“Give me the short version.”
“He was my client. I was selling a house to him.” She paused. “And one thing led to another thing.”
“Bullshit!” Reno said. “One thing don’t lead to another thing unless you lead it there. So are you telling us you were sleeping with this joker? You were sleeping with this Kap? Is that what you’re telling us? You were real bold when your ass was fucking his. Now you can’t own it? Did Jimmy find out and follow you here?”
“I didn’t plan to cheat on him,” Val insisted. “You make it sound as if I planned this!”
“It wasn’t planned?”
“No!”
“You just happened to end up in these fucking woods fucking? I would have put a cap in Kap if my old lady was holed up in this hellhole bonking him too!”
“Reno stop,” Trina said. “Val is just a confused kid looking for love in all the wrong places. She’s been through enough tonight. She’s been punished enough.”
“Let’s just go,” Reno said, unable to shield his frustration. He just wanted his boy safe. He just wanted his child back home and unharmed. Fuck Val. “My men will be here to clean up this mess,” he said. “Grab everything you own. And I mean everything, Val. Leave nothing behind. And let’s go.”
Val grabbed her purse, and her cellphone, and her Mace, and the panties she still hadn’t put on. She looked at Kap again, at the blood, at his dead body, and her heart rammed against her chest. But she knew there was nothing she could do. She knew only Reno could protect her now, even though she also knew he hated her right now. But she followed him and Trina out. She followed them.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Later that night, Sal Gabrini drove his Porsche under the portico at the PaLargio, jumped out and ran into the revolving doors without tossing his keys to any of the valets. When one of them looked into the car and saw that no keys were in the ignition either, he looked at his fellow car parkers.
“What is he doing?” the young valet asked. “Somebody needs to tell that guy he has to move his car!”
“You go tell Sal Gabrini what he has to do,” an older valet responded. “I dare you.”
The other valets laughed.
The young valet was defensive. “I didn’t know it was Sal Gabrini, alright? Dang, what y’all laughing at?”
But inside the PaLargio every member of Reno’s staff knew Sal, and every one of them attempted to greet him. But Sal was in a hurry. He ran across the marbled floors of the massive lobby as if he was running track. He ran all the way to the back private elevators, used the keycard his cousin Reno had given him for unfettered access, and made his way up to the penthouse. His heart was pounding by the time he entered the living room.
“Any word?” he asked when he saw the family assembled. “Any word from Jimmy?”
“We haven’t heard a thing,” Sal’s wife, Gemma Jones-Gabrini, said. She was sitting on the sofa, comforting Trina. Normally he would have hurried to Gemma, he’d been in Chicago when word came and hadn’t seen her in two days, but he turned his attention to Trina. He knew what she had to be going through. The idea that Jimmy killed somebody in cold blood, and now was missing? This had to be some mistake!
“Trina,” he said heartfelt, and hurried to her.
Trina stood up as he arrived. “Hey, Sal,” she said as they hugged. He was closer to Trina than he was to Reno.
Sal was no touchy-feely type, but he held onto Trina. “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. You okay?”
“I’m okay,” Trina said, the worried look on her face betraying her desire to have it together. “I just wish he would phone.”
“We’ll find him, don’t worry. I’m sure Reno has an army times ten out there looking for him already. I’ve got every available man under my command out there too.”
Trina smiled weakly and patted Sal’s arm. They could always depend on him. “Thanks, Sal,” she said as she sat back down.
Sal leaned down to Gemma as her small, dark face looked up at him. He kissed her on the lips. “How you doing?” he asked.
“I’m with Trina,” Gemma said. “I just wish Jimmy would phone.”
“Don’t you be up here worrying either,” Sal admonished her. “Reno and I will do enough worrying for the both of you. Where’s Val?”
“She’s in the den with her father,” Trina said. “The baby was with Buddy, thank God, when it all went down. She was staying at his house while Val was in town. But you know Reno. He wanted everybody together. So Buddy brought the baby over.”
Sal shook his head. “She must be a nervous wreck, that Val.”
