“He’s sixteen.” Enzo narrowed light eyes at Nova. “He’s old enough to make his own decisions. There’s no proof he was working for us—”

“Working?” Nova repeated in disbelief. “Is that what we’re calling it?”

“Working,” Enzo repeated without hesitating. “He fucked Lorenzo’s wife. That’s a death offense. If we give this Moretti a pass, we’re gonna have to give all the Morettis a pass, and there’s proof right in front of us that the Morettis fuck anything they can get their hands on.”

“Who we fuck is our business,” Monte snapped at him.

“No, it’s
our
business. You make it our business all the time.” Enzo held up his hands at Nova and Carlo as proof. “What the fuck is this kid doing here, anyway?”

“He holds the official consigliere spot. He’s taking Aldo’s commission seat.” Monte said it without flinching.

“Ouch.” Enzo grinned and pulled back. “That one hurts, huh, Monte?”

“Not at all. He’s smarter than everyone at this table, and we all know it.” Monte gestured to the seat across from Enzo. “Zu.”

Nova’s pulse was still thundering, but he sat down and set his briefcase next to him before he asked, “Does anyone else agree with the Brambinos?”

Two more hands went up, and Nova just stared at the Viteris and the Lombardis in shock. “You’re voting to ice my brother? He’s a victim.”

“We have to fucking look at him,” Matteo Lombardis growled. “Raid our houses in the middle of the night. Humiliate us. Yeah, I’m voting to ice him.”

“It’s not like he’s gonna go away.” George Mario, the consigliere for the Viteris, shrugged. “Obviously, Morettis don’t have an issue with cushioning their administration with dirty blood. You’re asking us to give him a pass when God knows how many goodfellas, legitimate made men, have to look at him and know he fucked their wives. No. That’s bullshit. That’s an insult to anyone who took the oath. The Morettis aren’t that fucking special. You don’t get that. If it was any other family, he’d already be dead.”

Nova looked away, swallowing hard for one long moment, knowing he was going to lose his fucking mind in about two seconds.

There was a tic in his jaw from how hard he was clenching his teeth.

Dante De Luca stepped on Nova’s foot, jerking him out of his mental rage.

Then Dante leaned against the table, folding his arms and tilting his head to look at Lorenzo across the table. “So basically, my cousin and now his brother die ’cause you can’t get the fucking job done. Pezzo di merda, you’re not worth that.”

“My brother’s not dying,” Nova assured all of them. “We’re not gonna accept the vote. The Brambinos have manipulated all of you to stand against us.”

“Four against one. Cry all you want; there’s no debating that.” Enzo shook his head with an amused smile. “Go home, little boy. You can’t take all of us.”

“Two,” Dante reminded them and then finished his earlier statement, “If his brother doesn’t get a pass, it’s us against the rest of you. Still seems lopsided, but the problem is—”

“We’re the most powerful Borgatas,” Nova finished for him, unable to believe the stroke of luck. The De Lucas weren’t a natural enemy of the Morettis like the Brambinos, but they weren’t particularly friendly either. The De Lucas were formidable, but they were also very self-contained. While the Morettis worked with many facets of the underworld, the De Lucas deliberately kept to themselves, but Nova had to point out to the table, “Combined, the De Lucas and the Morettis have five times more disposable income than the rest of you, and more importantly—”

“We outnumber you,” Dante said slowly, raising his eyebrows like he enjoyed it. “You have four votes on this council. We only have two, but trust me, we could trim down the north end of this commission real fucking fast. We know what you think of us, but Siciliani started Cosa Nostra. This isn’t your thing. It’s our fucking thing. We tolerate you, but we can fucking end it for you.” Dante turned to Nova when everyone had fallen silent. “I think they’d like to hear a counteroffer.”

Nova looked around the table, searching for the right counteroffer. He instinctively looked back to Carlo, whose eyes were wide in horror like he hadn’t expected Tino’s potential execution to be an issue either.

Especially since Carlo would rightfully be the one to carry it out.

If a decision came down from the commission, their Borgata had the right to take care of it rather than leave it to the Savios, who might make Tino’s death more unpleasant than it needed to be.

Carlo looked like he might be sick.

He spent his entire life on the outskirts of their world.

Barely associating with other members of Cosa Nostra because anyone could end up being voted on at this table.

The only ones Carlo was ever guilty of letting in were Tino and Nova.

Carlo broke the rules.

He wasn’t supposed to have
any
friends.

Which really was a horrible existence when so much about Cosa Nostra revolved around banding together.

“We’ll make him an enforcer,” Nova decided, seeing Carlo blanch but ignoring it as he turned back to the table. “Give him a pass, and we’ll make my brother an enforcer. He won’t socialize with anyone whose wife he might have fucked. And if they do have to socialize with him, they’ve got bigger problems.”

