Sal Gabrini 4: I'll Take You There (The Gabrini Men Series Book 7)

by Mallory Monroe

  Unless they didn’t realize who Gemma was.

  Unless they didn’t realize who Gemma’s man was.

  “Any woman, any black woman, come this way today?” Tommy asked the leader.

  “So she’s black?” The leader smiled. “Why am I not surprised?

  “She’s family,” Reno said. “So you know what that means.”

  “Messing with her is just like messing with you?” the leader suggested.

  “Messing with her,” Reno corrected, “is exactly like messing with me.”

  The leader got the message. Reno could see it in his eyes. His bravado was still there, but not nearly as certain. “Like I said,” he said, “she never came here. Not today. Not yesterday. Not ever. I don’t know the female.”

  Now Reno and Tommy were stumped. They got back in their car, and left because they had no choice. But as soon as they cleared Ames Street, they were calling Jimmy. Jimmy found out for them just who the cab driver was, and Reno and Tommy paid him a visit: at his cab.

  The cab was parked outside of at a bar near the Strip, dropping off a fare, when the Porsche drove in front of it. Reno and Tommy got out, and got into the backseat of the cab.

  “Mr. Gabrini,” the stunned driver said nervously, looking at Reno.

  “You took a young lady away from my hotel,” Reno said. “To Ames Street today.”

  The driver’s nervousness increased. He nodded his fathead. “Yes, sir,” he said. “That’s right.”

  “That’s wrong,” Tommy said. “Where did you take the young lady?”

  The driver began to breathe heavily. “I took her to . . . Ames Street.”

  “You need your hands to drive this cab,” Reno said. “Don’t you?”

  The driver swallowed hard. “Yes, sir.”

  “If you don’t want to lose your ability to make a living, you’d better not lie to us. Where did you take the young lady?”

  The driver hesitated again, but it was obvious he couldn’t keep up the tale. “She told me to tell anybody who asks that I took her to Ames Street. She paid me good money. I didn’t know she was running from you, Mr. Gabrini, or I would have never agreed to help her!”

  “Where did you take her?”

  “I thought she was just a guest in the hotel,” the driver continued.

  “Where did you take her?” Reno asked again.

  “The courthouse,” the driver finally said. “I took her to the courthouse.”

  “What’s in it for me, Gemma Jones?” The judge stood at the window and stared at her. Not so much her face. He knew she was pretty. But at her body. Her fine, black body. That was what he was after. And had been for a very long time.

  “I need this favor, Joe,” Gemma said. They were in his chambers, inside the courthouse. Coming to a man like him, a man she knew had serious designs on her, was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. But she did it without reservation.

  “I understand what you need,” he responded to her. “You’ve made your concern for the little thug perfectly clear. But I’m clear too. I don’t hand out favors in exchange for nothing. What’s in it for me?”

  Gemma exhaled. “What do you want?”

  “You know what I want. I want to have you. I want to be with you.”

  Gemma’s heart pounded. He wasn’t just a judge, but was the chief judge in the criminal division. A disgusting pervert, she thought. But she had to get answers, and he had those answers. “Okay,” she said. “Now tell me.”

  He smiled. “Do I look stupid to you? We fuck first, and then we talk.”

  “Do I look stupid to you?” Gemma asked. “I fuck you, and you don’t talk, I’m out of my self-respect. We talk, but don’t fuck afterwards, you maintain your self-respect. Now tell me.”

  The judge stared at her. He always knew she was a woman of integrity. That was why she was always turning him down. “On your word?” he asked her.

  “On my word,” Gemma said without hesitation.

  The judge exhaled. “Yes,” he finally said.

  “You issued it?”

  “I approved the issue.”

  “To who?” Gemma asked. “Police?”

  “No,” the judge said. “The FBI.”

  Gemma’s heart soared. There was still a chance Sal was alive. “Okay,” she said, and then she began to hurry out of his chambers.

  But he grabbed her by the arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

  “I’m wired,” she lied, and he quickly released her arm. “So far all you’ve done was ask to sleep with me. Not great for your relationship with your wife, but not a crime. Don’t elevate this into a crime.”

