Page 36 of Waste of Worth

“Mind your business.”

Theo wasn’t letting it go that easy. “Isn’t that the same woman that was here a couple of months ago looking for a job?”

Jesus.

Dino sent up a silent prayer to God, asking for the man upstairs to cut him some fucking slack. Didn’t he have enough shit going on right now without adding his brother’s snooping to the mix? It wasn’t that Theo meant any harm—Dino was well aware of that. The bigger problem was that without even meaning to, Theo might cause both Dino and Karen problems simply by knowing there was something going on under the radar of certain people.

People like Ben.

“Mind your business,” Dino said again, firmer the second time.

Theo took a drag off his cigarette, letting the heavy smoke billow into the air before he asked, “So, is that where your time has been going lately? I didn’t know you were involved with someone.”

“I’m not.”

“I’ve never seen her before either,” Theo went on, ignoring his brother’s refusals, “except for that one time here, of course.”

“Theo—”

“She’s an … outsider?”

Dino cringed, glancing away to hide the truth. That was the one question he didn’t want asked or wondered about where Karen was concerned. “Theo, leave it alone. She’s nobody—she sure as hell doesn’t need to be somebody. Nothing is going on that you need to concern yourself with. Keep your mouth shut that you saw anything. Understand?”

Theo nodded, though he didn’t look pleased about it. “Shouldn’t keep secrets like those, Dino. Secrets don’t stay hidden for long—we both know that. Bad shit happens when people in this family keep secrets, remember?”

“For fuck’s sake, Theo—”

His brother threw his hands up, tossing his cigarette to the ground at the same time. “Nobody, I got it. See you whenever, brother.”

Dino’s gaze narrowed on his brother’s back as he watched Theo head back around the corner of the club. He wasn’t all too worried about Theo starting some kind of shit over what he saw, or what he thought he might know about Dino’s involvement with a woman outside of Outfit business and the families. Theo wasn’t the type, as far as that went.

But he had to be careful.

Especially so.

Dino climbed into his Bentley, desperately trying to ignore the headache beginning to form in his temples. If someone in the Outfit, or his asshole of an uncle, didn’t kill him first, the stress he was under would surely do the goddamn job.

Quickly, Dino got on the road, and onto the highway, pressing the gas pedal down harder, using the speed of his car and the focus it took to weave in and out of vehicles to keep his crazy thoughts and his suffocating anxiety at bay.

It seemed like his life was blackening all over again.

The edges were slowly moving in on him.

He hated that.

The one happy place he had found, the few quiet moments that never took more than he could give, was being withheld from him now.

Karen.

Dino wasn’t sure how to deal with it all, really.

It was only after Dino passed a familiar Chinese restaurant did he realize that his heart was speaking louder than his brain.

He hadn’t even driven himself home.

He wasn’t even going in the right direction.

Apparently, he was going to be apologizing to someone tonight. Although, he wasn’t quite sure how Karen would feel when he showed up on her apartment’s doorstep after their earlier showdown.