“That’s what I call impressive,” said pretty Lisa McBride, the least talkative of the young ladies.
“Who knew girls loved trucks this much,” Barry Nagarta whispered in Grace’s ear. He was not only Grace’s chief accountant, but was one of her closest friends. Like Grace, he had never heard of SLS either. He decided to come, he told her, to add some testosterone to the room.
“It’s not that we love trucks,” said Karma. “We love success. And the fact that a black woman owns Trammel Trucking, a big company like that, is amazing to us! We’re in college trying to get ahead. We don’t just want a job when we get out, we want to make a difference. That’s what SLS is supposed to be about. Our backgrounds are poor. We weren’t around titans of industry or even people in high positions in industry when we were growing up. At SLS we get to have mentors in those kind of positions. And to have Mrs. Gabrini here, a woman who owns a major corporation? It’s a big deal. You have to understand where we come from.”
“But dear, I know exactly where you come from,” Barry pointed out. “When I first came to America, I lived in the inner city too. I know exactly what you’re saying. I am just as impressed with Grace as you guys are.”
“For her to start out as a secretary,” Karma continued, “just blows my mind. She went from secretary to owner. That’s saying something right there.”
“I didn’t do it by myself,” Grace was quick to point out. “Far from it. Many people helped me along the way, beginning with my father. And including my husband.”
“Men, in other words,” Karma said.
Grace looked at her. “In my case, yes,” she said. “But what you have to do is put yourselves in a position to receive that help when it comes. Work harder than everybody else, get a great education, play by the rules.”
“But isn’t it always true that the cut throats always win?” Lisa asked her.
Grace smiled. “Not at all,” she said. “Why would you think such a thing? Cutting corners and lying and cheating is a prescription to fail, not to succeed.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Karma said, her pretty smile lighting up her pretty face. “It catches up with you in the end. God sees to that!”
Although Karma was saying the right words, Grace sensed that they were only words to her. She sensed Karma was one of those overly ambitious brownnosers, a young woman who would go along as long as it got her where she was going, and would say or perhaps even do whatever she had to say or do to make it happen.
“Am I right, Mrs. Gabrini?” Karma asked. “Unethical behavior never ever wins.”
“If you do what you’re supposed to do,” Grace said, speaking more to the attentive group than to the loudest voice in that group, “then there’s nothing to be unethical about. You play by the rules and everything will come together for you. I promise you that.”
As Grace continued to inspire the young people inside the hotel’s ballroom, Tommy drove up outside. He had just left Diamante’s, he had just seen his former lover executed, and was still feeling the sting.
Not that such level of violence was new to him. Dealing in dirt was a part of his stock and trade. But it was the uncertainty that concerned him. Was that bullet on-target for Shelby, or off-target for him? His men were doing all they could. He had every available one on the case. But he didn’t have a major standing army, like his kid brother and reputed mob boss Sal Gabrini had. Nor did he have the army his best friend and cousin Reno Gabrini, who owned a hotel and casino on the Vegas Strip, had at his disposal.
But Gabrini Capital started out as the Gabrini Corporation, mainly a security firm early on, and over time he began hiring only those men who had underworld ties. He hired only those men who were willing to go there. Because he was a Gabrini. Because Reno’s father, Paulo Gabrini, had been a mobster from way back. Because his own father had been as crooked a cop as they came. Because Mick Sinatra, his uncle, was one of the most vicious and feared mob bosses in the country. Tommy had enemies wrapped up in a bow and waiting for him even before he had a chance to make his own. Then he made his own.
He got out of his Ferrari and made his way toward the entrance. He had phoned ahead so that Grace’s security detail, the men and women he paid to ensure her safety on a routine basis, was on high alert. Two of the guards were waiting for him outside. Two others were inside with Grace.
Inside, Ellen, Gertrude, and Shameika had made their way over to Grace and Barry and the young people that surrounded them. And Ellen immediately chimed in. “It’s true that you’re a successful lady,” Ellen said to Grace. “But what’s also true is that you didn’t do it by yourself.”
