Reno and Trina: In the Shadows of Love, Book 12 (20 page)

“Hi,” she
said to Gemma.

“What is it,
Amy?” Trina asked again.
 
She wasn’t
playing around with this child any longer.

“I heard
about your daughter-in-law,” Amy decided to say.
 
“How is she?”

“She’s
recovering.”

“Is it true
she was shot?”

“What the
fuck that got to do with you?” Sal asked, forcing Amy to glance at him.

“What do you
want, Amy?” Trina asked again.
 
“And I
know whatever it is doesn’t concern my daughter-in-law.
 
What do you want?”

Amy knew
there would be resistance.
 
Just not this
fierce.
 
And with Sal here too!
 
But this may be the last chance she had before
Trina shut her out completely.
 
She was
not going to be deterred.
 
She made up
her mind last night.
 
She was struggling,
thanks to Reno nobody was going to give her a real job ever again, and she was
carrying a goldmine in her belly.
 
If she
could get to Trina first, before Reno made her bend to his will the way he made
everybody bend, she could get paid.
 
She
could be set for life and didn’t have to deal with asshole Reno ever again.

“Can we talk
in private?” she asked Trina.

“Hell no,”
Sal said.

“No,” Trina
said.
 
“What you have to say you can say
in front of my family.
 
Now what do you
want?
 
I thought I made it clear that I’m
not going to be able to hire you.”

“That’s not
why I’m here.”

Trina
considered her.
 
More bullshit.
 
She should have known.
  
“Why are you here then?”

Amy would
have preferred to ease into the reason, but Trina was being a bitch and wasn’t
going to let her.
 
So she didn’t stutter
either.
 
“I’m pregnant, Mrs. Gabrini,”
she said.

Sal was
floored.
 
Gemma was floored.
 
Was she trying to imply that Reno?
 
They both looked at Trina.

Trina was
staring at Amy.
 
“Is that supposed to
matter to me?” she asked her.

“I’m
pregnant with Reno’s baby,” Amy said point blank.

Something
rose up in Trina that was so ugly that she couldn’t help herself.
 
She slapped Amy so hard across the face that
Amy stumbled back into Sal.
 
Sal caught
her, and then moved around her, as if he had to protect her from Trina.
 
And he did.
 
Because he knew the truth.

Amy, still
feeling the sting, held the side of her face.
 
She looked at Trina.
 
“It’s the
truth,” she said.
 
“You don’t have to
believe me, but it’s the truth!”

“I thought
he harassed you,” Trina said.
 
“I thought
he wanted it so bad and you wouldn’t give it up.
 
You were on lockdown, let you tell it.
 
I thought that was the truth.
 
Now you’re pregnant?”

“I didn’t
give it up,” Amy said.
 
“He took it.”

“That’s a
lie!” Sal fired back.
 
“Reno don’t have
to take shit and you know it!”

“It’s the
truth!” Amy shot back.
 
“We were in
Hawaii when it happened.
 
I was never
going to say anything, even after he fired me on those trumped up charges I
wasn’t going to say a word.
 
Until I
found out I was pregnant.
 
I knew I had
to let you know the truth, Mrs. Gabrini.
 
He raped me.
 
And now I’m
pregnant.
 
What are you going to do about
it?”

Trina
started shaking her head.
 
Amy was
lying.
 
She knew she was.
 
And all she could feel was anger toward
her.
 
“Why are you telling me about
it?
 
It’s not my baby, if there is a baby
in that belly of yours.
 
Why didn’t you
go to Reno?”

Amy
hesitated.
 
She glanced at Sal.
 
“Could we speak privately?” she asked again.

“No, we
can’t speak privately,” Trina snapped.
 
“So stop asking.
 
No!”

Amy let out
a deep-seated exhale, and pushed on through.
 
“If I tell Reno, I know he’ll want this baby and I will have to deal
with him for the rest of my life.
 
You’ll
have to deal with me for a very long time, too, Mrs. Gabrini.
 
But I’ll be willing to change all of that.”

Sal
frowned.
 
What the fuck?

“For a
price, the right price,” Amy said, “you can get rid of me, and I’ll get rid of
the pregnancy.
 
And I’ll leave town
forever.
 
Reno will never even know there
was a pregnancy.”