“She is,” Gemma said. “She’s in a bad way. From what Trina told me, she witnessed it all. I thank God her father’s here to calm her down because we couldn’t do it. She was so hysterical.”
Sal exhaled. He wanted the details, but he didn’t want Trina and Gemma’s details. They would only give him the facts. He wanted Reno’s details. He would tell him what he thought was really going on.
When he saw that Reno was seated at the bar counter in the back of the living room, ending a phone call, he made his way back there. Sal had been in a meeting and was still in his suit and tie. It was odd for him to see Reno, who was always working too, so casually dressed.
“Hey,” Reno said when Sal walked up.
“What the fuck, Reno,” Sal said as he sat on the stool beside Reno. “I was going to call Tommy, he hates when I keep him out of the loop, but he’s in Israel. What the hell is he going to do from Israel?”
“Nothing, but still let him know. You know how he worries.”
“I’ll call him,” Sal assured him. “But what’s going on, man?”
Reno tossed his cellphone onto the countertop. “A man is dead, and my boy is missing. I don’t know what the fuck is going on, and I don’t care. I just want my boy back.”
Sal felt Reno’s pain, and actually squeezed his shoulder. “What happened? Why would Jimmy ice some dude? And Valerie was there too?”
“Yeah, it happened at some hunting lodge off of Lane Coast.”
Sal was even more puzzled. “What were Jimmy and Val doing at a hunting lodge? They hunt now? I didn’t even know they were going to be in town this week.”
“I didn’t either,” Reno said. “And hell no they don’t hunt. Val was there with the guy who owns the place, some black guy named Kapper Cole.” Reno looked at Sal. “That name ring a bell?”
Sal thought about it, but quickly shook his head. “No. That’s who Jimmy dropped?”
“That’s the guy.”
“But what was Valerie doing there with him?” Sal asked.
“Fucking him,” Reno said, as only Reno could.
But Sal didn’t believe it. “Get out of here! That sweet girl? She was messing around on Jimmy?”
Reno exhaled. “According to Val, she told Jimmy she was coming to Vegas to close on the house they used to live in, which was true. They did have a buyer. But what she didn’t tell him was that the buyer for their house was the same man she had been having an affair with.”
“Gotdamn!” Sal said. “That bitch!”
“Jimmy got wind of the affair somehow,” Reno said, “and he decided to come to Vegas too.”
“Val left my grandbaby with Buddy while she gallivanted around town with this Kap Cole guy. I asked Buddy to bring the baby here until we got a handle on what was going on. The baby, Dom and Sophie, are all asleep.”
“Thank God.”
“Yes,” Reno agreed. “But Jimmy found out somehow where Val and this Kap Cole were going to be, went there, and according to Val he iced Kap Cole as soon as he found them.”
“What did he find them doing?” Sal asked. “Fucking?”
Reno nodded. “Fucking,” he said.
Sal shook his head. “She’d better be glad he didn’t ice her too,” Sal said. “She’d better be glad Jimmy didn’t put a cap in her ass while was putting a cap in Kap.”
Reno smiled weakly at Sal’s name pun,
since he’d had his own version too, but even a smile couldn’t ease the distress he felt. “Why didn’t he come to us, Sal? Why didn’t he come to you if he didn’t want to come to me? You guys are close. We would have handled this shit. I told Jimmy time and time again I didn’t want him involved in all of the drama. That’s why I got him out of Vegas and tapped him to run my Manchester office. Now Val’s shit has him right back in Vegas and right back smack in drama.”
Reno’s voice began to crack. “I know my boy, Sal. He thinks with his heart. He’s sensitive like that. He really loved Val and thought they could have something special together. And here she is cheating on him?”
“This Kap Cole,” Sal asked, “was he an older guy?”
“You know it,” Reno said.
Sal nodded. “That figures,” he said. “I don’t know why she would marry a young guy when she knows she likes them old. And why would Jimmy marry her if he knew that’s what she was into?”
“Because he didn’t know,” Reno corrected Sal. “At least not the full extent of her attraction. He thought she just had some little nothing crush on me, like some of his other little silly girlfriends. He had no idea.”
