MOB BOSS 6: THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI (Mob Boss Series) (24 page)

Reno
jacked his son up by the catch of his shirt.
 
“You ain’t me!” he said forcefully.
 
“You hear me?
 
You’re better than
me.
 
You and Dommi, you guys are better
than I’ll ever be!”

Then Reno
just stood there, his son still in his face, his heart hammering in
despair.
 
“How could you kill a man,
Jimmy, and think there’s nothing wacked about that?
 
How could you do it?”
 

He
looked deep into his son’s big eyes.
 
The
emptiness there terrified Reno.
 
“You get
on your knees,” he said to his son, “and you beg God’s forgiveness for what
you’ve done.
  
I have to do it every day
I’m alive.
 
Every single day, Jimmy.
 
Yeah.
 
Every single day.
 
That’s the part
of being me that you don’t get to see.”

Then
Reno released his son from his grasp as if he was pushing him away.
 
And then he walked away.

Jimmy
stood there, and faced the reality of what he had done for the first time.
 
And it stunned him.
 

He
fell to his knees.

Trina
sat up in bed when she heard the front door open and shut.
 
She waited as Reno walked up to the doorway
of their bedroom.
 
She was still naked,
and was still waiting for him to finish what he had started with her.
 
But when she saw his face, her heart fell.

She
immediately got out of bed and went to him.
 
He was already shaking with sobs.

“I
ruined my child, Tree,” he said as Trina pulled him into her arms.
 
“I’ve destroyed my child!”

Trina
didn’t know what he meant.
 
She didn’t
know what Jimmy had done.
 
But now was
not the time for questions.
 
Reno needed
her.
 
That was all, right now, that she
needed to know.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Shopper’s
Row inside the PaLargio was a modern mall of glass and granite filled with upscale
stores, hair salons, and eateries.
 
Reno
and Trina walked hand in hand as if they were one of the tourists and guests
that clogged the avenue, and not the owners of that avenue.
 
They also gave no hint that they were being
followed by a battalion of bodyguards.
 
Every member of their security knew how to blend in and not be seen or
heard.

“Gemma’s
coming over later,” Trina said as they walked.

“Oh,
yeah?
 
What about?”

“The
boutique.”

“What
boutique?”

Trina
looked at Reno.
 
He looked even more distracted
than he usually looked.
 
“The boutique
she, I and Liz plan to own.
 
Remember?”

“Right,
right, I remember.
 
Found a place yet?”

“Yes,
I told you, Reno. We’ve already signed the papers and everything.”

Reno
looked at her.
 
“I don’t know why you couldn’t
open a shop right here.”

“You
don’t have a space available and you know it.”

“You’re
my wife, what are you talking?
 
I’ll find
a space for you.”

“Yeah,
by moving somebody else out.
 
No
thank-you.
 
Besides . . .”

Reno
continued to look at her as they walked.
 
“Besides what?”

Trina
exhaled.
 
“I think it’s important I tried
something on my own.”

Reno
 
nodded.
 
“I don’t blame you.
 
I’m bad
news.
 
Run, don’t walk, away from me.”

Trina
leaned against him.
 
“Don’t be daft,” she
said.
 
“There’s nothing bad about
you.
 
But of course I’ll never say that
in front of your enemies.”

 
They both smiled.
 
Trina, however, continued to look at
him.
 
“You okay?”

“I’m
better,” he said.
 
“I won’t be okay until
I find Tony and snuff out all of his plans.
 
Whatever they are.”

“I
saw Jimmy this morning.
 
He slept in his
own apartment last night.”

“Yeah,
I know.
 
I have about zero influence in
his life right now.”

“That’s
not true.
 
He loves and respects
you.
 
He still feels awful about what
happened with Eddie Dreeson.
 
He realize
how wrong he was.
 
He was thinking about
turning himself in to the police.”

“Over
my dead body,” Reno replied.

“Don’t
worry, I told him,” Trina assured him.

They
stopped at the railing that overlooked the PaLargio’s first floor lobby.
 
They were on the second floor.
 

“He
thinks you’re very disappointed in him.”

“I am
disappointed in him.
 
But I’m more
disappointed in myself.”
 
Then Reno
paused.
 
“He saw me take out Shanks,” he
said.

Trina
looked at him.
 
“I know.
 
Isn’t it awful?”

“It’s
like it was a defining moment in his life.
 
It was like my son went from being this innocent kid to this calculating
badass, and I didn’t even know the change was taking place.
 
He has it in him.
 
I saw that all along.
 
But I never dreamed he’d start this soon.”

“You
started soon,” Trina said.
 
“I remember
what you told me about Jimmy’s mother, and how you had to fight against your
own father to save her.
 
You started even
earlier than Jimmy.”

“But
he’s not me.
 
And I don’t want him
thinking it has to work that way.
 
He’s
better than me.”

“That’s
where you’re wrong, Dominic Gabrini, Senior.
 
