Mob Boss 4: Romancing Trina Gabrini (38 page)

Tommy wanted to reassure him, but he wasn’t going
to lie to him.
 
“She’s been through a lot
with you, man.
 
More
probably than what ninety-nine percent of the women out there would put up
with.
 
But she loves you.
 
That I know.
 
Depend on that love.”

Reno glanced at Tommy.
 
His reassurance reassured Reno.
 
“I will,” he said.

“So,” Tommy said
,
 
“
tell me about this boy of yours.
 
Is he good looking?”

“Of course.”

Tommy smiled.
 
“Is he smart?”

“Of course.”

“Is he a smart mouth?”

“Of course,” Reno started saying, and then
caught himself.
 
He and Tommy laughed.

“You’ve got to introduce me,” Tommy said.

“I will.”

“You guys going to do a DNA test?”

“Yup.”

“But you’re already confident he’s yours?”

“He’s mine.”

Tommy exhaled.
 
“Poor Tree,” he said as the car stopped in front of a small, shack of a
house.

Reno looked at Tommy. “What ‘poor Tree?’
 
Whatta you mean by that?”

“What do you think I mean?
 
She’s wanted to have your child since you
married her.
 
But you keep telling her
not yet.
 
Then she finds out you had a
kid with Marcy, and now a kid with this Shanell person.
 
Poor Tree.”

But Reno felt defensive.
 
It was a sensitive matter.
 
“It’s not that I don’t want to get her
pregnant.
 
I do.
 
But I don’t want my problems to fall on any
child of Trina’s.
 
I couldn’t take that,
and she couldn’t, either.
 
Yeah, I had a
kid with Marcy, and he died behind this mob bullshit.
 
And now Jimmy Mack’s caught up in some Drago
bullshit.”

“You think you’d feel differently if either
one of them had been Tree’s child?”

“I know I would.
 
I wouldn’t be able to take it, Tommy, because
I know what it would do to Tree.
 
This
shit would kill her.
 
She wouldn’t be
able to take this!
 
And because it would
nearly take her out, it’ll take me out for damn sure seeing her in that kind of
pain.”

Tommy smiled.
 
“I have never known you to feel so strongly for a woman, ever, the way
you do for Tree.”

“Yeah, well,” Reno said, getting out of the
car.
 
“It is what it is.”

“Mighty love,” Tommy said with a smile, as he
grabbed a briefcase off of the backseat and got out, too.

“The kind you have for Shanks?” Reno said.

“Yeah,” Tommy admitted.
 
“But Tree deserves it.”

Reno, surprised, looked at his cousin.
 
“Well it’s about damn time you understand
that, Tommy, and move on with your life.”

“Yeah,” Tommy replied, as they headed for the
splintered front door.
 
But both of them
knew he wasn’t about to move on without Shanks.

Reno knocked on the door made of thin,
particle board, and a middle aged black man slung the door open.

“We told y’all okay!” the man blared.
 
“Y’all ain’t got to keep harassin’ us!”

Tommy looked at Reno.
 
Reno stared at the man.
 
“Who’s been harassing you, sir?
 
Johnny Drago?”

The man hesitated.
 
“Who the hell are you?”

“Who are you?”

“I’m Ross Tucker.”

“Kandi’s father?”

“That’s right.
 
Who are you?”

“I’m not Johnny Drago,” Reno said, “or anybody
associated with him.
 
I’m a friend of the
alleged perp.”

The man immediately moved to slam the door
shut.
 
Tommy put his Ferragamo dress shoe
in the way, preventing the closure.

“We’ll double it,” Reno said.

Tucker looked puzzled.
 
“You’ll double what?”

“The guy who got your daughter to lie, and who
threatened her to stick to the lie by cutting her, is a bad man.
 
But he’s not bad as I am on his worse
day.
 
He can’t outmuscle me and
mine.
 
Did he promise money, too, or just
intimidation?”

The man paused.
 
Reno could see the resentment in his
eyes.
 
“Intimidation.
 
No money.”

Reno looked at Tommy.
 
Tommy sat the briefcase inside the small
house.

“There’s a hundred thousand dollars cash
inside of that briefcase.
 
All for you and yours.”

The man looked at the case.
 
“Go on, open it up,” Reno said with a
smile.
 
“Trust, but verify, right?”

The man smacked his lips and slowly opened
it.
 
When he saw all of the cash, he
quickly closed it back.
 
And looked at Reno.

“Your daughter has to recant.
 
They had mutual, consensual sex.
 
She cut herself to make her boyfriend
jealous.
 
I understand she had a recent
breakup.
 
That’s the boy she wanted to
make jealous.
 
You call the DA to her
hospital bed and let her tell them what I just told you.
 
Then you pack up your daughter, and your
untraceable hundred thousand dollars, and get out of Dodge.
 
And then live the life you’ve always wanted
to live.”

The man looked beyond Reno and Tommy, in case
this was a set up.
 
He saw no-one.

“That’s all we gotta do?
 
Say it didn’t happen?”

“No,” Reno said, “you can’t just say it didn’t
happen.
 
Your daughter has to say it
exactly as I said it.
 
There was sex, she
had to admit that, but it was consensual.
 
She drugged Jimmy Ridgeway and he blacked out afterwards, and that’s
when she harmed herself.
 
