Everybody ran like roaches, including the cops, while Reno, instead, lifted up the police tape and ran as fast as he could toward the backside of the restaurant.
Reno made it along the side of the restaurant without detection. To his shock, there was such a massive hole through the side of the building that he was able to just step into the restaurant as if the hole was a big door. And what he saw when he stepped in, blew his mind. Tables were ripped apart. Chairs were ripped apart. Food and dishes and napkins and glasses were broken or shredded or flung all over the room.
And he smelled dead bodies. He didn’t see any yet, but he smelled them. And Reno, a man who’d seen it all and did it all himself, was nauseous.
But all he could think about was Trina. He had to get to Trina! He walked further into the heart of the restaurant, into an area that appeared to be near the kitchen.
Although the fire had been contained by the fire department, and firemen and cops were still rescuing people from under all kinds of thrown debris, the smoke was still billowing and remained the main problem. Reno removed his suit coat and covered his nose and mouth with the coat as he made his way through the debris. His heart was pounding. Any time Trina was involved in some tragedy, it was as if he could hardly control his desperation to find her, to hold her, to make sure she was okay. He hated the feeling! He would have thought, after all of these years, he’d be able to control it. But he couldn’t. He still had the palpitations of a very scared man whenever she was in danger.
He saw bodies on the floor the further he walked into the restaurant. Some of the people were alive, many appeared dead. This was where the bomb apparently blew. Reno had to step over dead people to make his way around the kitchen, around a corner, and then into the dining hall. Although many people were injured in the dining hall, and the fire fighters and paramedics appeared to be focused more on them than the dead bodies in the other room, it was still a lot of carnage.
Reno scanned the room like a man scanning the ocean for a lifeboat. And when he finally spotted Trina, being helped up by two men, his heart leaped with joy. He ran to her. “Trina!” he yelled breathlessly.
When Trina heard Reno’s voice, she turned in his direction. She still had ringing in her ears from the loudness of the blast, but she’d know his voice anywhere. And when she saw his face, she ran to him. She ran away from Wayne and Roger, who had been helping her up, and collapsed in Reno’s arms.
CHAPTER FIVE
Thirteen-year-old Dominic Gabrini, Junior wasn’t about to sit through a lecture by a substitute teacher without mischief in his pocket. Besides, other kids were talking and ignoring her, too. Why should he miss out on the fun? That was when he decided to pull the ponytail of Moesha, the chubby black girl who sat directly in front of him, once again.
“Stop, boy!” Moesha said admonishingly as she turned around toward him. But she was smiling. Which meant, in Dommi’s eyes, that he had permission to proceed again.
So he pulled her hair again. And she turned around admonishing him, with a smile, again. This continued for several rounds. When finally, another girl who liked Dommi just like Moesha did, but would never let him know, had had enough.
She sat beside Moesha and turned toward that rascal Dominic. “Why don’t you leave her alone?” she asked him with a frown on her narrow white face.
“Why don’t you mind your own business?” Dommi asked her, with a scowl on his face. And Dommi pulled Moesha’s hair again, laughingly, until it prompted her to admonish him while smiling at him, too. They had a thing going.
But it disturbed Moesha’s friend mightily. She finally let Dommi have it. “Why are you bothering her?” she asked him. “You know you don’t even like Mo. She’s fat and ugly and black as tar. Why are you bothering with somebody like her?”
Moesha looked at the girl she thought was her friend with sadness in her eyes, and Dommi’s heart dropped. How could she be so cruel to a sweetheart like Mo? Dommi had to make this right!
“She’s prettier than your ugly ass will ever be,” Dommi fired back. “She has a big heart and a sweet spirit and she makes you look like a pile of --”
“Dominic Gabrini!” the substitute teacher yelled, as she looked around for the student with that name. An office assistant had just entered the classroom and handed her the name on an office request form.
Dommi looked at the sub. “Ma’am?”
“Go to the office.”
Dommi frowned. “What did I do?”
“Get your things.”
“What did I do?”
“Just do it, son,” the sub insisted, and Dommi gathered up his things.
