Reno Gabrini- the Man in the Mirror

by Mallory Monroe

  “Go!” Trina cried as soon as she saw that the woman was down, and her and her children took off running again.

  Dommi was the fastest by far, but he refused to release Sophie’s hand and run ahead of her and his mother, which meant all three were running as one unit. But just as they were about to turn the corner, to freedom they had hoped, a third shooter appeared. This time it was one of the gunmen who had killed Trina’s security team around the front of her store, and he was waiting for them. And he was locked and loaded, too.

  “Drop it!” he ordered.

  Since there were no more bullets in the gun anyway, Trina had no problem dropping her weapon.

  The gunman actually smiled. “Now, finally, Mrs. Reno Gabrini,” he said with glee in his big eyes. “You will die.”

  But Dommi had a different thought. “You first, motherfucker!” he yelled, the gunman looked his way, and Dommi grabbed the knife the school officials failed to take from him after calling him a terrorist, and threw it, aiming for and succeeding in stabbing the man’s throat. Reno had taught him a thing or two, too.

  The gunman, still stunned that a kid would be the one to take him out, fell out: dead.

  As horrific as she knew this had to be for little Sophie, Trina didn’t hesitate. She ran and picked up the man’s gun. And as Dommi grabbed his crying sister, and held her, Trina looked around, and then led them toward the front of her building, ready to fire on any motherfucker who tried to stop them. She had taught herself that.

  Around front, on the outside of the store, Jimmy Mack Gabrini drove fast up to the curb, placed his car in Park, and jumped out. The dead security detail had been removed from the scene, so all he saw were their empty cars. But he immediately pulled out his own gun, and was about to run into the store, when he saw his stepmother and two young siblings run from around the side of the building.

  “Jimmy!” Trina cried, with relief in her voice.

  Jimmy ran toward them. “Everybody okay?” he asked. “Dad called and told me to get here and get here now. Nobody was answering your cell or the store phone. What happened?”

  “Some old crazy ladies tried to rob the store!” Dommi said, although Trina wasn’t at all convinced it was a robbery. “And then a crazy old man tried to kill us too, but I took care of his ass!”

  Jimmy sometimes couldn’t believe the things that came out of Dommi’s mouth. He was barely thirteen, and was already a terror. But thank God he had that killer instinct in him today, Jimmy thought.

  “They killed Miss Oprah, too,” Dommi said.

  Trina’s heart dropped. “What? How do you know that?”

  “I saw her body,” Dommi said, “outside of the stock room.”

  Jimmy’s heart was hammering as he ran back toward the store, and ran inside. Trina and the children ran behind him.

  Oprah was still down, still in a pool of her own blood, when Jimmy saw her. “Call 911!” he cried, and Trina ran to her cellphone behind the counter.

  Jimmy removed his suitcoat and began wrapping the side of Oprah’s face. But it looked hopeless as hell to Dommi. Miss Oprah, as far as he could tell, was already dead. He turned his sister’s face away, and led her to their mother. A mother who, even Dommi could see, was stricken with grief.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The plane touched down later that same day, and a convoy of SUVs surrounded the steps of the plane as the steps dropped down. Tommy Gabrini, along with Jimmy, were in the lead SUV, while a team of Reno’s security occupied the three additional vehicles. A total of six men, all with rifles in their hands, got out of various SUVs and hurried up the steps. Once near the top, they looked around, and then knocked on the plane’s door. The door then opened, and Reno hurried out.

  With three men in front, and three men in back, Reno was escorted down the steps in a mad dash, and was hurried him into Tommy’s SUV. Once the six other men were back in their various SUVs, the convoy took off as if it were a presidential motorcade.

  Reno, sitting in between Tommy and Jimmy, was furious. After being reassured repeatedly that Trina and the kids were okay, and that Sal wasn’t letting them out of his sight, he still couldn’t get over it. “How could I let this happen?” he said. “How the fuck could I let this happen?!”

  “Stop beating yourself up, Pop,” Jimmy said, in an attempt to comfort him. “You aren’t responsible for what happened.”

