Romancing Tommy Gabrini (41 page)

Nobody
saw the danger when she first walked in.
 
Even Grace, who thought Shanks was supposed to be on a plane, didn’t see
the danger.

Trina
spoke, and asked what was she doing there, and Shanks responded as if it was no
big deal at all.

“I
was in Vegas and decided to drop by.
 
See
how you were doing, Tree.”

“I’m
doing good,” Trina said, although Grace could tell she was uncomfortable.
 
“We’re planning for Little Man’s birthday
celebration.”

“Reno’s
going all-out, I’ll bet.”

“You
know it, girl.”

And
when Shanks should have walked past Grace, to get by Trina’s side, she,
instead, placed her arm around Grace’s neck, put a gun to her head, and hoisted
her to her feet.
 
Trina and Eve jumped to
their feet, too.

“Go
get Tommy,” Shanks ordered Trina.

“What
are you doing?” Trina asked her.

“Go
get Tommy,” Shanks said again.

“Come
on, Shanks, I beg you.
 
You don’t wanna do
anything like this.”

“Go
get Tommy, Tree.
 
I’m not telling you
again.”

“But
she’s my guest!
 
I can’t just leave her
here like this.”

Shanks
aimed her gun, with silencer attached.
 
Only she aimed it at Eve the party planner and fired, shooting her in
the middle of her forehead.
 
Grace
screamed in horror as Eve hit the floor hard.
 
Trina looked at her planner, and then looked back at Shanks.

“Can
you leave her now?” she asked Trina.

Trina
began hurrying out of the ballroom, knocking over chairs as she went.
 
As soon as she cleared the door, she
screamed.

Reno
and Tommy heard the screams and took off running even before Jimmy Mack could
register what was going on.
 

When
they arrived in the hall, and saw Trina running toward them, their collective
hearts sank.

“What
is it?” Reno asked her.

“Where’s
Grace?” Tommy asked her.

“Shanks,”
Trina said, virtually out of breath. “She’s in the ballroom.”
 
Tommy took off running.
 
“She has a gun,” Trina added.

“You wait
here,” Reno ordered, running behind Tommy just as Jimmy made it into the
hall.
 
“Jimmy, watch my wife!” he yelled
as he took off too.

When
Tommy flew into the ballroom, and saw the planner on the floor, seemingly dead,
and saw Shanks with a gun to Grace’s head, he had to control his rage.
 
Reno ran in and stood beside Tommy, looking
at the downed planner, too.

“Let
her go, Shanks,” Tommy said as he and Reno slowly began to walk toward her.

“You
threatened me,” Shanks said.
 
“You
threatened me like I meant nothing to you.”

“We
can talk, Shawnie,” Tommy said as he and Reno continued to approach her.
 
“Put the gun down so we can talk.”

“Talk
is over, Tommy,” Shanks said.
 
“You and
Reno tried to silence me.
 
Bringing
Wilkie and Crane to escort me to the airport.
 
Are you nuts?
 
Those losers
escorting
me
out of town?”

“What
did you do?” Reno asked her.

“What
you think I did, asshole?
 
I took Wilkie
out and then had Crane call you and tell you my ass was safely on the plane.
Then I took care of Crane.
 
And you
didn’t know a damn thing.”

“Shanks,”
Tommy started, anguished by what she’d done.
 
“How could you?”

“How
could I?
 
Seriously?
 
You’re asking me something like that?
 
How could I, you ask?
 
Well how could you, Tommy!
 
How could you threaten me?
  
You showed me how much you hated me.
 
You hate me.
 
You showed me that in that motel room.
 
Now I’ve got to show you.”

“But
for what, Shanks?” Tommy asked her, his heart pounding.
 
“You’ll give up your freedom, your life, for
what?
 
To prove some point?”

Shanks
smiled.
 
That was exactly it now, for
her.
 

“Let
her go, Shawnie,” Tommy said, attempting to soften the situation.
 
He refused to even look at Grace.
 
He would fall apart, he felt, if he looked at
Grace.
 
“Let her go,” he said again.

Shanks
nodded her head.
 
“Okay,” she said.
 
“I’ll let her go, all right.” She pushed
Grace away from her. “I’ll let her go straight to hell!”

She
was just about to fire, but Tommy slipped a tiny pistol from the sleeve of his
suit coat and shot her shooting hand.
 
The gun flew from her hand and Shanks fell to her knees, in pain.
 
Grace ran to Tommy.
 
Tommy grabbed her into his arms.

But
Reno knew better.
 
He knew people like
Shanks all his life.
 
And he wasn’t
having it.
 
She already killed two of his
men.
 
And he couldn’t let her get away
with that.

He
pulled out his own gun, walked up to Shanks, and shot her, pointblank, in the
head.

Grace
turned her face into Tommy’s chest, and Tommy winced, as Shanks keeled over.

“It’ll
never end otherwise,” Reno said.

Tommy
stared at Shanks.
 
He stared at the woman
he once loved.

“Damn
straight,” he said.

