MOB BOSS 6: THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI (Mob Boss Series) (26 page)

Tony
continued.
 
“You’re far more practical
than your son here, or whatever he is to you.
 
Explain the situation to your husband please.”

Reno
held the phone with both hands.
 
Sal
attempted to listen closer.

“They
have guns on us, Reno,” Trina said into the phone.
 
“Me, Jimmy, and Dominic.
 
All of your men are dead.
 
Artie was---”

“That’s
enough,” Tony said.
 
“I asked for a
comment, not a recitation.
 
But you get
the point Reno.
 
Come to this party or
you won’t feel much like celebrating.”
 
And then the phone went dead.

“Tony!”
Reno yelled into the phone.
 
But the call
was over.

“What
are you gonna do, Ree?” Sal asked him.

Reno
looked at his burning hotel.
 
Then he
looked at the waving driver across the street, and the numerous goons that he
could see already had them surrounded.

“We’re
going to get my family,” he said and made his way toward the driver.
 
Sal attempted to go in the opposite
direction, to get help, but the goons pushed into him.
 
And forced him to follow Reno.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Reno
and Sal entered the home from the garage.
 
Tony Tufarna, looking fatter and older than Reno remembered him, was
standing behind the living room sofa.
 
Seated on the sofa were Trina, Jimmy and Dominic.
 
Trina and Jimmy’s wrists and ankles were
bound, and their mouths were taped.
 
Dominic was in a car seat and the car seat was tied down to the
sofa.
 

Reno’s
heart couldn’t hammer any faster than it was hammering now.
 
And to add insult to injury, he thought as he
and Sal were pushed further into the room, the house they were standing in was
one of the oldest safe houses Reno owned in Vegas.

Sal
noticed as they were pushed further in that there were armed guards all over
the house.
 
But it was Tony’s gun, which
was trained on Reno’s family, that had his closest attention.

“Well,
well, Reno Gabrini is in the house,” Tony said with fake cheeriness.
 
“It’s been a long time, Reno.
 
How you doing?
 
I would do the drop of my hands the way Wendy
Williams does it, but, as you can see, my main hand is preoccupied.”
 
Tony waved his gun around.
 
“But you get the message.
 
How you doing, Reno?”

“Kiss
my ass, Tony,” Reno said.
 
He knew he
couldn’t show any concern whatsoever for his family.
 
If he showed any weakness, any of the inner
desperation and fear that was almost crippling to him, then his family was
finished.
 

Tony
stared at him.
 
“Still arrogant, I see,”
he said.
 
“Still the cocky bastard I
couldn’t stand.
 
But that’s okay.
 
Be the tough guy, I don’t care.”

“Does
our president know where you are today?” Reno asked him.

“What
is that your business?” Tony said and then smiled. “No, of course not.
 
He thinks I’m this meek and mild businessman
who once owned the PaLargio but was now one of the best managers the Department
of the Interior has ever had.
 
That’s the
official response.
 
Privately, between
you and me and your family here, the president doesn’t know me from Adam.
 
I know Dirty told you I was a presidential
appointee.
 
That’s because I told him
that.
 
But the president didn’t appoint
me.
 
I don’t think he knows any
managers.
 
He especially doesn’t know one
that purposely rides under the radar.
 
So
no, Reno, the president doesn’t know where I am today, and he doesn’t give a
fuck.
 
But that’s not the question, anyway.
 
The question is more real.
 
And it’s directed at you.”

Tony
folded his arm, with his gun now pointing toward Reno.
 
“Which one dies, Reno?” he asked.

Reno
thought he was going to die where he stood.
 
But he fought with every ounce of strength within him to never let it
show.
 
“What’s your problem, Tony?” he
decided to ask.

“I
don’t have a problem. Which one dies, Reno?”

“You’re
talking crazy, Tony.”

“Which
one dies?
 
You will have to answer that
question,” Tony said.
 
“You killed a big
part of me when you took the PaLargio away from me.”

“I
didn’t take shit from you and you know it.
 
You lost the PaLargio!”

“You
took it from me and you know it,” Tony shot back.
 
“You took my mother’s confidence in me and
made her place her confidence in you.
 
It
was all about Reno.
 
She loved you more
than she loved her own son.
 
She even
left the PaLargio to you.”

Reno
stared at him.
 
What the fuck.
 
“She left the PaLargio to you,” he said.

But
Tony was shaking his head.
 
“She left it
to you, Reno.
 
In her real will.
 
But I paid off her attorney and we changed
the will.
 
Everything, the new will said,
was left to her beloved son.
 
When she
never had a beloved son.
 
She had a son,
but not a beloved one.
 
And it was all
thanks to you.
 
So you killed a big part
of me, Reno.
 
A big part of me.”

As
Tony gave his sob story, Reno was determining what he was up against.
 
He looked at the number of guards.
 
He looked at the position of their guns.
 
But no matter what scenario he placed in his
mind, there was no getting around the cold truth.
 
