Page 48 of Waste of Worth

His whole damn life was the problem.

Theo should understand, but he wasn’t like Dino. He’d never been like his brother.

Dino took care of them all, watching out for his siblings even when it was to the detriment of his own self. He’d never once expected them to look out for him.

That was his job.

“Just … do what I said,” Dino told his brother one last time. “And next week, lay low. You could use the break, right? I’ve put a lot on you. Take a break.”

That would keep Theo out of harm’s way.

Surely.

He heard Theo’s confirmation behind him, but he was already walking away.

FOR the next week, Dino bounced from business to business, never staying in one place for very long. During the daytime hours, he’d make use of one of the back offices in his three restaurants, and later in the evening, he’d travel to the strip club to close out his day.

As time passed, without Ben’s warning coming to any kind of fruition, Dino started to get paranoid. It was unlike his uncle to sit so long on his anger without some kind of action.

It didn’t bode well for Dino.

That, or Ben was simply waiting for when Dino was not looking over his shoulder.

The fact that Dino was an adult—a grown man capable of making his own decisions—did not factor to Ben at all. His uncle’s only goal where his family was concerned was the same goal it had always been: to control.

Ben controlled his family by whatever means necessary.

Usually, by violence and fear.

Dino had grown accustomed to the lessons his uncle provided over the years. He was never surprised to walk out of his office or apartment to find a man with a baseball bat waiting before waking up confused and bloody.

It was why he didn’t understand the lack of action now.

Ben wouldn’t stand for disobedience of any sort—certainly not a refusal of his wants.

Dino had done that, and blatantly so.

To his uncle, he’d probably earned whatever was coming.

He just didn’t understand why it hadn’t come yet.

“You okay?”

Dino’s head popped up at Karen’s soft voice. Leaning against the brick wall of the restaurant’s alleyway, he’d found a quiet place to think. He took a final drag from his cigarette, and then tossed it to the wet pavement, giving Karen a fleeting smile.

“Fine. Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

Karen cocked a brow at him. “I do get breaks, don’t I?”

Dino chuckled. “You know you do.”

“Well, I’m using this one to check on you. You’ve been quiet today.”

“I’m always quiet, Karen.”

“True, but you talk to me.”

She had him there.