Sal Gabrini: Just The Way You Are

by Mallory Monroe

  Lacey looked at Money and laughed. But Money was dead serious.

  For security precautions, Mick and Tommy had Gemma transported from the hospital to her and Sal’s estate by the time Sal and Reno made it back from Chicago. She was sitting up in bed, with Trina sitting beside her, while Mick and Tommy were sitting in chairs against the wall in the bedroom too. Jimmy, under heavy security, was at the PaLargio watching out for his daughter and younger siblings. Mick’s wife had their twins, and Tommy’s wife was in Seattle with their daughter. All under heavy security too. Everybody was on alert.

  When Sal and Reno entered the room, Tommy stood up. He was just getting in from overseas, and he had been anxious to eyeball his younger brother. But while Reno greeted the two men, Sal only had eyes for Gemma when he walked into that room. He hurried to her bedside.

  “Still nothing?” Gemma asked.

  “Nothing,” Sal said. He had already phoned and told her so, but he knew she was still hoping against hope.

  Tears returned to her eyes. She had been crying her eyes out as it was, now she was crying even more.

  Sal sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms. Trina, wiping her eyes too, rubbed her back.

  “What are we going to do?” Gemma asked. Then she looked at Sal. “Who would do this?”

  “I’m working nonstop, baby,” Sal said. “Every one of our men dropped everything and are working nonstop too. We’ll find him. You hear me? I’ll chase those motherfuckers to hell before I Iet them harm our child. You hear me?”

  Gemma nodded. “I believe you,” she said.

  “I won’t let you down, Gemma,” Sal said. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life. I’ve done a lot of terrible things. And who knows? Maybe this is my punishment.”

  “Sal,” Tommy said, heartbrokenly.

  “Don’t say that,” Gemma said. “You haven’t done anything to deserve this.”

  But Sal’s mind kept remembering that time in Seattle, when he was a sergeant on the police force, and a little boy died in a house he ordered to be burned down. He could still see that child begging for his life as if it had happened yesterday. He even ordered a crew to Seattle, to find out if there were any relatives of that child out there, who might be seeking revenge.

  “You hear me, Sal? You don’t deserve this. Nobody does.”

  “I know,” he said, to reassure her rather than himself. “I know.”

  “How did it go in Chicago?” Tommy asked.

  It was obvious that it didn’t go well, if Sal’s anguished eyes were any indication. “Nothing about our child,” he said. “Scorsese knew nothing about the kidnapping. He was just trying to take over my Chicago operations. He failed.”

  “Where is he now?” Tommy asked.

  “Dead,” Sal said.

  “Good,” Mick said.

  “And still nothing about our child. He didn’t know anything. Nobody knows anything!”

  Gemma looked at Sal. He was under such pressure, and it showed. She placed her hand on the side of his face. “Stop beating yourself up, Sal,” she said. “You’ll find him. I know you will.”

  Sal nodded, as he, too, fought back tears. Tommy walked over to him and placed his hand around his waist. Sal leaned against his older brother, and then turned into his arms.

  Tommy held him tightly, and Sal held onto Tommy. The idea that his child was out there somewhere and he wasn’t able to protect him, his newborn baby he hadn’t even laid eyes on yet, terrified him. And Tommy understood how he felt. Whenever it hit home, it hit like a ton of bricks. He held his brother tighter.

  When they finished hugging, Sal wiped away tears and nodded toward Mick. Sal wasn’t touchy-feely either, but Mick took it to new heights. “Thanks for coming, Uncle Mick,” Sal said.

  “We need to find that bastard,” Mick said firmly.

  “I know.”

  “We don’t have much time.”

  “The fact that the Feds are involved isn’t helping either,” Reno said. “They’re just in our way.”

  “At least their investigation is keeping them at the hospital,” Tommy said. “At least they’re staying at the scene of crime. But they won’t for long. Uncle Mick is right. We don’t have much time.”

  “Is there anybody you’re overlooking?” Mick asked Sal.

  Sal ran his hands through his hair. “I have gone over it and over it in my head. It doesn’t make sense! I’ve got my entire crew on it. Reno has his entire crew on it.”

