“Yeah, I feel better now,” Dante said when the rest of the commission was still silent. “I’ll ride with you, Moretti.”
“Fine,” Nova agreed. His heart was still thundering, and way in the back of his mind behind the throbbing fear over Tino, he realized he’d just killed a man in front of a dozen witnesses. Any one of whom could flip to the feds and send Nova to prison for life, but it was fucking done now, so he found his briefcase where he’d left it and brushed at his suit again. “You coming, Monte?”
Monte was still standing there, staring at Lorenzo’s dead body. He shook his head slowly and said, “I was gonna wrap things up here.”
“Whatever,” Nova said dismissively and started walking toward the stairs to the back entrance, knowing Monte didn’t want to be there if Tino ended up dead.
The same couldn’t be said for Dante De Luca. He followed after Nova, only stopping to call out, “Help them clean that up, Serg. It’s the least we can fucking do.”
“Yeah, sure, Zu,” Sergio agreed like it was nothing. “Call me.”
Dante waved at him, and together he and Nova walked out the back door toward Tino’s fate. They took the Moretti limo, and Dante was quiet as Nova used hand sanitizer to clean off his hands and then brushed his face against his suit sleeve again to get the last of Lorenzo Campelli off him.
“Who was the other picture?” Dante asked when Nova had resorted to staring out the window, trying to keep himself from breaking down in front of this mafia underboss who was a temporary ally for now, and the most dangerous of potential enemies the rest of the time.
“Don’t worry about it.” Nova continued to stare out the window as he bit the inside of his cheek to keep from losing it over Tino. “It doesn’t matter.”
“I’m worried about it. Who is it, Moretti?”
“I’m having a bad fucking day, De Luca,” Nova growled at him, his voice still shaking in fury as he turned back to glare at him. “Back off!”
“Yeah.” Dante looked to the ceiling thoughtfully and then shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I had your back. I threw my weight behind an eighteen-year-old kid. I know you think you’re smart—”
Nova snorted and looked away at that.
“And you made a helluva first impression with the Lorenzo shit. Very old-school. Very Siciliano,” Dante went on as he stretched out in the seat across from Nova, making room for his long legs. “But you’re still green, and it’s obvious. Now, we can be friends, or I can turn into a real asshole. Your choice.”
Nova looked back to Dante, knowing he would much rather deal with the De Lucas as allies.
So Nova put his suitcase on his lap and said, “Fine.”
He opened it and pulled out the picture he’d put back at the last second in the commission meeting and handed it to Dante.
Dante looked at the image and then flipped it over, studying the back, which was blank. “What’s his name?”
Nova looked out the window again. “Anthony.”
“Looks like a big guy. How old is he?”
“Eighteen.”
Nova glanced back to see Dante staring at the picture before he asked, “He’s a De Luca, isn’t he?”
“Hard to miss a De Luca,” Nova had to agree. “Probably why you fucking followed me.”
Dante kept staring at the picture. “Who’s his father? I mean, it’s pretty obvious, and I know my pop, but—”
“He’s your brother,” Nova finally decided to admit, as Anthony De Luca’s secrets became another casualty to Cosa Nostra politics.
“Jesus, Moretti.” Dante looked at Nova, completely thunderstruck. “Why didn’t you use this? You know I would’ve voted different. Now there’s a fucking peace treaty. As long as the Brambinos pay—”
“I dunno.” Nova shrugged. “You De Lucas, you’re a little too intense about merda. I figured you wouldn’t appreciate all your business hanging out on the table. You had my back, so I pulled it.”
Dante nodded, still looking at the picture, before he lifted his head and asked, “Who made more, your brother or my brother?”
“Really?” Nova asked in disbelief. “You just found out you have a brother, and that’s what matters to you? That pisses me off, De Luca.”
“I’m just curious. I’m gathering all the information. If we’re putting price tags on names.”
“It’s more than the name.” Nova felt his stomach churn even as he said it. “There’s a lotta disturbing variables.”
“So?”
“Your brother made more.” Nova looked out the window again, because he didn’t want to fucking deal with this anymore. “He made more than all of them. He was their top earner. Congratulations. De Lucas win.”
“No shit?” Dante said distantly. “He looks like me.”
“Yup, weird how that happens,” Nova agreed. “I guess if you ever get tired of being capo bastone, you got other options.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
The fucking aspirin made Brianna fade out.
Now it was just Tino in a basement.
Throat swollen because the cup of water that came with the aspirin hadn’t been enough. All it really did was take Brianna away, but his heartbeat still pounded in his ears. His shoulder was on fire.
To say nothing of his leg.