“What can we do for you, Mr. Karash?” he asked.
The principal smiled. “How are you, gentlemen?”
“We’re good, sir. What can we help you with?”
“Dominic is misbehaving again. This time mightily. Perhaps one of you can come and assist me?”
“No, sir, we can’t leave our post.”
“Mr. Gabrini told me which teacher was undercover, but I couldn’t remember his name.”
Reno’s man smiled. “That would be Kemper. The English teacher.”
“Oh, right. Kemper. Right.” Then Karash pulled out a revolver with a silencer on it. “That’s what I needed to know,” he said, and shot and killed both men.
Reno would have never told him who the undercover teacher was. Karash, as a boss himself, would not have told the principal either. But his men didn’t know that.
With the outside cleared, Karash headed back into the school.
His personal bodyguard, who was seated in the main office laughing with the secretary, rose to his feet. “Everything okay, sir?” he asked.
“Not really,” he said. “Call in backup.”
This surprised his bodyguard. “How many, sir?”
If Gabrini was worth his salt, Karash thought, he was going to figure this whole scheme out and come sniffing for him. Especially after his precious wife didn’t die the way he had planned for her to go. “A full house,” Karash responded to his man. His man understood what that meant.
“Oh, and Freddy,” Karash said, “there are a carful of men outside in need of assistance. Get rid of that mess, please.”
Freddy nodded. It was going down already? Karash wanted an entire detail of men at the school, and there was already casualties outside. He headed outside to do his boss’s bidding.
After Freddy left, Karash looked at his secretary. “Call Mr. Kemper,” he said to her. “Tell him I need to see him in my office right away.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And also the Gabrini children. Dominic and Sophia. Send for them to come to my office also.”
“Yes, sir,” the secretary said, and picked up her phone.
It would take only a few minutes before Kemper arrived. Karash was standing in front of his desk. But he didn’t delay. As soon as Kemper walked through the door, and closed it, Karash shot and killed him. Kemper, a young Reno operative working undercover as an English teacher, fell hard to the floor.
But it didn’t faze Karash. He was on a mission, and everything was necessary to complete the next task. Which was why he dragged Kemper’s body into the adjacent bathroom, and closed the door.
Freddy hurried into his office shortly afterwards to let him know that the detail was en route. “We’ll get rid of Reno’s men when our crew gets here.”
““Get the Suburban,” Karash said.
“Put it out front?”
“Out back.”
“Time to go, Boss?” Freddy asked.
“It’s time to go. That bitch didn’t die in that explosion. That was going to be our biggest feat. Now it’s time to execute Plan B.”
Freddy understood and hurried outside to prepare their getaway car.
And then, when Dommi, with Sophia beside him, finally entered the office, Karash told Dommi to close the door.
“What did I do?” Dommi asked.
“Just close the door, Dominic,” Karash ordered him.
Dommi closed the door, but his spirit felt troubled. “Why is my little sister here? What do you need her for? What did we do?”
“Your parents called,” Karash said. “Come here.”
Both children hurried to Karash when he mentioned their parents. “What about our parents?” Sophia asked.
“They want me to take you home,” Karash said. “They said there’s been some sort of breach, and they need me to protect you.”
“What about Daddy’s own men?” Dommi asked. “They protect us.”
“Not today, Dominic,” Karash said. “So let’s go.” He began walking toward the side exit.
“But Daddy said we aren’t supposed to just leave like this,” Dommi said.
“I’m your principal, boy,” Karash made clear. “You will do exactly as I say. Now come on! Get your sister and let’s go.”
Dommi was confused, but it was his principal, after all. How did his father expect him to disobey his principal? He took Sophia’s hand and hurried behind their principal.
Gunfire erupted as soon as they walked out of the side exit door. “What’s that?” Dommi asked, ducking and holding his sister closer.
“Enemies,” Karash said. “Get in!”
