“I’m just sorry he had to suffer the most,” Dommi said.
If he knew what Reno went through when he saw his baby girl fall from that bridge, he’d rethink just who suffered most. But he was right. Jimmy got the short stick again.
Reno leaned over and kissed Trina on the lips. Then he leaned down and kissed a sleeping Jimmy. Just as he was about to do the same to his two youngest, the hospital door opened and Val ran in. Lee Jones was behind her, with Maddie in his arms.
“Maddie!” Dommi said and jumped out of his seat as Val ran to Jimmy. “That’s my grandbaby,” Dommi said to Lee. “I’ll take her.”
“Your grandbaby?” Lee asked with a chuckle. “Boy please!”
“That’s what daddy calls her,” Dommi said, failing to see what was so funny.
Val, however, was totally focused on Jimmy. “Is he going to be alright?” she asked as she took his hand. Her face was a mask of concern.
“He’s going to be fine,” Trina said, putting an arm around her narrow waist. “The doctor said he should make a full recovery. They, thank God, were able to get every bullet.”
Val was horrified. She looked at Trina. “Every bullet? How many were there?”
“Four,” Reno said, sitting Sophie back in her chair. “But he’ll pull through.”
But Reno and Trina could tell Val had just about had enough.
“It’s going to be okay, Val,” Trina assured her.
Val nodded. “I know.” Then tears welled in her eyes. “I just love him so much,” she said. “I haven’t been showing it lately, but I really do love him, Ma.”
Trina pulled her into her arms. “I know you do,” she said. “And after he recovers, you can show him how much.” She pulled back and looked Val dead in the eye. “He needs you,” she said.
Val nodded. “I need him too,” she said.
Dommi sat down beside Sophia, and it was only then did Lee hand him little Maddie.
“I’ve got to run,” Reno said, as he kissed his grandbaby, kissed Trina again, gave Jimmy another look, and left. He still had a job to do.
Reno drove slowly to the safe house. He could still feel his hands trembling. Sophie came out of it with a clean bill of health, but she wasn’t unscathed. She was young, but she knew how close she had come. She knew, if it wasn’t for her uncle Sal, she would have left this world. And, Reno thought as he drove, took her father’s heart right along with her. And Jimmy. He couldn’t wait to get him out of Dodge. He’d been through so much! But he was a great kid. He was going to make it. But that didn’t mean Reno could relax. He was still shaken.
But when he arrived at that safe house, and saw the men responsible for putting his baby girl, his wife, and his sons in the predicament they had been in, he refocused that energy. It was payback time. Reno didn’t want to hear any more bullshit.
The two notification agents were in the side room, along with Iceman Nelson. Reno walked in. All three men were tied to their chairs, and both had been seriously beaten. And both of the agents were defiant.
“We’re federal agents,” one pronounced, as if they had the upper hand. Reno knew better. He not only knew they worked for an agency in contract with the FBI, he knew they were actually Fed wannabes rather than the real thing. But he wasn’t going to argue with either one of them. He didn’t give a shit.
“We’re federal agents,” said the other one just as boldly. “You can’t kill a federal agent!”
As soon as he made that bold statement, Reno was done. He pulled out his Glock and shot both of them through the head.
Iceman quickly leaned away, as their blood splattered toward him. He knew he was next. But he also knew his mission wasn’t accomplished. Because every day he dreamed of getting that bitch. That dream kept him going. The money was going to be his life after killing her, because he knew she was a Gabrini now and he would have to get lost. And it was all slipping away? It couldn’t end like this. It couldn’t!
But when Reno looked at him, he knew it was over. All he had to do was point and shoot the same way he had done those agents. But he didn’t.
“I heard you want my wife,” Reno said.
Did Ice stand a chance? Would Reno understand if he explained what that bitch had done to him? He had nothing left to lose. He decided to try. “I spent all those years in prison,” he said, “for a crime she committed. She called the cops and told them I was the one who had knocked Stoke over the head. She called anonymously, but I knew it was her. I had ordered Stoke to take her to my crib and wait for me. She was all upset about her friend, and I didn’t want her doing something stupid: like telling the cops about my little pimp operation, or my drug operation, or my other crimes. And yes, I committed some horrific acts. But I didn’t kill Stokey. She did that.”
