He helped Debrosiac to his feet. He knew he was only pointing out the obvious. He knew Debrosiac didn’t know Trina the way he did. “She’s not telling any secrets,” he said to Debrosiac, “so you can forget that. And she’s not fucking any man but me.”
“Then what is the meaning of these videos, boss?” Debrosiac asked. He was a strong man, able to stand up to Reno, or Reno would not have made him his number two.
But he was asking a question Reno couldn’t answer. “Get the cleaning crew down here,” he said, looking at Chap’s bloody body.
“Take Quinn back upstairs?” Debrosiac asked.
“Keep her down here until she talks.”
“And what about my question, Reno?” Debrosiac asked. “What are we to make of those videos?”
“I’ll let you know when I know,” Reno said, his face a mask of anguish, and left the basement.
Debrosiac looked at Quinn. And so did Reno’s other man downstairs.
“Speaking of trains,” the man said to Debrosiac, looking at Quinn. “I wouldn’t mind having one on that fine ass.”
“Then go for it,” Debrosiac said. “But you’d better hope boss never finds out.”
The man’s smile left. “Never mind,” he said. Then he frowned. “You think his wife really is two-timing him like that? Or even worse, setting him up for the Feds to take him down?”
“I don’t know,” Debrosiac said. “But whatever she’s doing, it’s not good news for us.”
“Not to mention boss.”
“Yeah,” Debrosiac agreed. “Not to mention boss.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Jimmy walked out of his home as Trina’s Mercedes drove through the gate. It was a secluded estate his father purchased for him and Val after the baby was born, even though it was far more house than they would ever need. But Val loved it, so he accepted it too.
He walked down the steps and over to the car just as the doors were opening and Dommi, sitting on the front seat, and Sophia, in back, jumped out of the car and ran to him.
“Hey, Jimmy!” Sophia said as Jimmy pulled her up into his arms.
“Hey, little sister!”
“We’re going to be staying with you and Val.”
“Val isn’t here. But you’ll have me. Isn’t it great?”
“Not really,” Dommi said. “This is cutting into my playing time.”
Jimmy laughed. Trina, getting out of the car too, shook her head. “Don’t pay him any attention,” she said. “Don’t encourage him.”
“How you doing, Ma?” Jimmy asked, giving her a hug.
“I’m okay,” Trina responded, returning his embrace. “Where’s Val? Where’s my grandbaby?”
Jimmy sat down Sophia. “Her dad’s real estate company is selling rental units in a new strip mall and she and the baby decided to drive down to Phoenix with him. They should be back tomorrow.”
Trina stared at Jimmy. “Another argument?”
“No, honest,” Jimmy said quickly. Then he exhaled. “Yeah.”
“What about?”
“You know what about. I’m a man, Ma, but she doesn’t seem to understand what a man has to have.”
“I want you two to get in counseling ASAP. And I mean it, Jimmy.”
Jimmy nodded.
“You aren’t just walking away from this marriage.”
“I know that. I don’t want to.”
“And neither is Val. There’s a child involved now. You have got to give it your all. This little nonsense you guys are going through can be worked out. Your shit is child’s play compared to what your father and I have gone through. Y’all can work it out.”
Jimmy nodded. “I agree. And I think Val will too.”
“Good,” Trina said with a smile. “Maddie deserves you giving it your all.” Then she looked at her own little ones. “Sure you want to take this on?”
“Hell yeah,” Jimmy said. “Dommi keep me on my toes. Never a dull moment with that boy.”
Dommi smiled. “Thanks, Jimmy,” he said.
Trina sometimes wondered which one was the big brother the way Jimmy seemed to just idolize Dom. It was the oddest thing she’d ever seen. But then Dom was the oddest thing she’d ever seen, too.
But Jimmy was looking at Trina. “What about you and Dad?” he asked. “Everything okay?”
Trina nodded, but Jimmy wasn’t convinced. He could see the strain in his stepmother’s beautiful hazel eyes. “Dom, why don’t you take Sophie inside and put on Nickelodeon.”
