Page 68 of Worth of Waste

Let them make of it what they wanted to.

Dino didn’t care.

The sun was just barely peeking over the horizon when Dino pulled his car into the garage of his new house. He still didn’t feel very attached to the place, and that feeling was only exacerbated by the fact he knew it would be empty because he’d left the most important parts of home way across the city.

It was strange, really.

He tried not to dwell on it.

Karen had been excited to see him the night before, earlier than what he had promised to be there. He’d shown up in enough time to help put their son to bed, but he wasn’t able to stay long enough that morning to be there for when Junior woke up.

Work never really ended for a Capo.

Dino cut the engine to his Bentley and eyed the cherry-red Stingray parked in the second stall of his garage, curiosity and irritation churning in his gut.

Apparently, Theo had come to visit.

His house wouldn’t be empty, after all.

Dino wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He’d been hoping for a bit of a quiet time before he had to travel back across the city for tribute to pay the boss his monthly dues, but it seemed that wouldn’t be the case if Theo was inside.

He’d given his younger brother the passcodes to the house’s security system if he needed to use it for whatever reason, but mostly for emergency situations.

Theo had a hard time understanding what constituted an emergency.

Dino found his brother perched on the island in the kitchen, an apple in one hand and Dino’s stack of mail in the other. Theo barely passed his brother a glance as Dino entered the kitchen and went for the fridge, instead continuing to flip through the mail, occasionally opening something if it looked interesting enough.

“Pretty sure that’s a federal offense,” Dino said under his breath as he looked for a beer.

It was too early to be drinking, but he didn’t give a shit.

It was also too damn early to get in some kind of emotional argument with his brother, but it always happened whenever Theo showed up.

“Pretty sure you would just keeping adding to the pile until it rotted through your table,” Theo replied just as unaffected. “Do you even pay your bills when they come in, or do you just let them sit there until collectors ring your phone off the hook?”

“Online banking. I don’t need papers to tell me what the bank already knows.”

Theo didn’t respond to that.

Dino popped the top off the beer and took a seat at the head of his table. It allowed his back to be at the wall, while at the same time, allowing him to face his brother. He’d purposefully set up the kitchen that way, knowing there might come a time when he would need to break bread in this very room with people he would never turn his back to.

“What are you doing here?” Dino asked.

“I can’t visit?”

“Not when you’ve had your head shoved so far up Ben’s ass lately that you can’t see anything but shit.”

At that, Theo did look to his brother, a hint of anger flashing in his familiar brown gaze. Their eyes were unmistakable—DeLuca eyes, that same brown with gold flecks surrounding the pupil. And when they got angry, that brown damn near turned to a flat black.

“Are we just ignoring the fact you left me hanging in the wind for a whole year and a half without so much as a fucking phone call, then?” Theo asked.

Dino rested back in his chair, never taking his gaze away from his brother. “That’s your problem? Your feelings are hurt because I didn’t give you a call while I was in lockup?”

Theo’s brow furrowed and he glanced away. “I thought …”

“What?”

“I thought we were getting better before you—you know what, never mind.” Theo pushed down from the island, his boots snapping hard against the tile. “It doesn’t matter what I thought, Dino.”