“This is Valerie,” she said.
“He stayed out all night,” the voice on the other end responded.
“He didn’t go home at all?”
“Not at all. Now it’s Friday night and you know how busy that place can be.”
“Very busy.” Val was willing to appease until she found out how much. It had to be worth it to her. They offered a measly ten thousand when they first propositioned her, but she made the case that given who she was dealing with, it would only be worth the risk if they were willing to pay ten times that offer. Now she wanted to see just how serious they were. She’d seen with her own two eyes how Reno and Trina’s marriage was on the rocks. It would be easy, she felt, to get Trina on her side. But the money had to be right.
“His wife has been working at the PaLargio all day, instead of her clothing store,” the voice on the other end said. “Perfect opportunity for you to strike.”
“You want me to go there?”
“Yes. Go tonight.”
“And are we in agreement on my compensation?”
“The hundred-thousand you requested is agreeable. Fifty will be deposited into your bank account within the next ten minutes. The second half when you complete the task. Any questions?”
“Yes,” Val said. “What’s the end game?”
“Excuse me?”
Val knew she was treading on thin ice, given that she’d never met the person she was agreeing to do business with. And given that it was nasty, underhanded business. But she had to ask. “What will success look like for you?” she asked him.
“You are asking the wrong question,” he responded. “Success for you is the question. And success for you is doing what you are paid to do, and never reveal our interaction. Not ever. If they trace your money, and they will, you will not admit that we had this arrangement. You will insist it was from a big, secretive real estate deal you closed. Understood?”
“Yes. I understand.”
“If you choose to talk, then, as I informed you earlier, Valerie, it will be a decision you will regret.”
Val’s heart sank. She knew she was dabbling on the dark side. But she needed a way out. The real estate market was cratering in Vegas, and her love life was nowhere. Jimmy’s little child support checks were barely enough for her to live on, and the judge refused to consider his father’s wealth. He would only look at what Jimmy actually earned working for his father. When Val tried to tell the judge that his father was purposely depressing his wages so that he wouldn’t have to give her more money, her request for additional child support was denied. Jimmy had joint custody of their little girl. The baby was with him as much as with her. She’d better be grateful, the judge said, that he was willing to pay her anything at all.
But that didn’t help her situation one iota. Because she needed the money. A hundred-thousand-dollar payday would tie her over nicely. It would be the easiest money she ever made.
“Don’t worry,” she said. “My lips are sealed.”
Reno grabbed the Mexican and flung him against the wall. “Stealing from me like I’m some fucking sucker?” He grabbed him by the collar and flung him again. “Stealing from me?”
“I did not steal, senor. I swear!”
“Motherfucking liar!” Reno flung him away from the wall.
Luigi Spanelli, Reno’s security chief, and Bo Jackson were among the men in the basement of the PaLargio, known as the Bowels, with Reno. And Luigi took their perp and slammed him back down in the chair. “Tell Mr. Gabrini the truth,” he warned. “Nobody’s fucking with you!”
“You have the wrong man,” the perp looked over at Luigi and said. Then he looked at Reno. “They have the wrong man, senor. I tell them they have the wrong man!”
“Where’s my money?” Reno asked. “Fuck that shit. Where’s my fucking money?”
“I did not steal your money.”
“Stop saying that,” Bo said. “You did steal it. We have you on tape. You stole three-hundred thousand from Mr. Gabrini.”
“Now either you produce the money,” Luigi said, “or you die. Those are your options.”
The Mexican retained his innocence, again and again, and Reno observed him. He saw the beads of sweat above his lip. He saw the twitch in his eye. He knew when a man was desperate, and he knew when a man was a liar. The Mexican was a lot of both.
“What’s your name?”
“Pedro. Pedro Montoya.”
“Who do you work for, Pedro?” Reno asked.
“Nobody. I work for nobody.”
Reno lifted his expensive shoe and kicked Pedro in his chest. Pedro fell over the chair, and onto the hard floor. “Who do you work for?” Reno asked him again.
