Sal Gabrini: Love And War

by Mallory Monroe

  Tommy had assumed Jimmy had told his father the news about the job offer. But if he hadn’t, Tommy wasn’t going to be the one to do it for him. Reno kept his family closer than any man he knew. He could really hate the idea of Jimmy working for somebody other than himself, or love it. Tommy was letting Jimmy handle that.

  They entered Sal’s home without bothering to knock. They had carte blanche at the gate, and, therefore, always assumed they had the same at the front door. So they walked on in. When they smelled freshly prepared bacon, and heard conversation, they both hurried for the kitchen.

  Gemma, now in a t-shirt and a pair of puma shorts that fit her sleek body like a bodysuit, was at the stove preparing bacon and eggs for breakfast. She and Sal had already showered together, and now she was in full hostess mode.

  Jimmy was seated at the center island with little Lucky playing on the floor by his chair.

  “Look at that big boy!” Reno said.

  When Lucky heard his voice, he turned his head toward him. And smiled. “Uncle Repo!” he said with a grin.

  Reno laughed and lifted him up into his arms. “That’s right! I’m your real daddy, aren’t I?”

  They all laughed. “Let Sal hear your ass say that,” Tommy said as he rubbed Lucky’s back. “Hey, Little Man!”

  Lucky looked at Tommy and smiled too. “Uncle Tom,” he said, and Gem and Jimmy laughed.

  Tommy couldn’t help but laugh too, and took the baby from Reno’s arms. “Not quite,” he said to Lucky, “but close enough. How are you, kid?”

  “Mommy’s cooking for Jimmy,” he said, pointing at his mother. “And me.”

  “You guys care to join us?” Gemma asked their two visitors.

  “Hell yeah,” Reno said, as he removed his wrinkled suit coat and flapped it over one of the chairs at the center island.

  As Reno sat down, Tommy walked over to Gemma and gave her a kiss on the lips.

  Reno looked at Jimmy. “What are you doing here?” he asked his son.

  “What are you doing here?” Jimmy asked back.

  Reno knew his boy. He knew when he was bullshitting him. Something was up, that was for damn sure.

  “How are you, Gem?” Tommy asked Gemma after their kiss. “How’s the campaign going?”

  “We’re pulling it together,” Gemma responded. “How are you? And how’s Grace and the kids?”

  “They’re good,” Tommy responded. “TJ and Destiny are spending the weekend with their grandmother in Portland, and Grace and I have a dinner date with friends tonight. After this meeting with your hubby, I plan to fly right back to Seattle.”

  “I’m shocked Sal wouldn’t just tell you over the phone,” Reno said. “He thinks hopping a private jet to come see his ass is easy as pie. Expensive as pie, is more like it.”

  “A Reno rant this early in the morning,” Sal’s voice could be heard and everybody turned in his direction as he entered the kitchen. He was casually dressed, in jeans and a pullover shirt, as he headed for the large center island too. “Why am I not surprised?”

  “Who’s ranting?” Reno asked. “I was just schooling the baby.”

  “Schooling him on what?” Sal asked as he sat beside Reno.

  “On who his real daddy is.”

  Gemma laughed. “Don’t start, Reno!”

  “And when Trina delivers that child she’s carrying,” Sal said, “and it comes out looking exactly like me? Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  It was Reno’s time to look sidelong at Sal, and for Sal and everybody else to laugh.

  “In your dreams, motherfucker,” Reno responded.

  “That’s what she told me. I was the stuff of dreams.”

  “Okay, enough already!” Gemma said. “Everybody at the table. Breakfast will be served shortly.”

  “Daddy!” Lucky was saying and reaching for Sal as the men began making their way out of the kitchen and into the breakfast room. Sal took Lucky away from his uncle, kissed him, and then sat him on his feet. They walked hand in hand toward the breakfast table. When they all sat down, with Lucky on Sal’s lap, it was Jimmy who got down to business first.

  “I need to tell you something, Pop,” he said to Reno.

  Reno’s heart squeezed. “Please don’t tell me you’re going into business with Uncle Sal. Please don’t tell me that, Jimmy.”