  But Reno could not be comforted. “I am responsible!” he said. “What the fuck you mean? I’m off chasing some fucking ghost just because some yahoo said his name, while my wife and children . . .”

  Reno could barely take the anguish. He couldn’t handle the thought of what could have happened to his Trina, and to his children. “Geez,” he finally said, shaking his head, and then took his big hands and covered his entire face.

  Jimmy looked at Tommy for help. But Tommy was anguished, too. Whenever one of them were under assault like this, all of them felt under assault. “They’re all okay now, Reno,” he said. “That’s all that matters right now.”

  But Reno removed his hands from his face and continued to shake his head. He was disgusted with himself. “I should have put Sal in charge,” he said. “Or Jimmy. Not just a few of my guys. I should have put family in charge! I’m going to Jersey because some curveball was thrown at me, and my ass didn’t even think for a second that maybe the curveball curved both ways! They could have been killed, Tommy!” Reno said this and looked at Tommy.

  Tommy nodded his head. He couldn’t help but agree. “I know.”

  “What the fuck happened?” Reno asked. He looked at Jimmy. “And they said Oprah was hit?” he asked.

  “They shot her,” Jimmy said. “In the face, Pop,” he added.

  “In the face? Geez! Poor kid. What are the doctors saying? Do we know?”

  “She’s still in surgery,” Jimmy said. “We’re flying out her family to be with her, but it doesn’t look good, Pop. She lost so much blood! I wanted to be with her myself, but Uncle Tommy wouldn’t let me go to the hospital. He wouldn’t let me go anywhere unless he or Uncle Sal went with me.”

  “Damn straight, Jimmy,” Reno said. “Tommy’s right. We don’t know what the fuck is going on yet. We don’t have a clue. Nobody in my family is going anywhere without me, Tommy, or Sal going with them.”

  “But what about Oprah?” Jimmy asked with distress in his own voice. “What about her?”

  “I ordered a full security detail at that hospital. She’s in good hands.”

  “Yeah, like Ma and the kids were?” Jimmy asked.

  Reno looked at him. “What the fuck’s your problem?”

  “Oprah saved their lives, Dad!” Jimmy made clear. “Ma said she cried out for them to run, and that’ why she was shot. If it wasn’t for her those killers would have bust into that stock room and mowed down Ma, Dommi, and Sophie! Oprah saved their lives. Somebody from the family should be there with her.”

  Reno was shocked to hear the full story, and moved by Jimmy’s concern for the girl.

  “I can take care of myself, Pop,” Jimmy said. “And you’ve already got tons of security there.” Then he added again: “Somebody from the family should be there with her.”

  Reno hated to admit it, because it would mean him losing just a little bit of control, once again, over one of his family members. But Jimmy was right.

  He ordered the driver to drop Jimmy off at the hospital.

  The convoy of SUVs didn’t drive under the portico in front of the PaLargio for valets to unload them, but drove, instead, to Reno’s private entrance in the back. Nobody was allowed to use that entrance but family, and even they didn’t use it unless there was a security issue.

  With security still surrounding them, Reno and Tommy got on the private elevator and made their way to the penthouse. As soon as they entered, Reno saw his son in the living room, helping Nanny pick up toys. “Dommi!” Reno cried, on seeing him, in one piece, for himself.

  Dommi looked up. “Dad!” he cried,
and ran to him.

  Reno scooped Dommi up into his arms and held him as tightly as he could. He’d never been happier to see his child in his life.

  When Sophie came out of the video room, after hearing her father’s voice, she ran to him, too. “Daddy!” she cried.

  Reno made room for her. Scooping her up into his arms, too. They weren’t babies anymore, but felt light as a feather to Reno. He kissed them, smelled them, loved them!

  Then he looked at them. His heart was still unsettled, and would be until he saw one more face. “Mommy,” he said. “Where’s Mommy?”

  “Upstairs,” Sophie said, pointing upstairs.

  Reno looked at Nanny. “The baby’s okay, Mr. Gabrini,” she said.”