The Mexican was torn. Reno could see it in his eyes. He knocked the overturned chair away, and was about to go in for the kill. But Pedro gave in. “A cartel,” he said. “But I don’t know who the boss is.”
Reno frowned. “A cartel? Out of Mexico?”
“Out of San Antone. The guy will be here next week.”
“What for?”
“To give me my new assignment.”
Bo was confused. “What does that mean? What new assignment?”
“What I’m to do next,” Pedro said. “He pays me and gives me my new assignment.”
“How many assignments have you had?” Bo asked.
“Five so far,” the Mexican responded.
Reno stared at him. “Five? At other casinos?”
“Only your casinos, Senor. So far.”
Reno couldn’t believe it. Luigi and Bo couldn’t either. They looked at their boss.
But Reno was still staring at their prisoner. “Only my casinos? Why?”
“They don’t tell me that. They pay me. They give me a new assignment. I do what they say.”
“This cartel?” Luigi asked. “Is it all Mexicans?”
“They don’t tell me that. The man I deal with is American. A black man. He gives me my assignments.”
“And he’s coming to Vegas next week?”
“Si, senor. I deposit all the winnings, and he comes and gives me my cut, and my next assignment.”
“You deposit these winnings?”
“Si, senor.”
“Where?” Bo asked.
“Into a bank in Mexico.”
Reno frowned. “You had my banker deposit your winnings?”
The Mexican nodded. “Si.”
Reno shook his head. “Great. I’m paying these fuckers top dollar to get all the bugs out, and they forget the biggest bug of all.” He looked at Bo before continuing. “Money transport.”
Bo was stunned too. “I’ll get on it, Boss. I promise you that.”
“How long has this been going on?” Reno asked the Mexican.
“Two months for me,” Pedro responded.
Bo looked at Reno. “That’s right around the time we started having cash flow issues, Boss.”
Reno knew it too. “Are you the only one running this scam,” he asked, “or do they have other cons too?”
“I don’t know, senor. I do what they tell me to do. I don’t know if they tell others.”
Reno needed to know the full reach of the scam. “Do they keep a guy on you,” he asked, “to make sure you do what you’re told?”
“No, senor. As long as they get their money, they have no problem with me.”
It must be a big, far-reaching operation, Reno thought, for them to be willing to risk it that way. Reno looked at Bo. “Trace that deposit,” he said. “I want names and places. Who withdrew it. When and where. And I want it fast.”
“Yes, sir,” Bo said.
“And I want an additional detail at every one of my casinos. I want them especially looking for Mexicans or blacks, but nobody’s off the table. I want them to report any and all large deposits. I want them to report any strange activity. No dismissals this time. Everything’s suspicious.”
“Will do, Boss,” Bo responded. “And this guy?”
“Keep him
here just like I kept your ass here when you were pulling that shit. Then let me know when this meeting takes place.”
“You’ll be there?”
Reno hated when his employees asked about his next moves. Bo quickly realized his error. “I’ll get right on it, Boss,” he said.
And Reno left. Luigi walked out in the corridor with him, closing the door behind them. He looked at Reno. “You think he’s telling the truth, Boss, or is he full of it?”
“We’ll find out. We started having shortfalls at all of our casinos two months ago. So it’s the same timeline he just gave us. We work from the proposition that there’s truth to it.”
“I agree,” Luigi said. “Why they’re fucking around with us like this is the question, though. They had to know we’d catch onto their little scheme eventually. Bo said it was too easy, like they wanted to be caught.”
This intrigued Reno. He thought about it. Then he looked at Luigi. “Put a man on Jackson,” he said. “Make sure that fucker isn’t in on this shit, too.”
Luigi liked the way Reno thought. “Like you said,” he said, “nobody’s off the table.”
And Reno left. The idea that some cartel was stealing from him on a larger scale than anybody may have ever attempted, angered him. But time would tell.
“Gotta work tonight, Jimmy?”