  Sal frowned. “What are you talking, Reno?”

  “You know what I’m talking. I don’t want my son involved in that shit.”

  “What shit?” Sal asked.

  “Still in denial, aren’t you?” Reno responded. “Still pretending like you never heard of the underworld when I know, Tommy knows, and half of the fucking world knows better.”

  “Ah, fuck you!” Sal replied.

  “Will you two stop?” Jimmy asked. “And in front of the child, no less.” Then Jimmy exhaled. “It’s not about that,” he said. Then he looked at his father. “It’s about me going to work for Uncle Tommy,” he said.

  Reno was shocked. “What?”

  “Uncle Tommy offered me a job, Pop. He wants me to run his Vegas office.”

  Reno couldn’t believe it. He knew Sal had quit to go full-time in that other thing. But Jimmy taking over? He looked at Tommy. “That true?” he asked.

  Tommy nodded. “Eventually he will run my Vegas office. But he’ll come in as one of my VPs to learn the business first. If I see that he can handle it, yes. I eventually want him running the entire shebang.”

  “What brought this on?” Reno asked.

  “Sal seems to think he has what it takes,” Tommy said, “and I trust Sal’s judgment. Sal recommended him. But, of course, you have veto power. I already told Jimmy that. If you say no, it’s a no.”

  Reno looked at his son. “And you feel you can do this job?” he asked him.

  “I know I can, Pop. I was doing New Hampshire well, remember? Until things went south on me.”

  “Yeah, but things can’t go south here in Vegas. You take over the Vegas branch of your uncle’s company, and shit can’t go south. You can recover when you fuck up in New Hampshire. Ain’t no recovery in Vegas. You understand that?”

  “I understand it, yes, sir.”

  Tommy looked at Reno. “So, what do you think?” he asked him.

  “I had hoped he could take over my business,” he said. “But running hotels and casinos is a horse of a different color.”

  “Maybe someday he can,” Sal said. “Running Tommy’s Vegas office is on a much smaller scale than running the PaLargio hotels and casinos, but it’ll give him that big-time executive experience he needs without destroying your business.”

  “And if he has to jump ship after we get him good and ready,” Tommy said, “I’ll understand. We want what’s best for Jimmy, too. I’m willing to put my company out there to be used as a forming board for our boy if it’ll get him where he needs to be. And that, hopefully, is running the PaLargio someday. I envision Dess and TJ running the Gabrini Corporation someday. It’ll work out.”

  Sal thought about what legacy he had to leave Lucky, and his chest squeezed in agony. He didn’t have a major corporation to leave his son. All he had was a crime family. And plenty of danger. He had to get his shit together. For real though.

  Reno looked at Sal. “What’s your part in all of this?” he asked. “You’re giving up your stocks in GCI as well?”

  “I’m keeping my ownership interest. I’ll always have that. But I can’t be involved in the day-to-day running of Vegas, or any other GCI office.”

  “I see,” Reno said.

  “So, what do you think, Pop?” Jimmy asked. He could never read his father’s facial expressions. He was anxious to know.

  Reno nodded. “I think Sal’s right. And like Tommy, I trust his judgment too.” Reno smiled and extended his hand to Jimmy. “You’ll be a mogul yet,” he said. “Congratulations, son!”

  Jimmy was over-the-moon with joy. “Thanks so much, Pop!” he said, and leaned over and hugged his old man.


  “Just remember what your Uncle Tommy said,” Reno said seriously, pointing at Jimmy. “If you take over the helm at GCI and, down the road, I see that you’re ready to take over the PaLargio, you’ll need to be willing to make that move.”

  “Are you kidding?” Jimmy asked. “Running the PaLargio would be a dream come true for me. Although,” Jimmy admitted honestly, “I think Dommi might win that trophy before it’s all said and done.”

  “Dommi?” Tommy asked. “Over you?”

  “Yes,” Sal nodded. “That little gangster has casino mogul written all over him. His ass ruthless enough to run one right now.”

  They all laughed.

  “And in the future?” Sal continued. “Forget about it! Dommi just might run the entire next generation of Gabrinis.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Reno said. “That’s a headache I’d just as soon delay as long as humanly possible.”