  He grabbed her arm again. “You gave your word,” he said.

  “I know,” she said. “But there’s a theory in law that we both have to practice. The doctrine of unclean hands. You played dirty by asking for sex to begin with, so I played dirty too. You can’t complain now that I didn’t come clean. I didn’t because you didn’t.” She looked at her arm. “Let me go,” she said.

  The anger was in his eyes, but he let her go. She hurried out of his office.

  But if she thought she was going to take that information and run with it, she was wrong. In the courthouse parking lot, Reno and Tommy were waiting at her BMW. They were waiting at the same car she had to leave behind when they escorted her out of the courthouse hours before, when Sal was picked up. She hurried up to them.

  “Any word?” she asked.

  “None,” Tommy said. “Any word?”

  “Yes,” Gemma said. “But I’ll tell you in the car.”

  She moved to head toward the driver side of her car, but Reno grabbed her by the arm. “Not so fast, sister,” he said. “Tell us what you got.”

  “I’ll tell you in the car.”

  “You aren’t telling us anything because you aren’t going anywhere. Now what do you know?”

  “I know I’m getting in my car and handling this myself,” Gemma said forcefully.

  Reno flung her against the car and made a move as if he was going to slap the shit out of her. He was already upset by the wild goose chase she had caused them to take. He wasn’t taking anymore of her lip, nor her schemes. But Tommy got in between them.

  “Handle your brother’s woman,” Reno said to him, as he backed off.

  Tommy looked at Gemma. He was angry too. Precious time had been wasted, when they could have been searching for Sal. “What do you know, Gem? Don’t bullshit us, just tell us.”

  Gemma exhaled. She was still shook up by Reno’s display. But he did wake her up to what should have been obvious all along: don’t mess with the Gabrinis. They were not going to relinquish their control to her or any other female. She got real. “I needed time,” she said. “That’s why I told him to tell anybody who asked that he took me to Ames Street.”

  “What would you know about Ames Street?” Tommy asked her.

  “Clients,” she said. “Some of my roughest clients had ties to that area. They told me about it.”

  “What about Sal?” Reno walked back over and asked. “What did you find out about Sal?”

  “He’s in FBI custody,” she said.

  Reno and Tommy both were stunned. “FBI?” Tommy asked. “But they denied it.”

  “When Jimmy told me the witnesses said it was the FBI that took Sal, but the FBI was denying any involvement, I had to check on it for myself. I knew how those agencies lie all the time. I also knew, for them to pick him up, they had to have a warrant. So I went to the judge I knew would have knowledge of any warrants issued. The chief judge for the criminal division.”

  “And he confirmed it?”

  “Yes. That’s where I’m headed now. To the FBI. They have Sal. They can’t deny it any longer. I’m going as his attorney.”

  “It makes sense,” Tommy said, looking at Reno. “They can’t deny it with his attorney standing right there.”

  “If they deny it again,” Gemma said, “I’ll mention that the media will be contacted. Sixth
Amendment rights are still big in the media. They’ll at least let me see him.”

  Reno hated to admit it, but Gemma was right. “Let’s do this then,” he said.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Gemma was so nervous her palms were sweating. All she wanted was to see Sal, in one piece, come through that door. And even then she couldn’t run into his arms or treat him like anybody but her client. Her perceived super-professionalism, and the fact that she told them they either file charges or let him go, got him released in the first place. For his sake, she had to maintain it.

  And to her inward delight, Sal understood it too. He didn’t come out ready to run into her arms. He came out like a man insulted that he was put in in the first place. He came out with swag. And Gemma loved it. That was why she loved him. They could throw manure his way all day and night, but he wasn’t going to pretend it wasn’t shit.

  “Ready?” she asked when he arrived at her side.

  “Like yesterday,” he said, and they left.