Jimmy looked up from his paperwork. He was in his office on the back side of the casino, reviewing timesheets. Sam, his newest pit boss and only female hire, had just walked in. She handed him a slip. “Say again?” he asked her.
“Gotta work tonight?”
He was looking at the slip she’d just handed him. “It’s Friday night. I’ll be working all night. What’s this?”
“I need next Wednesday off. I know it’s short notice.”
“You’ll have to find somebody willing to take your place. If not, I can’t approve it.”
“Got cha,” Sam said. Then she tossed her blonde hair and started rubbing the curls that were now over the front of her shoulder. “I’m sure I’ll find somebody.”
Jimmy smiled. She really was a pretty girl. “I’m sure you will too.”
Then Sam hesitated.
“Anything else?” Jimmy asked.
“I’ll be home all day Saturday.” She glanced down, at her own big breasts. “Why don’t you come over?”
And instead of waiting for Jimmy to respond, she walked back to her station.
Jimmy watched her leave, and smiled. He just might pay her a visit after all. His old man hated mixing business with pleasure. He despised it. But Jimmy had no such problem. It was all the same to him.
Sam glanced back, with a smile, and Jimmy smiled too.
CHAPTER FIVE
Trina sat on the front edge of her desk, folded her arms, and stared at Valerie Gabrini. Her soon-to-be ex-daughter-in-law was a piece of work on any given day, but this little bombshell she just dropped was really rich even for her.
“Reno raped you?” Trina’s voice couldn’t hide her incredulity.
Val sat in front of Trina, with a walking cane by her side. “I absolutely hate coming to you with this kind of news. I know it’s distressing. But yes, ma’am, he did. He raped me.”
Trina continued to stare at Val. She was so tired of these females and their lies she didn’t know what to do. The idea of Reno doing anything to Val was ludicrous on its face to Trina. Just ridiculous! But she maintained her cool. She knew she had to. “When?” she asked.
“Late last night. He left the PaLargio and came over to my place.”
Reno didn’t come home at all last night. He said it was because of various issues in some of his lounges. Although Trina hated when he stayed out like that, she understood it and believed whatever reason he told her. Now Val was attempting to throw all of his credibility out the window based on the fact that he didn’t come home. A fact Jimmy could have easily mentioned to her in passing.
“He stayed most of the night with me,” Val continued.
“And raped you?” Trina asked.
“That’s right.”
“It took all night, did it?”
“Most of the night, yes,” Val said. “That’s why I have to use this cane.” She held it up, and then sat it back down beside her. “He did me repeatedly. And you know how big he is. I am so sore, Trina. I can barely walk!”
Trina wanted to roll her eyes. Girl, bye, she wanted to say with emphasis. But she didn’t. She sat there, and let her have her say.
“I know it’s tough to hear,” Val admitted. “I know how much you love Reno. But I’m telling you the truth. You need to believe what I’m telling you. All those rumors about Reno aren’t all lies.”
“Maybe not,” Trina said. “I’m not with him twenty-four-seven. I don’t know what shit he’s doing all the time. All of those rumors may not be lies. But what you’re telling me right now is a lie. A lowdown, dirty lie.”
Val’s demeanor changed. And she became angry. “Why would I lie on him, Trina? Think about it! Why would I lie?”
“You couldn’t give that shit away to Reno,” Trina said with equal venom, “but now you expect me to believe he had to take it to get it?”
Val seemed shocked by her doubt. Although she and Jimmy were going through a divorce, and the Gabrinis weren’t as accepting of her as they used to be, she expected more sympathy from her mother-in-law. “He did take it!” she decried. “I’m not lying to you, Trina. And I will not stay silent. That’s what they want us women to do. But I’m not doing it. I’m going straight to the cops if he doesn’t . . .”
Trina looked sidelong at her. “If he doesn’t what?” she asked. Wait for it, she said to herself.
“I’ll go to the police if he doesn’t admit the truth and compensate me for what he put me through,” Val said.
And Trina nodded. There it was. And it was all about the Benjamins. “Compensate you?” she asked. “You mean you want him to pay your ass for lying on him?”