“Now she’s got to die?” Reno asked him.
Ice stared at him. Did Gabrini understand? “Now she’s got to die,” Ice responded. “There’s no other way.”
Reno motioned to one of his men. The man went over, and untied Ice. Ice was pleasantly surprised. He began flexing his hand. Ice even smiled, as if Reno was fully in his corner. But even Reno’s men knew better than that. They looked at Ice as if he was the fool of fools if he thought Reno wasn’t going to defend his wife’s honor.
“That’s where we differ,” Reno said to Ice. Ice’s heart dropped.
Reno placed his Glock on the table. He began walking up to Ice. “You can have my wife,” he said. “You can have her. But you’ll have to go through me first.”
Ice stood up as soon as Reno balled his fist. He was ready. He used to prize fight back in the day, and had bulked up in prison. He could handle himself. And he did. He put up his dukes and was ready to go. But Reno was a hurricane to Ice’s light rain. He hit Ice with one punch that took him to his knees, and then proceeded to beat him down. Ice fell over his chair, tried to get back up, but Reno was down on him, beating him in the face, in the stomach, all over his body as if he was a dog in the street.
“Okay,” he started crying. “You win! You win, gotdammit! You win!”
But it was no game to Reno. He kept beating the shit out of Ice. It was his man who kidnapped Reno’s children. He was hooked up with those agents who paid off Debrosiac and had their men try to take Jimmy out. He was the one who allowed his man to dangle Sophie over that bridge. He was the one who wanted Trina dead. Which meant he had to die. And Reno didn’t stop, he didn’t let up, until his mission was accomplished. And the Iceman was coming no more. Reno stood up only after the Iceman was dead.
His men were shocked by the barbarity. Even they had never seen anything like it. But Reno stood there, barely able to regulate his breathing, his knuckles in indescribable pain. But that threat was neutralized. That threat was avenged. Reno was so drained by what he had done to Ice that he almost forgot about Quinn.
But he couldn’t forget about Quinn. Like Debrosiac, her betrayal cut too close.
“We can handle her, boss,” one of his men said. They could see the drain too.
But Reno shook his head. “Clean this shit up,” he said. “I’ll take care of her.”
“Yes, sir,” they said, as Reno grabbed his Glock, and made his way downstairs.
With Val and Maddie staying at Jimmy’s bedside, Lee drove Trina and her two little ones back to the PaLargio, while Sal drove Gemma back to their estate. Only Gemma wanted details.
“What happened exactly?” she asked her husband.
“Long story short,” Sal said as he drove. “Tree used to manage this nightclub when she lived in Dale.”
“I remember she told me that. She was very young, but she was tough.”
“Tougher than you think,” Sal said. “She had this drug dealing boyfriend who provided females to his big suppliers. Trina recruited the girls for him.”
Gemma was shocked. “Trina? Really?”
“I know,” Sal said. “She was a little madam back in the day. She admitted it herself. Well, one of the girls killed herself after
being raped by one of those suppliers, and Tree felt guilty. She wanted out or she was afraid she was going to end up like that girl. But her boyfriend had his henchman pick her up and take her to his place. Unbeknownst to her boyfriend or to her, the henchman was an FBI informant, and he had wired the drug dealer’s apartment. They were on tape. She hit the guy over the head---”
“On tape?” Gemma asked.
“On tape,” Sal said with a shake of his head. “She was thinking she’d just knock him out so she could get away. She wasn’t trying to kill him or anything like that. But the snitch, some guy named Stokey, died from that blow to the head.”
Gemma frowned. “Stokey?” she asked, before Sal could continue.
Sal looked at her. “Yeah, why?”
“Stokey Jones?”
“I don’t know his last name, but why?”
“Stokey Jones was my distant cousin. Lee is my cousin too, you know. He’s Lee’s kid brother. He was killed in Mississippi too. But they caught the guy that killed Stokey. He was a drug dealer. He went to prison for that crime.”
