“Yes, it has,” Kari said.
“I don’t think we’ve seen each other since the opening of The Drakos in Florida,” Trina said.
“I think you’re right,” said Kari.
“So, old man,” Reno said, “what’s it like being a casino mogul like me?”
“I have no idea,” Alex said. “I let Oz run that shit,” he added, and everybody laughed.
“It’s true,” said Kari.
“But why have a casino if you aren’t going to run it?” Reno asked. “I don’t get that. Running it is the fun part of having it.”
Alex let out a deep exhale. “Once I get some other ducks in a row, I’ll probably be more actively involved. But the casino isn’t my problem.”
“Which means you have a problem,” Reno said. “Which means that’s why you wanted to meet with me while I was here in New York.”
Alex nodded. “You are correct,” he said.
“So what’s wrong?” Reno asked, but the waitress arrived at their table, took all orders, and then left. Reno and Trina were watching Alex.
“The casino is doing fabulous,” Alex said. “I have no issues with the casino.”
“Then what do you have an issue with?” Trina asked.
“His hotel,” said Reno. “Am I right?”
Kari nodded. “You’re right,” she said.
“So what’s the deal?” Reno asked.
“Everybody’s coming to The Drakos casino from all over the globe. It’s doing better than Kari and I could have hoped for. But everybody isn’t staying at The Drakos hotel. They, instead, are booking rooms at the far cheaper Motel 6-style motels that are being built up all over Apple Valley just to get my casino crowd.”
“I see,” said Reno. “Lots of them?”
“Nearly two hundred brand new ones within a thirty mile radius.”
“Gotdamn!” Reno said, shocked. “That many?”
“That is a lot,” said Trina.
“How bad are you bleeding?” Reno asked.
“The hotel is never more than half full,” said Alex.
“Ouch,” Reno responded. “That’s a lot of blood.”
“Tell me about it,” said Alex. “Some days we’re only a third full. A return on my investment wasn’t projected for ten years. But if I continue on this pace, that projection could more than double. Or worse. I can’t let that happen.”
“And you wanna know what I would do?” Reno asked.
Alex nodded. “Yes,” he said.
Reno thought about it, and then leaned back. “Hellava problem,” he said. “Especially if the building of those cheap-ass motels continue. Your hotel sustainability will keep going downhill.”
“That’s the fear, yes,” Alex said.
“Have you considered cutting costs?”
“Manpower, you mean?”
“Unfortunately, that’s always where you have to start,” Reno said.
Alex agreed. “We’re already doing that.”
“And mostly my staff,” said Kari. “Which I hate.”
“I know what you mean,” said Trina. “Housekeeping is everything in a hotel, but that’s the first place that always gets the ax.”
“More like a sledgehammer the way Alex is doing it,” Kari said. Alex glanced at her. She usually never criticized him in public.
Kari caught herself too. “But I know it can’t be helped,” she said.
“It can’t be helped,” said Reno. “I have to make those decisions, from time to time, myself. It’s always tough.”
Kari nodded. “But he’s been careful about it,” she said. “And I appreciate that. But it’s still been a hard pill to swallow.”
Alex touched her hand. “When we turn it around, we’ll rehire all of them,” he said.
“So other than getting rid of personnel, what else you had in mind?” Reno asked Alex.
“I may have to lower the prices on some of my rooms,” Alex said, “but that won’t be sustainable in the long run.”
“It won’t be.”
“But I’m hoping the regular customers will keep coming even as we have to raise the rates again.”
But Reno was shaking his head. “Not sustainable like you said,” said Reno. “I used to try that shit when I was new to the game, too. All of those freebies and that cut rate shit doesn’t work. Keep your prices the way they are. You’re offering quality. People always come back home to quality at the end of the day. The problem for you is that it’s not enough people to begin with.”
“Right,” said Alex and Kari simultaneously. They looked at each other and smiled.
“What I suggest,” Reno said, “is that you buy up property all around Apple Valley too.”