  They laughed again. And Gemma arrived with their big breakfast.

  After breakfast, Jimmy said his goodbyes, the nanny took Lucky into the nursery, and Gemma and the men remained at the breakfast table. The maid staff cleared the table, and, when the staff left the main house, Sal got down to business. “It’s about Fran,” he said.

  Reno and Tommy looked at him. “Fran?” Reno asked. “My sister? What about Fran?”

  “One of my men double-crossed me with some bum they call Easy Max Capone. Ever heard of him?”

  Reno shook his head no. Tommy thought a little longer. Then decided that he’d never heard of him, either.

  “What does he have to do with Fran?” Reno asked.

  Sal glanced at Gemma. Then looked at Reno. “I’ve been told that he’s her son.”

  Reno stared at Sal. “Her son? Get the fuck outta here! Who told you that?”

  “One of my men.”

  “And you believe the guy?”

  “Believe him? I heard him. And let’s just say he was at a point in his life where he had no reason to lie. So yeah, I believe him more than I don’t.”

  “I take it you haven’t found this Easy Max character yet?” Tommy asked.

  Sal shook his head. “Nothing so far. But I’ve got every man I have available searching for his ass.”

  “What did your man say about him?” Reno asked. “I never heard of Fran having no kid. What is this so-called son of Fran’s up to?”

  “He paid my guy to double-cross me and give him, without a fight, nearly a third of my Baltimore territory.”

  “You run Baltimore?” Reno asked. “I didn’t know your ass ran Baltimore.” Then Reno looked at Gemma. “You knew about this?” he asked her.

  Gemma nodded her head. “About the fact that he runs certain sectors? Yes. Sal told me.” He hadn’t told her nearly as many details as he was telling Tommy and Reno, but she was accustomed to that, too.

  “How do you feel about it?” Reno asked her. She hated when their women had to get involved in their messes.

  But Gemma no longer had such reservations. She understood Sal’s plight. She understood that he had to stay in and show strength, or their entire family could go down. “I feel he’s handling his business and doing what he has to do. I feel he’s protecting his family.”

  Reno nodded. Nothing was sexier to him than a strong woman. “I agree with you. But what I don’t understand,” Reno added, looking at Sal, “is how in the world could you allow some clown calling himself Capone to take over a third of your territory? And you don’t know about it? Get outta here!”

  “I didn’t allow shit,” Sal retorted. “Didn’t you hear a word I said? Easy Max had my Baltimore capo in his pocket. He paid off that motherfucker to lay down and play dead. By the time my man decided to clue me in, the damage was already done.”

  “Is Baltimore the only area he took?” Gemma asked.

  “Some of my other sectors took a hit, but that was minor and to be expected in my line of work. From what I’m hearing so far, Capone had nothing to do with those sectors. But we’ll see. I don’t know shit about shit yet, and I won’t know until I find that fucker. But territorial wars? That’s regular in my line of work.”

  “Your line of work?” Reno asked. “And what line of work is that, Sal?” He and Tommy both knew Sal was a mob boss from way back, but Sal still tried to play that who, me game with them. “Hun, Sal? What line of work is that?”

  Sal gave Reno the finger. Reno laughed. “He still won’t admit it out loud. Shame, shame, shame.”

  “Do you think Easy Max is behind those attempts on your life, too?” Tommy asked his brother.

  Sal shook his head. “I don’t know that yet. Everybody’s telling me something different. First, I’m thinking Billy Minoche might be behind it.”

  “Billy Minoche?” Reno asked. “That prick?”

  “That’s what I said,” Sal said. “But then I’m hearing Fast Eddie Bronson was behind those attempts. At least the one involving the Bonaduce family at that dealership. And now they throw this Easy Max character in my face and I don’t know what the fuck is going on. But I’ve got a call out on all of them. I want to have a conversation with all three.”

  His front gate intercom buzzed. Gemma, who was nearest to the button, pressed it. “Yes?” she asked.

  “A woman is here to see the boss,” the front gate guard proclaimed.

  Sal frowned. “A woman? What woman?”