“I’m not lying, Trina!” Val proclaimed again. Then she frowned. “Why do you always take his side? Why? Reno’s no saint. He sleeps with so many women, all over this town, and you’re the only one who pretends it’s not true. He raped me. Your husband raped me!”
Trina was on the verge of beating the shit out of Val. She needed money, and this was how she tried to extract it? By lying on a man who’d been nothing but good to her, even when she didn’t deserve his kindness? But Trina maintained her composure, and pressed her desk intercom button.
Her secretary answered. “Yes, ma’am?”
“Get in touch with my husband,” she ordered, “and tell him to come to my office. Tell him I need him now.”
“Yes, ma’am,” her secretary said. And Trina released the button.
Val looked at her. She knew she had a limited amount of time. She knew she had to convince Trina to at least consider the possibility before that hurricane called Reno came into the office. “You remember when you were in Florida,” she said, “and Reno told you how I came onto him?”
Trina didn’t respond, but she remembered the incident.
“That was a lie too,” Val said. “He came onto me. He kissed me and sucked my breasts and even forced me to give him head, Trina. I was so ashamed! I didn’t say anything because I was afraid of what he would do to me. But that’s really what happened.”
“You aren’t afraid of what he’s going to do to you now?” Trina asked her.
Val didn’t expect that comeback. But she was ready. “I’m not afraid now, no,” she said boldly. “Because he knows he raped me. He told me he wanted me. He told me that after he divorces your sorry ass and I divorce Jimmy, I was going to be his woman. He said he despised everything about you. He said your stuff used to be tight and good. Now it’s not even interesting. He said he’s tired of you and those fast-ass kids you’re raising. He wants out.”
Trina couldn’t believe it. “What did you say?”
Val inwardly smiled. She knew she’d hit a nerve with Trina if
she mentioned her kids. “He said he was tired of you, Dommi and Sophie. He said they’re too grown for his taste. He can’t stand them.”
Trina lost it. She’d taken Val’s bullshit for too many years. She took it and she took it. She put up with her unhealthy obsession with Reno. She put up with her mistreatment of Jimmy. But to lie on Reno in such a blatant way, and to drag their children into her lie, was more than Trina was willing to put up with. This girl needed to be taught a lesson. And Trina was about to be her teacher.
She grabbed that cane Val claimed she needed for support and began beating her down. Val was screaming and trying to get out of the office, but Trina kept pulling her back and beating on her. All of the executive offices in the PaLargio were soundproof, so that Val’s screams of help went unheeded. She was on her own, and she knew it.
“Who do you think you’re dealing with?” Trina angrily asked as she beat her. “We aren’t no fucking Huxtables! We’re the Gabrinis! We don’t take shit from anybody! And nobody’s lying on my husband with that kind of accusation, and dragging my children into her web of lies, and expect no retribution from me. Real talk, bitch. You must be out of your fucking mind!”
“We’re two black women,” Val cried. “How can you do this to another sistah?”
Trina couldn’t believe it. She was so taken aback that she momentarily stopped striking Val. “Oh, we’re sistahs now? All those times you were trying to bang my husband, what were we then Val? Hun? Why didn’t you play the sisterhood card then? I’ll tell you why. Because for sistahs like you, it doesn’t exist! It’s all about you and what you want, and what you need!” And Trina continued to beat her down even harder. “That’s over. Your days of tormenting my family are over, Val!”
“I won’t do it,” Val cried. “I won’t go to the police. I swear!”
“Go to the police?” Trina couldn’t believe she’d even consider it. “If you try that shit, this beat down will be a love tap compared to what will happen to your ass!”
The door to Trina’s office flew open, and Reno hurried in. When Trina’s secretary phoned and said Trina needed him now, he flew onto that elevator. And when he saw what was happening, he quickly closed and locked the door behind him. He was astonished. Val was on the floor, bloodied and battered, and Trina was beating her down with a cane in her hand.
Reno Gabrini: When His Woman Cries Page 3
