Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5

by Mallory Monroe

  Sal drove his Porsche alongside the Acura that was parked in the back of the night club’s deserted parking lot. The Wolverine nightclub used to be a popular spot years ago. Now it was shut down.

  Sal got out of his car and got into the backseat of the Acura: Rabina’s car. Two big, burly men sat up front. They were her muscle no doubt, as if two men were enough to take on Sal Gabrini. He almost felt offended by such a puny show of force. And he had scoped the area long before they arrived in it. There was no backup anywhere. Just her two henchmen, which was laughable. But that was a laugh for another day. Right now he had to retrieve that tape. He sat down and looked at the slight woman.

  “We meet again,” Rabina said.

  “Where’s the tape?” Sal asked.

  Rabina smiled. “Still impatient. Still the same man who tortured me for hours. The man who treated me like I was a common dog in the street.”

  “Cut the fake outrage, Chen. Where’s the tape?”

  Rabina looked at Sal with nothing but disdain in her eyes. “It is where it always was. It is under seal.”

  “Well you’d better unseal it, because I want it. I’m not going through this shit with you again. You damn-near gave me a heart attack when you showed up at that restaurant with my wife sitting right there! My wife! I don’t bring this shit around her, and you aren’t going to bring it around her either!”

  “That tape is under seal,” Rabina said again. “I cannot touch it and you know I cannot.”

  “I don’t know shit! I know that’s what you’re telling me, but I don’t know shit.”

  “Then why am I alive?” Rabina asked. “Why did you and your men torture me the way you did, but let me live? Because you know what I said was true. Because you know that if anything happens to me, if I die from anything but natural causes, that tape will be revealed.”

  Sal let out a harsh exhale. “One thing I can’t live with,” he said, “is blackmail. I can’t have that shit over my head. I can’t deal with that.” He looked at her. “I should have took you out when I had the chance. Now you’ve just given me a second chance.”

  As soon as Sal said that, the two henchmen in the front seat immediately pulled out their guns and was about to whip around and take Sal out. That was their order if it got even a little bit dicey, and that was what they intended to do. But what they didn’t know was that Sal already had his weapon out, and as soon as they whipped around, he put a bullet in the driver’s head and then a bullet in the passenger’s. Both men fell back dead.

  Sal then turned his weapon toward Rabina. She was peeing she was so stunned. “Now do you understand who you’re fucking with?” he asked her.

  Rabina stared at him. “I already understood that.”

  “Where is the tape? And if you tell me it’s sealed and you can’t retrieve it, you’re dead. There will be no torturing. There will be no more conversation. I will put a fucking bullet through your fucking brain and go home. This will be your end. I spared you before because I couldn’t take the chance. Now I don’t give a fuck. I may not get that tape, but you’re be dead.”

  “And everything will be exposed.”

  Sal pointed his weapon at her head and cocked it. “Final warning. Where’s that tape?”

  “Okay,” Rabina said nervously, staring at the barrel of that gun. “I can give it to you.”

  Sal was actually shocked to hear her say that. He felt like he’d been played all this time. He even tortured her ass for hours just like she said, but she still wouldn’t give up the goods. Now she was willing? All of that talk about it being under seal all over the country was a pack of lies? “Then give it up,” he said to her.

  “I no have it here,” Rabina said with a heavy Asian accent, as if she had forgotten she spoke perfect English. “I have to go get it, but I cannot leave the state.”

  “You either leave the state, or leave this earth. Now pick your choice.”

  “But I no lie! The men they are in Asia. In Taiwan. They will not release it that easily. Their livelihood depends on me. If I am found guilty in the courts, I will not be able to continue to supply their livelihood.”

  Sal frowned. “’You’re a fucking madam! A gotdamn pimp! What the fuck are you talking about? What men are depending on you for their livelihood?”

  “My pimps,” she said. “We do trafficking. It is my biggest business. You do not understand. These men are relying on that trade from Asia to the U.S. I am their conduit.”

