He stared at her. She was ashamed of herself and it showed in her big, green eyes. She knew she deserved better too. That was why he lifted her by her shoulders, and pulled her into his arms.
After she had fallen asleep, Reno dressed and headed back downstairs. Vinny hurried toward him as soon as he stepped off of the elevator. “I was hoping it didn’t take all night.”
“What is it?” Reno asked as he continued to walk toward the lobby. “And it better not be about any bullshit. Not tonight.”
“It’s your old man.”
Reno didn’t even stop walking. What Vinny said to him made no sense. “My what?”
“Your father, Reno,” Vinny said.
When Reno heard that word, he stopped in his tracks. He was shocked. “What about my father?”
“He’s here, boss. Your old man is here.”
Reno’s heart squeezed with a tight, searing pain when he heard those words. He and his father had been estranged for years, ever since Reno was nineteen years old and left his father’s sight to avoid killing his ass. He was young and scared, but he took a bus ride to Vegas, ended up in the casino business, and never looked back. And now, on the happiest night of his life, on a night when he was about to establish himself as his own man who was no longer in his father’s big shadow, the shadow had arrived. Everything within him wanted to curse that shadow and run the other way.
But that shadow was Paulo Gabrini, the powerful and vicious mob boss that controlled a clear third of the east coast mafia. Turning him down wasn’t going to be as simple as refusing to see him. Reno knew his father too well. “Where is he?” he asked Vinny.
“The private garage,” Vinny responded. “They let him in underneath.”
Reno looked at Vinny as if he had just grown two heads.
“It wasn’t my call, Reno,” Vinny quickly pointed out. “The guys figured since he was your old man, and was Paulo Gabrini by the way, what harm could it do?”
Reno’s jaw tightened at the liberties his staff were already taking with him. He began heading toward the back of the lobby. Vinny walked with him. Only Reno walked with anger in his heart. He kept his voice down. The place was overwhelmed with well-connected people who wouldn’t take too kindly to their host’s rage. But he didn’t hold back on his right hand man. “Whichever fucker gave the green light for my father to wait in my private garage,” Reno said as he walked, “is out. You hear me, Vinny? I want you to fire his ass tonight. Make him the example. I’m not bullshitting with these fuckers and they’d better understand that. Fire his ass.”
“But boss, he didn’t mean anything by it. He just made the call to let your father down there. It’s nothing.”
Reno stopped walking and looked at Vinny. Vinny almost took a step back. “Nothing?” he yelled.
“He just made the call to let your father down there is all I’m saying.”
“But who the fuck is he to make that call?” Reno asked. “I don’t pay him to make those kind of calls. I make those kind of calls! He don’t know shit about my father but his name.”
“I understand that.”
“And I don’t pay you to make excuses for my employees when they fuck up either. Do you understand that?”
Vinny knew Reno didn’t play when it came to respect. He quickly nodded his head. “Yes, sir. I understand.”
“Then do your job and fire him. And do it in front of those other assholes. Make him the example of what not to do when you work for me.” Then Reno exhaled. “Look. I’m not trying to be difficult. But I know those guys. Because they’re older, they think I’m some kid they can handle. They think I’m too young to run this show. So they take advantage. They do whatever the hell they want to do, figuring who am I to make them do different? Set the example tonight. I don’t ever want them to think that way again.”
Vinny nodded his head. “I’ll get rid of the guy who made the call, Reno. They’ll know who they’re fucking with after tonight.”
If Vinny had been doing his job instead of making excuses for their behavior, Reno thought, they would have known it before tonight. “Just do it,” he said.
“Yes, sir,” Vinny said, feeling he had just dodged a bullet, as Reno walked beyond him, swiped his card at the private garage entrance door, and walked out.
Paulo Gabrini sat in the backseat of his limousine like a man out of place. He still couldn’t believe it. His son Dominic was now the owner of the PaLargio Hotel and Casino on the Vegas Strip. His own flesh and blood. He owned ten times more property than his son, but all of his properties were shitholes compared to this.
