Reno paused. That was the other reason why he pulled her and Dommi away from the crowd. Tommy, Sal, and Mick already knew the story. He needed to tell them.
“It was a long time ago,” Reno said, and Dommi turned around and looked at his father. “Before I met you, Tree. Before Dommi was anywhere on my radar. I didn’t even own the PaLargio then. I was just the GM. But one night, my old man decided to drop by the casino.”
An odd look appeared in Reno’s eyes. Trina could tell he didn’t want to continue. But he had to. “What happened?” she asked.
“He did his usual spiel about how I should be the owner of the PaLargio rather than just a worker there. I was the fucking GM and was barely old enough to drink, but that wasn’t good enough for my old man. So he was talking his shit when Manny Fanarka, Kong’s youngest brother, decides to come into the casino and demand that we pay our fair share like the rest of the casinos on the Strip. Three percent on the gross, that’s what he wanted the PaLargio to fork over each and every week. I told his sorry ass to go fuck himself.”
“What did he do?” Dommi asked.
“We fought, right there in the casino. I kicked his ass and he left. But Pop was angry,” Reno said. “Who does that chink think he is? That was how your grandfather referred to people. I told him to stay out of it. I can handle Manny Fanarka. I told him it was over.”
“But it wasn’t over to Grandpa?” Dommi asked.
Reno was nodding his head. “Not to my old man, it wasn’t over. He had Mick Sinatra status back in the day. He was the most feared mob boss around back then. So he tracked down Manny and had his men set him on fire.”
“Damn,” said Dommi. “That’s vicious.”
“That was my old man. That was your grandfather. It could have been a war after that. But I personally went to Dreek Fanarka and told him his brother was trying to shake us down and I knew he wasn’t a part of that. Dreek was smart. He knew not to even attempt to shakedown a Gabrini. We can squash this now, I told him, or we can go to war. He knew his baby brother was a hothead fool. He squashed it.”
“But if it was squashed that long ago,” Trina asked, “why is it suddenly a problem?”
“Dreek Fanarka died a couple months ago,” Reno said, “and his brother Kong took over. Kong is a fool’s fool. He believes in payback, he doesn’t give a fuck how long ago the infraction was. My old man targeted his brother for assassination. He decides to target my kids for the same. Now my grandchild. That’s why it all went down the way it went down. The way I figure it, Coba’s men were supposed to take Dommi out as a part of the Asian Mafia contract, but Dommi took Coba’s men out, including his son, and he had to get his revenge. Dommi, then, became a separate contract.”
“But I only took out his son. Two of his men lived,” said Dommi.
“No, they didn’t,” said Reno. “They died.”
“But they didn’t, Pop,” said Dommi. “The one at the hospital is still alive, and the one that got away that night is still alive.”
Reno gave his son a hard look. “They died,” he said, and Dommi immediately understood. His father’s men had quietly taken care of both of those bastards.
Reno was about to continue his story, but then he heard Sal’s hysterical voice. “Reno!” he was yelling as if he was climbing the stairs. “Reno!”
Dommi hurried to the door of his parents’ massive bedroom to open it, and Reno and Trina hurried over to the door too as it was opened. Sal hurried in.
“What is it?” Reno asked.
“We got eyeballs on Kong,” Sal said, “but we have to leave now.”
Reno didn’t need to be told any more than that. He kissed and hug Trina quickly, and then he, Dommi, and Sal took off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“You would think he was a regular Joe.”
That was how Dommi saw it. But Reno, Sal, and Mick, the three men they decided was best suited for the operation, saw something entirely different. Kong Fanarka was sitting in a small café in a small town on the outskirts of Vegas, sipping tea and reading a print copy of the New Yorker magazine. The Gabrinis and Mick Sinatra were upstairs, in a closed clothing factory across the street, watching the action from the safety of a loft they commandeered their way into.
But they chose to break into that factory, and hide themselves in that loft, for a reason. They had to check out Kong’s security, and then let their own security guys know how and where to strike.