  Sal stared at her. It made sense. But those under seal lies made sense at the time too.

  “If I am convicted of this crime, they will suffer great financial loss. If I am free, the tape will mean nothing to them. They will honor your request and give it to you. They know who you are. They will not backstab a Gabrini.”

  Sal was thinking, and therefore wasn’t speaking.

  “You can kill me,” Rabina said, “and lose all chance at retrieving that tape. Or you can help set me free, and retrieve the tape once and for all. They will not backstab you. They know who you are. They will not backstab a Gabrini.”

  “So you want me to fly you out of here, to Taiwan, in exchange for that tape?”

  “No,” Rabina said as if Sal didn’t understand her at all. “I am of no use to them if I am on the, how do you say it? The lamb? If I am a wanted fugitive, our trade will cease. I cannot operate it on this end. They need me functional on this end.”

  “Then what the fuck do you want me to do? How else am I supposed to help set you free?”

  Rabina reached down, inside her purse. “Careful,” Sal said. “I won’t beat a bitch, but I’ll kill one.”

  “I have no weapons. I only have the paperwork.” She pulled out a file and handed it to Sal.

  Sal tossed it aside. “What is it?”

  “The information on three of the men serving as jurors in my trial. We believe they are prime to find me guilty of the charge of murder.”

  Sal frowned. “What do you want me to do about it?”

  “Get to them. They are not sequestered, they go home every evening after the trial. Convince them as only you can that they must find me innocent. Or, as the judge would say it, not guilty. If they find me not guilty, the rest of the jurors, who are too stupid to make up their own minds, will go along. Those three jurors in that file are the ring leaders. Those three jurors are the prosecution’s greatest hope for a conviction.”

  Sal shook his head in disgust. “So that’s why my wife was chosen as lead counsel? That’s why you assholes involved her in this shit?”

  “You will get your tape, and I will get my freedom. I have been instructed that I can bargain with that tape now. But they will not give you a second chance. You kill me, the tape goes public. You spare me again, and your wife secures my freedom with your help, and that cloud over your head, that cloud that will probably cause your wife to leave you anyway, will fade for good.”

  Sal knew he had no choice. He could kill her, but what if she was telling the truth? His slick ass would be done for in every direction, including with Gemma.

  He had been trying to figure out how to get that tape since he first found out her people had it. But there was nobody they could track down. Until now. Taiwan was the connection. But he needed time. He had to give her what she wanted, and hope that his people found her Taiwan connection, or whatever connection she truly had, before it was too late and that tape was revealed. A tape that could not be revealed. He didn’t have a choice.

  He grabbed the file and opened the car door.

  “I ride back to Las Vegas with you, yes?”

  “Hell no,” Sal said, getting out of the car.

  Rabina looked at the dead men in the front seat. She looked at Sal. “But what am I to do? My driver is dead!”

  “Call Ted Coggan,” Sal suggested bitterly, “since he’s the asshole who sat this whole scheme up anyway.”

  Sal slammed the door, got into his Porsche, and sped away.

  CHAPTER NINE

  It was
three in the morning when Sal drove up to his estate. He and his men had wasted no time contacting the jurors. They had to do it under cover of darkness anyway. But there were still no guarantees. That was why he had another group of men, his best and brightest, investigating that Taiwan/illegal trafficking angle. It had been a tough day all around.

  But when he drove onto his circular driveway, and saw a sparkling Bentley in the circle, he was concerned. Reno and Trina owned a Bentley, he knew, but it wasn’t this one. And why would somebody be at his home three in the morning anyway? He grabbed his weapon out of his glove compartment before he exited the car.

  Gemma was lying in bed by the time he entered the house, tripping the alarm. She knew it was Sal because the alarm was quickly cleared. Then she heard his footsteps on the stairs. When he entered their bedroom, and walked up to the bed, turning on their bedside lamp, she didn’t pretend that she was asleep or annoyed or any of that. She just looked at him. As usual when he wasn’t at home, she was lying on his side of the bed.