  “I have my entire crew on it,” Tommy said.

  “And we’re still turning up blanks,” Sal said.

  “And you’re certain that inside guy wasn’t involved?” Mick asked.

  Reno nodded. “We’re certain. We killed his ass, but we worked him over before that. He told us everything he knew, which was nothing about the baby.”

  That sinking feeling overcame Sal and Gemma again. They looked at each other.

  “What about you, Gemma?” Mick asked. He needed them to think, not feel.

  But Sal disagreed. “Don’t disturb her like that,” he said, admonishing Mick.

  Mick looked at him. “Your baby is missing and you don’t want me to disturb your wife? Are you insane?”

  As soon as Mick said it, Sal realized that he had a point. Gemma already knew that he had. “I’ve been racking my brain too,” she said. “We’ve had some things to happen, but they don’t rise to anything like this.”

  “What things?” Tommy asked.

  “My office was vandalized by a former client who was paid to do it.”

  “Paid by whom?”

  “Scorsese was behind that one,” Sal said. “My inside guy? He admitted that one. It was all about distracting me.”

  “What about Shaun Merriment and that video?” Gemma asked Sal. “Did he put Mark Price up to that?”

  Sal shook his head. “No,” he said. “At least he said no.” Then Sal became frustrated. “Who the fuck knows? Maybe we’re going about this all wrong. Maybe I’m chasing my tail and that’s exactly what they want me to do.”

  But Mick needed them to think, not feel. “Tell me about this Mark Price and Shaun Merriment,” he said. “Who are they?”

  “Nobody,” Sal said. “Mark worked at Gemma’s law firm. I figured he had a thing for her and wanted to destroy our marriage. He’s dead now.” But then Sal thought about something.

  “What is it, Sal?” Reno asked him.

  Sal looked at Reno. “What if she didn’t miss?” he asked.

  Reno was lost. “What if who didn’t miss?”

  “That woman we found with Mark Price.”

  “The one who tried to shoot us but ended up shooting Mark?” Reno asked.

  “Yeah, her. But what if she wasn’t trying to shoot us? What if she meant to shoot Mark all along?”

  Reno thought about it, as everybody else in the room were looking at them. Gemma was looking intensely.

  “You know she did shoot him just as he was about to come clean with us,” Reno said. Then he looked at Sal. “You think she was trying to shut him up?”

  “Permanently,” Sal said. “It’s possible.”

  “It’s possible,” Reno agreed. “I’ll have my men check her background,” he said, pulling out his cellphone. “We’ll see what we can turn up.”

  Sal nodded. “Good,” he said. “You never know.”

  It took less than an hour before the word came down. When Reno got the phone call, he was floored. He hurried to the bedroom, where everybody was still assembled. “Her name was Pamela Ross, Sal,” he said when he entered the room.

  “Anything on her?”

  “Yeah,” Reno said. “She was a prostitute.”

  “That’s no news,” Sal said. “I already scoped her out as a hooker. So what?”

  “Her profession isn’t news,” Reno said, “but her john is.”

  Now they all were curious. “Who’s her john?” Sal asked.

  “You aren’t going to believe this,” Reno said. “It’s Rudy Balot
ti, Sal.”

  “Rudy?” Tommy asked, stunned.

  “Your son?” Gemma asked, stunned too.

  Mick stared at Sal, stunned too.

  But Sal didn’t have time to be stunned. He was angry. “Motherfucker,” he said, and hurried out of the room.

  Mick, Tommy, and Reno followed him.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  It didn’t take long for Rudy to break. Already knowing what Sal was capable of, and already knowing how Sal never played, he caved almost right away. But only he caved about the wrong thing.

  “Mark came to me for help,” he said.

  “Mark Price?” Sal asked.

  “Your wife’s law partner, yeah. He knew I helped people out, for a fee, so he came to me.”

  “What did he want you to do?” Sal asked.

  “Ruin your marriage so he could get your woman. What else? But he had this elaborate plan. This crazy way of going about it. He said he had to get Gemma to want him back, or some shit like that. He even wanted me to kill some innocent girl to make it all work. That’s how sadistic his ass was. And I did. At least, I got Pamela to do it. For a fee, of course.”

