Mick’s heart dropped. Zo was one of his oldest friends. Did he have any left? “Where is he?”
“We have him at the Edison house.”
“He confessed?”
“Hell no,” Danny said. “He didn’t do shit, he don’t know shit. But we know. His ass had half of our cargo at his place. He’s up to his butt crack in this.”
Mick exhaled. “I’m on my way,” he said.
Lorenzo denied everything, and then admitted that Sal Gabrini, and his son Rudy Balotti, was behind all of the intercepts. After Mick slit Lorenzo’s throat, and his men stayed back to clean up the mess, he headed back out and into his waiting limousine. He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. After several minutes, Danny came out and got in.
“They’ve got it under control,” Danny said.
Mick nodded. “Okay.”
“So what’s next, boss?” Danny asked him. “We bring Gabrini in?”
“It’s not going to be as easy as that. He’s major league. If he’s behind this, he’s going to see us coming.”
“So what do we do?”
“Make sure he doesn’t see us coming.”
Danny smiled. “Easier said than done?”
“Always,” Mick said, and motioned for his driver to leave.
Later that night, as Mick ate Roz’s pussy, the intercom buzzed. “Oh, give me a break!” Roz said with frustration in her voice. His tongue was just entering her folds. Mick hated it too, but it could be about Adrian.
He moved up the length of her body, his chest pressing against her breasts, and pressed the intercom button on the nightstand. It was Archie Bloom, the front gate security chief.
“What is it, Arch?” Mick asked.
“You have a guest, sir.”
Mick looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. “Who?”
“Mr. Reno Gabrini.”
Mick didn’t see that coming. He hesitated. Then he pressed the button again. “Send him through,” he said.
“I already suggested it, sir,” Archie responded quickly before Mick could shut him off. “I know he’s on your list of men to trust. But he said he would rather not.”
Mick hesitated again. He didn’t see that coming either. “I’m on my way,” he said, and ended the conversation.
Mick looked at Roz and kissed her on the nose. Then he got out of bed and headed for their room-sized closet.
Roz could still feel his tongue between her legs when he got up. And she couldn’t help it. She began rubbing her clit.
“Who’s Reno Gabrini?” she asked as she rubbed.
Mick hated to even discuss certain parts of his past. The Gabrinis were in that category. “Sal and Tommy’s cousin,” he said.
Roz frowned. “Who’s Sal and Tommy?” she asked.
Mick threw on a sweat shirt and grabbed a pair of jeans. He was about to answer her question, but when he headed out of the closet and saw her pleasuring herself, his cock began throbbing with such hard thumps that he knew he couldn’t just leave her like this. Reno be damned, he thought, as he went to Roz, opened her legs wider, and got in between them. And then he shoved his dick deep down inside of her.
She jumped at the sudden shot of sex that overwhelmed her already wet entrance, and spread her arms across the bed in that whimsical delight Mick loved. She luxuriated in the fullness of his dick as it pushed even deeper inside of her. And then he leaned her up, until her naked body was sitting on his thighs, and he stroked her with long, loving strokes that alternated between fast and slow. Until he moderated his rhythm, and fucked her with that g-spot precision that caused her to quickly fall into the throes of a magnificent orgasm.
“Mick,” was all she could say as he fucked her. “Mick,” was all she wanted to say as she wrapped her arms around his neck and allowed him to take her there with masterful strokes.
And as she arched and had one of her rolling orgasms, where her spasms would not ease, Mick came too.
“Oh!” he cried in a loud voice as he came. And he came with such a forceful release that he leaned back, nearly all the way back, and took her with him. He was so deep inside of her that she was sitting on his balls, when he came.
When they both had exhausted all of their release, he kissed her, laid her back down, and got out of bed. She was so engrossed in the afterglow of his sex that she forgot to ask again who Sal and Tommy were. By the time he had wiped off, and put on his pants and shoes, and was heading out, she was nearly asleep.
Roz knew she needed to wipe off too, and change the sheets since Mick always left so much inside of her that she leaked mightily, but she was too drained. She turned over, as sleep beckoned to her. Mick always joked he had done his job, he had sufficiently worn her out if, immediately afterwards, sleep would call her name.