Then Reno’s cellphone rang. Reno picked it up instantly. “What?” he asked quickly. Then he looked at Sal. “Where?” He stood up, causing Sal to stand too and for Trina and Gemma to get off of the sofa and rush over.
“Yeah, I know the place,” Reno said on the phone. “But you stay put. Don’t approach him, I know my son. He’ll leave if you try to approach him. I’m on my way!” Reno ended the call.
“They found him?” Trina asked.
“They found him,” Reno said, hurrying toward the exit.
“Where?” Sal asked, as they all followed Reno.
“A parking lot,” Reno said and then stopped everybody by turning around. He looked at Trina especially. “I’m going alone,” he said.
“Reno!”
“Don’t Reno me! Jimmy sees all of us and it’ll be too emotional for him. Too embarrassing. You know how he is, Tree. I have to do this alone.”
“But I can comfort him, Reno.”
“What am I, a rock?” Reno asked. “I can comfort him too!”
“But, Reno,” Trina said with frustration in her voice.
“Reno’s right, Tree,” Sal said. “It’ll hurt Jimmy too much to see you in all of this agony. Let Reno handle it.”
Trina knew they didn’t have time to waste. And she also knew, if Reno and Sal both agreed on something, it didn’t really matter what she wanted to do. They weren’t going to let her do it. So she gave in, and gripped Reno’s sweatshirt. “Bring him back alive,” she ordered him.
Reno felt her anguish. He nodded. “I will, babe,” he said. “I will.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
When Reno arrived at the parking lot nearly three miles from their home, and drove up beside the SUV that had spotted Jimmy, he was thinking about the promise he made to Trina. And he realized how tough a task bringing Jimmy back was going to be. Because he knew Jimmy.
The SUV rolled down the window as Reno’s car stopped beside them. They all were looking at the small Chevy Cruze, a rental car no doubt, parked further away. “Any movement?” Reno asked the driver of the SUV.
“None, boss,” the driver said. “He’s just sitting there. When we first got here he was just sitting there. He’s still just sitting there.”
“You did a welfare check?” Reno asked.
“Yeah, I got another car to drive by as if he was just a regular driver and eyeball inside the car. Jimmy was behind the wheel. He was alone. He didn’t appear injured in any way. He was just sitting there. All appeared to be well.”
Reno let out a sigh of relief. At least he was physically okay. “Hang tight for backup,” Reno said, “in case he decides to drive away. Have a car a block or so further up, in case he gets out of this parking lot.”
“Yes, sir.”
And Reno slowly drove his Porsche toward the Cruze. But unlike his men, when Reno drove up and could see Jimmy inside the car, he immediately saw that all was not well at all. Because as soon as Reno looked into that car, he saw Jimmy sitting there alright, but he was sitting there with a rifle to his head.
Reno’s heart stopped. It literally stopped. “God, no!” he cried as he through open his car door and attempted to get out of his car, only to be restrained by his buckled seatbelt. He unbuckled quickly, jumped out, and ran to his son. “Jimmy, no!” he cried. “Jimmy, don’t do it!”
But as soon as Jimmy heard his father’s voice, and looked in his direction, he panicked. He couldn’t let him see him like this. He couldn’t let him know what kind of fuck-up he truly was! Just as Reno was about to open Jimmy’s car door, Jimmy cranked up and began driving away. But Reno knew, if he allowed his son to leave that parking lot, he would in all probability never see him alive again. And that was unacceptable to him.
That was why Reno panicked too and jumped onto the hood of the moving car. Reno’s men in the SUV, astounded by what they were suddenly witnessing, quickly took off toward the action.
Jimmy was beyond astounded when his father’s big body landed on the hood of the small car. What was he crazy? Didn’t he know he could get himself killed?
But Reno wasn’t thinking about his own welfare. He was thinking only about Jimmy’s. He was thinking only about how he was determined to stop that car by the force of his weight alone, or die trying, before he allowed his son to get away from him.
But Jimmy kept driving. He could see his father struggling to hold on. He could see the pain, the anguish, the hurt in his father’s big blue eyes. But Jimmy wondered why wouldn’t Reno just jump off? Why wouldn’t he save himself and jump? Didn’t he know the devastation Trina would feel if something happened to him? Didn’t he know how Dommi would fall apart, and Sophie too, if their father left this earth without them?
