That was why Reno felt that today, and this decision Jimmy almost made to take his own life, was all on him. His own damn fault.
Reno got his son out of that car, took that rifle away from him, tossing it to one of his men, and then drove Jimmy, holding his hand the entire time, back home. He kept his promise to Tree.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
It had been a long night by the time Reno arrived at the penthouse with Jimmy by his side. Trina, Sal, and Gemma ran to him, hugging him and, in Trina and Gemma’s case, crying with joy that he was okay.
But when Buddy and Val came out of the family room, with Val staying close to her father as if the Gabrinis were toxic, even Trina became a little angry. But she knew Val had been through a lot too. She held her fire.
Jimmy stood there looking at Val when she entered his parents’ living room. He still loved her, but he knew their relationship had changed forever. He stood there, with his mother on his left side and his father on his right. They flanked him. They protected him. He knew they loved him. He also knew, and was finally coming to grips with the very real possibility that Val never did.
But he also knew that he was the one who started the fire that burned down their house when he decided to toss their vows aside and cheat. This night was the accumulated consequences of all of their bad decisions. But especially his.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” Jimmy said to Val. She was as flanked and protected by her father as Jimmy’s parents protected and flanked him. “I shouldn’t have shown up there. I was wrong for that.”
“I shouldn’t have been there with him,” Val admitted. “I was wrong too.” Anger, rather than tears, were in her eyes. “But you didn’t have to kill him, Jimmy. What did he ever do to you?”
Reno and Sal both were astounded. “What did he do to him?” Sal had pure shock in his voice. “The nerve you have. He fucked his wife!”
“Yes, we had an affair,” Val admitted. “Yes, we did! And I’m not proud of that. It was wrong and it’ll always be wrong. But was that worth killing somebody over?”
“Yes!” Reno and Sal said together. “Hell yes!” Reno added.
Val couldn’t believe their reasoning. And it was that kind of reasoning that angered her even more. “I see.”
“Easy, Val,” Buddy said. “This is their world. You knew it going in.”
“What do you mean I knew it?” Val asked. “I didn’t know an affair was an offense punishable by death!”
“You didn’t die,” Sal said.
“But Kap did!” Val responded. “And if I wasn’t the mother of Jimmy’s child, I guarantee you I would have been dead right along with him. And you know it!”
“All I know is you got a lot of mouth,” Sal said in his warning voice. “That’s all I know.”
“Oh, so you’re gonna kill me now, Uncle Sal?”
Buddy put his hand on the small of his daughter’s back. “Easy, Val,” he whispered to her. “That’s Sal Gabrini you’re talking to.”
“I don’t give a damn who he is!” Val shot back. She was having a field day tonight, and Trina was intensely watching the show. She wasn’t sure if Val was still shocked by what she experienced in that hunting lodge, and therefore had all of this courage, or had already crossed over and was just plain crazy.
But Val continued with her courage. “I asked you a question, Uncle Sal. Are you going to take me out? Or are you going to call in one of your mob boys to take me out?”
“That’s enough, Val,” Jimmy said. “Don’t make it worse.”
“Don’t make it worse?” Val’s voice was dripping with contempt. “You killed a man who was only there because he cared about me, and you think my words can make this worse? But that’s typical Gabrini. That’s how you people think and operate. It’s always somebody else’s fault. It’s always somebody else’s doing. Y’all don’t do shit. It’s always somebody else!” She began crying again. Her father, anguished himself, pulled her closer.
Trina and Gemma stared at her. They’d had days like this, too, when they questioned their Gabrini alliance. But they never disrespected the Gabrini name the way Val was disrespecting it.
“You’re all the same,” Val continued. “And especially you, Reno. You’re the granddaddy of this craziness.”
“Uh-oh,” Gemma said, knowing Val was going too far.
“Is she nuts?” Sal asked under his breath to Gemma, knowing Val was too far gone already.