  “Uncle Tommy’s children are here, too,” Sophie said. “And Aunt Grace is here with them. And Uncle Sal and Aunt Gemma’s son is here, too. They’re all in the video room with their own nannies. Carmine’s in there, too. But he’s asleep.”

  Reno nodded, relieved again. And then, with Tommy bringing up the rear, and with him still carrying both of his children, Reno made his way upstairs.

  Although Mick’s big brother, Big Daddy Charles Sinatra, was sitting upstairs in the master bedroom, and Tommy’s wife Grace Gabrini, and Sal and Gemma were sitting up there, too, Reno only saw one person: Trina. He was not going to rest; he was not going to be okay until he knew, and saw for himself, that she was okay. He put his children down, and made his way to Katrina.

  Tommy smiled at the way Dommi and Sophie still held onto the hem of Reno’s suitcoat, as he walked over and sat next to Grace, his wife. Reno didn’t even realize his children were holding on, or that Tommy was walking over anywhere. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Trina. In them, he would see what she went through. In them, he would see if she was truly alright.

  She wasn’t. He could see it in her eyes.

  “Oh, Tree,” he said with regret in his voice as he got on the bed and wrapped her into his arms. She was in a thick bathrobe and was seated on the bed with her back to the headboard, but she never felt more relieved than she did right now. Reno was back home. Reno was back with them.

  They held onto each other for a long time, and then pulled the children onto the bed and held onto them.

  But as soon as they stopped hugging, Trina immediately saw one family member missing. “Where’s Jimmy?” she asked.

  “I dropped him off at the hospital,” Reno said. “To be there when Oprah got out of surgery.”

  Trina nodded, and had to fight back tears. “She saved our lives,” she said. “If she would not have --”

  “I know,” Reno said, wrapping her up again. “It’s okay, Tree. She’s going to be okay.” He didn’t know that, but he had to believe that.

  When they separated again, and Reno sat on the bed beside her with their children gathered at their feet, the rest of the people in the room were finally acknowledged.

  “Hey, Grace,” Reno said heartfelt. “Thank so much for coming.”

  “I had to see for myself that Trina was okay,” Grace said with a smile.

  “And no way was I leaving my wife and children back in Seattle after what happened here,” Tommy added. “This was a little too bold a hit for my taste.”

  Reno nodded. “That’s it, isn’t it? The boldness of that shit.”

  “And planned to the last detail,” Big Daddy said, “from what Trina told us.” Then he shook his head. “Harrowing,” he added.

  But Reno was curious. “How the hell did you get in town before I did, Big Daddy? Didn’t you have to come all the way from Maine?”

  Big Daddy shook his head. “I was in Phoenix when I got the word. Mick’s in Italy, as you know, and with the weather in those parts they won’t give his plane clearance. He asked if I could come and make sure everybody’s okay. Of course, I was glad to do so, and shocked to hear what had transpired. So I hitched a ride on Tommy’s plane.”

  Reno smiled. “Well thanks for coming,” he said. “I knew my wife was in great hands when I saw your face.”

  “I’m in the room, too,” Sal said, “but you can just forget my face.” They all laughed. “But Big Daddy’s face? Now that’s the face that reassures you!”

  Even Reno laughed. “You know what I mean!” he said.

  And Sal did know. So did Tommy and Grace. “We understand completely, Reno,” she answered for her husband. “Big Daddy looks over all of us,” she added.

  Reno smiled. “There you go, Grace! That’s what I was trying to say. No disrespect to anybody else,” he added, “but Big Daddy? He’s the man!”

  Big Daddy smiled. He knew their jokes and gaiety was a necessary attempt at normalizing a near-tragedy of epic proportions that could not possibly be normalized. He leaned forward. “I thank God Trina and the children made it out okay,” he said.

  And reality reasserted itself, as Big Daddy felt it needed to. These Gabrini men, and his kid brother Mick, needed to fully understand the consequences of the lifestyles they chose for themselves. They needed to understand it in all of its rawness. Big Daddy didn’t know if there was any way out for them, but he did know they needed to be fully aware of what could continue to happen if they didn’t try to find a way out.

  “The gangster life will kill you,” he said to all of them. “And not only you, but your families. Get out if you can,” he warned.

