Jimmy looked at Val. Stunned was an understatement for Val, and he knew it.
“He’ll be here shortly,” Jimmy said.
“No problem, we can wait,” Sal said. “It’s not as if we’re busy men or anything like that. It’s not as if we have a corporation to run. It’s not as if we have business commitments from here to Australia. Oh, no, not us. We have nothing but time on our hands. Don’t we, Tommy?”
Tommy laughed. “Nothing but time,” he said to his sarcastic brother.
But it would be several more minutes of waiting, several more minutes of nothing but time on their hands before Reno finally entered the room. He was dressed in jeans, a sweatshirt, and flip-flops, when he entered.
“It’s about time,” Tommy said deliciously as he stood from his seat and he and Reno hurried to embrace each other. They hugged so hard, and for so long, that Val had to remember that Jimmy once said there weren’t two men that could be closer than Reno was with Tommy. Sal and Tommy were close, but Reno’s relationship with Tommy might even have that one beat, he had said.
But by contrast, Sal didn’t even bother to stand up. He and Reno, from what Val was told, loved each other but never liked to show it. It was an odd thing to Val, but she saw it on full display when Reno entered the room. Reno pushed Sal upside his head, Sal frowned and told him to quit playing, and Reno smiled and took a seat beside Tommy. Reno and Tommy sat shoulder to shoulder.
“So how’s it going?” Reno asked, looking at his best friend.
“It’s going . . . okay,” Tommy said.
Reno could feel the pain all over Tommy. He stared at him until Tommy looked his way, eyeball to eyeball. “Still going to see whatshisname?”
Tommy knew he meant the therapist. “I’m still going.”
“Grace too?”
“She went early on. But it’s not necessary anymore.”
“Like hell, Tommy!”
“Don’t mother me, Reno. That’s what the man said.”
“But what do you say? You think it’s still necessary?”
He didn’t think any of it was necessary, or was doing any real good. “It’s okay,” was all he managed to say.
“So what happened, Reno?” Sal asked. “What’s this about Jimmy’s stepfather being involved, and one of your people?”
“You’ve met Val?” Reno asked him.
“We met.”
“They snatched her first.”
“We know they took her. But why her? Did it have something to do with that bar fight Jimmy had with that Costco guy?”
“No. My people checked out that angle. There’s no connection.”
“So why did they snatch her?” Sal asked.
“They took her to scare Fred Ridgeway was what we first were told.”
“Told by who?”
“The lookout guy.”
“So you caught one of’em?”
“Yeah. Outside Val’s house.”
“Who did he say he worked for?”
“Claim it was a blind run. But then Fred says she was just a ticket to get him in my door.”
“Ah. So they snatch her, and he calls Jimmy and say they need to talk.”
“He didn’t get a chance to call. Trina figured it out and we called him.”
“Leave it to Tree,” Sal said with admiration in his voice. “But why Ridgeway? What did he have to do with it?”
“He owed money. Drug money. And I had more than anybody else they could shake down, so they had to rope Jimmy in. The way they rope Jimmy in?”
“By snatching Jimmy’s woman,” Sal said.
“Right.”
“But you said one of your people were involved?”
“Ridgeway claimed one of my business partners was the money man behind the whole scheme.”
“Which partner?” Tommy asked.
“Nicky Minnelli.”
“Nicky?” Tommy and Sal said the name in unison. “Are you fucking kidding me?” Sal added. “Nicky Minnelli two-timing you?”
“That’s what Ridgeway claims,” Reno said.
Tommy frowned. “But what would be his motive?”
“Ridgeway says he’s some drug lord.”
“That’s bullshit,” Sal said. “Nicky don’t have the balls to lord it over anybody!”
“I’m just telling you what the man said. We got nothing else but what he said.”
“The same man who pulled a gun on Tree?” Sal asked.
“One in the same.”
“And I’m sure you took care of one in the same.”
A stormy look appeared in Reno’s eyes. Sal and Tommy both caught it. “What is it?” Tommy asked.
“He’s been taken care of,” Reno said.
“Yeah, but why are you acting like something happened? What went wrong?”