Outside, Mick made his way down his steps, and then down his long, winding driveway to his tall security gate. Archie opened it as he arrived. A limo was parked in front of the driveway, with the chauffeur already out and opening the door. Mick got inside, and the door closed behind him.
“Kind of late for a visit, don’t you think?” Mick asked.
Reno Gabrini, sitting across from Mick, leaned forward. “It’s late,” he said. “I’ll give you that.”
“What else are you going to give me? Sal’s head on a platter?”
“I heard you’ve been looking for my cousin. For your nephew. For Sal.”
“My nephew,” Mick said harshly, “has been intercepting my cargo.”
“I heard that too. Sal says it’s not true.”
“I don’t give a fuck what Sal says.”
“Well I give a fuck,” Reno made clear. “And nobody’s messing with him, unless they come through me.”
“I can do that too,” Mick said, equally clear.
Reno stared at Mick the Tick. He was a legend when Reno was younger. Everybody feared him. Everybody with any sense should still fear him. But he and Reno came to each other as equals. They respected each other. They even considered going into business together once upon a time, mainly to get some of that Fed heat off of Mick, but it didn’t work out. Mick knew he was still too steep in that illegal shit for a man like Reno to risk a partnership with him. And Reno had two small children he had to raise, not to mention a wife who’d been through too much, a grown son who’d been through too much, and a grandchild now. He couldn’t risk that either.
“Cargo intercepts,” Reno said. “Cargo filled with guns and drugs. I thought you were getting out of the game, Mick.”
“I was.”
“What happened?”
“Life happened. Too many ghosts came back to life and happened. I can forget that dream. I’m never getting out. Life has never been that kind to me.”
“I heard you were married. And not just married, but in love.”
Mick hated that word of how he felt about Roz had spread so far. He couldn’t afford to be seen as having any weaknesses in his line of work. But he wasn’t going to lie to Reno. “I’ve been blessed,” he said.
Reno nodded. “Good. The love of a good woman is a wonderful thing. Why don’t you get out for her?”
Mick knew Reno would not understand. Getting out was never going to be as easy as walking away. He had three different syndicates depending on him. Three different bosses with scores of underlings. He had dozens of men on his payroll. He had so many enemies and so many ghosts that it would take two lifetimes to shut it all down. Mick was not deluding himself anymore. There was no getting out.
“What do you want, Reno?” he asked pointedly. “Certainly not to preach to me about all of my sins.”
“That would take years,” Reno said. “I don’t have that kind of time.”
Mick smiled. Then his look turned serious again. “What do you want, Reno?” he asked again.
Reno exhaled. “I want to facilitate a meeting between you and Sal. We’re all family here, Mick. We’ve got to resolve this. And I’m not just talking about that cargo intercept either.”
Mick considered him. “You mean Sprig?”
Reno nodded. “I mean Sprig. You need to understand why Sal did what he did. Sprig was going to kill his lady if he didn’t take her out.”
“He chose some female over his own mother?” Mick asked. “Over my sister? And you expect me to understand that?”
“I expect you to hear him out. Before you guys come to blows, before we have an all-out war between families, I need you to sit down and talk. Because regardless of what you think, Michello,” Reno said with a smile, “I’m still the one. You haven’t supplanted me. I’m still the head Italian in charge of this bitch.”
Mick laughed. Only a man like Reno could bring humor to this hell. Then Mick nodded. “Maybe on the Gabrini side,” he admitted. “I’ll give you that.”
Reno laughed too.
But when the laughter died, both men got down to business.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A convoy of SUVs, three strong, stopped at the warehouse entrance and Sal Gabrini, along with Rudy Balotti, stepped out of the middle vehicle. Sal buttoned his double-breasted suit coat, looked around at his surroundings, and then made his way into the warehouse. Rudy, buttoning his own designer suit, followed his old man. Sal’s men, in the first and last SUV, got out and followed too. None of the men waited outside. That was the arrangement.