No human being is better than you.
 
Not even our children.
 
I know
that upsets your sensibilities, but it’s the truth.
 
So deal with it.”

Reno
smiled.
 
And then laughed.
 
At least Trina was in his corner.

They
didn’t see Sal coming toward them, until he was upon them.

“Out
shopping, Sal?” Trina asked jokingly.

“Yeah
I saw a nice purse I wanted to pick up.”
 

Trina
laughed.

Sal
looked at Reno.
 
“They found Dirty,” he
said.
 

The Pocca
Club was like a strip joint, only seedier, and Reno, Sal and their men entered
from the front door.
 
It was a dark,
dingy club, one they’d never ventured into before, so they knew they had to
play it slow and safe.
 

But
as soon as they entered the door, Reno saw Dirty standing at the pool table
against the wall.
 
And as soon as Dirty
saw Reno, he jumped from the table and took off through the back.

Reno’s
men hurried after him, knocking over tables and a few people as they did.
 
Reno and Sal, however, turned around and
walked casually out of the front door.

After
they cleared the door, however, they took off running too.
 
Reno saw his men chase Dirty through an alley
in the back of the club.
 
Dirty almost
made it out of the alley, but Reno’s fastest man, Lou, caught him and tackled
him to the ground.
 
Reno and Sal then
made their way up to a man who married Reno’s sister Fran, and then had the
nerve to betray the family.
 
Reno grabbed
a steel pipe that was lying in the alley, as he walked up to Dirty Marcasi.

“Going
somewhere?” Reno asked him as they approached.

“I
ain’t going nowhere.
 
You going
somewhere?” Dirty was virtually out of breathe as Reno’s men held him
down.
 
Lou was now standing up and
knocking the dirt off of his clothes.
 

Dirty
looked at Sal.
 
“Long time, no see,” he
said.

“What’s
up, Dirty?” Sal asked.
 
“Or should I say,
what’s down?”

Dirty
laughed.

“You
and you,” Reno ordered, pointing the pipe at two of his men, “stand guard at
the entrance into this alley.”

“Yes,
sir,” one said and they did as they were told.
 
The third man continued to hold Dirty down.
 
Reno told him to stand him up.

“I
appreciate that, Reno,” Dirty said as he stood on his feet again.
 
“Not fair to beat a man when he’s already
down.”

“Even
a man like you,” Reno said, “that sleeps on the ground?”

Dirty
smiled.
 
“One point for Reno.
 
That’s funny.”

“You
know what’s funnier?”

“What?”

“The
very thought that a punk like you would try to fuck around with a man like me.”

Dirty’s
smile left.
 
“I don’t fuck around with
nobody.
 
I keep to myself these days.”

“Where’s
Tony?”

“Tony?
 
Who’s Tony?”

Reno
stared at him.
 
Sal folded his arms as if
signaling to Dirty that they had all night if necessary.

Dirty
exhaled.
 
“His people got in touch with
me.”

“Since
when Tony has people?” Sal asked.

“His
people got in touch with me,” Dirty continued, ignoring Sal.
 
“They said Tony wanted me to contact Eddie
Dreeson.
 
He knew we used to do business,
Eddie and me, back in the day.
 
And they
figure I would make a good point person.
 
They figure I would be onboard for any shit that involved getting you,
Reno.
 
And they were right.
 
So I agreed to deliver a package.”

“So
you’re a delivery boy now?” Reno asked him.

“I do
what I gotta do.
 
There’s a lot of jokers
out there begging to see you fall.
 
And
they know I’m on their side.
 
I make a
living on their hate.”

Reno
thought about that.
 
“Tony wanna see me
fall?” he asked.

“And
how,” Dirty said.
 
“Even after all these
years.
 
You stole the PaLargio from him
and he wants it back.”

“He
lost the PaLargio.
 
I didn’t steal shit
from him.
 
He lost it.”

“Well
he don’t see it that way.
 
Surprise,
surprise.”

“Why
after all these years?” Sal asked Dirty.
 
“It’s been over a decade since Reno bought the PaLargio.
 
Why would that bother Tony all of a sudden?”

“What
all of a sudden?” Dirty asked Sal and then looked at Reno.
 
“He’s probably been trying to get your ass
for years.
 
But he had to scheme and
plot.
 
He didn’t wanna just shoot
you.
 
None of them do.
 
What’s the fun in that?
 
That’ll be too easy.
 
You’ll think you’re a fucking martyr if you
go down like that.
 
No.
 
They want you to suffer.”

“Then
answer my question.
 
Why after all these
years?”

“How
should I know?
 
He’s been busy.
 
Ask the president, he’ll know.”

Sal
looked at Reno.
 
Reno was staring at
Dirty. “What?”

“You
heard me.
 
Ask the president.
 
Maybe he’ll know.
 
Tony’s a member of his administration.”

Sal
unfolded his arms.
 
Reno frowned.
 
“Get the fuck outta here!”