  “What does any of this have to do with the baby snatch?” Mick asked. “Where’s Sal’s baby?”

  Rudy looked at Mick. “What baby?” he asked.

  “My baby,” Sal said. “We already know you’re involved. Why do you think all of us are here?” They didn’t know any such thing, but Rudy wasn’t aware of that.

  And it worked. He looked around. Mick the Tick? Reno? Tommy? He knew his goose was cooked. All he had going for him was the fact that he was Sal’s son. That, he knew, would save him.

  So he stopped bullshitting. He admitted that he paid a lady to take the kid, somebody named Nalla Moss, but he denied knowing anything more. He was not the mastermind, he insisted.

  “Then who is?” Sal asked his son.

  There was a wall of testosterone in front of Rudy: Sal, Reno, Tommy, and Mick. Rudy was seated in a chair unbound. The men who picked him up and drove him to the safe house, respected him as Sal’s son. But only to a point. He had a few scrapes and bruises when he took that respect too far, and Sal’s men had to regain control.

  “Who’s the mastermind?” Sal asked again. “Tell me where’s my child, Rudy, and you tell me now.” Sal frowned. “You think I’m fucking with you?”

  “I handed the baby off to his men,” Rudy said. “I don’t know where they took him!”

  “Give me a name,” Sal said.

  Rudy hesitated.

  “Give me a fucking name!” Sal yelled, and then slapped his son.

  “Him!” Rudy yelled back. “He’s the mastermind right in front of you! He thought I’d be too scared of him to tell. That’s how arrogant he is!”

  All of the men were stumped. “Who are you talking about?” Reno asked, a frown on his face. “You’re talking about me?”

  “I’m talking about Mick Sinatra,” Rudy said boldly. “The great Mick the Tick! He knows what he did. Don’t let him get away with it, Pop. He’s been stringing you along.”

  Sal frowned, staring at Rudy. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he asked.

  “He still wants to avenge you for killing his sister,” Rudy said. “That shit ain’t over. That’s Mick the Tick. He would never forgive something like that! Why do you think he forgave you so easily? He wants you dead. He’s behind it all! I turned that baby over to his people. He knows exactly where your child is. He knows!”

  Sal and Tommy looked at Mick. Reno looked too. Everybody in the room looked at Mick. They were so blown away by Rudy’s accusations that they didn’t know what to do. Was it true? Was it a pack of lies?

  “I’m telling you the truth!” Rudy yelled, as if he could read their minds. “How can you let him get away with this? How can you?”

  Rudy grabbed the gun that was now lamely in his father’s hand, as Sal was, above everybody in the room, most thrown by the accusations. Sal reacted when he felt his gun leave his hand. But he reacted too late. Rudy aimed at Mick and pulled the trigger. But Mick was a faster draw. He fired first even with Rudy’s head start. Rudy was firing as he fell back in his chair, but he misfired, and he and the chair both were knocked backwards. When the dust cleared, Mick was still standing. But Rudy, Sal’s son, was dead.

  Sal stood there, staring at his downed son, but he knew he brought it on himself. He played both sides the entire time he knew him. He played both sides one time too many. And with the wrong man this time.

  Tommy went and stood beside his brother. Both men were stunned.

  But their men weren’t. They immediately aimed their weapons at Mick. Had he just killed the witness to his crime? Or was he just defending himself? They didn’t know. And when they didn’t know, they were taught by Reno, Tommy, and Sal, to act as if they did.

  But Mick wasn’t having it. He looked at his relatives so intensely that they felt his rage. “Tell your men to turn those guns away from me,” he ordered, “or I will kill every motherfucking one of them.”

  Sal stared at his Uncle Mick. Then motioned for the men to stand down.

  But Sal was still torn. He didn’t want to believe it. He would never believe it ordinarily. But his child was missing. His newborn baby. “Do you know what happened to my child?” he asked.

  Mick looked Sal dead in the eye. “No,” he said.

  “Why did Rudy claim you did?”

  “To save his own ass. How should I know?”

  “He just want his son back, Uncle Mick,” Tommy said. “Nothing personal.”