But it wasn’t until he walked into the office and saw his kid sister Sophie and his father’s cousin, whom the kids called their uncle, standing there, did his heart stop pounding.
“Uncle Sal!” he said with a big smile on his face as he raced from the entrance into the school’s main office, to Sal’s side. “What are you doing here?”
Sal was signing both Dommi and Sophie out of school, which required an elaborate process of written explanation, while the new principal, Mr. Lasko, and a teacher, Miss Epstein, looked on. Sal glanced over at Dommi. He was a handsome biracial kid, with big, hazel eyes like his mother, thick, curly hair that he preferred cut short, and a Roman nose and lips like his old man. But what separated Dommi from any other kid his age was his strength of will, his outsized personality, and his fearlessness. “Did you get your homework, too? This teacher claims you don’t do your homework.”
“Yes, I do,” Dommi said. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”
Before Sal could correct Dommi, the teacher, a tall, thin woman, responded. “You see what I mean, Mr. Gabrini? This is what we have to put up with every single day. Of course I know what I’m talking about. I’m his homeroom teacher. I get a progress report from every one of his teachers every single week.”
But Dommi wasn’t thinking about that teacher. He was thinking about his family. He saw the two beefy men standing guard at the front office entrance. Those were Uncle Sal’s men. “Mommy and Daddy alright?” he asked Sal.
“Yes,” Sal said as he continued to fill out the two-page early release form.
“What about Jimmy Mack and Uncle Tommy?” Dommi asked.
“They’re okay, too.”
“And my baby brother Carmine?”
“He’s my baby brother, too,” Sophie said.
Sal glanced at her and smiled. She was a gorgeous biracial kid, too, with piercing eyes and a calm, intelligent demeanor. She was the apple of Reno’s eye, and Sal understood why. “You tell him, kid,” he said with a grin.
But Dommi ignored his sister. He needed an answer. “Carmine’s okay, too?” he asked again.
“He’s okay, Dommi,” Sal said. “He’s okay.”
“And Auntie Gemma and Auntie Grace?” Dommi asked.
“Oh, for crying out loud, Dom,” Sal said. “Yes! They’re fine.” He looked at his young relative. “Stop worrying so much!”
Dommi felt exposed. In truth, he was a major worrier when it came to his family. But he never wanted the world to know it. Especially Miss Epstein, his dreadful homeroom teacher. “Who’s worrying?” he asked Sal. “I see the bodyguards. That usually means trouble. Who’s worrying?”
The kid wasn’t lying, Sal thought, as he continued to fill out the last section of the forms.
“Who’s worrying?” Dommi asked again.
“You are,” Miss Epstein responded. “His family is the only thing he seems to care about. Everybody else can go to the dogs for all he cares! He does something outrageous on a daily basis to get on everybody’s nerves.”
Sal glanced at the teacher. “You mean like you’re getting on my nerves?”
Sophie smiled. Dommi laughed.
“You see?” Miss Epstein said, pointing at Dommi. “This is what we have to put up with. He does not seem to understand that his behavior is wrong.”
“Okay, lady, I get i
t,” Sal said.
“Did I tell you he plays too much with the girls in this school and get into far too many verbal altercations with the boys?”
“Yes.”
“Did I tell you he never does his homework?”
“You told me.” Sal finally finished filling out the forms and began signing the bottom of the last page.
“Did I tell you he’s been rude, at one time or another, to every single teacher in this school?”
Sal tossed the pen on top of the forms and looked at the teacher. He was beyond irritated. “Look, lady, you told me. I get it already. You don’t like him. He’s rude. But if you keep bugging me about shit I can’t do shit about right now then I’m going to put my foot up your ass and show you what rude really looks like!”
The principal was shocked. The teacher was mortified. She placed her hand over her heart. Dommi felt vindicated. “You tell her, Uncle Sal!” he proclaimed.
But Sal was irritated with Dommi, too. He slapped him upside his head. “Shut the fuck up!” he said to Dommi. He knew everything that teacher told him was the truth. “Get the fuck to the car,” he added as he grabbed his shades, his phone, and Sophie’s hand, and began leaving the main office.