  Reno, Sal, and Tommy all just sat there. Because they knew the truth.

  Trina knew it, too, and spoke up. “There’s no getting out, Big Daddy,” she said. “Because enemies are families deep.”

  Big Daddy looked at her. “What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Frank Partanna is the man who killed Reno’s father,” Trina explained. “Reno had to handle that.”

  “Which is understandable,” Big Daddy said.

  “So Frank Partanna was killed a long time ago. But yet in still we’ve been fighting a war with Frank Partanna, through various members of his family and his syndicate, since the day Reno and I got married. Since the day Frank was killed. Their enemies run families deep.”

  Reno was proud of Trina’s knowledge about their world. But he was ashamed that being with him, in his world, caused her to have such vast knowledge. “And that’s why Tree’s right,” he said. “There’s no getting out. I’m just glad you and yours don’t have to deal with shit like this, Big Daddy.”

  “Oh, I have my share of shit, too,” Big Daddy said, and they all laughed. “I’m no innocent, either. But a day like this makes it so real.”

  They all agreed with that.

  “The good news is,” Grace said, “our good days far outweigh our bad days.”

  “That’s right,” Tommy said, nodding his head.

  “So we manage just fine,” Gemma added. “And we Gabrini, and I’m sure Sinatra ladies, wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

  Trina smiled. “Amen to that,” she said, which made Reno feel better. But only just.

  After nearly a half hour of more conversation, and after dismissing the children, Stef Siranno, Reno’s senior security chief, was allowed upstairs.

  “What do we know?” Reno asked him.

  “Schizeki’s dead,” Stef said.

  “What?” Trina asked, floored.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Stef said. “After your husband called and told me to check him out again, since Sam Roustinconti was denying that he personally ordered him to pull that shit about Dommi, a couple of our guys went over to his trailer. Just to talk to him further and also to make sure there was no connection to what happened to Mrs. Gabrini today. Schizeki, his wife, and their sons, were all found dead.” Trina frowned. “His sons too?”

  “And his wife.”

  “Good Lord,” Big Daddy said.

  “So Sam was probably telling the truth, Reno,” Stef said, “or he ordered the hit on that entire family. We just don’t know at this point.”

  Reno exhaled. He hated to hear that. Trina hated to hear it, too. “Keep going,” he said.

 
Stef continued. “We know that every one of those shooters today, the ladies as well as the men, all had ties to one guy.”

  This interested everybody tremendously. “Who?” Reno asked.

  “Stitch MaGraw,” Stef said.

  “Stitch?” Reno was surprised. “How would that small-time motherfucker have an organization like that?”

  “That’s what we don’t know,” Stef said. “That’s why I sent a team out to see Stitch’s old lady, and to talk to his sons. But they didn’t have a clue, either. As far as they knew, Stitch sold drugs, and that’s all he did. As far as they knew.”

  “And that’s all you got for me?” Reno asked.

  “That’s all we know so far. We’re working on getting more.”

  “Work harder!” Reno ordered. “I don’t want this shit to go another day without getting resolved. Whatever fucker is behind this hit, is going to pay. You work harder. Every man on duty. I mean every man on my payroll.”

  “That’s how we’re treating it, Boss.”

  “You aren’t doing shit unless you get me results,” Reno reminded him. “Get me results.”

  Stef nodded. “Yes, sir,” he said, and then left the room.

  Big Daddy stood up thereafter. “Alright, people,” he said, “let’s let Reno and Trina get some space,” and everybody except Reno and Trina rose, too, and left the room.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  As soon after the room was cleared, and their bedroom door was closed, Reno and Trina laid down and held each other. They faced each other as Reno’s chin was resting on the top of Trina’s head. Big Daddy was right. It had been a harrowing day.

  After several minutes of needed rest, Trina spoke. “What’s going on, Ree?” she asked. “I thought our troubles were over when Oscar Di Salvo and Stitch MaGraw died.”

  “So did I,” Reno said. “Which was a major mistake on my part.”

  “There was no reason for you to believe otherwise, Reno.”