  Mick couldn’t believe it. “Nothing personal? I’ve just been accused of kidnapping my nephew’s son. It’s personal to me.”

  “His son is missing, Mick,” Reno said. “You’ve got to understand how he feels.”

  “I understand. That’s the only reason he’s not dead right now.”

  It was a powerful assertion. One the Gabrinis didn’t take too kindly. Tommy remained beside Sal, and Reno went and stood by him too. Tommy and Reno had Sal sandwiched between them.

  “All he wants is his son back,” Reno said. “He doesn’t want a war with you.”

  “But if it comes to that,” Sal said. “So be it.”

  Mick continued to stare at Sal with a look that appeared to contain equal doses of love and hate. “So be it,” he said, and then he left the safe house.

  Sal stumbled back slightly. Tommy and Reno helped him to a chair. They let Mick leave. What were they supposed to do? Detain Mick Sinatra? Risk their own deaths? Who would look for Sal, Junior then? Who would be alive to even tell the story?

  But Reno knew they had to do something. He didn’t want war with Mick. He seriously doubted if they would win. But they had to do something. “Put a detail on him,” he ordered one of his security men in the room. “Keep your distance, he can be ruthless. But follow his ass.”

  Reno’s man nodded, and headed out.

  Tommy looked at his brother. His child was still missing. His other child was dead. And he probably felt as if he knew nothing more than he knew when the ordeal first began. The idea that Mick was involved was a nonstarter for them. Mick wouldn’t do something like that. But it was a hellava thing for Rudy to claim.

  Reno was looking at Sal too. But Sal was staring at his downed son.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Gemma was out on the terrace off from the master bedroom, reclining on their extra wide chaise, by the time the men made it home. She had a plate of food, cooked by Trina, on her lap. Reno and Tommy remained downstairs with Trina, while Sal made his way upstairs. When he arrived on the terrace, he sat on the chaise beside Gemma. And hugged her. She already knew he didn’t find their child. His anguished face told her that.

  Instead of making him relive right away what was obviously a disappointing outing, she put some food on a fork and put it to Sal’s mouth. “Eat this,” she said.

  Sal looked at the food and felt nauseated. “Our child is out there somewhere, and I can’
t do a damn thing about it.” He shook his head. “I can’t eat.”

  “Neither can I,” Gemma said. “But you’re the one out there searching for our child. You need your strength, Sal. Eat.”

  Sal didn’t want to. He didn’t think he could even stomach it. But he did as Gemma ordered and allowed her to feed him.

  She was able to feed him four more times that way, but when she came again with another forkful, he turned his mouth away. She was at least satisfied he had had that much.

  Then she knew she had to get the details. “How did it go?” she asked him.

  “Bad,” Sal said. “I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Just tell me what happened.”

  “Rudy claimed Mick snatched our son.”

  Gemma looked at Sal. She was shocked. “Mick Sinatra? Are you serious? Mick wouldn’t do anything like that!”

  “He made that perfectly clear. And I know he wouldn’t, Gem, but I can’t dismiss anything. If somebody had told me Tommy had took our child, I’ll be looking at Tommy funny. I hate that I feel this way, but that’s how I feel. This is our child we’re talking about.”

  “I know,” Gemma said, nodding her head in agreement. “I feel the same way.” Then she frowned. “But why would Rudy try to put the blame on Mick?”

  “It was convenient? I don’t know. He knew how angry Mick was when he found out I was the one who took out my mother. Which meant I killed his sister. And maybe Rudy was playing on that knowledge, I don’t know. But that’s not the worst of it.”

  Gemma braced herself. “What’s the worst?”

  Sal hated telling Gemma all of this. But she was his adviser. She was the one he needed to bounce this stuff off of. “Then Rudy tries to take Mick out,” he said.

  Gemma’s heart dropped. “Rudy tried to kill Mick? That fool! Even you wouldn’t try a thing like that and you have an entire syndicate behind you. Please don’t tell me Mick killed that boy.”

  Sal hesitated, thinking about what could have been, and then he nodded. “He killed him.”

  Gemma closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She had hoped that one day Rudy and Sal would bond. But they never got together that way. She looked at Sal. “How did you feel when you saw it?”