Eight minutes later, two SUVs arrived and stopped just past the front of the warehouse. Shortly thereafter, a limousine drove up, moved in front of the two SUVs, and parked at the warehouse entrance. Deuce McCurry, Mick’s longtime driver and a former cop, got from behind the wheel, walked around to the back passenger door, and opened the door. Mick’s men stepped out of the two SUVs, and made their way toward the limousine. Danny Padrone stepped out of the limo first. When Mick stepped out and buttoned his suitcoat, Danny and all of the men followed him inside. Mick didn’t bother to survey the area. They were in Philly. He knew the area.
Inside was a wide open space and Sal Gabrini was sitting in a chair, backed by his men, in the middle of the room. Rudy was standing beside his father, his arms folded, as if his double cross of Mick was of no consequence to him.
Mick walked in slowly, staring, not at Rudy or anyone else. He was staring unblinkingly at Sal. This was his sister’s son. This was the man who sent her to an early grave. This face to face was a long time coming.
Sal stood up as Mick approached him. All of his life he’d heard about Mick the Tick. His mother used to brag about him as if he could do no wrong. But he never bothered to meet him. Reno said he attended Sprig’s funeral, but Sal stayed away. Sprig forced his hand the night he killed her, but that still didn’t make it right.
A chair was waiting in front of Sal’s chair for Mick’s use. But, first, the two men stood toe to toe, eyeballing each other. Sal knew, given his uncle’s reputation, that if anybody was going to break the ice, it was going to be him. “Have a seat,” he said.
Mick stood there. Who the fuck did he think he was directing him?
But Sal knew the game. He was usually on Mick’s side of the line. So he sat back down. It was only then did Mick unbutton his suit coat, and sit down too. His men took their position behind him.
“She wanted revenge,” Sal said. “She said I was the reason my father was so abusive to her, and she wanted me to pay for ruining her life. She called me all the way to Jericho under false pretenses. She wanted to kill me. She even hired a man to do it for her. But when she saw how much I loved my lady, she came up with a better idea. She decided that she could hurt me more by killing Gemma. I couldn’t allow that. Gemma was my lady then. She’s my wife now. She wasn’t killing my wife. I had to take her out.”
Mick shook his head. “No,” he said. “I’ll never understand that. You iced your own mother to save some woman? No. That is not acceptable.”
“It’s what I did,” Sal said. “I don’t give a fuck how acceptable it is to you. I did what I had to do.”
“The woman who birth you. My sister. My flesh and blood. No. I will never forgive you for that.”
“Good. Because I’ll never forgive myself either. I’ll never forgive myself for going to Maine when she called in the first place when I knew already that she couldn’t stand my guts. But I went anyway. To mend fences. To give her another chance. It almost cost me my woman. So, fine. Don’t forgive me. I don’t need your forgiveness.”
Mick stared at him. “We have other business tonight,” he said. “What happened to my sister will be revisited.”
“That’s your choice. But understand this. You have reach. But so do I. I’m not one of your flunkies. You fuck with me and mine, I fuck with you and yours.”
“Is that a threat?” Mick asked him.
“Yes,” Sal said bluntly. “Consider it a threat. And not a veiled one either.”
Mick continued to stare at him. He knew he was a powerful man. Sal Gabrini was nobody’s wimp. But he wasn’t shit compared to Mick. “What happened to my sister will be revisited,” Mick repeated.
Sal nodded his understanding. Because he was ready for whatever Mick threw his way.
Then Mick looked at Rudy. “So you tried your hand at the double cross, did you?”
Rudy smiled. “I was protecting my father. I hear about a man with plans to take him out, I get concerned. I want more intel on these plans. But since your ass is so secretive, I got nothing.”
“Only a fool would have revealed anything to you,” Mick said. “I am no fool.”
“He had nothing to do with those ship intercepts,” Sal said. “I had nothing to do with those intercepts. If I was involved, I would own up to it. No fucker alive scares me like that. But I had nothing to do with it.”