“Nothing went wrong,” Jimmy said. “We handled it.”
Sal looked at Jimmy and frowned. “Whatta you mean we handled it? What the fuck you got to do with it?”
“Just don’t worry about it,” Jimmy said. “I took care of it.”
Sal and Tommy both looked at Reno. Astounded.
“Tell me it ain’t true, Reno,” Sal begged.
Reno didn’t want it to be true either. He ran his hands through his hair.
“Are you telling us,” Sal said, still in a state of disbelief, “that Jimmy . . . that you let Jimmy. . .?”
Reno nodded his head. “It couldn’t be helped.”
“But that was his stepfather,” Tommy said.
“It couldn’t be helped,” Reno said again.
But that only angered Sal more. He jumped up from his seat. “What the fuck do you mean it couldn’t be helped?” He grabbed Reno and wanted to manhandle him, but Reno was never so far gone that he would allow another man to handle him. They grabbed each other and began to fight so violently that they both crashed into the cocktail table and fell over it. Val screamed for them to stop, as Tommy hurried to grab Sal and Jimmy hurried to grab Reno.
“How could you allow it, Reno?” Sal was screaming, even as Tommy held him in his grasp.
“I didn’t allow fuck! It happened before I had a chance to allow it! You think I wanted it?”
“You should have stopped it. You should have seen it coming and stopped it!” Sal was enraged. Reno and Tommy both felt the pain.
“It’s not Pop’s fault, Uncle Sal,” Jimmy was saying. “It was my decision.”
But Jimmy might as well have been invisible. This was all on Reno, as far as Sal was concerned. Reno was the man here. This was on him. “How could you, Reno? How could you let it happen? He’s our future.” Sal was beside himself with anguish. “He’s the one who was going to get out of this unscathed. Remember that? He’s our future, Reno. Now our future fucked too!”
Trina heard the commotion and came hurrying up front, tying her bathrobe, and she immediately knew what the fuss was about. Not because her table was broken, or Tommy was holding Sal back and Jimmy was holding his father. It was the look of pure shock on Val’s face, as Val stared at Jimmy, that made Trina know exactly what had just transpired. They found out about Jimmy’s role in Fred Ridgeway’s death.
She looked to Tommy, the one who was usually the most level-headed, but he was a goner too. He released Sal and walked to the window, looking for his own way to escape.
FOURTEEN
“Val, wait!” Jimmy hurried out of the penthouse behind her. He grabbed her arm just as she was about to step onto the elevator. He pulled her back. The guards guarding the penthouse were in the hall in force, staring at the two young lovers.
“It’s not what you think,” Jimmy said to her.
But Val was still too stunned. “He was your stepfather,” she said. “He was the man who raised you.”
Jimmy pulled her further away, out of earshot of the guards. “I know that,” he said. “But he was also the man who tried to kill my mother. He was also the man who was involved in your kidnapping. What about that man? Am I supposed to let him walk away s
cot-free?”
“But your father could have handled it.”
“No,” Jimmy said, shaking his head. “No. Everybody keeps putting those burdens on my Dad. Everybody keeps acting like this shit don’t affect him, when I know it does. And I’m tired of it! You were my woman, he was my stepfather. This was on me. I had to handle this.”
Val frowned. She’d never seen this side of Jimmy. She didn’t know what to think, what to believe, what to feel! “I’m going home.”
“Not yet, Val. Give us a little more time to figure this out. Now that my uncles are here---”
But she interrupted him. “I can’t be a part of this, Jimmy. I can’t!” She broke free of his hold. “I won’t be a part of this.”
Jimmy’s heart dropped. He could feel her resolve. She wanted out and she didn’t care what he said at this point. She wanted out. “I’ll come with you,” he said.
But she wasn’t interested in that solution either. “No,” she said firmly. Then she touched his face. “I’ve got to have time to think. I need some time alone . . . I need some time.”
Jimmy knew it would one day come to this. Decision time. Every woman who ever loved a Gabrini man had to one day face it. Would the woman stay with them, or leave them. This was Val’s decision time. He nodded his head. “Okay,” he said. “But you’ve got to let one of Dad’s men drive you at least.”