But Val didn’t back down. She was going to have her say. “You always want to blame somebody else when you’re the reason Jimmy’s first way to handle his problems is to pick up a gun. When I used to talk to Kap about what was going on, he was amazed. He said you had to be the worse parent ever, Reno. Who else would let his ten-year-old son drive a car, with his baby sister in that car, but you? Kap couldn’t believe it!” Her voice turned whiny. “And now he’s gone!”
But Reno and company stared at Val. They were still digesting, not her grief over Kap, but the words she had said before she voiced that grief. “You told him about that?” Reno asked her, amazed. “You told him that Dom drove that car, and that my daughter was in it?”
Val didn’t respond.
“Answer me, girl!” Reno blared.
“Did you tell him, Val?” Trina asked, her face stern with shock too. “Did you tell Kapper Cole about that incident at your house when Dommi drove your car? Did you tell him about that kidnapping?”
Val didn’t understand why they were making a bigger deal out of some conversation she had with Kap, rather than Kap’s death! “Yes, I told him,” she said. “So what?”
Reno couldn’t believe it. “He’s the one who called that abuse report on us?”
“He said he ought to, but I don’t think he did.”
“He did,” Trina said. “He did, Val!”
And Reno, understandably so, Sal thought, was livid. “Your stupid ass almost caused us to lose our children!” Reno yelled. “Your stupid ass caused my son to do something he would never do unless he was provoked!”
And Reno couldn’t take it. He charged at Val. Trina tried to hold him back, Sal and Jimmy tried to hold him back. Sal and Jimmy even fell over a chair with Reno as they fought with all their power to hold him back. Buddy pulled Val back too.
But with all of those attempts, Reno the bull still broke free of Sal and Jimmy and got up, lunged toward Val, and knocked the shit out of her.
Val fell back against Buddy, holding her jaw, as the pain of everything overwhelmed her and she began crying even more hysterically.
And Buddy was about to fight to protect his daughter. He knew she deserved scorn for cheating on Jimmy, but she didn’t deserve this. But Jimmy ran between the parents. “Dad, stop!” he cried. “There’s been enough violence tonight. Please stop it!”
Sal, Trina, and Gemma were there to intervene too if Reno didn’t heed. But he heard his son’s anguished voice, and stopped.
Val looked at her father. “I want to get my child,” she said, in tears, “and get out of here.”
“You can leave,” Jimmy said, “but you aren’t taking my daughter.”
Val’s heart dropped. Buddy was shocked too. “What are you talking about?” Val asked him. “That’s my child, Jimmy! You can’t take her away from me!”
“She’s my child too, and I have as much right to her as you have. She’s mine too! You aren’t leaving here with my daughter.”
“Jimmy, don’t do this,” Buddy said. “I’ve been really patient tonight with you people, because Val was wrong for what she did, and you were wrong too. But my patience will be gone if you try some shit like this.”
“Maddie is my baby,” Jimmy said. “Val is not leaving this penthouse with my daughter.”
“Yes, she is,” Trina said, and everybody looked at her.
Jimmy frowned. “Ma, what are you talking? She doesn’t want me! She doesn’t want my daughter!”
But Trina would have none of it. “You know she loves Maddie, so stop i
t,” she said. “And neither one of you two grown folks are going to use that little girl as some pawn in your anger toward each other. You’ll get visitation rights,” Trina added, “and you’ll make time in your already busy schedule for your daughter. But you will not take that child away from her mother.”
“But will she give me visitation?” Jimmy asked.
They all looked at Val. “I never tried to keep Maddie away from you,” she responded. “You can see her anytime you want to see her. But you can’t take her away from me, Jimmy. She’s all I have!”
Buddy held his daughter closer. “That’s one battle,” he said, “that I’ll be willing to wage against you, son. And I care deeply for you, Jimmy. But you can’t take my grandbaby away like that. Not away from her mother. You can’t do that.”
Jimmy looked at Reno. Surely he would see his side. But Reno exhaled. “They’re right,” he said. “You work as hard as I do. You won’t have time to raise her the way Val can, although I can’t stand her ass right now. But that child belongs with her mother.”