Dommi, still reeling from his uncle’s hard hit, but thrilled nonetheless to be leaving the school, led the way.
The teacher looked at the principal as the two beefy bodyguards blanketed the family. “He just threatened me,” she said. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I wanna live,” the principal responded.
Miss Epstein shook her head as she watched Sal leave with the two children and his bodyguards. “It’s a shame,” she said, “that everybody is so afraid of those people. Those Gabrini children don’t stand a chance with a family like that.”
“And their parents just had another kid,” the principal said.
Miss Epstein was shocked. “I know! Isn’t it awful? We’ve got to do something. We’ve got to get those kids away from that family.”
But the principal looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. “What do you mean we, Miss Epstein? This school wants no part of any crusade of yours. You know better than that.”
But then again, the principal thought, Epstein had just gotten on the nerves of Sal Gabrini, a man reputed to be a mob boss. She didn’t know a damn thing.
CHAPTER SIX
Terrorists strike Vegas! Kal’s restaurant in the crosshairs!
Sal changed the channel.
The wife of casino owner Reno Gabrini, the man often heralded as the most powerful man in Vegas, among those at the restaurant when the bomb blew. Katrina Gabrini, Mr. Gabrini’s wife, reportedly unharmed. But who committed this heinous crime? Who came to our great city and--
Sal changed the channel.
… a suspicious middle-eastern man reportedly leaving the restaurant at the time of the blast. Unclear if he was involved.
Those were the news reports blaring from the television screen when Jimmy Mack Gabrini entered his parents’ penthouse. Dommi and Sophie broke away from Sal and Gemma and ran to their big brother. Jimmy lifted Sophie up in his arms.
“Where’s Mom and Dad?” Dommi wanted to know. “Uncle Sal says they should have been here by now. We saw the pictures on the TV. That restaurant was blown to bits!”
“Where’s Mommy and Daddy?” Sophie asked anxiously, too.
Jimmy hated that his young siblings had to be a part of this drama, but he also knew that shielding them from their family life would be a bigger mistake. “They’re on their way,” he said. “Mom had to give a statement to the cops before they would let them leave.”
“And she wasn’t hurt at all, Jimmy?” Gemma asked. She was holding a sleeping Carmine, but she’d been looking at the breaking news on television all afternoon. “After watching the condition of that restaurant, I still can’t believe anybody got out of that place alive.”
“I know. I couldn’t believe it either, Auntie,” Jimmy replied as he walked further into the home. Sal was slumped down on the sofa. Gemma was seated in a chair holding Carmine. “That’s why I had to go and see for myself.”
“And you saw her?” Dommi asked as he followed his brother.
“I saw her with my own two eyes, yes, Dommi,” Jimmy replied. He knew how his brother worried, although he’d never admit it. Jimmy sat next to Sal, with Sophie still on his lap. “She’s still shook up,” he added, after he sat down, “but she’s fine.”
“Thank God,” Dommi said. “When I saw that video on TV, and how that restaurant looked, I just knew Mom was a goner for sure!”
Sal laughed. “What your little slick ass knows about a goner?” he asked.
Dommi smiled. “I know what I know,” he replied the way he figured his father would have, and Sal laughed again.
“Where’s Lucky?” Jimmy asked Sal and Gemma. Lucky was their baby boy.
“He’s asleep in the nursery,” Gemma said. “Which is where I’m going to be putting this little one soon. But I figured Trina would want to hold him first.”
Jimmy nodded. That was Aunt Gemma. Always thoughtful. “Maddie is out of town with Val and her father. I called and spoke to them.” Maddie was Jimmy’s young daughter. Val was his ex-wife.
“They’re alright then?” Sal asked.
“They’re good. But what did Pop say happened, Uncle Sal, when you guys got on the scene?”
Sal found that odd that he wouldn’t have asked Reno. “You were there. You didn’t talk to him?”