“Every last lot has been taken already,” said Alex.
“I’m not talking about empty lots. I’m talking about people who might own a struggling business and will be glad to unload it on you. Or people with rundown homes in business districts that’ll be glad to sell to you, probably dirt cheap. Way cheaper than those people who are buying up empty lots.”
Alex was nodding. “That makes sense. And then I’ll build my own Motel 6-style motels.”
“That’s right.”
“And promote them at The Drakos,” said Kari. “Maybe even with shuttle service to and from the motels.”
“Now you’re talking,” said Reno.
“But wouldn’t that hurt The Drakos hotel, too?” Trina asked.
“How would it hurt it?” Reno asked.
“Because everybody would flop to one of our motels for more than half the price we charge at The Drakos,” Kari responded.
“Right,” said Trina.
“Wrong,” said Reno. “There are people out there who wouldn’t be caught dead in a motel. They are over it and have been over it for decades. They’re five-star hotel lovers and they’ll continue to stay at The Drakos, I don’t care what motel is offering lower rates. And then there’s the motel crowd.”
“But why would that crowd stay at our motels,” asked Kari, “and not the ones already built?”
Reno nodded. “Now that’s a good question,” he said. Then he smiled. “What you need to do,” Reno said, “is pull a Reno Gabrini on them.”
Everybody looked at Reno. Alex smiled. “Oh, yeah?” he asked. “And what’s a Reno Gabrini?”
“I have three-star level hotels with the PaLargio name on them all over the place.”
“That’s true,” Alex said. “So?”
“You’ll build those motels in Florida and slap the Drakos name all over them,” Reno said.
Alex smiled and nodded. “Ah, I get it now.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea, Reno,” Kari said. “That way, they’ll still feel a connection to The Drakos all around, not just lip service like at those other motels.”
“Right,” said Alex. “And we’ll promote the hell out of them at the casino, too, and with that shuttle service included.”
Trina laughed. “Good move, Alex. I guess you aren’t an accidental billionaire after all.”
Everybody laughed. And as they continued to talk and watch the couples on the dance floor and listen to the music, Kari could tell her husband was satisfied. The King of Vegas had given him solid advice, and he was going to run with it. Because, in the casino and hotel world, Kari and Alex both knew it didn’t get any bigger than Reno Gabrini.
But as they continued to wait for their dinner to arrive, the king was getting restless. When he noticed that both women in their booth were moving to the music, he leaned forward, toward Kari. “Wanna dance?” he asked her.
Trina remembered how Reno commented about Kari’s skintight minidress and didn’t like that suggestion one bit. Kari glanced at Trina when Reno asked the question, and could see Trina’s displeasure too.
But all Reno saw was a chance to dance. And when Kari finally looked his way, he asked again as if the reason she hadn’t already responded was because she didn’t hear him. “Wanna dance?” he asked her.
&nb
sp; But Kari knew Reno Gabrini was known as a flirt. She wasn’t about to go down that road with him. “With my husband,” Kari said, “yes.”
Trina and Alex smiled. “Good for you,” Trina said to Kari.
Alex extended his hand to Trina, they both stood up and made their way to the dance floor.
But Reno looked at his wife. “What’s good for her?” he asked Trina. “I was just asking if she wanted to dance. What’s the big damn deal? Every time I ask your ass to dance, you say no.”
“When did you ever ask me to dance, Reno?” Trina asked him. “Just name one time.”
Reno stared at her. “That other time,” he said. “That’s when.”
“Boy please,” Trina said, sipping from her drink. “You’re full of it.”
Their relationship had been rocky lately, and Reno knew why. He’d been trying to a make amends. But he also realized that asking Kari to dance instead of Trina was yet another slipup. “Wanna dance?” he asked Trina.