Sal slammed on brakes. His car almost skidded.
Quinn was in the basement of the safe house. When Reno walked in, she looked weary, but determined, like Ice, to state her case. But Reno didn’t want to hear it.
“It’s over, Quinn,” he said. “Kim is dead. Those two agents are dead. Iceman Nelson is dead. And you already saw what I did to your brother.”
“What about Lee?” she asked.
Reno stared at her. Lee? What the fuck did Lee have to do with this? “First you blame my wife,” Reno said. “Now you’re blaming Lee Jones.” Reno lifted his weapon. Enough of this shit.”
“When you dumped Kim Galecki, she and Lee started fooling around. It didn’t last long. She moved on to her next boy toy. But when she found that tape with Trina killing that informant, she contacted Lee. Not because she wanted him back. But because that informant turned out to be Lee’s brother.”
Reno frowned. “Get the fuck out of here!”
“It’s the truth, Reno! That’s how I got involved. Not through Kim like you think. But through Lee. He wanted revenge on your wife, and he knew I would cooperate.”
Reno was floored. Lee was Kim’s mole? Not Quinn? He couldn’t believe it. Despite a problem a while back that eased their closeness, he and Lee had been friends for years!
But Quinn was determined to tell Reno who the real bad guy was, and exonerate herself. She did shit too, but nothing like what Lee did to him. “Lee set up Jimmy with that male prostitute,” she said, “and filmed it. Lee was the one who pulled me in, and I pulled my brother in. Lee was the one who threatened my job, my livelihood if I didn’t comply.”
Reno’s cell phone rang. Reno looked at his Caller ID.
“Not that I had to be persuaded,” Quinn admitted. “I always thought she was wrong for you, and that tape only proved how right I was.”
When Reno saw that it was Sal, he answered quickly.
Before he could even say hello, Sal was yelling. “It’s Lee, Reno! It’s Lee! He’s driving Tree and the children home, but it’s him. Stokey was his brother! That FBI snitch Tree killed was his brother!”
Reno’s heart dropped through his shoes, and he took off. He ran up the stairs three at a time, ready to bolt out of that basement and out of that safe house faster than the speed of light, when he remembered Quinn. He remembered that stone. And he turned around and shot her straight through the heart. Three times. To be sure. Then he kept running.
“What do you want us to do, boss?” one of his men asked, as they met him at the top of the stairs.
“Bury that bitch,” Reno said, and took off.
Lee’s Volvo was driving toward the PaLargio, with Tree in the passenger seat and Sophie and Dommi in the backseat. It was late, it was three in the morning, and Sophie was asleep. Dommi and Trina were nearly asleep themselves, until Lee pulled over to the side of the road.
“What’s wrong?” Trina asked, looking out at the darkness around them. There were street lights, but very little traffic.
“I knew Kim Galecki,” Lee said.
Trina was shocked. Reno had taken care of Kim Galecki earlier that evening. Why was he bringing her up now? “What do you mean you knew her?” she asked.
“I knew her,” Lee said. “Reno dumped her after he met you, so she turned to me. Why not, I thought. It would be our secret. For years we fooled around. I kept her posted on Reno, she actually was in love with that joker once upon a time, and she kept me, let’s say satisfied. It worked for us. And if I ever needed to get out of a jam, I figured why should Reno have all the contacts? It wasn’t like we were close like that anymore. Then it was time for Iceman Nelson to be released, and since Stokey was my brother---”
Trina couldn’t believe it. “Stokey what? Stokey was your brother?”
“My baby brother,” Lee said with pride. “I raised him. He was everything to me. Since he was my brother, the Notifications unit had to notify me. Those crooked agents out of Mississippi got her involved in the case, and she notified me herself. But not just to notify me. She wanted to make a deal. Because she ran across that tape. Of you. The real killer. Killing my baby brother.”
Trina could feel his anguish, and she was still reeling by the news herself. But she knew she couldn’t just sit there and wait him out. She had her children in that car. If he killed her, who would protect them? Reno taught her to never panic, but plan. Plan, Tree! Let him talk, but you plan!