“He was with Ma. You know how protective he gets when she goes through something. He wouldn’t let her out of his sight, and the cops wouldn’t let me inside the tape where they were. But he gave me the thumbs up sign.”
“The TV is saying it was a terrorist attack,” Sal said. “Twelve people died.”
“Geez,” Jimmy said. “I didn’t know it was that many.”
“But what your old man is saying,” Sal continued, “and whether or not he agrees with what they’re saying? I don’t know that yet.”
“Uncle Tommy called,” Jimmy said. Thanks to Sal’s recommendation, Jimmy now worked for Tommy Gabrini as a senior VP in the Las Vegas office of Tommy’s Gabrini Corporation. He now wore suits and ties regularly and looked the part of a corporate big wig, as Sal never missed an opportunity to remind everybody. Few people thought Jimmy had it in him. But Sal did. “He said he’s on his way.”
“Uncle Mick’s coming, too,” Sal said.
Everybody, including Dommi, were surprised. “Uncle Mick?” Jimmy asked.
Gemma looked at her husband, surprised too. “Wow, babe. If Mick Sinatra is getting on his private plane and coming all this way to Vegas, that must mean this is more than what they’re saying on television.”
“It’s how we have to react,” Sal said. “When bombs and shit like that goes off around us, we have to assume it’s about us. Not about any fucking terrorists. Us. Uncle Mick and my brother Tommy are making that assumption.”
“I’ll bet Dad’s making it, too,” Dommi said. “I’ll bet you any amount of money he’s making it, too.”
Then, less than a half an hour later, the front door opened and Reno and Trina walked in.
As soon as Dommi and Sophie saw their parents, they took off. Jimmy rose up, too, and hurried to them.
“I’m alright,” Trina said as Dommi and Sophie wrapped their arms around her. She knelt down to them. “I’m okay.”
“You promise?” Sophie asked.
“I promise,” Trina said.
“Come on, let her sit down,” Reno said as he helped Trina back up. “She’s alright.”
“That restaurant was blown to bits, Ma,” Dommi said. “How did you live through something like that?”
“Only by the grace of God, baby,” Trina said as she hugged both of her children and allowed Reno to escort her to the sofa. “Hey, Jimmy,” she added.
“You look great, considering,” Jimmy said with a relieved smile.
“Thanks, Jim
,” Trina said as Reno helped her to the sofa. Trina smiled when she saw Gemma. “When did you get here?” she asked as she sat next to Sal.
“A good while now,” Gemma said, as she rose and handed the baby to Trina.
Trina smiled at Carmine. “There’s my gorgeous sweetheart.”
“That’s Whining Boy right there,” Dommi said. “Sweetheart my ass.”
Sal laughed. Reno slapped Dommi upside his head and then sat next to Trina.
Trina looked at Gemma. “Reno told me you showed up in the nick of time.”
“Yes, I did. I was on a rescue mission.”
“A rescue mission?”
“I had to rescue your baby from our husbands.”
Trina was confused. “What do you mean?”
“They had the baby hanging over the commode to change him.”
Jimmy laughed.
“And then Reno was getting ready to feed the baby hot dogs.”
Jimmy laughed harder.
“Hot dogs?” Dommi asked. “Even I know better than that!”
“What are you talking you know better?” Reno asked. “Every kid I’ve ever known loves hot dogs.”
“Not this kid,” Dommi said. “They make me fart.” Then Dommi looked at his father. “But you can’t give hot dogs to a tiny little baby like Carmine, Daddy.” Then he stared at Reno. “You do know that, right?”
“Tell me you’re joking,” Trina said to Gemma. “Hot dogs? Please tell me you are not serious at all.”
“I’m serious,” Gemma said. “I kid you not.”
Trina frowned and looked at her husband. “Reno! I told you time and again to only feed my baby the bottle and Nanny and I will do the rest. Didn’t I tell you that?”
“I tried the bottle. He didn’t want that. That wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted food, I was hungry too. So I figure why the hell not?”
“Because the baby can choke, Daddy,” Dommi said. “He doesn’t even have no teeth. You can’t eat hot dogs without teeth.”
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