Sal and
Gemma couldn’t believe it.
 
They looked
at Trina.

But Trina
wasn’t trying to hear this nonsense.
 
She
had already sized Amy up and determined her to be a fraud.
 
Because Trina believed Reno.
 
He said he never slept with Amy and there was
no doubt in Trina’s mind.
 
He never slept
with this woman.
 
She was out for money
just as Trina thought, and she was willing to lie, cheat, and steal to get that
money.
  
“You’ll get rid of a child that
may not be Reno’s to begin with,” she said to Amy, “and expect me to pay for
that?
 
Do I look that stupid to you?”

“It’s Reno’s
kid,” Amy said firmly.
 
“There’s no doubt
about it.
 
You can wait and see if you
want to, but once this baby is here, it’s here.
 
And that little money you’ll give to get rid of me will be peanuts
compared to what I’ll be asking for once this baby arrives.”

“Get the
fuck out of here,” Trina said.
 
“Leave.
Now!
 
Sal, get her out of here, will you
please?
 
I’m not listening to this
craziness another second.”

“Hold on,
Tree,” Sal said and everybody looked at him.
 
But he didn’t care.
 
He knew the
truth.

But Trina
could hardly believe her ears.
 
Fly-off-the-handle Sal was telling her not to fly-off-the-handle?
 
“Hold on?” Trina asked him.
 
She had a puzzled look on her face.
 
“Hold on for what, Sal?”

“Don’t tell
me you believe her lies,” Gemma said to her husband, puzzled too.

“Just hold
on, alright?”
 
Sal seemed irritated.
 
Then he calmed back down.
 
He looked at Trina.
 
“I think we need to go talk to Reno.”

“Talk to
Reno?” Gemma asked. “But why?
 
Reno will
kill this fool if she got in his face with this nonsense.
 
You know how he is about his family.”

But Sal was
staring at Trina. “We need to withhold judgment,” he said with all sincerity in
his eyes, “and go see Reno.”

And it was
that look in those eyes of Sal that cut Trina short.
 
Because she knew Sal.
 
He was not a man who did anything just for
the hell of it.
 
He had a darn good
reason or he would not have bothered.

Trina was so
nervous that she could feel her heartbeat hammering.
 
“I’ll get my things,” she said, and walked
away.
 

Because of
the subject matter, Sal made the executive decision to take the ladies to
Reno’s penthouse at the PaLargio and have Reno meet them there.
 
Reno didn’t know why, and he was pissed that
Sal refused to discuss it over the phone, but he knew Sal too.
 
He would not have asked for this meeting if
it wasn’t vital.

But Reno
felt his heart drop through his shoe when he walked into his and Trina’s
penthouse and saw, not just Trina, Gemma, and Sal sitting in the living room,
but Amy Shumer was sitting there too.
 

He continued
walking toward them, but not nearly as swiftly.
 
“What is she doing here?” he asked.

“Sit down,
Reno,” Sal said.

Trina and
Gemma were seated on the sofa, while Sal sat in one chair, and Amy sat in the
other one.
 
Reno sat beside Trina.
 
“What’s this about?” he asked her.

Trina looked
at him.
 
“She’s pregnant, Reno.”

Reno’s heart
dropped through his shoe.
 
Just the look
on his face confirmed a lot for Trina.
 
She couldn’t believe it.
 
“It’s
true?” she asked, stunned.

“What’s
true?” Reno asked, trying to regain his composure.
 
“It’s not my baby!”

“Then why
did you look like that?” Trina asked him.
 
“Why did you have that look on your face?”

“What are
you talking?
 
What look?”

Trina stared
at her husband as if she’d never seen him like this before.
 

Sal looked
at Amy.
 
“Tell him what you told us.”

Amy swallowed
hard.
 
Telling it to Trina was one
thing.
 
Telling it to Reno was something
altogether different.
 
“I told them about
what happened in Hawaii.”
 

Reno looked
at her.
 
He wanted to dispute her.
 
He wanted to say it was all a pack of lies
she was about to tell.
 
But he
didn’t.
 
He didn’t say a word.
 
And his silence spoke loud and clear to
Trina.

“I told them
how you kept harassing me for sex, and how I didn’t want to have anything like
that to do with you.”