  And they maintained that lawyer-client relationship as they got into the backseat of Gemma’s BMW. Reno was driving, and Tommy was on the front passenger seat, but as soon as that car door closed, they didn’t care. Sal pulled Gemma into his arms and held her tightly. He was so tired of her having to deal with his shit that he didn’t know what to do. Having none to deal with wasn’t an option, since it wasn’t him who was stirring the shit up. It was what it was. And as long as he had enemies, shit would be stirred up.

  When they stopped embracing, Sal kissed her. Passionately. When they finally stopped, Tommy smiled. “Still breathing, Gem?” he asked her.

  Gemma smiled embarrassingly, but they could kid all night. She didn’t care. She was too thrilled to have Sal safe and sound. He had his arm around her. She snuggled closer against him.

  “How the hell did y’all swing it?” he asked his brother and his cousin. “Those pricks at the FBI told me nobody would know where I was for days.”

  “That was their plan,” Reno said. “But Gemma had a different plan.”

  Sal frowned. “Gemma? What do you mean, Gemma? What, Tommy, you had her out in the streets looking for me? Doing your job?”

  “What do you take me for? You know better than that! She went out there all on her own.”

  Sal looked at Gemma. “You? What did you do? You didn’t stay where they told you to stay?”

  “Don’t get upset, Sal.”

  “What do you mean don’t get upset? They tell me my lady pulled the strings? I wanna know how could she swing that?”

  Gemma knew she had to explain. “They told me to stay at the penthouse, yes, they told me that. But I knew there were certain things only I could check out. So I left.”

  “You left?”

  “Yes. And yes, I got a cab driver to claim he took me somewhere other than where he took me.”

  “And where did you claim to go?”

  Gemma didn’t want to say.

  “What?” Sal asked.

  “Ames Street,” she said.

  Sal couldn’t believe it. “Ames Street? What would you know about Ames fucking Street?”

  “Why are you guys acting as if I’m some fragile wallflower? I’m an attorney. A criminal defense attorney at that! I have clients who know all about Ames Street. They told me.”

  “Well damn. Even I don’t hang my ass around there. But you knew that would get Reno and Tommy running.”

  “Yes,” Gemma admitted.

  Sal couldn’t help but smile. “Damn you’re good,” he said. Tommy laughed.

  “Too smart for her own britches,” Reno said, failing to find the humor. “You need to handle your woman.”

  “When you handle yours,” Sal shot back, “I’ll handle mine.”

  Reno, thinking about Trina, had to smile about that.

  Sal looked back at Gemma. “So what was so critical that you thought nobody else could check on it?”

  “The witnesses at that restaurant said the FBI had grabbed you. The FBI was denying it.”

  “The Feds!” Sal spat out. “Bunch of freaking liars! But go on.”

  “I had to make sure that was the case. In truth, I was hoping it was.”

  Reno frowned. “You were hoping he was in FBI custody?”

  “Yes! Because then I’d know he still would be alive. At least he would still stand a chance.”

  “Oh,” Reno said. “Right.”

  “So I went to the courthouse, to the chief judge, and asked him if a warrant had been issued.”

  “And he told you?”

  “He told me.”

  “Just like that?”

  “Yes.”

  Sal studied her. She was a beautiful woman. She had one of the most desirable bodies around. He knew better than that. “Not for nothing,” he said.

  Gemma didn’t want to go down that road. “The point is,” she said, “he told me and with that information I was able to make them make a decision. Either they had to release you, or charge you. They had no real evidence, and they knew it. They had no choice but to release you.”

  But Sal was still staring at her. “What were the terms, Gemma?” he asked her. “And don’t fuck with me.”

  Reno glanced at Gemma through the rearview. Tommy, too, knew a guy dealing with a gorgeous girl like Gemma would have wanted something in return for that favor.

  “He wanted sex,” Gemma admitted.

  “Yeah, that’s more like it,” Sal said, although he hated some man talking that way to his woman. “And you told him what? To kiss your ass?”

  “I told him okay, and got the information.”

  Sal frowned. “What do you mean you told him okay? You wasn’t sleeping with that prick!”

  “I know I wasn’t. But he didn’t know I wasn’t.”