He leaned back. He knew Dominic had it in him. He knew it the night he told Paulo to kiss his ass, took off for Vegas, and made a name for himself. He made good. Paulo was proud of him.
But he’d never tell him about that pride. They didn’t have that kind of relationship. But he could show him how he felt. His actions could speak for him. That was why he came.
“He’s coming now, boss,” said Alberto, his limo driver, and Paulo sat erect. This was his son, for crying out loud, and he was sweating like some gotdamn kid. But that was how Reno affected him. Nobody elicited more emotions within him, good, bad, and ugly emotions, than his oldest son. He lost a good man when he lost Reno. He lost a natural born leader. Now he had a bunch of wise guys who together couldn’t measure up to one Reno. But he brought it on himself. He went too far that night and Reno ran away from his poison. It was his own damn fault.
One of Reno’s guards opened the back door of the limo, and Reno got in and sat in front of his father. The door closed behind him.
“Hey, Reno,” Alberto said. “Long time, no see.”
“How you doing, Albie?”
“I’m doing great. And I know you are. Quite a set up you got here, Reno.”
“Thanks,” Reno said, and then turned his attention to his father. “Vinny said you wanted to see me?”
Unlike his father, Reno wasn’t sweating like some kid or filled with regret like some loser. He was filled with pain. This was the big man he used to respect above any other man. This was the man he wanted to be like once upon a time. Until he saw the other side of him, and realized what kind of man he truly was. Because any man who would try to rape an innocent girl, was not somebody he was going to ever respect again. But this was his father sitting across from him. His father. Despite himself, he still loved him.
“You’ve got Vinny working for you,” Paulo responded. “He’s a good man. That’s a good choice. I taught you well.”
“You wanted to see me?” Reno asked again.
Paulo smiled, but inwardly he ached. Dominic had turned into such a handsome, strong man. He was no longer that nineteen year old kid who took that midnight bus out of Georgia just to get away from him. He was the man Paulo always knew he’d become, and the man he most wanted to take over his organization. Maybe this goodwill gesture by him would someday lead to a step in that direction. Maybe. “Congratulations on your grand opening,” he said. “It’s packed out front. I would have had to park a mile away if I didn’t have connections.”
He smiled after he said that, but Reno didn’t return his smile. “What do you want, Pop?” he asked him pointblank.
Paulo had hoped for an invitation inside. To see the place. But he knew it was too soon in their so-called reunion. He got down to business. “Do you know Elena Tufarna?” Paulo asked him.
Reno was surprised by his question. Elena Tufarna once owned the PaLargio. “Why?”
“She’s dead, right?”
“Yeah, she’s dead. Why?”
“She has a daughter.”
Reno frowned. “She has a son. A worthless piece of shit named Tony Tufarna. He ran the PaLargio in the ground, ran it into bankruptcy, and I took it over. Elena has a son.”
“And a daughter,” Paulo said. “Jeneen Tufarna. And it’s this daughter that brings me here tonight.”
Reno was intrigued now. What in the world would his father have to do with Elena
‘s daughter? “She never mentioned any daughter. But what about her?”
“She didn’t know her mother had died, or that her brother had assumed ownership of this place.”
“Her brother assumed it and lost it. He went bankrupt. This place was on life support and was already in Receivership when I purchased it.”
“I got that,” Paulo said. “But here’s the thing,” he added, leaning forward. “She has a will.”
Reno stared at his father. Alberto even looked through the rearview at Reno’s father. “A will?” Reno asked.
“She has a will. A will that her old lady, that Elena Tufarna, drafted before she died. A will that gives the PaLargio, not to her brother, but to her and her alone. She’s declaring that her brother had no legal right to the PaLargio to begin with. He had no legal rights whatsoever. Which means, her lawyer is asserting, that you ain’t got no rights to this piece of paradise. You had no legal right to purchase property that belonged to her.”