“There’s one,” said Reno, and they saw him too through their binoculars. The first security guard was inside the café with Kong, but he was seated near the front entrance. He was the lookout. He was the guy who was supposed to see if anybody suspicious came in, then he would go up behind them and take them out before they could take out Kong.
“There’s another,” Sal said, and they saw him too. He was seated to the right of Kong at his own table.
“See him over there, Dommi,” Reno said, “at the table to the right of Kong?”
Dommi saw him. “He looks like a regular Joe too,” said Dom.
“That’s the idea,” said Reno.
“We need to make sure there aren’t any others,” said Mick, “before we commit.”
But they searched and they searched. And they could find no other security apparatus around Kong.
“Okay, let’s send them in,” said Reno to Sal. Sal got on his walkie talkie, and gave their men the instructions.
But while Sal was on his walkie talkie giving their men specific instructions on whom to target, Dommi noticed something. “That looks odd,” he said.
“What looks odd?” Reno asked.
“Over there,” said Dommi as he continued to look out of his binoculars. His father and uncles looked too.
Dommi wasn’t looking at the café, nor was he looking at the area immediately around the café. He, instead, was looking at the intersection further up, where people were going and coming and minding their own business.
“What about over there?” Reno asked. “I don’t see anything.”
“That lady and her baby,” said Dommi.
Reno saw the lady with the pram on the corner. “So what? What about her?”
“She’s been standing there, in that very spot, since we’ve been here, Pop,” said Dommi.
Reno and Sal were surprised. Mick, who was above looking through binoculars, grabbed Sal’s and looked too. Then he looked at Dommi. “Are you sure she was right there?”
“I’m positive, Uncle Mick,” said Dommi. “She was in that very same spot, looking down at her supposedly baby, the entire time we’ve been here.”
Reno was squinting his eyes staring at her. “I’ll be damn,” he said. “That’s not even a lady. That’s a dude! That’s a dude!”
And they realized it was too late to call back their men. They were already out of their cars and heading toward the café.
Reno and Mick, and Sal and Dommi, began running out of that loft and down the stairs as fast as they could.
When they got outside, their men were just walking up to the café and were about to enter when the man/woman down the street pulled out a shotgun and began firing at their guys. The aim was perfect, and two of the Gabrini security guys fell.
And then security inside of the café, hearing the gunfire erupt, began firing too, on the Gabrinis and their security and they all had to take cover.
But Reno saw Kong Fanarka jump up from his table and began running toward the back of the café.
“Let’s go!” Reno said to Dommi as they let Mick and Sal and the rest of their security detail handled the gun battle.
Reno and Dommi ran around to the side of the building, where Trina’s Mercedes, the sedan they had drove over in, was parked. They hopped in, with Reno driving, and took off around the side street and then to the back of the café just as an older model Buick Skylark sped out of an alleyway and began speeding down the street, passing right by Trina’s car.
“Motherfucker!” Reno yelled when he saw with
his own two eyes that Kong himself was driving that old car. He swerved the Mercedes around, doing a U-turn so fast that they were on two-wheels for a second. And then he took off after Kong.
Kong was a skilled driver, and he was in a souped-up Buick, but it was no match for Reno’s skills. He stayed right behind Kong as both cars sped in and out of traffic, and down side streets and backstreets, until Reno had had enough. He sped up and bumped Kong violently in the bumper. But Kong kept going.
“Try the PIT on his ass, Pop!” Dommi yelled.
“What fucking PIT?” Reno asked.
“The PIT maneuver the cops use,” said Dommi.
Reno wasn’t thinking about using anything the cops used. With his luck, he’d be the one in the ditch. He, instead, was old school all the way. He was going to force that asshole off the road.
Reno drove up beside Kong’s car and showed his face. Kong, shocked that it was Reno himself who was driving that Mercedes, slung his steering wheel sideways, attempting to hit Reno and force him off the road. But it backfired and it was Kong who lost control and ended up speeding down the side of a graveled path that led to a ditch.