Trina felt as if she was his sloppy seconds, although she knew she wasn’t. Reno was Reno and she’d come to terms with his behavior a long time ago, although a part of her still wanted to tell him to kiss her ass. But because she did want to dance, and she didn’t want to get into it yet again with Reno, she wasn’t going to let his perceived slight overtake her good time. “Yes,” she said to him, and smiled at him. “I’d love to dance.”
Reno, pleased that he had a mature wife who got him completely, smiled, too, and they got on the dance floor with Alex and Kari.
After dancing, the couples made their way back to the booth. “I need to freshen up before dinner,” Kari said.
“Me, too, girl,” said Trina, placing her arm in Kari’s arm. “Let’s go.”
As both women made their way toward the ladies room, Alex gave a very slight nod toward a table two tables over. Reno noticed it and looked over. When he saw a female get up and follow Kari and Trina into the restroom area, he looked at Alex. “She’s one of your people?” he asked him as they both sat down.
“Yup,” said Alex.
“Damn, Alex. You have a bodyguard following your wife even to the ladies room?”
Alex didn’t find anything bothersome about it at all. “That’s right,” he said.
Reno smiled. “I guess the billionaire world is a little different than mine.”
“Oh, sure, Reno. As if you aren’t racking it in too.”
“I’m racking it in,” Reno admitted, “but your ass is RACKING it in!”
Alex laughed just as a gorgeous woman began to approach their booth. But Alex’s own bodyguard, one table over, stood up immediately and moved his body in front of the woman’s.
“I just wanted to say hello,” the woman said to Alex. “Could you tell your goon to let me say hello?”
“Do I know you?” Alex asked her. He could tell she was slightly inebriated.
“No, sir,” the woman said, “you don’t know me.” And then she smiled. “But I know you.”
“I’m sure you do,” Reno said derisively. “Get your thirsty ass from around here. This man is married. And I’ll bet you know that too.”
“Ah, you wish you had what I got,” the woman said derisively to Reno, as she looked down at her own hot body.
“Lady, what you got looks like roadkill compared to what my wife got. Get the fuck out of my face!”
“I’m not in your face,” the woman shot back. “I was in Alex Drakos face, thank you very much!”
Reno was about to zing her back when suddenly gunfire erupted from the back of the restaurant. Near the restrooms!
Alex and Reno both jumped from their booth table, and began running toward the sound of the gunfire as the rest of the restaurant patrons began screaming and running away from the violence. Alex’s bodyguard was supposed to be in front of his boss, protecting him even as he ran to protect his wife, but Alex was too fast. Reno Gabrini had a wife back there, too, and was too fast for the guard as well. Both men were packing and were pulling out their guns as they ran. Both of their hearts were pounding. All they could think about was their wives. They had to get to their wives. They had to get their wives!
But all of those hysterical customers, who just wanted to get out of there, were making it most difficult. And because they were running against the tide, Alex and Reno were tackling customers, elbowing them aside, just to get them out of their way.
In the back of the restaurant, down a corridor, Kari and Trina were in the parlor area of the ladies room freshening up their makeup. Kari’s bodyguard, a woman named Tonya, was in the parlor area too when a man had bust in, running for his life.
“He’s trying to kill me!” he was yelling as he ran in.
Tonya immediately hurried in front of Kari and Trina, pulling out her gun as she did, but another man ran into the ladies room before she had it out and began shooting at the first man. Only he shot Tonya, taking her out, and Kari, Trina, and the first man began running for the stalls. Kari and Trina ran in one while the first man ran in another one. And the shooter began running toward him.
“You’re sleeping with my wife!” the shooter was yelling at the first man as he began following the man and shooting at him.
“I don’t know your wife!” yelled the first man.
But the shooter kicked open his stall and began firing at him, bullet after bullet after bullet, with each and every bullet connecting.
But as the shooter was firing at the first man, Alex and Reno bust into the ladies room and aimed their weapons at the shooter.
“Drop it!” Alex yelled.