“No,” she said. “I’ll get a cab. I need time alone. I want it.”
“Val.”
“Please, Jimmy. Don’t battle me on this. You said yourself they weren’t after me. They were just trying to get your father’s attention. And they have his attention. So keep me out of this. I don’t want any parts of this!”
She was shaking and Jimmy wasn’t sure if it was from fear, anger, confusion, or all three.
“I need time to think,” she continued. “Please respect me enough to leave me alone right now.”
Jimmy’s heart pounded. He knew how close he was to losing her. If he insisted on her staying with him, or insisted on him going with her, it would probably tip her over. She’d never come back. “Will you at least phone me later?”
Val nodded. “I will.”
Jimmy pulled her into his arms, but he could feel the distance already. And then she got on the elevator, and left.
As soon as those elevator doors closed, Jimmy turned to Emmett, one of Reno’s men. “I want you and one more man to follow her. Wherever she goes, you go. Stick to her like white on rice, but don’t let her know it.”
But Emmett was resistant. “We take our orders from Reno. What does Reno say?”
Jimmy grabbed the guard and slammed him against the wall so hard that it took his breath away. He didn’t have time for this! “What do you think he says, motherfucker? Now you follow her! You got it?”
Emmett was as embarrassed as he was hurt. “Yeah, I got it,” he said.
Jimmy released him. “Anything happens to her,” he added, “and you may as well put the bullet through your own brain.”
Emmett knew Jimmy meant it too. They always knew he was going to eventually become just as ruthless as his old man. If not more so.
Emmett looked around at the men on duty. Because of the complex security system Reno had in place, there were only a precious few men who had flexibility and could leave posts as the need arose. So his pickings were slim. “Mike, come with me,” he ordered another guard, and they both hurried downstairs.
Jimmy exhaled, and reentered the penthouse.
Inside, Trina and Reno were side-by-side and slouched down on one sofa, with Trina’s head on Reno’s shoulder and Reno’s arm around Trina’s waist. Sal and Tommy were seated on the sofa directly across from theirs, with Tommy leaned back, with his legs crossed, while Sal was leaned forward, with his hands clasped. Jimmy could hear a pin drop when he walked back in.
Trina looked up. “Where’s Val?”
“She left.”
“She left?” Reno was floored.
“Before everybody jump down my throat, there was no way she was going to stay. I wanted to take her home. I insisted on it. But she didn’t want me to go with her. She said she needed to be alone and she needed to think.”
“Decision time,” Sal said.
“Right,” Jimmy said.
Reno looked at him. “But you put a man on her.”
Trina looked at Reno. “Why would you need to do that? I thought Fred said they only used her to get Jimmy involved and to get him in the door.”
“That’s what he said,” Reno agreed, “but that doesn’t mean we take his word for it.” He looked at Jimmy again. “Did you put a man on her?”
“Emmett and Mike are on it,” Jimmy said as he sat in the flanking chair. “They didn’t want to do it, without consulting you first, but I got the point across.”
“You got the point across?” Trina asked, looking sidelong at Jimmy. “And what point is that?”
Jimmy didn’t hesitate. “I made it clear to them that if I tell them to do something, it’s as good as Pop telling them to do it.”
Sal and Tommy couldn’t believe their ears. Did Jimmy just make himself equal to Reno? Astounded, they looked at their cousin. Was Reno going to go for that?
But Reno was already staring at his son. And he knew he had to set him straight. He was convinced that if Jimmy ever stopped fearing him, there would be no man alive who could rein him in. “You did right to insist they accompany your lady,” he said to Jimmy. “And you were right to let me know about it. But you’re out of your gotdamn mind if you think your word and mine are the same.”
Sal and Tommy exhaled. No, they realized. Reno was not going for that.
“You’re my son,” Reno continued. “You’re my son.” He repeated this with feeling, because he loved Jimmy with all of his heart. “But there’s no place on this planet where you’re my equal, Jimmy. Never will that happen. Do you understand me? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Trina, certain Reno was on the verge of losing it, touched him on the arm, to calm him down. But Reno was not ready to be comforted.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Reno continued. “Just because you iced your step-daddy you suddenly think you’re my equal? You suddenly think you’re as big a man as I am? Are you kidding me? It don’t take balls to kill a man, James. Any motherfucker walking the streets can ice somebody. It takes balls to know when not to kill him!”