Freddy was waiting at the parked SUV. Karash got behind the wheel, and the children got in the backseat. Freddy jumped in on the passenger seat, and Karash took off. He drove, not toward the front exit, but toward a little used, little known back exit.
Reno’s Porsche was smoking as it made its way to the Biltmore. Trina was in the front seat, holding onto the door handle, and Sal and Jimmy were in the back. Their men were already at the school, but Reno arrived just behind them.
By the time Reno turned into the school’s campus, an army of his men, and an army of Sal’s men were already in a gunfight with Karash’s army of men. But Reno didn’t engage in the fight. He just sat there, at the entrance, with his foot on the brake pedal. Everybody looked at him.
“Dad, let’s go,” Jimmy said, confused. “What are you doing?”
But Trina wasn’t anxious like Jimmy. She knew Reno had a reason. “What is it, Reno?” she asked. “What are you thinking?”
“Where’s Karash? He’s the one who has our children. Where the fuck is he?”
But as Reno continued to watch the gun battle, he began to shake his head. “No,” he said. “No, no, no! This is a distraction. This is a fucking smokescreen!” And Reno grabbed his stick shift, flung it in reverse, and hit the gas. He looked through his rearview mirror as his car careened backwards until he was off campus and back on the street. And it was at that moment, when he backed out, that he saw a big Suburban SUV swerve onto the street much further down, and take off. A car, driven by one of Reno’s men, was onto him too. He raced out behind the SUV and kept up.
Reno slung his stick shift forward, and took off after the SUV also.
“That’s them, Reno?” Trina asked. She was anxious now. “Our children are in there?”
“That’s them,” Reno said firmly.
“But what if it’s not, Pop?” Jimmy asked. “What if they’re still in the school?”
“That’s them,” Sal said too. His gut was telling him exactly what Reno’s gut was telling him. And Reno floored it.
Freddy kept looking back as Reno’s man followed them. And then Karash saw Reno’s Porsche in his rearview mirror when he realized a second car was following them.
“Get him!” Karash yelled. “Get that bastard!”
Freddy grabbed his gun and hung out of the window.
But Dommi didn’t understand. “Get who?” he asked Karash. “You’re getting my daddy’s enemies?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s him,” Karash responded, rolling his eyes at the obnoxious little black boy.
His bodyguard fired a series of shots that hit the car behind them, causing it to swerve completely around, almost hitting Reno’s car, until it lost traction, sailed into the air, and came down, destroyed, in a ditch.
Reno swerved once, and then again to avoid the wreckage in the road as he continued to follow the SUV. And it was Jimmy and Sal’s call to action. On either side of the windows, they hung their bodies out and started firing.
Freddy was shot within seconds, with a precision strike from Sal, and he moved his body back into the SUV, but it was no use. He was dead. He slumped down in the front seat.
“Fuck!” Karash yelled as he saw his man go down, and picked up even more speed.
Dommi looked back, through the back window, and saw his father’s car. His eyes stretched in shock, and he looked at his principal. He reali
zed at that moment that Karash was the enemy, not the other guy. His principal was the enemy. He wasn’t taking them to their parents!
And before Karash knew what was happening, Dommi took control. “Stop this truck!” he yelled.
“Just be quiet, Dominic,” Karash said as he continued to speed along.
But Dommi had a trump card. He had reached his little hand onto the front seat and grabbed the gun of the deceased bodyguard as soon as he slumped down, and was now pointing it at Karash’s head. “Stop it now, motherfucker!” he yelled.
Karash was stunned. And he almost kept going. Until Dommi cocked that gun like he aimed to use it.
Karash stopped the vehicle.
Reno drove up beside them. When he saw that Dommi had a gun to Karash’s head, and therefore had control of the vehicle, he stopped the car and they all got out.
While Trina and Jimmy grabbed Dommi and Sophia, Reno dragged Karash out of the front seat and began beating him down. Sal and Jimmy kicked and stomped him. And Reno grabbed his gun and began pistol whipping him. Trina turned the children’s faces, and hurried them away. When she saw that another car, containing Reno’s men, had arrived, she piled the children into the Porsche, and waited for their father.
