Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) (19 page)

Trina
frowned.
 
“Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“When
was I supposed to tell you anything?
 
The
mayor didn’t let us out of his sight the entire night.
 
I wasn’t discussing my personal life in front
of that clown.”

“But yet
you can go into some private room with this longtime friend you used to
fuck.
 
The mayor wasn’t around then.
 
You found a way to get away with her, but you
couldn’t give me that same consideration?”

“That’s
nonsense, Tree, and you know it.”

“It’s
not nonsense!”

“So
what are you trying to imply?
 
That I
took her into some room to fuck her?
 
Is
that what you’re trying to say?”

“That’s
not what I’m saying at all.”

“Then
what the fuck are you saying?
 
I told
your ass we were old friends!
 
She wanted
to talk to me.
 
So we went and
talked.
 
Why the fuck you trying to turn
it into something it’s not?”

“Because
I want to know what’s going on, Reno.
 
I
want to know why she showed up at my store the other day asking if I was your
wife.”

Reno
glanced at her.
 
“She showed up at the
store?”

“Yes.”

“Are
you sure?”

“Of
course I’m sure.”

“What
did she say?”

“She
wanted me to confirm that I was your wife.
 
When I did, she said okay and left.”

“Just
like that?”

“Just
like that,” Trina said.
 
“And I want to
know why.
 
I want to know why she didn’t
so much as acknowledge the fact that she met me before when we were introduced
by the mayor tonight.
 
If this is all so
innocent, why is she so secretive?
  
Why
she couldn’t discuss what she had to discuss with you in front of me?
 
Why did they have to get you alone with her?”

“It
certainly wasn’t so I could fuck her, that’s for damn sure.”

“Forget
that, Reno.
 
I told you that’s not what I
was thinking.
 
I just want to know what’s
going on.”

Reno
exhaled.
 
That was the question of the
night.
 
“I don’t know yet,” he said.

“But
something’s up?”

“She
claims it is.
 
She claims this guy I had
some dealings with in the past, this guy named Bruno Lucci, is trying to make
some noise.”

Trina’s
heart began to pound.
 
“What kind of
noise?” she asked.

“Noise.
 
You know.”
 
He glanced at her.
 
She knew.

“So
what, you don’t believe her?” Trina then asked.

“I
don’t know if I believe her or not.”

“But
if it’s about some guy from your past, then why did she come to my store and
ask if I was your wife?
 
Why did she need
to know that?”

Reno
glanced at Trina.
 
That might be the
scariest part of this for him.
 
“I don’t
know,” he finally said.
 

“It’s
almost as if she wants you back, Reno,” Trina said.
 
“Maybe something happened and she wants you
back.
 
Maybe she’s just using this Bruno
person as a way to get back in good with you.”

“She’s
not the type, Tree.”

“But
you don’t know that.
 
When was the last
time you saw her?
 
Years ago?
 
For all you know she could---”

But
Trina couldn’t finish her sentence.
 
An SUV
slammed into her side of Reno’s Porsche and caused the speeding Porsche to lost
traction and tilt on two wheels, ready to go airborne and possibly flip, but
Reno managed to regain control of the steering wheel enough to slam it back
down on all fours.

“Are
you all right, Tree?” he was yelling as he grabbed for her with one hand and
kept steering the car with the other.
 

The
impact of the crash caused Trina’s body to smash into the inflated airbag,
jerking her forward.
 
She yelled that she
was okay and Reno grabbed the wheel with both hands and fought to get the car
back under control.
 
But he overcorrected
as soon as the tires slammed back onto the pavement.
 
Although his maneuvering stopped the car from
flipping over, his overcorrection caused the car to go into a series of
spins.
 
When the car ultimately came to a
complete stop, he looked again at his wife.
 
Although she was shaken up, she appeared okay.
 
He was fine too.
 
Then he realized that they were on a back
road with no traffic at this time of night, and the SUV that creamed them
hadn’t stopped to assist, but was getting away fast.
 
This was no simple hit and run, he felt it in
his blood.

And
he took off after the big tank of a truck, holding down the airbag so he could
see as the SUV was no match for the speed of his Porsche.
 
He easily made it up to the speeding truck.

Trina
held on as Reno decided to use a pit maneuver to slow down the absconding
vehicle, hitting the side of the truck near the back just enough to cause the
truck to go into a spin.
 
The SUV
immediately lost traction and flipped twice.
 
Then it was rolling across the darkened road, sparks flying from
underneath, and landed upside down near a ditch.

Reno
stopped just behind it, grabbed his gun from his glove compartment, and unbuckled
his seatbelt.

“Wait
here,” he ordered his wife, and jumped out of the car.

Trina
immediately got on her cell phone, calling Frank Spillane, one of Reno’s
longtime body men, as Reno made his way to the SUV.
 
He had his gun at the ready, but was still looking
around on the empty road, in case an ambush was a part of the scheme.

And
he wasn’t waiting on any backup.
 
He
hurried to the truck with his gun at his side.
 
