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.”
Nova gestured to the stacks of printed e-mails as proof.
“You can read them, but the CliffsNotes version was they were going to kidnap our don’s only granddaughter and sell her to the highest bidder. We would never have known what happened to her, and maybe they would’ve succeeded, because fuck knows they got a whole shitload of kids enslaved by them who’ve somehow disappeared from society.”
Nova reached into his suitcase again and tossed a handful of pictures onto the table.
“I want you to look at these pictures.” Nova slammed his hand on top of them. “These are some of the children being sold by the Brambinos.” He picked up a picture of a boy with dark, curly hair. “This is Jorge Brambino.” He tossed the picture aside and picked up another one. “This is Helga Brambino.” He picked up another picture, this one of a girl who was six on her last birthday. “This is Jamie Brambino.” He leaned over and put the little girl’s picture in front of Enzo pointedly. “Her father made her to sell her!”
Enzo shrugged without shame. “She came from my balls. I can sell her if I want.”
Nova couldn’t help it; he grabbed the picture and shoved it in Enzo’s face, slamming his palm against Enzo’s nose so hard a crack sounded. Maso, the Brambino enforcer, pulled his gun out and pointed it out Nova.
“I don’t think so,” Carlo said from behind him, and Nova turned to see Carlo had his gun out too.
So did Sergio, the De Luca enforcer next to him.