Barry looked at Grace. “I thought you just said that,” he said.
But Grace had no problem acknowledging Ellen’s statement. “I absolutely did not do it on my own,” she said.
Ellen, surprised by her comeback, looked at the young ladies instead. “Did she tell you girls who her husband is?” she asked.
“Who?” Karma asked.
“Perhaps she didn’t mention her last name,” Gertrude said. “It’s Gabrini. She’s a Gabrini.”
The girls were still a little unsure. Ellen decided to make it plain. “As in Mrs. Tommy Gabrini,” she said. “As in the Founder and CEO of Gabrini Capital.”
When Ellen mentioned the Gabrini Capital, the young ladies went wild. “You own GCI?” was their first question. “Your husband owns GCI?” was their next.
Grace wasn’t pleased by Ellen’s insinuation that she was some gold digger who married Tommy for his money and power, but she nonetheless answered their questions. “No,” she said. “I do not own Gabrini Capital.”
“Formerly the Gabrini Corporation,” Karma said.
“And yes, my husband owns it,” Grace said, ignoring Karma. “And Ellen’s right. My husband has been a valuable help to me. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for him. But I still had to work hard and turn Trammel Trucking---”
“Formerly Trammel Transport,” Karma said.
“--- into the company it is today,” Grace continued. “I still had to do the work, husband or no husband.”
“Amen,” Shameika said.
“Wow,” said Lisa. “A black woman owns Trammel, and a black man owns GCI.”
“Ha!” Ellen said with a one-syllable laugh. “She wish. No, ladies, a black man does not own GCI. A white man does. And you know why that’s true? Because of all the gorgeous black men on this planet, Mrs. Gabrini had to pick herself a white guy. She’s a sellout, in other words.”
As Shameika and Barry objected vigorously to such a characterization, Grace looked at Ellen. This was what she wanted. To get a rise out of her. To get her to fight a battle she could not win: the battle of who could go down in the gutter the farthest. Ellen lived in that world. Grace wasn’t interested in so much as visiting it.
“I think I’d better go, ladies,” Grace said with a smile. “It’s been a long day.”
“Oh, don’t go,” Lisa said, with assists from others. “We really enjoy talking with you!”
“Oh, let her leave,” Ellen said. “She doesn’t give a damn about any of you. Where was she when we were getting SLS off the ground? Where was she when we were planning and working hard and fundraising? Now that we’re going places, she wants to be a part of it.”
“Going places?” Shameika asked. “Where y’all going? Because last I looked, the grant money is gone, this is the only event we have to show for it, and we still had to have fundraisers just to be able to afford to pay the tab for this ballroom. So please tell me where we’re going? To jail, perhaps?”
Barry laughed. But Ellen was hot. “Now you listen here, you ghetto trash!”
“Ghetto?” Shameika asked. “I know better than that! I know your bougie ass ain’t calling nobody ghetto!”
Grace and Barry both immediately went over to Shameika. Like Ellen, she was a handful. And like Ellen, she wasn’t about to back down.
“Don’t stoop, Meek,” Barry said to her. “Don
’t do it, girl.”
“Yeah, you tell her that,” Ellen said. “With her scared ass.”
“Scared?” Shameika broke away from Barry and Grace both. “I’ll show you who’s scared!”
But before Shameika could show Ellen anything, Ellen grabbed Shameika by the hair and pulled her down. And then, as the girls looked on in amazement and Shameika struggled to regain her footing, Ellen turned to Grace and, inexplicably, slapped Grace hard across her face. She slapped her just as Tommy, and the Security that arrived with him, entered the venue.
Tommy’s heart slammed against his chest. What had he just walked into? But as quickly as he was about to run to his wife’s assistance, his wife assisted herself. Only she didn’t slap Ellen across the face the way Ellen had slapped her, she balled up her fist and knocked Ellen to the ground. Tommy stopped in his tracks and held back his guards, and Grace’s guards too, as they all looked on.