Sophia was excited as Dom took her hand and did as he was told.
“What’s wrong, Ma?” Jimmy asked Trina.
“Nothing’s wrong,” Trina said. “Nothing that should concern you.”
“Then why are the kids spending the night with me on a school night?”
Trina didn’t want to go there, but she knew Jimmy deserved some explanation. “Reno and I are having some issues and I don’t want the children hearing any of our back and forth. Dom has a hard time sleeping when we argue.”
“I could have kept them at the penthouse.”
But Trina was shaking her head. “I don’t want them around the PaLargio right now. It’s too much drama there. Sophie cried when I told her about Freckles.”
“I know. Daddy thinks it’s some big joke, but I told him a lot of people loved that clown. They’re talking about having a memorial for him at the PaLargio.”
“That’ll be nice.”
“Yeah, I think so too. I’ve just got to get Dad to think so.” Then Jimmy hesitated. “Ma, what you and Dad are going through, does it have anything to do with me and what I did?”
Trina was surprised. “Why would you think something like that?
“It’s Dad. He just seems so overprotective of me now. It was bad before that happened, but he’s taking it to another level. He doesn’t allow me to do anything. Last night, he and Debrosiac were in the elevator talking about the guy who tried to blackmail me. I wanted to go see what evidence they uncovered, but he wouldn’t even let me do that. It’s about me, but he wanted to handle it.”
“That’s what Daddy does, Jimmy. He handles it for all of us. You know that.”
“But how am I going to make it if he won’t even let me take care of my own affairs?”
“Look,” Trina said, “I know how you feel. Reno overdoes it with me, too. But he doesn’t know any other way. He goes hard for us.”
“But sometimes he treats Dommi . . .”
Trina knew where Jimmy was going, but she needed him to go there.
“Sometimes,” Jimmy continued, “he treats Dommi as if Dom is his oldest son. Dom is just a kid, but he seems to give him more latitude than he gives me. And it’s beginning to bother me.”
“You’re taking it the wrong way, Jimmy. You and Dom are totally different. You have Reno’s fight in you, but you also have your biological mother’s more gentle spirit. Dom, unfortunately, has Reno’s fight in him, and my fight in him too. I’m his biological mother and my spirit isn’t gentle like that. Dom is double trouble and Reno knows it. You, on the other hand, still stand a chance.”
“That’s why he wants me in New Hampshire. Isn’t it?”
Trina wasn’t going to lie to him. “Yes,” she said. “And yes, he’s overprotective of you. He loves you more than any man could ever love a son.”
Jimmy’s heart swelled with emotion. “I know. That might be the worst part of leaving.”
“Leaving your father behind?”
Jimmy nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know if I can handle not seeing him every day. Or you and Sophie. And even Dom.”
Trina laughed. “You’ll see us enough. We’ll visit often. You aren’t exactly moving to the moon.”
“And what about Big Daddy Sinatra?” Jimmy asked. “Dad says I have to answer to him when he’s not around. What Big Daddy says goes. I barely know that man and I have to let him rule me too?”
“Yes, Jimmy,” Trina said firmly. “Reno knows what he’s doing. He trusts Big Daddy
. You just do what the man says.” Then she exhaled. “Anyway, I need to get going. I’m going to try and cook Reno a makeup dinner tonight. I need to get to the grocery store.”
“He may not get home until late,” Jimmy said. “You know how he is.”
“That’s why I’m not going to the estate,” Trina agreed. “I’m going to cook dinner at the penthouse, and then drag his ass up there and surprise him.”
Jimmy laughed. He prayed it worked.
Reno drove through the gate of their estate to wait for Trina’s arrival. According to his men tailing her, she dropped the kids off at Jimmy’s house and had just arrived at a gourmet grocery store inside the mall. All indications were that she would be heading for the estate after that.