Kong was skilled enough to avoid the ditch, but his car was immediately disabled. He jumped out just as Reno was pulling to the side of the road, and Kong took off running.
Dommi jumped out of the Mercedes and took off behind the older man. Reno ran behind his son, but he didn’t run all-out because he knew Kong was no match for Dommi’s speed.
And he was right. Within seconds, Dommi had overtaken Kong Fanarka and was knocking the small Asian gentleman to the ground.
But as soon as Dommi turned Kong around, and Kong was on his back, Dommi hadn’t realized it, but Kong had a gun in his hand. Dommi fell from off of him in shock, and Reno, just coming upon them, pulled his own weapon. “Drop it, Kong!” Reno yelled. “Drop it!”
But Kong didn’t drop it. Reno was about to pull his trigger He didn’t want to. They still didn’t know where Mariah was. But nobody was shooting his son on his watch. Trina would kill him!
But Kong, instead, put the gun beneath his chin, and fired. Dommi jumped back. Reno screamed nooo! Then he ran to Kong, hoping against hope that he wasn’t dead.
But he was. It was obvious that he was.
Dommi was stricken with fear. “But what about Mariah, Pop? Where’s Mariah?” Dommi went down to Kong’s body, and began shaking him. “Where’s Mariah?” he was screaming. “Where’s Mariah?!” But both father and son knew it was no use. Kong couldn’t help them now.
But then Dommi realized what he was missing. He looked at Reno. “You said she was his insurance policy, Pop,” he said. “You said she’d be wherever he was.”
Reno suddenly realized it, too, and father and son took off.
This time Reno was running as fast as Dommi could run, as both men raced to Kong’s old Buick.
Reno, getting there first, opened the car door, grabbed the keys out of the ignition, and ran to the trunk.
“Be ready,” Reno said to Dommi as he began unlocking the old trunk.
Dommi pulled his gun, and pointed it at the trunk, as his father opened it.
And what they saw inside stunned them.
It was Mariah, her hands and legs tied, and her mouth gagged. But she was otherwise fine.
Dommi’s heart raced with joy as he snatched the tape off of her mouth. “Mariah!” he cried.
“Dommi!” she cried. She’d never been happier to see anybody in her whole life. Even Dommi’s father, who normally terrified her, was a welcomed sight. And Dommi quickly untied her and both men, gingerly, helped her out of the trunk. Then Reno got on the phone, to see if he could get a status report, from Sal and Mick, at the café.
“Are you okay?” Dommi asked her, holding her at arms’ length to get a good look at her.
She was crying, but she was nodding. “I’m fine,” she said. “I’m fine!”
Dommi was near tears himself. “Is it true?” he asked her. “There was no miscarriage?”
Mariah nodded. “There was no miscarriage,” she said. “I’m sorry, Dommi. I know you didn’t want a child this early in life. I didn’t want to burden you.”
“Don’t say that,” Dommi said as he grabbed her and pulled her into his arms. “You could never burden me!”
But he looked at his father, who had been given the all’s clear by Sal. Reno could only shake his head. Dommi and Mariah were only eighteen, and they were already going to be parents. It reminded Reno of how Jimmy was conceived. Reno was a teenager at the time too.
Now his son was following in his sorry footsteps. Reno shook his head again.
Dommi hugged Mariah harder. Everything his parents had tried to warn him about when it came to the gangster life, when it came to growing up too fast, had all come true already.
Dommi held Mariah even closer, but he squeezed his eyes shut.
He was no kid anymore.
EPILOGUE
Reno and Trina sat in the same lounger on the rooftop private deck at the PaLargio as Dommi and Mariah, and Jimmy and Oprah, were playing volleyball in the pool. Sophie was their referee and she was making bad call after bad call which led to a lot of laughter and recriminations and jokes. The brand new grandchild was on Reno’s lap, facing both grandparents as he held her up, with her jowly cheeks and big, bright eyes.
“Damn if she doesn’t look just like Sal,” Reno said.