The young ladies and everybody else in the room were amazed when Ellen Matanzas fell down. Barry was helping Shameika to her feet when the knockdown occurred, and they couldn’t believe it. Not meek and mild Grace? They were impressed.
But Grace wasn’t impressed at all. She hated stooping to this level. Professional black women fighting each other? Putting themselves on display like this? She hated it.
Tommy saw it too. He saw that look of regret on her face even as others showed their admiration for her quick comeback. For putting that high and mighty Ellen Matanzas in her place. But Tommy hurried to Grace’s side. He knew she didn’t like confrontation, but he also knew she’d confront any bastard that forced her to, and give even better than she got. He taught her that. But that didn’t mean she enjoyed it.
His heart felt a swell of emotion as he pulled Grace into his arms. Why were these fuckers always fucking with her? It angered him, but he knew she would hate it if he attempted to fight her battles. “You okay?” he asked her.
She was shocked to see him, but managed to nod her head. “I’m okay,” she responded. She felt the comfort of his arms around her, and his fresh cologne scent she knew so well. She was pleased he was there.
But as they held onto each other, some in the ballroom were curious. Namely brownnoser Karma, who leaned against Barry. “Who is that?” she whispered to him, her eyes unable to shield her interest from such a deliciously good looking man.
Barry looked at her. Who did this chick think she was? “That’s Mrs. Gabrini’s husband,” he said. “Who do you think?”
Although Karma had no idea how to shield her interest, Lisa did. Because she was interested too. A man like Tommy Gabrini? A man so tall, and muscular, and with that perfectly gorgeous face? What woman wouldn’t be interested? Nobody noticed how impressed she was, she made sure of that. But she was highly impressed. She was even more impressed than Karma.
But Tommy only had eyes for Grace. He didn’t notice either one of those young ladies. “What happened?” he asked her.
Grace was about to explain, but Shameika answered instead. “That bitch right there is what happened,” she said. “We were all fine. Enjoying the evening. But then she had to go all Matrix on us. Knocked me down and slapped Grace. But Grace got her back.” Shameika smiled. “Grace knocked the shit out of her!”
“Enough of that kind of talk,” Ellen said as Gertrude helped her back on her feet. “We have young ladies watching.”
“You weren’t thinking about those young ladies when you were slapping us around,” Shameika shot back. “Now you care?”
“I just want peace,” Ellen said. “I just want you and your friend to leave.”
“You want us to leave?” Grace was astounded. “You were the one who laid a hand on us, what are you talking about?”
But Ellen seemed singularly focused on restoring decorum even as everybody realized she was the one who had destroyed it. “This is so beneath the dignity of SLS,” she said. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. Nothing of this sort ever. Until you two showed up.” She was referring to Grace and Shameika. “Please leave.”
Shameika wanted to fight it out. She wanted to make it clear that she wasn’t buying the bull Ellen was selling. But Grace wasn’t playing that game. She was glad to go. She allowed Tommy to place his hand around her waist, pulling her against his side, as they left. Barry, and ultimately Shameika too, followed them.
Everybody watched as they left, including Lisa, who couldn’t take her eyes off of Tommy. If he was the man behind Grace’s grand success, she just knew he would gladly get behind hers too. Because Lisa believed the hype. Lisa was convinced that a man like Tommy Gabrini had to be into looks and body first. A woman with the perfect face and the perfect body could wow him over and take him away from Grace as easily as taking candy from a baby. And Lisa believed she was the woman to do it. She believed with everything within herself that she was much better looking than Grace Gabrini could ever be, and she had that quiet killer instinct that Grace would never have.
She also understood she could be vastly underestimating Grace’s toughness, but she didn’t care that she could be wrong. She was willing to stay ignorant. She felt as if she had just discovered a faster, surer way to the top, and she was willing to use her beautiful mind and her well-endowed, beautiful body to get her there. Through this man named Tommy Gabrini. Through the best looking man she do believe she’d ever laid eyes on. She inwardly smiled as if she’d just won the lottery. She inwardly basked in her ignorant arrogance.