  She looked angelic to Sal as she laid there. His heart swelled with love for her. But he was also concerned. Was there somebody else in their home? “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey,” she responded.

  “Who does that Bentley belong to?”

  Gemma was disappointed in him. “Is that all you have to say?”

  Sal frowned. “What do you mean is that all I have to say? It’s three o’clock in the morning and I’ve never seen it before. None of our friends own it. None of our relatives own it. Whose is it?”

  Gemma shook her head. She wanted to turn over and go to sleep. “It’s mine,” she said.

  Sal frowned again. “Yours? Since when?”

  Here we go, Gemma thought. “Since Judge Calhoun gave it to me.”

  Sal was beyond a frown now. He was seething. “Since he gave it to you? What the fuck he giving you a car for?”

  Gemma didn’t like his tone and wasn’t about to allow him to speak to her that way. She moved to turn over, effectively turning her back to him. But he angrily pulled her back over, facing him. “You heard me,” he said. “Why would that guy give you a car?”

  “For my birthday, okay?” Gemma said with equal venom.

  Sal was shocked. “Your birthday?” He began thinking. What day was it?

  “He gave me the car for my birthday,” Gemma repeated. “He was thoughtful enough to remember my birthday, even after all these years, and give me a gift.”

  Sal felt like shit. How could he forget his wife’s birthday? She was his everything! How could he do her like this? “Oh, Gemma,” he said so heartfelt that she felt it, and then he got in bed beside her, wrapping her in his big arms.

  Gemma snuggled against him, loving the smell of him and his magnificent touch. He had hurt her mightily with his absence, but she realized it was his forgetfulness more than anything else. And even though the fact that he forgot her birthday wasn’t a good thing, it wasn’t unforgiveable.

  “What’s wrong with me?” he asked. “How could I forget your special day?”

  “Where were you?” Gemma asked, although she knew she wouldn’t get a straight answer.

  The thought of where he had been, and what he had to do while he was there, only added to Sal’s distress. He was no coldblooded killer. Every action he took, not just killing those two men but threatening to kill those three jurors, affected him in ways even he couldn’t verbalize. Especially when he realized what Gemma would think of him if she truly knew the full extent of his extracurricular activities. “I had to handle some business,” was all he would say about it.

  Gemma rolled her eyes and tried to turn away, but Sal turned her back to him. “You know I have business I have to handle.”

  “Why can’t you tell me the truth? I can take it, Sal.”

  “I didn’t say you couldn’t take it.”

  “Then why don’t you tell me?”

  “Because I’m not dirtying you up with my filth!” Sal didn’t mean to fire at her, but the stress was getting to him. He rubbed his forehead. “I’m not taking you down that road with me. It’s too dark, it’s too narrow, it’s a dead end. We will not be discussing that.”

  Gemma didn’t like his tone, but she understood where he was coming from. He told her before they were married that any discussions of his “business” outside of the Gabrini Corporation business was for him to deal with alone. She accepted that. And because she was a woman of her word, she always would. “I shouldn’t have gone there anyway,” she said. “I apologize for that.”

  Sal felt even worse when she apologized. He pulled her into his arms again. “You have nothing to apologize for,” he said. “I’m the asshole who forgot your birthday. I have no excuses for that. I can’t believe I put you on a backburner.” Then he looked her dead in the eye. “I’m sorry, Gemma. You know I didn’t mean it. You’re the love of my life. You’re everything to me. I can’t believe I forgot!”

  Gemma knew she shouldn’t let him off the hook. He blew it and that was all there was to it. But she was looking into his eyes. She’d seen that look before. He’d been to hell and back today. She could tell it. And she was not going to add to his distress.

  It was her time to pull him into her arms. “It’s okay, baby,” she said as she held him. “None of us are perfect.”

  Sal felt a swell of emotion shoot through his body as she held him. He was trembling with love for her.

  When he finally looked at her again, he placed his hand on the side of her face. “Forgive me?” he asked her in a way a child would ask his mother for forgiveness. Gemma, and Gemma alone, brought out that tender side of him.