  “So you lied?”

  “No, Sal, I slept with him and then got the information.” She looked at Sal. Sal looked mortified.

  “You would, wouldn’t you?” Sal asked.

  Gemma was surprised he’d say that. Reno looked through the rearview. “What did you say?” Gemma asked Sal.

  “You didn’t this time, but if he wouldn’t have given you that information otherwise, you would have slept with him. Wouldn’t you?”

  Gemma swallowed. “If it was a situation where your life was on the line, and I could do something about it? And it was a choice between your life and my virtue?” Gemma braced herself. “Yes,” she said. “I would have slept with him easily.”

  Tommy’s heart dropped. Not her too, he thought. They weren’t even married yet, and already she was one of them!

  Sal too leaned back. His arm was still around Gemma, but his grip on her had slacked. Because it was an incredible admission. It was horrible on every level. Sal hated that she would ever be placed in that position. But it was awesome on every level too. She loved him. For a woman like Gemma to say that she would do such a thing, he knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt. Above any human being alive, Gemma loved him.

  But he still couldn’t have it. He tightened his grip again. “If it’s between my life and you sleeping with some sleaze ball, you’d better let me die,” he said, and Gemma laughed.

  She thought he was kidding. Reno and Tommy knew he was not.

  “Tommy say Rip is at the bottom of this,” Reno said to Sal. “What say you?”

  “Rip is in it. And Neeco.”

  Tommy turned around. “Neeco? Your man Neeco?”

  Sal nodded. “Hell yeah.”

  “But why do you figure that, Sal?”

  “They weren’t asking me about all of the shit I’ve been involved in. They were asking me about Philly.”

  “Phil Meretti?”

  “Yeah. They were accusing me of killing him.”

  Gemma looked at him.

  “I didn’t kill him. His ass deserved it, but I decided to punish him with something short of death. But Neeco, he push the guy on over and kills him. Yet of all the crimes I’m guilty of, the one I’m not is the one they�
��re pressing hard on. I mean they were working it. They were trying to get me to confess to shit I didn’t do and they wanted that confession like yesterday.”

  “You think Neeco’s behind the bug too?” Tommy asked.

  “Yeah, I do.”

  “What bug?” Reno asked.

  “Sal wanted my men to sweep his penthouse. We did. Found a few bugs in there.

  “Bugs Neeco could have easily placed the couple times he was there,” Sal said. “That was how that woman who came to Gemma’s job knew about our engagement before anybody else knew. They bugged my house and my balcony. And it had to be an inside job. Nobody could get in my penthouse without permission. I was fingering the maid or butler who came in occasionally. Didn’t act on it yet, thank God. Because I’m willing to bet now that I was wrong.”

  “So you think the FBI’s covering for Neeco?” Reno asked.

  “There’s a connection, that’s for sure,” Sal said. “He’s their informant now, or there’s some other connection, I don’t know. But I know he has to be involved. This shit ain’t just about Rip. It’s either Rip pulling Neeco in. Or Neeco pulling in Rip.” Then Sal became angry. “Gotdammit!” he shouted, just thinking about one of his guys being connected to the Feds.

  “You know what you’ve got to do,” Tommy said.

  “Set up a meeting.”

  “That’s right. Play dumb when you do. Tell him how they picked you up and how the heat is on you now, and how you need him to cover some evidence for you. Something like that.”

  “That’ll smoke his ass out,” Reno said.

  Sal removed his arm from around Gemma and pulled out his cell phone. As he called Neeco, he could see the discomfort on her face. He hugged her again, and kissed her on the side of her face. “It’s okay, babe,” he said to her. She snuggled closer against him.

  But the phone continued to ring. And then Neeco’s voice mail picked up. Sal did leave a message. “What’s with the Voice Mail?” Sal said. “I got heat on me. Need you to move some things around for me. Give me a call back.” And then he ended the call.

  “He’s on the run,” Sal said. “He always answers my calls.”

  “We’ll find him, don’t worry,” Tommy said.