But Reno wouldn’t jump. He wouldn’t save himself. Because Reno, Jimmy realized, wasn’t trying to save his own life. Reno was too busy trying to save Jimmy’s life. And Jimmy, for his father’s sake alone, slowed down and then stopped.
The SUV was just behind the Cruze, with a group of men jumping out, when Jimmy finally stopped the car. Reno slid off of the hood and motioned for his men to stay back as he approached the driver’s side door. Reno attempted to open it, but the door was locked.
“Jimmy,” Reno said, unable to sound any way but afraid, “open the door. Open the door, son.” He also attempted to sound as calm as could be, although, inside, he was raging in agony.
When Jimmy wouldn’t unlock the door, but continued to just sit there, Reno motioned for his men to go on the passenger side, just in case. They were going to break every window in this motherfucking car, Reno thought, if Jimmy didn’t open that door himself.
But he finally gave in. Tears were falling from Jimmy’s big hazel eyes by the time he unlocked the door. And when Reno opened the door, and moved closer to his son, Jimmy was in a full scale cry. He was sobbing. Reno knelt down and pulled his son into his arms, and allowed him to sob.
But the fear was still there, and it was palpable to Reno. He knew how close he had come. Jimmy wasn’t just aiming that rifle at his head. He had his finger on the trigger. He aimed to leave this world tonight.
Reno stopped embracing Jimmy and placed both hands on the side of Jimmy’s handsome face.
“It’s my fault, Dad,” Jimmy said through his tears. “Don’t blame Val. I started it when I slept with that transvestite. I though he was a woman at the beginning, but when I realized he wasn’t, I kept going anyway. How could I have done something like that?”
“Listen to me, boy,” Reno said.
But Jimmy was still in his feelings so gravely that he couldn’t hear anybody else. “I’m disgusting to Val. I’m disgusting to you and Ma and everybody who ever knew me. That’s why women break my heart, Dad.”
“Jimmy, listen to me.”
“That’s why Val had an affair with
that guy. Because of me. And now I’ve killed a man because of my own inadequacies. Because I couldn’t satisfy my own wife. I’m good for nothing, Dad. I don’t deserve to live!”
Reno shook Jimmy’s face as if he was shaking some sense into him. Reno’s eyes were hard, and anguished. “You listen to me, boy, and you listen good. You’re my son. My son! And I love you. Your father loves you, Jimmy. If everybody on the face of this earth turns you away, you run to me. You hear me, boy? You run to me! I’ll die for you, Jimmy. They wouldn’t let me that day when I had to choose, but I’ll die for you.”
Jimmy remembered that day. It was the worse day of his life. The worse day of Reno’s life too. Because Reno was cornered. His wife, his newborn son Dominic, and Jimmy were all being held captive by Tony Tufarna, the son of the PaLargio’s former owner. Reno offered himself up. He got on his knees and begged Tony to kill him to save his family. But Tony wanted Reno to suffer. Reno, he said, had to choose which one died for the sake of the family. Either Trina was going to die. Either Dommi was going to die. Or Jimmy had to die.
Dommi had his whole life ahead of him.
Trina had to take care of Dommi, and he could never let anything happen to Trina.
Tony refused to take Reno, so Reno chose Jimmy to die that day.
Reno chose Jimmy.
And Jimmy nearly died too. Tony shot him and he nearly left them forever. All because of Reno’s decision that Jimmy, a child he didn’t even know existed until Jimmy was seventeen years old, was needed the least in the family.
“You did what you had to do that day, Dad,” Jimmy said. “Don’t keep beating yourself up about that.”
He was always so understanding about it. So good to point out the Hopson’s choice Reno faced that day. But Reno knew, deep down, that the choice he made had to have devastated Jimmy. It had to do something to his psyche, to his emotions. Reno saw the change in Jimmy after he recovered from that gunshot. He recovered physically. But he lost that sparkle. Reno believed, mentally, that Jimmy never fully recovered.
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