Star-Crossed(27)

“You’re my problem.” Romeo grabbed his wallet off the dresser and checked to make sure all his credit cards were still in place because he didn’t trust them. “You skeeve me on a good day.”

“We just helped you out, and this is how you repay us? That’s some shit.”

“You’ll be all right,” Romeo said dismissively. “Can I get dressed without you fanooks watching me?”

“He’s pissed off at me, not you,” Nova said as he walked out of the bathroom. “Go watch TV in the other room.”

“Whatever, man,” Carlo said, rolling off the other side of the mattress. “Still sore

’bout losing. I get it.”

“I guess,” Gino reluctantly agreed. “It was painful to watch. Talk about taking one for the team.”

Romeo turned and gave Nova a look that clearly said he was about to give Gino and Carlo something painful to watch if they didn’t shut up about the fight. Nova just shook his head in response, silently holding up his hand, expecting Romeo to obey him, which skeeved worse than anything.

The words were on the tip of his tongue, something cutting that’d probably get him into a fight, and Romeo welcomed it. He could take Gino and Carlo two on one with his right hand tied behind his back. Without a .45, those two weren’t nearly as 70



tough as they looked, and he would have started in on them if their private conversation hadn’t stopped him cold.

Gino mumbled under his breath in Italian to Carlo something that essentially translated into the gruesome desire to watch Frankie finally take Romeo out, which in itself was a barbless threat because Nova and Tino’s father had been promising to kill Romeo since he was teenager. It was Carlo’s nervous glance back at Nova as they walked out the door, and the whispered reminder to Gino that made Romeo’s heart sink.

“Frankie’s not capo bastone anymore, and even if he was, Romeo’s a big earner now. I’d shut my mouth.”

The last bit was said over the click of the bedroom door closing, leaving Romeo alone with Nova and Tino. He stood there in horror, digesting the information. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think past that one dreaded title—capo bastone .

Nova shook his head, looking disgusted. “Fucking idiots.”

“So tell me, Nova,” Romeo finally asked when he found his voice. “Who is capo bastone if Frankie got demoted, and how the fuck does that happen if he’s not dead?

What the hell sorta immoral, illegal shit did you do for the old man to make that go down?”

“Rome, come on—” Nova started, looking everywhere but where Romeo stood glaring at him. “What does it matter?”

“It matters to me.” Romeo gestured to himself wildly, the fury and heartbreak colliding inside his chest, making him desperate to lash out and break something. “God didn’t give you that brain to use it for this bullshit. You have a gift, a friggin’ God-given gift, and you’re using it for what? For Frankie? For Aldo? He demoted his own son.

That’s insane! He’d stab you in the fucking back in a heartbeat.”

“Like hell,” Tino interjected. “He runs everything by Nova. He depends on him.

Every capo’s gotta go through him.”

Nova groaned. “Don’t help, Tino.”





71

Romeo turned around to glare at Tino, who was sitting in the middle of the bed cross-legged, looking like he wanted to start something on Nova’s behalf. “You’re not even real grandsons to him. In the eyes of the Catholic Church you’re both bastards, and nothing’s changing it now.”

“What the fuck are you?” Tino snapped. “At least our father knows if we’re still alive or not.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s such a fucking bonus,” Romeo said sarcastically before something close to a sob burst from the center of his chest as he stared down at his baby brother. “Why are you always hanging with Gino and Carlo? I know you’re doing the dirty work with them now.”

Tino shook his head quickly, but the denial seemed trapped in his throat.

“Don’t lie to me,” Romeo whispered in anguish. “Have you killed for that bastard? He’s already taken Nova’s brain and my goddamn heart; has he stolen your innocence? Has he taken away everything that made you Tino?” Tino’s shoulders slumped. “Why are you looking at me all of a sudden?”

“I already know he’s a lost cause.” Romeo pointed blindly to Nova. “But I still have hope for you. God gave you gifts too, and I would rather die than see you waste your life working for those bastards.”