Reno
frowned.
 
“What?”

But Amy
pressed on.
 
“I told them how you forced
me to have sex with you---”

“That’s a
lie!” Reno yelled.
 
“That’s a
got
damn lie!”

“What
happened, Ree?” Sal asked him.
 
Reno
looked at him. “No lies.
 
Tell Trina the
truth.”

Gemma was
surprised to hear her husband say such a thing, as if he knew something
already.
 
She looked at Reno.

Reno ran his
hands through his already messy hair and looked at his wife.
 
Trina was staring at him.
 
“What happened, Reno?” she asked him.
 
“You said, you told me you never slept with
her.”

“I didn’t!”

“You did!”
Amy fired back.
 
“You know you did!”

“Shut the
hell up!” Trina yelled at Amy.
 
This was
stressful enough.
 
She looked at her
husband.
 
“What happened, Reno?” she
asked.

Reno could
already see the hurt in Trina’s eyes.
 
And he felt like crap because he was always the source of her pain.
 
He rubbed his fingers across his
forehead.
 
“She went to Hawaii with me,”
he said.

Trina braced
herself.
 
It was one thing to suspect
something awful happened.
 
It was another
thing to begin to hear the full extent of that awfulness.

 
“I closed the deal for a PaLargio in Hawaii,
and, as you know, that was a big deal.
 
And I celebrated that night at some local club.”

“You
celebrated with Amy,” Trina said.
 
This
wasn’t general.
 
He needed to own his
shit.
 

But Reno
shook his head. “Not just Amy,” he made clear.
 
“My entire negotiating team. We celebrated.
 
Amy was my designated driver.”

“You didn’t
have a driver?”

“I mean,
yes, I had a driver, but she was designated to see me safely back to my hotel
room.”

“And your
driver couldn’t do that?”

Reno looked
at Trina.
 
“Yes, he could have done it,
but it didn’t happen that way, okay, Tree?”

“Don’t you
dare get snippy with me,” Trina said.
 
“I
didn’t fuck her.
 
You did!”

“I didn’t,”
Reno said.
 
Then he leaned forward,
placed his elbows on his thighs, and covered his face.
  
“At least I don’t think I did.”

Trina
frowned.
 
“What?”

“I was
drunk, Tree.
 
I don’t remember shit about
what happened after I left that club.
 
All I know was that I woke up the next morning and Amy was getting out
of my bed.”

“Naked,” Sal
said.

Reno
nodded.
 
“Naked,” he said.

Trina’s
heart was pounding.
 
“Were you naked
too?” Trina asked him.

Reno
nodded.
 
“Yes.
 
But my dick was dry.”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What the fuck does that
matter?” he asked.
 
“It don’t take long
for no dick to dry! That don’t absolve you of shit!”

Reno looked
at Trina.
 
“I didn’t cheat on you,
Tree.
 
She might have tried something
with me, but I wasn’t a participant.
 
I
swear to you I wasn’t.
 
I don’t cheat on
you!
 
I was drunk as a motherfuck, yeah,
I was drunk.
 
That’s on me.
 
But fifty women could have been in that bed
with me that night and I wouldn’t have known it.”

“But it
wasn’t fifty women,” Amy said.
 
“It was
you and me.”

“Is that why
you fired her?” Trina asked, ignoring Amy.

“I fired her
ass because she had no business being in bed with me.
 
She gave some lame excuse about trying to
protect me from going to get more liquor, but I didn’t buy it.
 
She was already on a short leash with me
about going behind my back to my associates.
 
That episode in Hawaii did it for me.
 
She knew I didn’t play that shit.”

Trina was
torn, he could tell she was torn.
 
“I
didn’t sleep with that woman like that, Tree,” he said.
 
“I swear to you I didn’t.
 
And all of this talk about her being
pregnant---”

“I am
pregnant!”

“How do we
know that?”

“She’s
pregnant, Reno,” Gemma said.
 
“We gave
her a home pregnancy test when she got here.
 
We picked one up downstairs in one of the gift shops.
 
I was in the bathroom with her the entire
time.
 
She’s pregnant.”

“But it’s
not mine.”

“Maybe not,”
Trina said.
 
And then she looked at
Reno.
 