Reno frowned. “You’re shitting with me,” he said.
Paulo exhaled and leaned back. “I wish I was, son. I wish I was.”
“How the fuck you know all of this? What does any of this have to do with you?”
“My consigliere is a close personal friend of her attorney. Her attorney schooled him on what was going on. He schooled me.”
“And you believe that shit?” Reno, still stunned, asked his father. “You believe she didn’t know her own mother had died? Where the fuck has she been?”
“In Perth, Australia,” Paulo said. “And you know where Perth is?”
“How should I know where it is?” Reno asked.
“It’s at the bottom of the world, that’s where it is,” Paulo said. “She and her mother had been estranged for years. Since she was born from what I’m hearing. Her old man took the daughter and moved to Perth. The mother took Tony, the son, and remained in the States. Her father was one of these weirdo outdoorsman in Australia. Lived off the grid for years. He and the daughter lived like fucking hermits down there.”
Reno shook his head. This shit was going into crazy zone.
“It’s a fucked up family, okay? They ain’t like our family.”
Reno looked at his father with shock in his eyes. Not like their family? Their family was fucked up too!
“When she found out her mother had died, she went to the attorney that my man happens to know,” Paulo continued, “and presented her papers. The original copy. He, naturally, took the copy into his possession, since the original is the only document that could prevail as legally binding in a court of law.”
Paulo leaned forward. “But this is where I come in. I got my consigliere to arrange a meeting with her and her attorney. She has agreed to meet, Reno.”
Reno knew what his father meant. It was his chance to make sure she didn’t make trouble for him. “When?”
“Tonight. Now. Because, unless you agree to her terms, she has every intention of showing up here tonight, in front of all these cameras and hot shots, and claim what belongs to her. She still has that intention, but her attorney has advised her to at least meet with you first. To see if you guys can cut a deal.”
“What about this attorney of hers?” Reno asked. “Is he legit, or in your pocket?”
“He’s a close personal friend of my consigliere,” Paulo said. “What you think?”
Reno nodded. And exhaled. And agreed to the meeting.
Three hours later, Reno thought he heard footsteps. He anxiously stopped digging to listen, but then he heard nothing. He kept digging. His shirt was drenched in sweat, his arms felt like lead, his heart felt as if it would pound out of his chest. But he stood in that hole and kept tossing dirt. Two feet deep. Then three feet. He gripped his shovel and kept on digging. Four feet. Five feet. He’d never been this anxious, this desperate, in his life. It was past midnight, he was alone in woods so dense he wondered if he’d ever be able to find his way out again, but he kept on digging. He was a strong young man. He could dig all night if he had to.
But he stopped at six feet. He had to stop at some point. He lifted his body out, along with his shovel, and tossed the shovel aside. He looked around. Listened closely. Nothing. Just the sounds of silence.
Certain the coast was clear, he hurried to the trunk of his car, grabbed her body, and dragged it through the high weeds and thickets until he was at the grave. She was a small woman, but she was dead weight, and it took all he had to drag her.
Then he looked around again, his heart pounding. Satisfied he was still alone, he heaved her lifeless body into the grave. He heaved it as if he was heaving his own body into that grave.
He stood there, breathing so heavily his shirt was rising and falling with every breath, as her body ended in a curl that was almost a fetal position. As if she left this world the same way she came in. He hated that it had come to this. He wished it wouldn’t have had to come to this. Her mother was a wonderful woman. Reno knew her mother. But this one here, the daughter, was a bitch. She was worse than her brother. Now she was out of the way. Now nothing was standing in his way. He hated that it had to turn out like this, but she left him no choice.
He stared at her body a little longer, crossed his chest, said a prayer, and then grabbed the shovel and started covering her with the dirt he had just moments before unearthed. He covered her until she was six feet under.