Jimmy still wasn’t one hundred percent there. He still was going to fight for custody in a court of law. But right now was probably not the best time to take Madison away from Val. They were obviously separating. They might get back together, they might not. But he would be wrong to add fuel to the fire.
“Okay,” he said. “For now.”
Trina nodded. “I’ll go get the baby,” she said, and headed in that direction.
But Jimmy was still staring at Val. “Hear me well,” he said to her. “If you tell anybody about what happened tonight in that hunting lodge---”
Val was offended. “Who am I going to tell, Jimmy? You’re still the father of my child. Who am I going to tell?”
“You told that Kap Cole about our business,” Reno reminded her. “So don’t stand up here and act as if you don’t have the chops to talk your ass off. Because you do! But he’s just giving you a friendly reminder.”
“There’s no need to threaten her, Reno,” Buddy said. “She knows not to tell.”
“You love to tell me that I’m my father’s son,” Jimmy said to Val. “But if you tell about what happened tonight in that cabin, you’ll be proven right. You’ll see just how much of my father’s son I really am. If you tell.”
Trina returned with the baby. Val grabbed her and hurried toward the exit, with her father following behind her. She thought she knew what she was getting into when she married a Gabrini. She thought wrong.
When they left, Jimmy dropped down on the sofa. Sal and Gemma sat on either side of him, comforting him. Reno ran his hand across his face and headed for the bar. Trina followed him.
“You okay?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” he said. He pulled out a bottle of whiskey, but his hand was shaking. Trina took over and began pouring him a glass.
Reno was still shook up. “He tried to kill himself tonight, Tree,” he said.
Trina looked at Reno. “Good Lord, no, Reno!”
“He might have done it if I hadn’t showed up in time. He might have done it, Tree.”
Trina couldn’t believe it. She sat the glass back down.
“You know what I keep thinking?” Reno asked.
“What?”
“That day, the day I decided that he had to be the one to die to save you and Dommi, destroyed him. He doesn’t think he’s worthy, Tree. And it’s all because of that decision I made. And please don’t tell me I had no choice.”
“You had a choice,” Trina said honestly. “You should have chosen me to die that day.”
Reno stared at her. Her honesty, sometimes, could be brutal. “I needed you to raise Dommi,” Reno said.
“You would have raised him just fine,” Trina shot back. “You and Jimmy. But you loved me more than you loved Jimmy, Reno. That’s the truth of it. And Jimmy knows that. He knew it before that day. So stop believing that one episode in his life, that terrible episode, is the reason for all of his problems. Val is right. We’ve got to stop doing that. Jimmy is the reason for all of his problems, and until he get some help, and get himself straightened out, he’ll continue to have these problems. We haven’t taught our children shit about coping skills. They don’t know how to cope! That’s what we’ve got to teach.”
“What are you suggesting?” Reno asked. “Family counseling?”
“Yeah,” Trina said. “At least that. We all can use some professional help.”
Reno couldn’t argue with that. He kissed her. “Okay,” he said.
Sal came over. “Jim told us what happened,” he said.
Reno and Trina were surprised. “He told you what happened in that parking lot?” Reno asked.
“Yup. He told us he was going to kill himself, but then he heard your voice.”
Reno closed his eyes and drank his whiskey.
“I said good thing it was him,” Sal said. “Because if I would have heard your annoying voice, I would have shot you first and then shot myself.”
“Ah, fuck you,” Reno said, opening his eyes.
But Trina smiled. “You’re wrong for that, Sal.”
Then Sal turned serious. “One of my men got a read on Kap Cole.”
This interested Reno. He knew Sal was a mob boss with far-reaching contacts. “Yeah?”
“They said he bragged about calling the social workers on you. He thought it was funny. He also bragged about bonking your daughter-in-law. He thought that was funny too.”
“Yeah, well,” Reno said, “that motherfucker ain’t laughing now.”
“You got that right,” Sal agreed.