By the time Reno finished with Karash, he was not only dead, but unrecognizable. Reno could barely stand he was breathing so hard.
“Let’s go, Pop,” Jimmy said, taking him by the arm. “Let’s go home.”
Reno stomped on Karash one last time when he thought about how this piece of trash tried to kill his wife, and then allowed his son to escort him to his waiting family.
EPILOGUE
Reno and Trina walked through their casino in Monte Carlo, or Monte-Carl as tourists called it, like two star-struck lovers enjoying a much-needed vacation on the French Riviera. And it was much-needed. Although they were in town specifically for the grand opening of the PaLargio Monte Carlo, they were also on a grand getaway from that ultra-busy life they led in Vegas. Sal and Gemma had the children, Jimmy was taking care of his little Maddie, and life was finally back on track for Reno and Trina, and things were looking good.
And it was looking even better in Monte-Carl, as not only their hotel, but their casino was packed to capacity. So packed, and with so much energy, that Reno grabbed Trina’s hand midway through the night and decided to take a stroll along the grounds just to get away from the congestion.
Once they made it outside, they both laughed. “You could barely turn around in that place,” Reno said excitedly as they walked. “Did you see that? It was unreal. I’m talking wall to wall people, Tree!”
Trina knew he was proud beyond measure, like a kid at Christmas, and she was super-proud of him. “Congratulations, Reno,” she said with a heartfelt smile. “You deserve this, and so much more.”
“Thanks, babe.” He kissed her on the lips. “It’s been a long time coming. And it’s going to be even greater when the family gets here.”
The entire family, from all of the Gabrinis to all of the Sinatras, were due in town in a couple of days to help celebrate the grand opening. But Reno needed to get away ahead of time to ensure the logistics were properly in place, and to give his wife a break too. And what a break it was. Trina felt as if she was walking on air, when all she was doing was walking beside Reno. She wrapped her arm around his waist, and he, eagerly wrapped his arm around hers.
But as the talk died down from crowd sizes to just a quiet stroll and taking-in of the breathtaking views along the French Riviera, Reno could sense a shift in Trina. Her depression had returned. She still hadn’t agreed to further talks with Tony Sinatra. And although there had been closure from the trauma she suffered in Florida with the death of Garry Marshall and the end of Karash, aka Guiseppe Partanna, that didn’t change the fact for Reno that Trina still wasn’t herself. The old Trina would be back for long periods of time, but then, when all was quiet, or just peaceful even, the old Trina would slip away.
But Reno knew he couldn’t force the issue. Tony assured him, in a conversation just the other day, that in time she would come around and tell him everything. He had to give her time.
But what Reno didn’t know, as they took their stroll in the warm night air, was that Trina was ready to talk. She’d been ready for some time. And tonight, she’d already decided, would be the night.
But as the night wore on, and Reno’s excitement level was through the roof, she didn’t have the heart. Reno was too carefree. She hadn’t seen him this unabashedly happy, and unburdened, in years. She couldn’t ruin that.
The next day, when they decided to take a drive to Beausoleil, along the Agel Mountains, just to get away from the bustle of Monte Carlo, Trina was laughing at some fart joke Reno was telling, and just blurted it out.
“That’s why when people fart,” Reno said, “they try to make it the best-kept secret in their world. They pretend it wasn’t them. They walk away from the smell. They even look at some complete innocent bystander and pretend they were the source of the malodorous intruder. Best-kept secret my ass. It’s crazy.”
“All secrets are crazy,” Trina said. “Including mine.”
And there it was. Trina had a secret. Reno heard her say those words, but his heart began to hammer. What did those words mean?
He looked at her. They were in the backseat of a chauffeur-driven car, on a winding road. It was a windy, but beautiful day. Trina, Reno thought, in her pastel colors, looked angelic. But was this secret she’d been harboring just the opposite? “What are you telling me, Katrina?” he asked her.