But coming home to an empty house was a hard thing for Reno. When Trina wasn’t home, it didn’t feel like a home. And now with these videos in his possession, he didn’t know what to think. It was irrational, he knew, but he would rather she betrayed his business dealings than allow another man to touch her in any intimate way. That would be a bridge too far. That would be a betrayal Reno wasn’t sure he could abide.
He entered the quiet home and headed for the big bar near the back. After pouring himself a glass of wine, he headed out onto the backyard patio. It was a cool night in Vegas, and he probably should be wearing a coat, but he sat out here anyway, oblivious to the weather. He and Trina were not on the same page. He felt as if he was grieving something, but he just didn’t know what.
His cell phone buzzed. He pulled up his security screen. It was Sal at his front door. He pressed the button. “Hey,” he said.
“You and Tree aren’t in there fucking, are you?” Sal asked.
“What’s it to you?”
“I just had dinner. I don’t wanna throw it up.”
“I’ve got your throw-up right here,” Reno said. “I’m out back.”
Sal smiled, swiped his keycard, and entered Reno’s home. Reno sat his cell phone on the table, drank more wine, and waited for Sal to arrive. He forwarded all three videos of Trina and those FBI operatives to Sal. He expected a phone call, not a visit. But that was Sal. They fought like cats and dogs, but there was no man more reliable.
“Where’s Tree?” Sal asked when he arrived out on the patio. He took a seat in the chair beside Reno.
“She’s at some grocery store. She hasn’t made it home yet.” Reno looked at Sal. He was well dressed, but looked concerned. “You saw them?” he asked Sal.
Sal nodded. “I saw’em.”
“What do you think?”
“I think we’ve got a big ass problem. Trina wouldn’t snitch like that.”
Reno nodded. He knew Sal would understand. “I know.” He waited for Sal to say she wouldn’t be sleeping around with FBI agents either, but he didn’t go there.
Sal frowned. “What are you looking at me like that for?” he asked. “I know Tree wouldn’t sleep around. You know I know that. But damn, Reno. What was she doing in motel rooms with those fuckers? If she’s not snitching, and not fucking. What else can it be?”
“Maybe they’re blackmailing her, I don’t know,” Reno said.
“But about what?” Sal asked.
“That’s what I don’t know. Tree is an angel, you know that. She ain’t got shit on her.”
“She’s a great lady,” Sal said. “I love her to death. But I don’t know about all this angel stuff you’re talking about. But I get your blackmail suspicion. Maybe it’s something stupid to us, but major to her.”
Reno thought about that too. “Kind of like what they did to Jimmy.”
Sal looked at Reno. “What did they do to Jimmy?”
Reno exhaled. “I’m not getting into details because it’s his business. But he committed a little indiscretion, they set him up by taping it, and Quinn and her brother blackmailed him with that tape.”
Sal frowned. “Quinn Chan? Your Quinn? That bitch finally showed her true colors?”
Reno nodded. “She showed her colors alright.”
“I knew it was just a matter of time,” Sal said. “When Tree doesn’t like somebody, you can take it to the bank. Something’s wrong with that person. Now you see it too. But what’s this about her blackmailing Jimmy? And what brother? I didn’t know her slutty ass had a brother.”
“She’s got one. I just had to handle him at the safe house.”
Sal was surprised. “What were their demands?”
“Two hundred grand.”
“Get the fuck out of here! These people crazy! What did they catch Jimmy doing, damn?”
Reno wasn’t about to tell his son’s business. Not even to Sal. “His action didn’t fit their demand, trust me,” Reno said. “They were just being greedy.”
“Well at least that. And you had to ice the brother?”
“Yeah. He wouldn’t talk. Usually that’s very commendable. But I needed answers. I needed to know why Quinn recruited her brother in the first place, why she tried to claim that Trina was behind the entire scheme, and who was behind the set up to begin with. So I had to show Quinn I wasn’t the man to fuck with. I had to let her see my other side for herself.”
“You iced him in front of her?” Sal asked.
Reno nodded. “I was probably too brutal, but she wouldn’t talk.”
“I’m sure you did what was necessary,” Sal said. “You have to contain this shit.”