But the shooter didn’t drop it. He, instead, immediately turned around, with his gun in his hand, and seemed poised to fire on Alex and Reno. But Alex’s guard shot him before he could fire on either one of them. Which was what both men intended to do anyway, but the guard saved them the headache.
Besides, both men were more concerned about the state of health of their wives than getting into some gun battle with a heartbroken husband. Especially when they realized Tonya had been shot.
“Kari!” Alex yelled as he pushed open a stall.
“Tree!” yelled Reno as he pushed open a different stall.
But when Alex pushed open the next stall, and saw Kari and Trina huddled up together in that stall, terrified but otherwise okay, he let out a great exhale. “They’re okay, Reno,” he said, and Reno hurried to that stall too.
Trina hurried to Reno and fell into his arms. He could feel her trembling body.
Kari was battle-tested, but not nearly as battle-tested as Trina. She could barely move she was so frightened.
Alex, heartbroken that she had to witness such hardship, hurried to her and pulled her up into his arms. “It’s alright, darling,” he said, holding her. “Everything’s okay.”
“He shot Tonya,” Kari was saying. “What about Tonya?”
It was only then did Alex remember his guard. He and Kari moved out of the stall and hurried to Tonya’s side. Although she was unconscious, she still had a pulse.
“She’s alive,” Alex said as he knelt down to her and held her wrist, and was about to tell Kari to call 911. But the restaurant management team was running in and announced that they’d already had.
“Is everybody alright?” the manager asked.
Reno nodded, as he fell against the stall, emotionally exhausted, with his wife still in his arms.
Alex remained crouched down beside his bodyguard, looking up at Kari, his heart well spent too. Because it all seemed so inexplicable. One stray bullet and she could have been gone from him forever. How in the world was he going to protect her, he wondered, if even random acts of violence seemed to find their way to them too?
Then Alex exhaled.
If it was random, he thought.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Alex had planned to fly his wife back to Florida on the company jet that same night, while he headed back to London and back to the negotiating table. It was a heady schedule, but it couldn’t be he
lped.
But then that shooting occurred and despite the seeming randomness of it, it spooked Alex. And instead of heading back to their separate corners as planned, Alex wasn’t ready to let Kari out of his sight. Not until he had more certainty that the shooting had nothing to do with her. They ended up spending the night at his Hudson Valley mansion in New York. In the morning he’d put Kari on the corporate jet back to Florida, and he’d take his jet back to Asia. But not tonight.
And it was nearly midnight, and they still hadn’t gotten a word from Alex’s security chief. And Alex and Kari were both naked in bed, and restlessly waiting for any kind of intel.
Alex got out of bed and went downstairs to pour them some wine. He could have disturbed his household staff. He knew he could have. But their workday had long since been over, and he intended to keep it that way.
But when he made it back up, Kari was sitting upright in bed, with her back against the headboard and her bedding dropped down around her waist, revealing her breasts. And she was talking on the telephone, a sight that upset Alex because he knew how badly that episode in the restaurant had shaken her. She was supposed to be resting.
He frowned. “Who are you talking to?” he asked her.
It was Alex’s cell phone she was using, and she handed it to him as he handed her a glass of wine. “Oz,” she said.
Alex, standing naked at the side of their bed, took the phone from her and answered it. Did Oz have some intel? “Hey,” he said as soon as he spoke into the phone. “Got something for me?”
“News you mean?” Oz asked. “No, I haven’t heard anything. I was just checking on you guys. Security told me what happened. Kari told me she’s okay. How are you?”
Alex was still getting used to Oz as sympathizer. All their lives, he’d been as self-centered and self-serving as they came. Now he was a loyal and devoted member of Alex’s new family. “We’re okay,” he said as he looked at Kari. She held her glass of wine with both hands. She still seemed unsteady to him. “Where are you?”
“In the casino,” Oz lied. He and Jordan were still at the bar.
“Keep an eye on Jordan.”
Alex Drakos: Branding Her Again Page 6