Then Sal hesitated. “What are we going to do about Jimmy?” he asked. “Maybe he needs some help or whatever. Some therapy.”
“He does,” Trina said, “but we’re going as a family.”
Sal laughed. “Yeah, right.” Then he looked at Reno. Reno wasn’t laughing. “Are you serious?”
“For my son? Hell yeah,” Reno said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The days came and went after that night, as one day turned into several days, and by the end of the week the counseling session had been scheduled. And that Gabrini tradition, of pulling yourself back together and getting on with it even after horrific events, remained intact. Jimmy and Val continued their separation, with Val moving back to Vegas and staying with her father, and Jimmy returning to New Hampshire. But Jimmy returned to Vegas by week’s end to see his daughter. And also, although he didn’t see where it was needed at all, to attend a family counseling session with his parents.
Jimmy and Trina arrived together, and arrived on time. Reno was nowhere to be found. After nearly twenty minutes of waiting, even the therapist suggested that maybe he was not here because he did not want to be here.
Trina, standing at the window with her arms folded, was feeling the frustration too. “He wants to be here,” she said to the therapist. “I just wish I knew where he was.” He wasn’t answering his cellphone, which wasn’t unusual when Reno was especially busy, and many staffers around the PaLargio said they saw him earlier, but had no idea where he was now.
“Is he usually late?” the therapist, a tall, toothy LCSW, asked.
“Yes,” Jimmy responded. “He’s always late.”
They were in the therapist’s office in downtown Vegas. She was seated in the chair in front of the couch, with her clipboard on her lap. Jimmy was seated on the couch. Trina had been pacing the floor, and was so frustrated with Reno’s tardiness that she almost told the therapist to get started without him. But, as usual in their lives, the very reason they were there had Reno at its core.
“It is my experience,” the therapist said, “that habitual tardiness, where there doesn’t appear to be a negative consequence for the behavior, requires an enabler.”
“Oh, yeah,” Jimmy said with a nod and a smile. “That would be Mom. She lets Daddy get away with everything.”
“Oh, and you’re Mister Innocent?” Trina asked him. “You let Daddy get away w
ith all kinds of shit too. Don’t play.”
“But I only do it because you do it.”
“What do you call that, Doc?” Trina asked the therapist. “Deflection or transference, or something like that?”
The therapist laughed, and then her intercom buzzed. She pressed the button. “Yes, Jayla?”
“Mr. Gabrini has arrived,” her assistant responded.
“Finally!” Trina said with relief and irritation, as the therapist told her assistant to let him in.
When Reno walked in, Trina pounced. “Where in the world have you been?”
Reno, dressed in a black suit, with shades dangling from his hand, wasn’t about to give in that easily. “What are you talking where have I been? Where do you think I’ve been? I have a business to run.”
“So do I, Reno,” Trina pointed out, “and I was here on time.”
“So was I,” Jimmy echoed, “and I live in New Hampshire.”
“One day I’m going to stop enabling your ass,” Trina said as she made her way to the couch.
“What enabling?” Reno asked. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means the next time you’re this late I’m not going to wait for you. I’m going to leave.”
“So leave!” Reno shot back.
“Yeah, right, Dad. She leaves and you’ll be, ‘where’s Trina? Where’s Tree?’ all day long. You wouldn’t be able to function!”
“That’s what you think,” Reno said, sitting on the sofa beside Trina. He found himself sandwiched between Trina and Jimmy. “And why do I always end up in the middle?” he asked. Jimmy laughed.
But Reno’s tardiness wasn’t the only problem, and all three of them realized it almost immediately. The counselor began the session by asking very introductory questions to understand the family dynamics, and they gladly answered.
And then the real question: “So,” she asked, crossing her legs, “why are we here?”
That question stumped them all. All three were frozen. They gave some bullshit answer, some skirting around the truth conversations, but it wasn’t until after the session, and Reno and Trina were in Reno’s car heading back to the PaLargio, did they verbalize their problem.
Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) Page 10