“You’re gonna make a sixteen-year-old kid an enforcer?” Enzo laughed. “That’s insulting. Almost as insulting as letting an eighteen-year-old sit on the commission.” He gestured to Nova. “This one hasn’t even made his bones. He could be a rat for all we know.”

Nova snorted at that, because he was fairly certain everyone knew he’d been running the largest drug crew in New York City for the Moretti Borgata. Still, it was an oversight that he hadn’t made his bones.

He just hadn’t had time to kill anyone yet.

Nor the inclination.

But it was an absolute requirement to be on the commission. He had to complete a hit to prove he wasn’t a mole for the government.

No federal officer was going to blow out someone’s brains to save a case.

“It’s not really your business, Brambino. We can make anyone we want an enforcer.” Nova held up his hands and decided to ignore the bones issue. “But if anyone is interested, my brother
is
capable of holding that position. He’s been muscle on my crew for a long time. He’s a black belt. An extremely talented one.”

“Big fucking deal.” Maso, the Brambino enforcer, said from behind Enzo. “Your brother’s sitting in this cunt’s basement.” He gestured to Lorenzo. “He can’t be that goddamn capable.”

Nova turned back to Carlo, expecting him to defend Tino, because the enforcers did have their own code, one the rest of them weren’t a part of.

Instead Carlo still looked pale, and he shook his head slowly. “No.”

“They’re going to kill him,” Nova said quickly in Italian, even though most of the men at this table understood at least some Italian and most spoke it fluently. “Carlo.”

Carlo opened his mouth but couldn’t seem to find the words. Finally he said, “I’m sorry. I can’t, Nova.”

“Zu!” Nova corrected him. “And you better!”

“Let him choose,” Sergio, the De Luca enforcer, suggested to Carlo, sounding surprisingly understanding. “If he doesn’t want it—”

“I’ll do it.” Carlo choked on the words. “That’s our right.” He looked to the Savios. “Let me speak to Tino. Alone. If he doesn’t agree, I have the right to do it.”

Nova just stared at him in horror.

“I’ll agree with that.” Enzo nodded. “You speak to him. Alone. Without his brother there. If he doesn’t agree, you ice him. Today. So we can put this nastiness behind us.”

Nova opened his mouth, stunned speechless.

Dante stepped on his foot again, and when Nova didn’t respond, Dante snapped, “Say yes. That’s as close to a pass as you’re gonna get.”

Nova shook his head.

“Say yes,” Monte said from Nova’s other side. “No one wants a war.”

“Yeah, Moretti, say yes,” Enzo Brambino agreed from across the table with a smug smile.

Nova stared at him, and something horrible clicked into place.

“You know my brother,” Nova whispered in horror. “That’s why your name was next to your wife’s on the client list. You watch, don’t you?”

Enzo gave Nova a dark smile. “Let’s just say I suspect your brother’s more of a lover than a fighter.”

“Say yes,” Dante said next to him again and stepped on his foot once more.

Nova’s stomach lurched as everything in him opposed it, but still he said, “Yes. We agree.”

“Okay.” Enzo held up his hands. “Are we done?”

Nova’s stomach was churning.

He felt like he was going to be sick all over this table, but one way or the other, he owed Tino this, so he said, “No,” and reached down to grab his briefcase. “We’re not done.” He placed it on the table and clicked the locks. “I have several other issues. First, we’re going to discuss the retribution owed to our Borgata from the Brambinos.”

“Are you fucked?” Enzo growled.

“You sold my brother,” Nova reminded him. “You profited off him. Our children are supposed to be protected from
your trade
. That was a deal inked a long time ago.”

“That is true,” Dante agreed.

“He’s not a child of Cosa Nostra.” Enzo shrugged. “He’s outside it. Not that there’s proof, because there isn’t.”

Nova pulled out all the printed e-mails he’d gotten off Mary’s computer. “I have several discussions right here between Mary and—”

“Mary is your problem,” Enzo interrupted him. “If Mary is guilty of something, that’s a Moretti issue now.”

“E-mails between Mary and Carmine,” Nova finished as he threw the papers on the table. “Not only were they discussing business via e-mail, which everyone knows is forbidden, but there are several e-mails where the humiliation of the Moretti Borgata is discussed with obvious amusement. While Tino is not technically protected, though he certainly was used for our name, you’ll also see the discussions over Carina, Don Moretti’s only legitimate granddaughter, who
is
protected. I believe the reason Tino continued to do what he did was because they threatened to sell his sister once our brother Romeo got a release date.”