He and Sal were outnumbered and outgunned
and, with a slickster like Tony in charge, outmaneuvered too.

“I
know you, Reno,” Tony continued.
 
“At
least I used to.
 
But I know your type
enough to know that all three of these individuals are a major part of
you.
 
I already took the PaLargio from
you just like you took it from me.
 
It’s
burning still even as we speak.
 
Now a
part of you has to die, Reno.
 
It just
does.
 
So answer my question.
 
Which part of you dies today, Reno?
 
Which one dies, Reno?”

Reno
began to panic.
 
Tony had thought this
through.
 
He had visualized this day a
long time ago.
 
Now he had his dream
scene.
 
Reno looked at Trina, and at
Jimmy, and at little Dominic.
 
And Reno
broke.

“Don’t
take part of me,” he said.
 
“Take me.
 
All of me, Tony.
 
Let my family go and take me.”

“Oh,
no.
 
I only want a part.
 
That’s only right.
 
I survived, even thrived.
 
And after the death of one of these people on
this sofa, you will too.
 
It’ll take
time, but you will too.
 
But right now
you have a decision to make.
 
One
decision.
 
Which one dies, Reno?”

“Me,”
Reno said.
 
“Kill me since you gotta kill
somebody. Kill me!
 
I’m the one who
fucked you over.
 
Kill the one who did it
to you.
 
That’s only right.”

Tony
put his gun to Trina’s head.
 
“Your
wife?”

“No!”
Reno said, his voice betraying his panic.
 
He was about to jump out of his skin.

Tony
put the gun to Jimmy’s head.
 
“Your son?”

“Kill
me you sick motherfucker!
 
Kill me!”

“Take
me, Tony,” Sal jumped in.
 
“What you bothering
with the back benchers.
 
You got two
stars right here. Take us and let the nobodies go.”

“And
let Reno off that easy?” Tony asked.
 
“You know better than that, Salvatore.”

“Then
just take me.”

“I’m
not taking you, alright?”
 
Then he looked
at Reno.
 
“Which one dies, Reno?
 
You have five seconds to pick one.
 
Or I kill all three.”

Reno
dropped to his knees.
 
“Kill me,” he
said, tears in his eyes.

“Five,”
Tony began his countdown.

“What
you want most in this world, Tony?”

“The
death of one of your family members.
 
Four.”

“I
can give you anything you want.”

“Three.”

“You
can’t kill my family, motherfucker!” Reno screamed, standing up.

Two
guards moved behind the sofa with Tony.
 
“Perfect timing,” Tony said to his guards.
 
“Two,” he said to Reno.

“Kill
me, you asshole!” Reno roared.
 
“Kill
me!”

“One.”

One
guard placed his gun to Trina’s head.
 
Another guard placed his gun to Jimmy’s head.
 
And Tony placed his gun at Dominic’s head.

“No!”
Reno screamed.

Then
Tony began to scream too.
 
“Which one
dies, Reno?” he screamed.
 
“Which one
dies?
 
Your time is out!”

“You
can’t do this!” Reno roared.

“Okay,”
Tony said. “He can’t decide.
 
We kill all
three.”

“No!”
Reno said, moving toward them but being stymied by guards.

The
guards and Tony pointed their guns at their respective family member.
 
And Reno failed.
 
He couldn’t bear it.

“Jimmy,”
he said, his heart pounding like a drum.
 
“I pick Jimmy.”

Trina
almost jumped out of her body.
 
He knew
what she was screaming through that tape that covered her mouth.
 
She was begging him to pick her.
 
But he couldn’t do it.
 
He couldn’t pick Trina.

And
Tony smiled just before he put his own gun to Jimmy’s head, and fired.

Reno
staggered back and nearly fell as his son’s head lobbed back and then leaned
forward.
 

Sal
had his hands on his head with tears dropping from his eyes.
  

Trina
closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight of her dead stepson and her
devastated husband.

And
Tony put his gun away.
 
“Good show,
Reno.
 
Good.
 
I’ve been dreaming of this day for
years.
 
You did not disappoint.
 
Now we’re even,” Tony added as he was about
to leave the house.
 
And then he turned
around again.

“Oh,
and Reno, if you think you can go to the authorities think again.
 
I have a dossier on you, my friend.
 
Cops come knocking at my door, I’ll sing like
a canary.
 
I’ll talk until I can’t talk
anymore.
 
And I have a lot to say,
Reno.
 
So let’s not involve the law,
don’t you agree?
 
This has nothing to do
with the law.”

Then
Tony walked out.
 

Soon,
his men walked out too.
 

Reno
backed up against the wall and slid until his butt hit the floor.
 
He placed his hands over his head and closed
his eyes.
 
He began to rock back and
forth.
 
He couldn’t handle this.
 
He couldn’t live with this!
 
His boy was dead on his word, on his
order.
 
Yet another one of his children’s
blood was on his hands.
 
All because of
his sins.
 
All because of the life he
forced them into.
 
All because of him!