“But you’ve got it wrong,” Rodney said, searching for anything to buy them time. “Sal doesn’t love us. You saw how he hated us when you were at our home in Indiana.”
“I saw how hurt he was when you kicked him out. He loves you. And even if he didn’t, Gemma loves you. He’ll be devastated enough. His stupid ass killed her whole family. Oh, yeah. It’ll be more than enough torment for Sal Gabrini. He killed my sister. I’m going to show him what that feels like to those of us left behind.”
“Why do you keep saying he killed your sister?” Rodney was looking around, for something to grab. “What do you mean by that? He killed Chelsey. You said so yourself. He killed my daughter, not your sister. That police report proved Sal was lying.”
“He killed Karen! I got one of my numerous, devoted lovers to rig that police report and to file it too, so if Sal went snooping he’d be convinced it was the official report. He killed my sister, not your daughter. But you believed me, didn’t you? You didn’t even know me. All I had to say was that I was a close friend of Chelsey’s and you believed me over your own son-in-law.”
Then Jonnell began to cry. “Everybody forgets about her. He killed her that day. She wasn’t going to stab his brother, that was a lie and he knows it! Karen couldn’t hurt anybody. But Sal killed her. Now he’s going to feel what I felt. His in-laws first, and then his precious wife. It’s his time to mourn!”
And Jonnell pointed her gun at the Joneses ready to use it. But Rodney jumped in front of his wife and tried to lunge at Jonnell.
All Cassie heard was the sound of the horrific gunshot. It was so loud her eardrums shook.
Gemma was upstairs, still in bed, but she heard it too. She jumped out of bed in a state of panic. She was naked so she grabbed Sal’s dress shirt that had been discarded on the floor. But more importantly, she grabbed the gun he kept in the nightstand drawer and hurried downstairs, throwing on the shirt as she hurried.
When she arrived downstairs, she was stunned. Her mother was on the sofa in the living room, her father was seated next to her, holding her, and Sal was standing near the entrance with a still-smoking gun in his hand. Reno and Tommy and Jimmy with their security people ran in behind him. And the woman Gemma remembered from her parent’s home, the woman who claimed to be a close friend of Chelsey’s, was shot dead on the floor. Gemma was scared and confused that she looked at Sal again, for comfort.
Reno moved out from behind Sal, but as soon as he saw Gemma, her shirt unbuttoned, her beautiful breasts and womanhood exposed, he blurted out wow before he could stop himself. But then he quickly looked away, inwardly cursing himself for being so gotdamn sexualized, even at a time like this, and then he took the smoking gun from Sal.
Sal went to Gemma. All he could think about was the guilt he would have been unable to live with had this turned out differently. But as he came toward her, she ran to him. Because all she could think about was him, and how happy she was that he, her man, had saved the day once again.
When they met, Sal removed the gun from her, sat it down, closed his big shirt she wore, and then pulled her into his arms. He almost lost her again. He could hardly believe it.
“You all right?” he asked her as he held her.
“I’m fine,” she responded. “Are you alright?”
Sal couldn’t lie. “No,” he said honestly, his eyes squeezed shut, his heart still pounding too hard. All of the killings and the near-misses and the agony and despair were getting the best of him right now. And he needed her to understand. “I’m not alright.”
Gemma held him tighter. She understood.
Then Cassie broke away from her husband and hurried to Sal. Rodney, still traumatized by what almost happened to his wife, hurried behind her.
“Sal,” Cassie said.
Sal and Gemma stopped embracing. They looked at her. Sal looked so distraught that even Rodney felt sorry for him.
“You saved our lives,” Cassie said. “We brought that evil into this home and it nearly took us away from here. But you saved us, Sal. You saved us again. Thank-you,” she said, and hugged his neck. Sal hugged her back. Gemma fought back tears.
When they stopped hugging, Rodney extended his hand. Sal didn’t have to shake it. After the way he had been treated, Rodney would not have blamed him. But Sal shook it. Gemma knew he would. That was the kind of man Sal was.
And then Sal threw his arms around his father-in-law and they hugged too. Gemma and Cassie joined in and the four of them, the Jones-Gabrini family unit, group-hugged and cried.
Tommy was so relieved he fell against the door. And prayed that their unit stayed together.
Reno was pleased too, but he was also pissed. It had largely been his men guarding Sal’s house. His men had fucked up. “Now,” he said to them as they huddled around the open front door, “which one of you motherfuckers allowed that woman to come into this house without clearing it with me, Sal, or Tommy first?”
Everybody started looking around, with nobody willing to take the fall. Until Jimmy Mack, to their shock, stepped forward. “I did, Dad,” he said.
Although Reno knew, and every one of his men knew that Jimmy Mack did no such thing, Reno was proud of him for standing up and shouldering the blame anyway. It was a sign of leadership, a sign he had been desperate to see in Jimmy for quite some time. “Don’t let it happen again,” he said to his son, “or next time, you’ll be joining Jonnell Keith on the scrapheap.”
Jimmy nodded. “Yes, sir,” he responded, and all of the men, grateful to Jimmy beyond measure because they knew what Reno, what all of those Gabrinis were capable of, headed back to their posts.
And the Jones-Gabrini clan continued to hug. They didn’t seem ready, willing, or able to let each other go.
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Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5 Page 18