Once he saw the young driver of the truck attempting to crawl out, he
grabbed him and pulled him out.
 
Then he
put the gun to the young man’s throat.
 

“Who
the fuck are you?” he asked him.

“Don’t
shoot,” he begged.
 
“Please don’t shoot!”

“Tell
me who you are or you’ll be out of this world in two seconds,
motherfucker!
 
Who are you?”

“I’m
Ollie,” he said.
 
“Oliver.
 
My name’s Oliver.”

“Why
did you just try to kill me?”

“I
wasn’t trying---
 
It was an accident.”

“Bullshit!
 
Why did you just try to kill me?”

“But
I didn’t---”

Reno
cocked his weapon.
 
Ollie immediately
responded.
 
“He paid me to.”

“Who
paid you?”

“Lefty.
 
Lefty Gromes paid me to do it.”

“Why?”

“I
don’t know why,” Ollie said.
 
“Please
don’t hurt me.
 
I needed the money.”

“Fuck
you and your needs!
 
You think I care
about you and your needs?
 
Why did this
Lefty Gromes decide to pay you to take care of me?”

“I
told you I don’t know!
 
He didn’t tell me
any of that.
 
He asked if I wanted to
make some extra money. I told him I did.
 
I needed it, man.
 
So he told me
to track you down and ram you.”

“Ram
my ass.
 
He told you to track me down and
kill me.”

The
young man swallowed hard.
 
“I wasn’t
gonna kill anybody.”

“Yeah,
right.
 
Where can I find Lefty Gromes?”

“Please
don’t hurt me.”

“Where
can I find Lefty Gromes?” Reno repeated with a louder voice, pushing the gun
harder against his throat.

“At
the Smoke-n-Gun,” Ollie said quickly, to avoid further antagonizing an
obviously already antagonized Reno.
 
“He
works there.
 
I needed the money, man,
that’s the only reason I did it.
 
Don’t
kill me.”

Reno
stood up straight, with Ollie still on the ground.

“You
don’t want me to kill you,” he said.
 
“But you had no problem trying to kill me.”

“No,
no, it wasn’t like that.
 
I was just
trying to scare you a little.
 
That’s all
I was trying to do.”

“My
wife was in that car, you fuck!” Reno screamed.
 
Then Reno shot Ollie in one knee cap and then the other one, causing the
young man to scream out and grab those knees.

“Now
that’s how I scare people,” Reno said.
 
Then he aimed the gun at Ollie.
 
“Mention my name to any cop, or any other human being on the face of
this earth, and you’ll see what else I do to people.
 
Don’t fuck with me,” he added.
 
“Don’t you ever fuck with me!”

Then
Reno hurried back to his nearly decimated Porsche, got in, backed up with a
swerving turnaround, and took off.
 
Ollie, trembling and howling in pain, grabbed his cell phone out of his
pocket, and nervously, with fear still in his heart, called for an ambulance.

SEVEN

The
battered Porsche pulled into the three-car garage alongside Trina’s Mercedes and
Reno’s Bentley.
 
Jimmy Mack, with Dommi
in his arms, hurried into the garage from inside the house, as his parents got
out of the battered car.

“Frank
Spillane’s here, Pop,” Jimmy said as his eyes immediately went to the
Porsche.
 
“With his men.
  
What happened to the car?”

Trina
took Dommi and wrapped him in her arms.
 
She was still shaken.
 
Reno,
without saying a word, hurried toward the entrance.
 
He looked back at Trina and Jimmy, who were
both looking at the damaged car.
 
“Get
inside!” he ordered them both.

Trina
and Jimmy, with Dommi in Trina’s arms, hurried and did as he commanded.

Once
inside, Reno and Frank Spillane went into Reno’s home office.
 
Jimmy looked at Trina.

“What
happened?”

“Some
guy rammed us.”

“What
guy?”

“I
don’t know, some guy.”

“Did
Pop take care of him?”

Trina
looked at Jimmy.
 
“And what is that your
business?” she asked him.

Jimmy
nodded.
 
“He took care of him.
  
Did he find out why the guy pulled that
trick?”

“I’m
sure he did.
 
He wasn’t going to discuss
it with me, but I’m sure he did.”

“Frank
came with a couple of guys.
 
They’re out
front now.”

“I
know,” Trina said.
 
“We saw them when we
first drove up.”

“Who
called them?
 
Pop?”

“I
called them.
 
He and Frank go back a long
way.
 
He trusts him.”

Reno
and Frank returned, with Reno putting a weapon in the small of his back,
underneath his now wrinkled suit coat.

“Everything
okay?” Trina asked him.

“It
will be,” Reno said, kissing her on the lips.
 
“I’ll be back.”

“I’m
going with you, Pop,” Jimmy stepped up and said.

“No
you aren’t.
 
You’re staying here with
your mother and your brother.”

“I’m
going with you, Pop,” Jimmy said again, with even more conviction.

Reno
looked at his son.
 
People were gunning
for him left and right and what did he expect?
 
He expected his son to not be tainted by all of this?
 
Was he out of his mind?