“But she’s pregnant.
 
That we know for sure.
 
You lied to me,” she said, with pain in her
voice.
 
“I know that too.”

“Do you
believe me?” Reno asked her.

“You mean
the first story you told, or this story?”
 
Tears appeared in Trina’s eyes.

“I’m not
lying to you, babe,” Reno said and attempted to place his arm around her waist,
but she jerked away.

“Get away
from me!” she said with a frown and stood up quickly.
 
She moved toward the fireplace.
 
“Stay away from me,” she added.

Gemma went
to Trina and placed an arm around her.
 
Because she knew the stakes.
 
She
knew if there was ever a crisis time in their marriage, and there had been many
crisis times, this time was it.

“She’s
talking about an abortion, Reno,” Sal said.
 
“We pay her, she goes away.”

Reno
frowned.
 
“I’m not paying her a
got
damn cent!” Reno yelled.
 
“That’s not my baby.
 
She may be pregnant, but it’s not by me!”

“It is by
you!” Amy shot back.
 
“It is your
child!
 
You got me naked, you put your
penis inside of me, and you fucked me!”

Reno jumped
up and over the coffee table so fast that he was grabbing Amy by the throat,
lifting her up, and running with her to the back side wall before Sal could get
out of his seat.
 
Trina screamed for Reno
to stop, but Reno’s anger tuned everything out.
 
This conniving bitch was costing him his wife and he was going to make
her pay.
 
He pulled out a knife, a
switchblade, and had it at her throat by the time Sal was trying to pull him
away.

“Reno, stop
it,” Sal insisted.
 
“Stop it, Reno!”

He wasn’t
able to pull Reno away, but he was able to talk him back to his senses.
 
Amy was in trembling with fear and hate for
that man.
 
“I hate you,” she said.
 
“I hate everything about you.”

“Tell my
wife the truth,” he said.
 
“Did I touch
you?”

But Amy had
her own pain.
 
“You ruined my life,” she
said.
 
“I’ve lost everything because of
you.
 
You’re going to pay me.
 
I don’t want this baby.
 
I’d rather die than to carry a child of yours
to term.”

“I didn’t
touch you!” Reno yelled.

“I tried
everything,” Amy said.
 
“I tried to get
you hard.
 
I tried to get you to pay me
some attention for once in your life, but you still didn’t give a damn.”

Trina was
staring at her.

“You still
wouldn’t give me the time of day even in a drunken stupor.
 
No matter what I did.
 
No matter how hard I tried to get you up, you
wouldn’t have an erection.
 
You was dead
to me.
 
And then, after that humiliation,
you had the nerve to fire me.
 
To fire
me?
 
Just because I slept naked beside
the man I’ve loved for years!
 
A man who
never even asked when my mother died, when my sister died.
 
You never cared anything at all about me.”

“Are you
pregnant?” Sal asked her.

“Yes, I’m
pregnant,” Amy spat out.
 
“And don’t ask
me who the father is because I don’t know and I don’t care.
 
Some random guy I picked up at a bar.
 
I worked every night, I took home a different
guy after each and every one of my shifts.
 
Just to get pregnant.
 
Just so I
could get even with you.”

Tears were
now running down her face.
 
Now that the
truth was coming out, Reno eased up.
 
Sal
backed off too.

“I never
touched you,” Reno said again.
 
“You are
not carrying my baby.”

Amy looked
at him with pure hatred in her eyes.
 
“Feel
better now?” she asked.
 
“I gave you my
life.
 
I worked my butt off for you and
gave you my life.
 
And you wouldn’t even
give me a child.”

Reno tossed
the knife aside.
 
He was sorry about
Amy’s misguided life, but her lies was ruining his marriage.
 
He didn’t give a damn about her pain.

“I never was
a promiscuous girl,” Amy continued, with Trina and Gemma especially riveted to
her story.
 
“But when you wouldn’t be
with me, when you fired me, I had to do something you see.
 
I had to get pregnant.
 
I had to get something out of this.
 
Since you didn’t want me, and wouldn’t give
me a child, at least I could get some money out of it.
 
I could abort whoever baby is in my stomach now,
get the money, and start over.
 
So I got
the job at McHale’s, worked the day shift, and pretended to run into your wife
by accident.”