“Kim put this scheme together,” Lee continued, “for this big payday for all of us. I figured why the hell not. Why not get my millions? And then get you. But Reno is always too clever. He figured it out. Now the money’s off the table. But not the blood.”
Trina could feel her own blood boil. But she kept complete eye contact with him, as she eased her hand into her pocket.
“Ice thought he was going to be the one to make you bleed for what you did to him,” Lee continued, “but I knew better. That pleasure, for my baby brother, belongs to me.”
Lee pulled out his gun and put it to Trina’s head. But at that same moment Trina pulled out her own gun, the one she was packing, and put it to his balls. Lee was stunned.
“Try me,” she said. “I really want you to try me.”
Outside of the car, Reno drove up in his Porsche so fast that he almost drove right past them. He slung over to the side of the road just in time. Sal and Gemma drove up behind him. They all had prayed Lee didn’t detour from the route that would take them from the hospital to the PaLargio, and he hadn’t. He didn’t have to. He was going to do his dirty work on the side of the road.
Now Reno and Sal’s cars were on the side of the road too, and Reno and Sal were jumping out, their guns at the ready, as they ran toward the Volvo. But just as they began running, a flash of light from inside Lee’s car could be seen through the darkness, and then the sound of gunfire.
Gemma, still in Sal’s car, prayed when she saw that flash and heard that gunshot, but Reno and Sal ran. Their hearts hammering, but they ran. When they ran up to the car, Reno flung the door open, ready to take Lee away from this earth. But Lee was slumped over dead, his balls like bloody minced meat. Tree had already done the favor. Sal turned away, when he saw that meat.
“You okay?” Reno asked Trina, as he looked over at her and her smoking gun.
Trina nodded. “I’m okay,” she said. She was shaken, but still alive.
Reno looked in the backseat. He looked at their young children. Sophie, to his amazement, was still asleep. Dom, however, being Dom, was laughing.
“Gotdamn, Dad!” he shouted. “You should have seen Mommy. Mommy got him good!”
Reno could only shake his head. He agreed with his son, but he would never, not in a million years, tell him so.
EPILOGUE
In the back of the PaLargio, at the VIP entrance, Jimmy looked like a new man. After buckling his baby in her car seat, and sitting Val on the passenger seat, he ran ar
ound to the driver side and gave his mother a hug again. Sal and Gemma, and Sal’s brother Tommy Gabrini, and Val’s father Buddy Wellstone, all took turns saying their goodbyes. For what seemed like the fifth time. Before the shooting, going to New Hampshire seemed onerous, more like a punishment to Jimmy and Val. Now, two months later, they both were relieved to start over.
The only person who didn’t seem relieved, and remained uptight, was Reno. He stood back in his double-breasted suit, as Jimmy hugged his family again. Then Jimmy, doing all he could to fight back tears, went to where Reno was standing. He extended his hand. “I’ll be seeing you around, Pop,” he said.
Reno moved to shake his hand. This would be the first time Jimmy lived this far away from him since they discovered each other, and he was fighting back tears too. Reno pulled him in his arms instead.
Trina shed tears as she watched father and son embrace. She was going to miss Jimmy something fierce, they were very close, but she knew Reno was going to miss him on a different level. He felt as if a piece of his heart was leaving.
“Behave yourself,” Reno said as they embraced.
“I will,” Jimmy responded, his eyes watery.
“Anybody give you trouble, you contact me,” Reno said. Reno pulled back from their embrace to make himself clear. “You hear me?”
Jimmy nodded his head, as tears came.
“I don’t want to find out that you’ve been involved in anything other than running my hotels,” Reno said, wiping his son’s tears away. “Because this is a new day for you, Jimmy. And you’ve got to produce.”
“I will, Pop.”
“You’re my senior VP now,” Reno said. “You have to stay above the fray.”
“I will,” Jimmy started saying. But then he looked at his father. Stunned. “I’m your what?”
Trina smiled. She knew what Reno was telling him.
“You’re my senior vice president, Jimmy,” Reno said. “The memo goes out this afternoon. You’re third in charge, behind me and your mother. You’re the it shit now.”
Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair Page 18