“That’s what I’m trying to do. Before anybody else in my family is endanger. Quinn’s at the safe house now. I’m going to have to deal with her again, but first I need to talk to Tree.”
“What is Tree saying about all of this?”
“I haven’t talked to her yet,” Reno said. “I’m waiting for her to come home.”
Sal exhaled. “This is a hellava thing, Reno.”
“Yeah. I just wish Tree wasn’t involved. I could deal with anything if she wasn’t caught up in whatever is going on.”
“What are your people finding out? Are they hearing any chatter? Are they feeling any heat?”
“Nothing. But that doesn’t mean shit either. It’s a big world.”
“It’s supposed to be a small world, after all. At least that’s what they say.”
“Yeah, well, they aren’t Gabrinis. They don’t have shit to say about our world,” Reno said, and Sal couldn’t agree more.
Trina pushed her partially-filled shopping cart in the store inside the mall, heading for the cash register. But when she turned the final corner that led to the checkout counter, she stopped in her tracks. Standing not four feet away from her was the very person she had been fearing to face. She thought she had more time. She was told next month. But he was out already? He was older, much older, but she would never forget that face.
She grabbed her purse out of the shopping cart and took off running. He didn’t realize he was face to face with the one person he had been dreaming of seeing again until he looked over and saw her running out. He had just arrived in town. They refused to tell him where he could find her, just that they knew she was in Vegas, and that he had to chill until they got the money taken care of. Now she was within his grasp? Katrina Hathaway was in the same space as he was in?
He took off behind her, running too. But he wasn’t nearly as familiar with the mall as she was, and he ended up confused. She cut corners, and was well out of the mall itself, and in her Mercedes driving away, by the time he made it outside. She was gone, when he made it out.
Reno’s men didn’t know why Trina was in such a hurry, but their assignment was to follow her. They cranked up their car, and followed her.
Trina had planned to go to the estate on the outskirts of Vegas, but not now. It was too isolated and she had been too spooked. It was well fortified, their home, but she didn’t want to take that chance. She also didn’t want to go anywhere near her children, in case she was being followed, until this threat was handled. She drove straight to the PaLargio.
When she arrived, the valets, realizing Reno’s wife had
arrived, hurried like a stampede of cattle to her car. She jumped out and ran inside, tossing her keys as she went. She didn’t stop her fast progression until she was on the private elevator, heading upstairs to Reno’s office. When his staff informed her that he wasn’t in the building, her heart dropped. She needed him. She needed him now!
Reno and Sal were still on the patio when the cell phone began ringing. Reno looked at his Caller ID. When he saw that it was Trina’s security detail, he answered quickly. “This is Reno.”
“You wife is at the PaLargio, sir.”
Reno frowned. “The PaLargio? She was supposed to come to the house tonight.”
“I know, sir, but she left the mall like a bat out of hell and came straight to the PaLargio.”
A call waiting began to beep on Reno’s phone.
“She hurried out of her car and ran inside,” Reno’s man continued.
“She’s inside now?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hold your ground. I’ll call you back.” Reno then answered the call waiting. “This is Reno.”
“Reno.” Trina’s voice sounded distressed.
Reno sat up. “Tree, what’s wrong?” Sal looked too.
“I’m at the penthouse,” Trina said. “Come quickly please. I need you. I’m in trouble, Reno.”
Reno’s heart dropped through his shoe, and he stood up. “You’re in danger?” he asked. When he said those words, Sal stood too.
“I’m safe,” Trina responded.
“And the children?”
“They’re at Jimmy’s. They’re fine. But it’s . . . it’s . . . please come.”
“I’m on my way,” Reno said. “You wait right there. I’m on my way, sweetheart!”
“What is it?” Sal asked as Reno began running off of the patio and through the house. Sal didn’t know what was going on, but he ran right behind him. “What’s the matter, Reno?”
“I don’t know yet,” Reno said. “But this shit is about to come to a head. You’re riding?”
Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair Page 13