Mick continued to stare at Sal. He was known as an honorable man who said what he meant and meant what he said. But Rudy, on the other hand, Mick thought, as he looked up at Sal’s son. “You’re his long lost son. If that’s even true.”
Rudy began to move toward Mick. Mick stood up, and so did Sal. Then Rudy smiled. “It’s true,” he said to Mick. “Just like this double cross is true.”
Mick’s men pulled out their weapons, but pointed them at Mick.
Sal’s men pulled out their weapons, but pointed them at Sal.
Sal and Mick looked at their men, and the guns now turned on them. Disloyalty was the biggest problem bosses like them faced daily. Betrayals went hand and hand in their world. So being betrayed wasn’t new to either one of them. But that didn’t mean it didn’t piss them off.
They looked at Rudy.
Rudy smiled. “That’s right, Michello. That’s right Salvatore Luciano. I double crossed both of you!” Rudy laughed. “Both of your asses gave me exactly what I needed. I knew neither one of you would trust me that easily. So I did it a different way. I just got to meet you, Sal. You just found out that you were my father.” Then Rudy smiled. “But one thing Rudy Red taught me was to take advantage of every situation. And so I have. I used your desire to get to know me better as my opportunity to get to know your men. I was your son. They were glad to get to know me! And that’s when I gave them an offer they couldn’t refuse. That’s when I promised that they would be partners, not flunkies, when I took over your organization.”
Mick glanced at Sal. Sal was staring at Rudy.
“And you, Mick the Tick,” Rudy said derisively, turning his sights to Mick. “You treated me like the snitch you took me for. You treated me like I was your bitch. But while you were ignoring me and disrespecting me and looking at me as if I was the lowest thing crawling, I was getting to know your men too. I was getting to know you, Danny, wasn’t I?”
Danny smiled. “You were,” he said.
“And I made him an offer he couldn’t refuse either,” Rudy said. “I told him, instead of being your second hand flunky, he’ll be co-boss with me. He agreed to pick the security detail for this outing. Men he knew might flip. And it was easy. Your men, Mick the Tick, easily turned on your ass.”
Rudy smiled again. He was so sat
isfied with his own genius that he could hardly contain his joy. “That’s how I was able to intercept those cargos. That’s how I got men like Lorenzo Zatti to tell me what I needed to know. Because he believed Sal was in on it too. That my old man would protect us from you. When all the while, I was building my own army of your own men. While all the while I had both of you fools snowed. Now I will be the undisputed head of both organizations. And these men right here? From Danny Padrone on down? They are no longer flunkies. They are now my new partners. They are now my board of directors. What about you, Dad? What about you, Uncle Mick? Where’s your board?”
As soon as Rudy uttered those words, the lights came up on the upstairs landing. At first they were blinding and Rudy looked up, shielding his eyes. And then he saw what all the fuss was about. Then he saw Reno Gabrini, Sal’s brother Tommy Gabrini, and Mick’s big brother Big Daddy Charles Sinatra all standing at the railing with their guns pointed directly at him. Rudy’s heart fell through his shoe.
“We are their board,” Reno shouted down. “And each one of us are the chairman!”
All of the henchmen, on both sides, looked up astounded. But Sal and Mick were looking at Rudy. Rudy was dumbstruck.
“Drop your weapons now,” Reno proclaimed to all of the men, “or we will drop them for you!”
Mick’s men looked to Danny. Danny smiled and turned his weapon toward Rudy. Rudy, stunned once again, looked at him too. Then he looked at Mick and Sal. “How did you? How did you know?”
“I’m how they knew,” Danny said.
Rudy looked at him again.
“Did you really think I was going to do like all of these men behind me did?” Danny asked. “Did you really think I was going to do what all of Sal Gabrini’s men in front of me did, and double cross my boss? Double cross Mick Sinatra? I would have, if I wanted to die. But I want to live. That’s why everything you fed to me, I fed to my boss. When Reno Gabrini met with my boss, he let Reno in on your little antics too. My boss and your Dad might still have their issues with each other, but they are united in their distaste for you.”
Mick Sinatra 3: His Lady, His Children, and Sal Page 12