Trina knew Reno was scared when he called her by her proper name. And she was not going to prolong his agony. “I’ve been keeping something from you. And I hate that I have, but I have.”
“Just tell me, Trina, please. What is it?” Had she had an affair? Did she want out of their marriage? Was she no longer in love with him?
And Trina stopped convincing herself that she could never tell him, and just told him. “I’m pregnant, Reno,” she said.
Reno’s heart dropped. He stared at her. She stared at him. That terrified look in his eyes was the very reason she did not ever want him to know.
“I’m so sorry, Reno,” she said. “I was still taking birth control, but somehow I slipped up. I would have never planned this. I know how devastating this news was going to be for you. I know how the last thing we needed is to bring another child into our fucked up world. I know that. And if I could change it, I would. But I can’t do that. I’m pregnant. It is what it is.”
But Reno was still staring at her. His heart couldn’t stop pounding. “Who?” he asked her in a voice so breathless that Trina barely heard him.
“I don’t know yet,” she said. “I haven’t had an ultrasound yet. I’ll get that when I’m about four-and-a-half to five months.” Then she realized Reno wasn’t talking about that, which left her even more confused. “What do you mean who?” she asked him.
“Who’s the father, Tree? You know what I mean!”
Trina couldn’t believe it. “Who’s the father? What kind of question is that? You’re the father, Reno!”
Now Reno was confused. “I’m the father?”
“Yes! What do you think I’m nuts? I haven’t been with anybody else. You know that!”
“Then why did you keep it a secret? If I’m the father, why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“Because you told me we couldn’t bring any more children into this world. You told me it’ll kill you if you had to worry about yet another child in this crazy world. Remember that, Reno? You said it’ll kill you.”
Tears were in Trina’s eyes. “I know what you go through day in and day out. You try to keep all of that pressure from me, but I know what you’re going through. Between all of your businesses, and all of that other underworld crap you have to deal with, and me and Dommi and Sophie and Jimmy, it’s too much, Reno. And here comes my stupid ass forgetting to take the pill. Now I’m pregnant again.”
But Reno was s
miling. He was elated. He was over-the-moon.
Trina was shocked. “Reno?” she asked.
“Oh, Tree,” Reno said. “Oh, baby!” And he pulled her into his arms.
Trina wanted to be elated too. But she pulled back from Reno. Her face, beautiful but puzzled, told the story. “But how could you be happy about it?” she asked. “You said---”
“I know what I said,” Reno said. “And yes, if I were to be honest, it is a tough pill to swallow. I wasn’t counting on having any more children. But, baby, I’m thrilled too.”
Trina smiled. “You are?”
“Oh, yes! You’re going to have my baby? The woman I love more than life itself is going to be a mother to another one of my children? You bet your ass I’m happy! But you know what I’m most happy about?”
Trina couldn’t stop smiling either. “What, darling?” she asked.
“That you’re okay. That you don’t want to leave me. That you still love me. That you kept this news from me because you didn’t want to burden me. So you carried the burden alone. Oh, Tree.” He shook his head. “You’ll never know what that means to me.” And he wrapped her in a big, bear hug.
Trina wrapped him in a bear hug too. Because he would never know what his reaction meant to her. She thought it would take him over the edge. Another child in this world? Another Gabrini to be despised and hated and hunted just because of his or her last name? And Reno would stay up nights with yet another flesh and blood child to worry about. But he was taking it in stride. He understood mistakes happened, but that their child would not be labeled that way. He was actually, genuinely happy.
And Trina was happy too. She would have preferred a different outcome when she finally willed herself to take that pregnancy test, but she was going to embrace it too. Finally.
Reno pulled back from her. “We’re going to have a baby, Tree. A baby! We get to get it right this time.”
Reno Gabrini: When His Woman Cries Page 15