  She smiled. It amazed her how easily she could forgive Sal Gabrini anything. “You know I do,” she said.

  Sal smiled too. Nobody made him happier. “So what do you want for your birthday? It’s not too late. You want a new house, a new plane, a new car?”

  Gemma laughed. “I have a new car.”

  “Like hell you do! That Bentley goes back to Judge Calhoun first thing in the morning.”

  “Oh, Sal, it’ll break his heart.”

  “Then his heart will have to break.

  “Oh, Sal!”

  “Don’t oh, Sal me! No man is getting my wife any birthday gift that’s more than a token of their kindness. A Bentley is more than a token. It’s a fucking engagement!”

  Gemma laughed.

  “It goes back in the morning,” Sal said. “You understand me?”

  Gemma still didn’t like it. But she wasn’t going against Sal. “I understand,” she said.

  “You better be glad I don’t beat your ass for accepting it in the first place,” Sal added.

  Gemma looked at him. “Beat my ass? Over something like that? Boy bye!”

  Sal didn’t like how dismissive she was of his admonition. And before he realized he had done it, he had turned her onto her stomach, lifted up her gown, and was wailing on her bare ass.

  At first Gemma was laughing. He had taken her by such surprise that it amused her. But when he continued to spank despite her protestations, and his licks began to sting, it was no laughing matter. “Sal, that hurts!” she groaned.

  Sal stopped. And laid down beside her. She turned her face his way. He began rubbing her aching ass. But Sal was serious too. “I blew it tonight,” he said. “I forgot your birthday and that’s a bad thing. But that doesn’t give you a pass when it comes to Judge Calhoun or Ted Coggan or any of those men out there who I believe, yes, have more than innocent intent when it comes to you. They want to fuck you, Gemma, whether you want to believe it or not. That’s why you accept no gifts from any of them, you hear me? Not a watch, not a bracelet. Not a fucking car ever! You’re off limits. They need to understand that or I’ll have to make them understand that.”

  He continued to stare at her. A distressed look came into his eyes. “Don’t make me make them, Gemma,” he added.

  Gemma looked at this man she loved. She didn’t like the way he did a lo
t of things, especially when he put his foot down so decisively. But she understood why he did it. She understood that he was only looking out for her and for her best interest. She nodded her head. “It goes back in the morning,” she said. “And I won’t let it happen again.”

  Sal stared at her. “I love you,” he said. “With all my heart.”

  Gemma placed her hand on his gorgeous face. “I love you,” she responded. “With all my heart.”

  They stared into each other’s eyes, and then down at each other’s luscious lips, and then they were kissing. It was a tender thing for them at first. Nothing like the last time they made love when Sal had too much on his mind and took it out on Gemma. And soon Sal had undressed, had lifted her gown off of her, and was between her legs licking and eating her senseless.

  Gemma was lifting and moaning and guiding his head further between her legs as his mouth devoured her. She pushed her hips forward, simulating sex, as his tongue slid deeper into her pussy. She cried out with the passion she couldn’t suppress, and all was forgiven as he ate her. And when he got on his knees, and pulled her body closer, and guided his huge, fully aroused cock into her folds, all was forgotten too. Only his love, and his masterful strokes, and the way he made her feel at that moment in time was the only thing she had on her mind.

  Sal fucked her with tenderness this time. There was no anger, no desperation, no remains from a day that was too horrible to relive. This was his love, his wife. He was going to do her right.

  He fucked her for a long time. He laid on top of her, and held her, and fucked her. He kissed her as his ass pumped and squeezed and his dick moved back and forward inside of her. Nobody made him feel the way Gemma made him feel. And he loved that feeling to a point that he never wanted it to end. He fucked her long and slow as he moved in her the way a lion king moved confidently through his terrain. Because Gemma belonged to him and him alone. Judge Calhoun and any other man had better understand that. They weren’t taking her away from him, he didn’t care how clever they thought they were. She belonged to him.