Jimmy saw the anger in his father’s eyes, and it angered him. “What’s with you? I can’t do anything right in your eyes. First, I’m a sissy because I’m not tough enough. So I toughen up. You wanted me tough, so now I’m tough. Now you’re saying I’m too tough! What am I supposed to do, Pop? I’m following in your footsteps, I thought that was what you wanted. What’s so terrible about that?”
But that lack of understanding was the point to Reno. “The fact that you don’t know what’s terrible about it,” he said, “is what’s terrible about it. The fact that any sane human being on the face of this earth would want to follow in my fucking footsteps is the problem, Jimmy!” Reno could hardly contain his emotions, and everybody in the room realized it. “You don’t want to follow a man like me, what are you talking? You’re better than I’ll ever be, and I’ll be damned if you’re going to forget that! Because Sal is right. You’re our future. And our future can’t be fucked. It can’t be!”
Jimmy’s heart slammed against his chest when Reno said that. He felt the impact of those words. And Sal and Tommy felt it too. This was a man thing for them. This was a Gabrini man thing. They were forced to walk unsavory paths. They were forced to have blood on their hands. They were forced to live lives of quiet desperation every day since the day they were born.
Not Jimmy too.
Trina stood up, unable to bear the implications. She had two other children who would someday walk Jimmy’s path. She had two other children who would someday bear the Gabrini brand. She had two other children she had to continually pray for and hope for and believ
e in. She went to them.
And the room, filled with these powerful men of honor, was weighed down because of that power.
“Val, is that you?” It was her father’s voice and she was glad to hear such a familiar, wonderfully bland voice. After the kind of awful experience she’d had, bland was good. Bland was a welcomed relief.
“What are you doing here?” She closed her front door and began heading around her foyer with a big smile on her face. But when she saw her father sitting in her living room, in one of two chairs from her kitchen, with a tall white woman standing beside him, she stopped in her tracks. The woman, a person she’d never seen before in her life, was holding a gun to her father’s head. Two other men were in the room also, and one immediately hurried over and looked out of the window. Then he shook his head and stood behind Val.
The woman nodded and the man pushed Val further into the living room. “Jimmy didn’t come with you?”
Val was too confused to answer the woman’s question.
“Did you hear me, child? I said did Jimmy come with you?”
“No,” Val finally responded. “What are you doing?”
“What do you think I’m doing? I have a gun to your father’s head.”
“But. . .what do you want? I don’t know anything. My father doesn’t know anything.”
“I didn’t say he did. Did you hear me say he knew something? This wasn’t the plan, idiot. The plan was to have a gun to Jimmy’s head, not your father’s. The plan was for Jimmy to bring his sorry ass here with you, but he sends you home alone.”
“Knowing Reno,” said the man behind Val, “men are tailing her. I’ll guarantee it.”
“Oh, I will too,” the woman said. “But we’ll take care of them.”
“Absolutely,” the man said.
“Please let my father go,” Val pleaded. “He doesn’t know anything about the Gabrinis.”
“There you go again! Who the hell said he knew something? I told you holding onto him wasn’t the plan. You and Jimmy messed that up. You two lovebirds didn’t come back here last night. But your father showed up. Said he received a call from Jimmy looking for you, but he was out of town and couldn’t check up on you. As soon as he got back in town last night, he came by. We kept him here all night, just for insurance, and we waited for you and Jimmy. Jimmy wasn’t the first choice. But after my spies told me that Trina Gabrini was still alive and well and living it up at the PaLargio, he’s now my only choice. Trina is Reno’s heart. That’s why she was my first choice. I wanted to gut his heart! But his children are his soul. I can’t get to the two youngest, Reno would never go for that, so now it’s got to be Jimmy. This will have all been in vain, if I can’t get Jimmy.”
Reno and Son: Don't Mess with Jim (The Mob Boss Series) Page 15