He stood there again, his heart filled with regret again. But it was done now. He made the decision and had no choice but to stick by it. He grabbed the shovel, walked back to his car, and tossed it into the trunk. After closing the trunk, he got in his car behind the wheel. He was panting now. He was beyond exhausted now. As he cranked up to leave, he knew pure adrenalin would propel him forward.
But before he left, he grabbed the paper that set on the passenger seat. He grabbed the paper that started all of this. Read it again. And again. And then finally tore it to little pieces.
Because Reno Gabrini was not going out like that.
Because nobody was going to take the PaLargio away from him. Nobody.
Not even its rightful owner.
CHAPTER ONE
Present Day
The bedroom door sprang open and Dominic, Jr. and Sophia Gabrini ran across the room and jumped onto the bed, their backpacks bouncing as they jumped. Their father, Reno, asleep on his back, opened his eyes as soon as he felt the bounce.
“Hey there,” he said half sleepily, half smilingly, as he hugged his two youngest children and pulled them closer.
“Why aren’t you up yet, Daddy?” Little Sophia asked him.
“He just went to bed,” said his wife and their mother, Trina Gabrini, as she walked toward them.
“Why do you work all day and night?” Dommi asked him.
“Good question,” Trina said, her arms folded as she stood beside the bed. Reno and his late hours had been a bone of contention in their marriage for years. “And I’m sure there’s no good answer.”
“I work all night,” Reno said to his son, “to keep you living large, little man.”
“Oh go on!” Dommi said with a smile, and Reno tickled him, causing him to laugh loudly.
“Okay guys, tell Daddy goodbye. It’s time to go,” Trina said. She was dressed for work, in a pale blue skirt suit, and the kids wore their schools uniforms: black shirt, khaki pants for Dommi. White shirt, plaid skirt for Sophia. Their father, who had literally just gotten home a couple hours ago, wore nothing beneath the covers.
The kids kissed their father, said their goodbyes, and hopped off the bed.
After Trina leaned down and gave him a goodbye peck too, he kept his arm around her and held her there. Then he looked beyond her. “Wait for mommy downstairs,” he ordered his children.
“But we’ll be late,” Dommi said. When Reno gave him that chilling look Dommi knew so well, he changed his tune. “Yes, sir,” he said, and he and Sophia left the room.
Trina smiled. “Stop treating him like he’s one of your wi
se guys,” she said.
“When he stops acting like a wise guy, I’ll stop treating him like one,” Reno responded. “Now kiss me like you mean it,” he said, and Trina dutifully and gladly placed her hands on the side of his in-need-of-a-shave face and kissed him passionately this time. So passionately that he kicked the covers off of him, pulled her on top of him, grabbed her ass beneath her skirt and squeezed it, as they kissed.
Dommi, on the landing, tiptoed back toward the bedroom, and was about to peep inside.
“Dommi’s looking!” Sophia yelled from downstairs as he peeped, and Reno looked beyond Trina. When he saw Dommi’s little biracial head coming around that corner, he tossed a pillow at him. “Boy!” he yelled. But he missed. Dommi had already taken off. He ran down those stairs so fast he nearly fell.
Trina laughed and got back up. “I’d better go anyway,” she said, and headed toward the exit.
Reno watched her tight ass as she walked. He was too tired to wake her up for sex when he plopped down in bed five this morning. He was just too tired. Now he craved her. “I’m going to be all over that tonight,” he warned her.
“Bye boy,” Trina responded playfully, glancing back at him with a whimsical smile, as she left.
Reno, satisfied that his family was okay, turned over on his stomach, and, within seconds, was fast asleep.
Jazz Hannity stopped her Kia Sophia in front of the Shady Ranch Bar and Grill near the outskirts of Vegas, and entered the dark, dingy, smoke-filled bar. She spotted Andre Jackson as soon as she entered, and headed in his direction.
“This better be good,” she said as she flapped her bag onto the counter and sat on the bar stool beside him. “I’m tired, I’m hungry, I barely have gas to get back home. Do you realize how far out this is? Your ass better make it worth it.”
Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) Page 2