CHAPTER SIX
By the time Grace said her goodbyes to Barry and Shameika, and she and Tommy were driving away, she immediately saw the beefed up security. Usually Tommy’s men were not so easily identified. But tonight, a car was in front of them, as if it were an escort, and two cars were behind them. Not to mention that two bodyguards had entered the venue with Tommy.
As he drove his Ferrari through the streets of Seattle, leaned against the armrest as if he had some serious issues on his mind, she looked at him. “What’s happening, Tommy?”
He attempted to smile. “Why would you ask that?”
“Why would I ask? You showed up without letting me know you were coming, and you showed up with more firepower than the situation could have ever needed. Unless there was a situation other than my little run-in with Ellen Matanzas that caused you to come. And besides all of that, you didn’t know I was going to have that little kerfuffle with Ellen until you got there. So what gives?”
Tommy didn’t want to worry her. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the lips. “Everything’s alright,” he said, and continued to drive.
But Grace wasn’t buying it. “What’s happening, Tommy?” she asked him again.
And it was only then did Tommy remember the error of his past. He remembered how he often kept information from Grace, in some lame attempt to protect her, when knowledge held a power all its own. He swore, after they remarried, to always keep her in the loop. “After I met with Frank Jansen over at Diamante’s,” he said, “an old acquaintance came by my table.”
Grace knew it was a female. Tommy never referred to his male friends as acquaintances.
“We were talking, largely about nothing,” he went on, “when she said she needed to talk to me, presumably about something more serious. But it didn’t happen.” He hesitated. “Somebody shot and killed her.”
Grace was astonished. She turned swiftly toward her husband. “Somebody shot and killed her? At Diamante’s?”
Tommy nodded and ran his hand through his thick hair, although it fell right back in place. “At Diamante’s. And I didn’t see it coming, babe.”
But Grace could tell there was more to his concern. “So what are you saying? Do you believe they were trying to hit you, and missed?”
Tommy exhaled. “I don’t know.”
“Oh, Tommy!” She stared back in front. Then a horrible thought occurred to her. She looked at him again. “The children,” she said. “What if they go after the children?”
“It’s okay,” T
ommy quickly reassured her, taking her hand. “The house is on lockdown. They and their nannies are in the safe room.”
Grace exhaled. “Good.” Their children’s safety was always paramount in their minds whenever something went wrong. But each other’s safety was too. She looked at Tommy. “Do you know who did it?”
“No,” he said. “I’ve got to look into it. But I wanted to get you home first.”
Grace squeezed his hand. She was worried about him, especially when he had to “look into” matters of life and death, but she knew his M.O. too well. Her and the children’s safety always came first with Tommy.
“I’m sure you’ll get to the bottom of it,” she said with confidence.
He smiled, because he knew Grace believed in him with that kind of certainty. And Shelby James actually thought sex was what made him want Grace above all others. He used to think sex would be his main reason too, if he ever fell hard for somebody. He knew better now.
He leaned over, kissed her again, and then made his way home.
By the time the gates to their estate opened, and Tommy and his bodyguards drove through, another group of men were waiting at the steps. Tommy parked in the round, got out, and opened the door for Grace. A queasy feeling came over her when she saw just how serious this looking into the matter was going to be, and how much firepower Tommy had ordered up. Tommy could feel her apprehension too. He learned, after he lost Grace the first time, to never take her feelings for granted their second time around.
They walked toward the steps hand in hand. “The target on the loose, or in place?” he asked Branson Nash, his security chief, who had rounded up the men they needed.
“In place, sir,” Branson responded without elaboration, knowing from experience to only answer what was asked. It had always been Branson’s experience that the Gabrini men rarely discussed their underhanded dealings with the Gabrini women.
Tommy was pleased to hear that they had already made some progress, but knew he had to make sure his family was okay first. “Give me a minute,” he said, and then escorted Grace into the residence.
Tommy Gabrini: Every Which Way But Loose Page 5