Trina laughed. “That baby don’t look like no Sal and you know it,” she said.
“Then who does she look like in the family?” Reno asked. “Where’s the family resemblance? Who does she look like?”
“She looks like you, Reno,” said Trina. “How many times do we have to tell you that? She looks like you, with a little touch of Dommi and Mariah in her too. But she mainly looks like you.”
“That’s what people keep saying, that she looks like me, but I don’t see it. This is a pretty baby.”
Trina smirked. “Is that why you thought she looked like Sal?” she asked.
Reno laughed. “I was just fucking around. I would have given her back to the doctors if she came out looking like that fool.”
“Sal’s got more charm in his thumb than most men have in their entire bodies, so don’t even go there, Reno,” Trina said.
Reno looked at her. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means what I said. Sal is a very charming man.”
“In his dreams,” said Reno.
“Whatever,” said Trina, and they both smiled as the baby flapped her hands and then put her fist in her mouth.
But then the conversation shifted, as Trina looked at Dommi and Mariah. “Dommi might look like an old-ass man,” she said, “but he’s still so young.”
“And a father now. Can you imagine Dommi as somebody’s daddy?”
“Ain’t no imagining it,” Trina said. “It’s the real deal now. He is somebody’s daddy. As Maury would say, ‘he IS the father!’” Then Trina exhaled. “Unfortunately.”
Reno looked at his son, too. “Know what you mean.” Then he looked at Trina. “What’s the plan?” he asked. “Dommi going to marry her, right?”
“He’d better!” Trina said. “He can knock her up, he can marry her.” But then she exhaled. “He asked, but Mariah said no.”
Reno frowned. “No? She said no to my son?”
Trina rolled her eyes. “You are so vain,” she said.
“Why would she say no? Dommi loves her. He’ll take care of her. She needs a man to make sure she and this baby are set for the rest of their lives.”
“Oh, they’re already set,” Trina said. “They will be taken care of as long as there’s breath in my body. That’s for damn sure. With or without Dommi.” Then she exhaled again. “But for Veronica’s sake,” she added, “I would prefer it was with Dommi.”
Reno agreed with that, and Veronica, as if on cue, smiled at him.
“But Mariah didn’t want him to marry her just because they have a bab
y together. It has to be because he wants to be with her. That’s the only way, she feels, it’ll work. That’s what she told me.”
Reno looked at Trina. “What did you tell her?” he asked.
“I told her, child please. Get that man whatever way you can. Worry about the details later.”
Reno laughed.
“But she’s young,” said Trina. “She still has a lot to learn and a lot of living to do. I’m not going to rush it.”
“Don’t,” said Reno. “Because Dommi’s got a lot to learn and a lot of living to do too. If she doesn’t think he’s ready, he’s not ready. Give it time.”
“Dad!” It was Dommi.
“What?” Reno asked.
“Sophie sucks as a referee.”
“I do not!” Sophie declared.
“Yes, she does,” said Dommi. “You come and referee.”
“Dommi, no,” said Jimmy in a low voice. “Not Dad!”
Trina was shocked too. “Are you sure you want your father as the referee?”
“He’s got to be better than Sophie,” Dom said.
“Stop lying on me, Dommi,” Sophia replied to him.
And Reno was already handing the baby to Trina, and standing up. “I’ll be a great referee,” he said to his wife, “what are you talking?”
Then Reno went poolside and immediately took over as Trina knew he would. “Everybody out of the pool,” he said. “We’re gonna do this shit my way, or it’s the highway for all of your sorry asses!”
Jimmy and the girls looked at Dommi for even suggesting Reno, and Jimmy threw the ball at him. And the girls pounced too.
Trina laughed, and little Veronica grinned too. She and Reno had their hands full again. Dommi and Mariah sure as hell had theirs full. But they were family, so no worries, Trina thought as she listened to Reno’s crazy, draconian rules, and played with the baby.
It was always all in the family with the Gabrinis.
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Reno Gabrini- the Trouble With Dommi Page 16