  They could hear the guard asking the woman. “What’s the name?” he asked her. Then they heard her say Yvonne Welker.

  Although the guard came back onto the intercom and announced her name, Sal, Reno, and Tommy had already jumped up from the breakfast table and were running toward the front door.

  “Did you hear me, Boss?” the front gate guard asked.

  “Just sit tight,” Gemma responded. “He’s on his way out there.” Then she got up too.

  The front door to Sal’s estate flew open, and all three Gabrinis ran toward the front gate with their guns drawn. Gemma hurried to the front door and locked it. Then she hurried to the nursery, grabbed a sleeping Lucky and his nanny, and then hurried downstairs, to the safe room.

  Once inside, she handed the baby to the nanny and went to the wall safe. She pressed in the combination, opened it, and pulled out a powerful gun. Then she sat at the table and placed the gun on the table. And waited. The nanny in the room had a father who was a mobster before he was killed, a man who used to work for Sal. That was how she got the job. She wasn’t alarmed in the least.

  But outside, as the security gate opened and Sal, Reno, and Tommy confronted what they would have called a ghost had they not seen her in the flesh right in front of them, was alarmed as hell.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Sal, along with three of his men, entered the safe room nearly ten minutes after he had run to the front gate. Gemma rose to her feet quickly. “Is everything okay?”

  Sal nodded. “Everything’s good. Good thinking, Gem,” he added, looking at his still sleeping son and his son’s nanny. “You can never be too careful.”

  “Where’s the woman?” Gemma asked.

  “Upstairs.” Sal looked hard at Gemma. “Wanna meet her?” he asked her.

  Gemma was surprised that he would ask. She assumed the woman had something to do with his mob ties. “Yes,” she said without reservation.

  “Put the gun away, and come on. My men will keep watch down here.”

  Gemma took the gun, put it back into the safe, and locked the safe. Sal’s men came down and took over security. And then Gem headed, with Sal, out of the safe room, locking it behind them. The efficiency of the room was that it also housed every conceivable supply that could be needed. Especially baby supplies. But Gemma wasn’t worried about Lucky. She knew she would get back to him if she had to. She was worried about this meeting.

  “Who’s Yvonne Welker?” she asked Sal as they made their way upstairs.

  “You heard us talk about Fast Eddie Bronson?”

  Gemma nodded. “Yes.”

  “She was,
or still may be, his old lady. I witnessed what I thought was her execution once.”

  Gemma stopped walking and looked at Sal. “You mean her death?”

  “That’s what I thought I was seeing, yeah. But, apparently, that’s not what happened.”

  “And this woman you thought was dead suddenly appeared at our front gate?”

  “I saw her once before,” Sal admitted. “That was why I ran out of Berman’s that night. I saw her that time, too.”

  Gemma’s face betrayed her concern. “So what are you saying?” she asked. “You’re saying this woman in our house right now may have had something to do with that attempt on your life that night?”

  Sal couldn’t dismiss the possibility. Especially not to Gemma. “Yes,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you take her to a safe house? Or to the one of the guest houses?”

  “We’ll move her. But right now, we need info. We can’t afford to lose her. She, right now, is the only link we have to finding out who tried that shit on me, and on you and Lucky, too, at that dealership. We want to keep as tight a rein on her as we can until we get that intel.”

  Gemma nodded. She wasn’t all that comfortable with it, but she understood Sal knew what he was doing. She continued to head upstairs. But just as she began walking again, Sal took her by the arm and stopped her once more.

  She looked at him. She could see the concern in his eyes. “What is it?” she asked softly.

  “In case it comes up,” he said, “I did mess around with her once. A one-night stand that went nowhere. And it was before I hooked up with you. In case it comes up.”

  Sal failed to mention that the one-night stand occurred on the same night that he met Gemma for drinks, but he didn’t see the relevancy. They weren’t a couple then. They were just a couple of lonely people trying to get to know each other then.

  But it would not have mattered to Gemma, anyway. The last thing she was concerned about was who Sal slept with before he married her. “Thanks for letting me know,” she said. She leaned over and kissed him on the lips. And this time, when they continued their trek upstairs, they actually made it upstairs.