Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) (23 page)

Reno and Trina sat in the middle of their bed, their backs
against the headboard, as their children slept around them.
 
Dommi on Reno’s lap.
 
Sophia on Trina’s lap.
 
And Jimmy asleep at the foot of the bed.
 
It was nice and sunny on a Saturday
afternoon, they were back home in Vegas all in one piece, and Reno knew how
close they came to certain disaster.

“When I was holding your hand,” he said to Trina, “I don’t
think I’ve ever been more afraid of letting go in my life.
 
And it wasn’t even my firmest grip.
 
When I caught your ankle, I barely caught
it.
 
If Jimmy hadn’t come when he came .
. .” Reno couldn’t finish the sentence.

“I was so shocked to see you, and then Jimmy.”
 
Trina smiled.
 
“Thank God for that gut of yours.”

Reno laughed.
 
“It
never lies,” he said.

“But what about Cousteau?
 
Was Jeneen Tufarna his wife?”

“His mistress,” Reno responded.
 
“The girl, that Zell Tufarna, was their
secret love child.”

On the trip back to Vegas, Reno told her all about that night
his father killed Jeneen, and about how he, for the sake of his beloved
PaLargio, didn’t turn his father in.
 
He,
instead, buried Jeneen and destroyed her will.

“It was wrong what I did,” he said to Trina while they were
on the plane heading back, “but my old man left me no choice.
 
I wasn’t snitching on my father.
 
And I wasn’t losing the PaLargio.”

To his shock, Trina didn’t judge him, or think less of
him.
 
She grabbed his hand and squeezed
it.
 
“We’ll never lose the PaLargio,” she
said firmly.
 
“You purchased it, and it
was a legal purchase.
 
It’s a shame what
your father did to that lady, but you didn’t do it.
 
You were just protecting what was yours.
 
The PaLargio is yours.
 
That’s our children’s legacy.
 
Nobody’s taking the PaLargio.”

Reno stared at Trina in that moment.
 
He stared because she never ceased to amaze
him.
 
He could have told her a long time
ago, and she would have understood. In the end, when it counted, she always
did.

Now, in their bed, in their estate on the outskirts of Vegas,
he placed his arm around her, even as he held onto his son.
 
He knew the manner of woman he had.
 
He knew how blessed he was.

They looked at each other, and kissed passionately.

When they stopped kissing, Reno slanted the hair strands on
Trina’s forehead, and stared into her eyes.
 
“I wish Jimmy could find a woman like you,” he said.

“He’s trying to make it work with Val,” Trina said.
 
“They’re still trying to pull their family
back together.”

“After what she did?” Reno asked.

“After what he did?” Trina responded.
 
She loved Val, and always would.
 
“They both messed up, Reno.
 
As hard as it is for you Gabrinis to accept
that, Jimmy cheated too.
 
They can either
forgive each other and try to make it work, or divorce.
 
But that’s up to them and them alone.
 
I don’t want you influencing Jimmy, and I
won’t influence Val.
 
It’s up to them.”

“Yeah, I dig that,” Reno said.
 
“But a woman who cheats?
 
A woman who casually mentions family business
to her lover?
 
Her ass wouldn’t be with
me, that’s for sure.”

Trina smiled in that teasing way of hers.
 
“You don’t know if I’ve ever cheated on you
before.”

“I know,” Reno said with certainty.

“You don’t know.”

“I do know.”

“How Reno?”

“Because your ass is still alive,” Reno said.
 
“I know.”

Trina pushed him playfully on the arm, and he smiled.
 
But before they could even comment further,
the intercom buzzed, notifying them that someone had entered their home.

“What now?” Trina asked, worried.

But Reno didn’t say a word.
 
He moved quickly.
 
He grabbed a
gun from the side of his bed, moved Dom off of his lap, and was ready to get up
and defend his family.
 
But he was
baffled too.
 
Who could have possibly
penetrated all of his security?
 
Then
they heard a familiar voice.

“Reno? Tree? Where the hell are you?”
 
It was Sal.
 
He was one of only a few people, including Sal’s wife Gemma, his brother
Tommy, and Mick Sinatra, who had a key to their home and could enter at the
gate without requiring authorization from the main house.
 
Reno calmed back down.

“Up here,” Trina yelled down with a relieved smile.
 
“We’re upstairs!”
 
And she playfully wiped her forehead.

It sounded as if he was running up.
 
But not only him, but another set of
footsteps could be heard too.

And then they entered the bedroom.
 
Sal with Gemma.
 
Dommi was already waking up, and now Jimmy
was too.

But Sal looked puzzled when he saw the family laid out.
 
“What are yous doing in bed this time of
day?” he asked, in his
Sal
vernacular.
 

“What is your ass doing busting in our house this time of
day?” Reno responded, in his Reno smartass.

“Everything alright?” Trina asked, looking more at Gemma.

“No,” Sal said.
 
“It’s
not alright and it couldn’t wait.”

Reno wasn’t showing it, but his heart began to hammer.
 
He didn’t think his heart could handle any
more drama.
 
“Then spill the beans,
fool,” he said.
 
“What happened?”

“What’s wrong, Uncle Sal?” Jimmy asked, still groggy but
awake, his heart hammering too.

Sal suddenly started smiling so widely, and looked so
thrilled, that everybody relaxed.
 
Sal
could barely contain himself.
 
“We’re
pregnant,” he said.
 
“We’re pregnant,” he
said again.
 
“We’re going to have a
baby!” he added, in case they didn’t understand his first two pronouncements.

“Oh, yes!
 
Yes!” Trina
laid Sophia on the bed and, with a grand smile on her rested face, hurried out
of bed to hug and congratulate both of them.

Jimmy got out too, and Dom.
 
They were just as thrilled as their mother.

Even Reno appeared thrilled, as he gave Gemma a hug.
 
“How do you feel?” he asked her.

Gemma let out an exhale, and nodded.
 
She was smiling from ear to ear too.
 
“I’m happy, Reno,” she said.
 
“And seeing Sal so excited?
 
I couldn’t be happier.”

“Tommy almost fell off his chair when I called and told him
the news,” Sal said excitedly. “‘It’s about time,’ was what Tommy said to
me.
 
You could tell he was crying.”

“And he’s right,” Reno said.
 
“It is about time.”
 
But then he
looked at Sal.
 
“You’re going to be
somebody’s father?”

“I know, I know,” Sal said, knowing Reno’s zingers by
hard.
 
He’d been hearing them since they
were little kids.
 
“It’s a scary
thought.”

“Actually,” Reno said seriously, and everybody looked at him,
“it’s not a scary thought at all.”

Trina smiled, and so did Gemma.
 
It was about time Reno and Sal stopped
needling each other.

“It’s a horrifying thought,” Reno said, still in the needling
business, and Sal pushed him back onto the bed.

Reno laughed.
 
Everybody laughed.

And Reno and Trina looked at each other and winked.
 
Their
Sal becoming somebody’s father somehow felt magical.
 
It felt special.
 
It felt as if it was the best homecoming
gift, after what they’d been through, that they could have ever hoped for.
      

Mallory Monroe is the bestselling
author of numerous titles.
  

For more information on all titles,
go to:

www.mallorymonroebooks.com

Or

www.austinbrookpublishing.com