She chose Jimmy
because he was a good kid that she knew liked her- or whatever.
 
But keep it simple like that.
 
And after the DA drop all charges against
my---,” Reno stopped because he nearly slipped.
 
“When the DA
drop
the charges, yes, that’ll be
it forever.
 
You won’t see me again and I
won’t see you.”

“But what about those other people?
 
Those other Italians?”

“They won’t bother y’all, either.
 
They aren’t interested in your daughter,
sir.
 
They’re interested in me.
 
So don’t worry.
 
They got their point across.”

The thought about it long and hard.
 
Then
he nodded his head.
 
Something is better
than intimidation and nothing any day of the week.
 
“Okay,” he said.
 
“It’s a deal.”

“But if you cross me,” Reno said, “and try to
take my money and run without holding up your end of the bargain---”

“Or if you tell anybody else about the
bargain,” Tommy added.

“Then,” Reno said, “
all
bets are off.
 
And all hell is on.
 
Feel me?”

Tucker nodded.
 
“I feel you,” he said.
 
And then
he looked, once again, at that magical briefcase.

The Mustang pulled into the parking lot at
Clauson’s and Nell and Jimmy jumped out.
 
They ran inside the still closed-to-the-public building and immediately
notified everybody there, from Barkley and Dirty, Mondo and Jeff, to
all of the
wait staff, that the charges were dropped.

“Come on,” Nell said, as the staff
congratulated Jimmy, “let’s tell Reno.”

“I’ll be back,” a thrilled Jimmy said to Barkley
as he followed his mother down the long hall to Reno’s office.

Nell knocked once, Reno said to come in, and
Nell and Jimmy entered.

Reno was there, with Tommy and Sal Luca
Gabrini, Tommy’s younger brother.

“Oh, Reno, you won’t believe what just happened!”
Nell said, not even apologizing for the intrusion.

“What happened?” Reno asked as if he had no
clue.

“The DA called and said they were dropping all
of the charges against Jimmy Mack.
 
All
of the charges, Reno!
 
Apparently the
girl made the whole thing up!”

Reno grinned and stood up.
 
“Well, that’s all right, then,” he said as he
hurried to Jimmy.
 
He grabbed a smiling
Jimmy in a big bear hug.

“Thanks, Reno,” Jimmy said, his excitement
showing.
 
“Thanks for everything.”

Reno looked at him.
 
“Reno?
 
Is that the best you can do?”

Jimmy laughed.
 
“I’m still getting used to it.”

“Me, too, kid,” Reno said heartfelt, tapping
him on his chest.
 
"Me
too.”

“I haven’t even spoken to my, to Fred Ridgeway
yet.
 
Except on the
phone.”

“How’s he taking it?” Reno asked.

“He’s taking it good,” Nell interrupted.
 
“He’s pleased that Jimmy Mack knows the
truth.
 
But he still wants a relationship
with him.”

“Yes, of course,” Reno said.
 
Then he looked at Tommy and Sal Luca.

“I want you to meet your uncles, Jim,” Reno
said.

“Oh,” Jimmy said, surprised, as Tommy and Sal
stood, both buttoning their suit coats.

“This handsome gentleman here,” Reno said,
placing his hand on Tommy’s broad
shoulder,
“is my
best friend and first cousin, Thomas Gabrini.
 
He’s visiting from Seattle.
 
He
owns restaurants too, and his own security firm.”

“Hi,” Jimmy said, shaking Tommy’s hand.
 
He wasn’t accustomed to being around such
obviously wealthy people.
 
It intrigued
him.

“Welcome to the family, young man,” Tommy said
to him.

“Thanks, but we aren’t for certain yet.”

“Ah, just a formality,” Tommy said, which made
Jimmy feel even better about the whole situation.

“And this ugly mug here,” Reno said of Sal
Luca, “is Salvatore Luciano.
 
He’s
Tommy’s baby brother and a thorn in my natural ass.”
 
They all laughed.

“You have trouble, kid,” Sal said to Jimmy,
shaking his hand, “you come to your Uncle Sal.
 
I’ll set’em straight, any of these yahoos mess with you.”

“Don’t scare the boy, Sal,” Reno said.

“Nall, I’m serious.
 
It’s tough being a teenager out here.
 
Look what they just tried to do to him.”

Reno didn’t want to be reminded.
 
He looked at Jimmy and Nell.

“Let me wrap this up and then maybe
me
and you can go for a spin, Jim,” Reno said.

Jimmy smiled.
 
“Okay,” he said.

“What about me?” Nell said with a seductive
smile.

“You need to get to work,” Reno said, not
smiling at all.

And Nell’s smile left too.
 
And she and Jimmy left the room.

“She likes you,” Tommy said as he and Sal sat
back down.

“Yeah, well, she’s wasting her time.”

“In any event,” Sal said.
 
“I don’t have all day.
 
I’ve got a plane to catch.”

“I don’t know why you can’t stay overnight,”
Tommy said.

“Can’t.
 
I’ve got a meeting in New York in the
morning. I just stopped through here to give Reno the heads up.
 
But I can’t stay.”

“But what I don’t understand,” Reno said, “is
motive.
 
We’re all in agreement that Drag
coerced Kandi Tucker into lying on Jimmy.”

“Oh, yeah, it was Drag, all right.
 
He got to that girl to send some message to
you.”