EPILOGUE

“You
know what I haven’t done?” Tommy asked as they reclined in the backseat of the
limo, both slouched down and leaned against each other, as they rode through the
quiet streets on a rainy Seattle night.

“What?”
Grace asked, perfectly content to just sit quietly beside him.

“I
haven’t given you a birthday present.”

Grace
smiled.
 
“A birthday present?
 
My birthday was months ago.”

“But
I haven’t given you anything in all of these months.”

“That’s
probably because you met me the day before my birthday.”

“Understood.
 
But time has passed and I still haven’t given
you anything.
 
And that is unacceptable.”

He
pulled out a large envelope and handed it to her.
 
She smiled and accepted it.

“This
really isn’t necessary at all, Tommy.”

But
Tommy disagreed.
 
It was completely
necessary, as far as he was concerned.

When
she opened the envelope, and saw a stock certificate, she frowned.
 
“What in the world,” she began as she unfolded
it and read it.
 
When she saw that the
certificate was actually forty-eight shares of Trammel, and her name was listed
as the sole owner of those forty-eight shares, she was stumped.
 
She looked at Tommy.

“Happy
birthday,” he said.

“But
. . .you own forty shares of Trammel.”

“That’s
correct.
 
I did own forty.
 
And then I bought out eight shares from
various other investors, giving me a grand total of forty-eight shares.
 
Which, if my math is correct, I have given to
you.”

“For
my birthday?”

“Again,
you’re correct.
 
With your ten shares,
you are now the undisputed majority owner of Trammel.
 
Free and clear.”

Grace
shook her head. “I can’t accept this.”

“And
why not?”

“Because
it’s far too generous, Tommy.
 
It’s too
much.”

But Tommy
would have none of it.
 
“I can never be
too generous to you.
 
That’s an
impossibility.
 
And don’t you ever forget
that.
 
It’s the least I can do for the
woman I love.”

Grace’s
heart soared.
 
The idea that she would
own Trammel, and be able to make the kinds of decisions she had long wanted
instituted in that company, pleased her.
 
And she lunged over and gave Tommy a big bear hug, with tears appearing
in her eyes.

When
they stopped embracing, she smiled.
 
“Jillian is going to have a fit when she finds out that her chief of
staff is now her boss.”

“And
you’ll be kind I’m sure.”

“I
will be,” she assured him.
 
“Unlike how
she’d been to me.
 
But I will be.”

“Make
it clear to her, however, who’s in charge.
 
That will be important.”

“I
will.”

“Good.
 
Now come over here,” he said, patting his
lap, “and show me some love.”

“I
just showed you love,” Grace teased.

But
Tommy grabbed her by the arm and pulled her on top of him.
 
“Not quite what I had in mind,” he said, as
he reached into her panties.

Grace
shook her head.
 
“Reno was right, you
know,” she said.
 
“You
are
a maniac!”

Tommy
closed his eyes and rubbed her.
  
“Just
for you, my love,” he said. “Just for you.”

But
to prove her point, he nonetheless unzipped his pants, ripped the seat of her
panties, and shoved it in.

The
screech Grace made, as the feeling of raw passion, pain, and pleasure took hold
of her, caused even their driver to do something he’d never done in all of his
years of chauffeuring Tommy around: he glanced through his rearview.

A few
minutes later, they were back of solid ground and stepping off of the elevator
inside Grace’s apartment building.
 
When
they arrived at her front door, she unlocked it and then turned to Tommy.

“Coming
in?” she asked him.

“I’d
better make sure my own house is still standing.
 
But I’ll call you.”

Grace
smiled. “Sounds good.”

But
Tommy continued to stare at her.
 

“What’s
the matter?” she asked him.

“I’m
sorry you had to experience that,” he said.

“You
mean in the car, with you?”
 
She grinned.

“Very
funny,” he said.
 
Then turned serious
again.
 
“I’m sorry,” he said.

She
shook her head.
 
She understood what he
meant all along.
 
“None of that was your
fault, Tommy.
 
None of it.
 
Don’t you think for a moment that I blame you
for any of that, because I don’t.”

Tommy’s
blue eyes turned hard.
 
“She could have
harmed you,” he said.
 
“She was capable.”

“I
know.”

“That’s
why Reno did what he did.
 
He’s no
cold-blooded killer.
 
But she---”

“I
understand.
 
She would found a way to
make our life a living hell.
 
And she’d killed
two of his men.
 
Reno did what he had to
do.
 
And please don’t worry about
me.
 
I know you wouldn’t have let her
harm me. ”

Tommy
looked at her.
  
Her confidence in him
touched him deeply.
 

“Anyway,”
she said.
 
“Go home, get some rest.
 
We’ll hook up later.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” Tommy said with a smile.
 
Then he
reached over and kissed her on the lips.
 
When their lips parted, and their eyes opened, they stared at each
other.
 
Grace wiped a tear from Tommy’s
eye.

“I
love you,” Tommy said.

“I
love you, too,” Grace said.

Tommy
smiled and turned to leave.
 
“Oh,” he
said, turning back.
 
“I almost forgot.”

He
reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a ring box.
 
Grace’s heart began to pound.