Alex Drakos 2_His Scandalous Family

by Mallory Monroe

  But Kari was also a realist. She also knew Alex could be elevating her this way to get back at Trina for her earlier rejection of his advances, and Kari was just a pawn in his more elaborate scheme. She didn’t know Alex well enough to say whether or not he had that in him, but she would be shocked beyond words if he did.

  And after dinner, when Kari and Trina excused themselves to the ladies’ room, Trina made a pronouncement.

  They were both at the vanity mirror, freshening their makeup, when Trina stopped and looked at Kari. “I’m going to turn down Alex’s offer,” she said.

  Kari didn’t stop putting on her lipstick, but she did look at Trina through the mirror. “Are you?”

  “I’ve decided to, yes.”

  “He’s going to be very disappointed. He believes you will make a great CEO for his startup.”

  “I know. And I’m honored, believe me. We, as black women, don’t get that kind of offer every day.”

  “Word,” Kari agreed.

  “But I have to refuse it.”

  A thought suddenly occurred to Kari as she closed her lipstick tube. She looked at Trina. “I hope it’s not because of his attraction to you,” she said.

  Trina looked at her. She wasn’t sure that he had even mentioned that to Kari. But she was glad he had. She liked Kari. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but she had a sneaking suspicion that, someday, they were going to be good friends. “From my perspective, no,” she said. “Alex is so over me it’s not even funny.”

  Kari grinned. “I wouldn’t go that far!”

  “I would!” Trina said with a smile of her own. Then she leaned against the vanity. “But from my husband’s perspective,” she continued, “it’s a definite no-go.”

  “He’s opposed?”

  “He says he’s not. He says he wants what’s best for me and turning down such a generous offer could be tough. But if I know anybody on the face of this earth, I know Dominic “Reno” Gabrini. And I know that man will not want me around anybody who once harbored those kinds of feelings for me. For his sake, I’m turning it down.”

  Kari appreciated her loyalty to her husband. But . . . “You said it yourself. Black women don’t get these kind of offers every day.”

  “I know. But a woman doesn’t get a man like Reno every day, either. I’d rather keep Reno.”

  Kari smiled. She already felt that way about Alex, too, but wasn’t ready to reveal that publicly yet. Even though, she had to admit, she really did like Trina Gabrini.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  After dinner, Reno decided to ride with his wife back to the PaLargio, where Alex and Kari planned to stay the night, rather than in the limo that had brought them to the restaurant.

  Alex slouched down in the backseat of the limo, while Kari answered a text message from Jordan, as the limo took off. Reno, being Reno, got behind the wheel of his wife’s car and flew off. A drama king behind the wheel of a car, too, Kari thought.

  Alex smiled. Reno was one of a kind, to be sure. “He seemed happy when Trina turned me down,” Alex said to Kari as their limo pulled off far slower, and obeyed the speed limits heading back.

  “He certainly appeared happy,” Kari responded. When she finished answering Jordan’s text, she looked at him. “But are you okay with her decision not to take the job?”

  “I’m actually relieved,” he said.

  Kari was surprised to hear that. “Relieved? Why would you be relieved?”

  “When I offered it to her, I cannot lie. I had honorable intentions for offering her that job. I believed she would make an excellent CEO. But I had nefarious intentions as well.”

  “Nefarious in what way?” Kari asked.

  Alex was blunt. “I wanted to fuck her,” he said.

  Kari wasn’t shocked at all. It was what it was.

  “But now,” Alex continued, “after meeting you, it’s different.”

  “Different how?” Kari asked.

  “When I look at her now, I don’t want her like that. I honestly don’t.” He looked at Kari. “I want you like that.”

  Kari looked at him. “But that should be all the more reason you want to hire her,” she said. “You can handle it.”

  “But out of respect for you,” Alex said, “I don’t want to have to handle it.”

  Kari smiled. And leaned against him.

  But as they continued to drive in silence, Alex began what he called his eye sweep. He looked around, to make sure everything was Copa static. From what he could see, it all was.

  Until he looked again, which was his way. He noticed something so slight he doubted if anybody else would have even thought to view it as different. But he had completed an eye sweep when they first got into the limousine to drive over to the restaurant. The man who had driven them to the restaurant wore a chauffeur’s hat, too, but his hair was a darker brown, and it hung just below the nape of his neck. Unless the driver went to the hairdresser’s while they were eating and got a cut and color, this driver had shorter hair with a lighter, reddish tint. Which meant, in Alex’s world, he was not the same driver.

  Alex remained slouched down, but he calmly pulled out his loaded revolver. Kari saw it, and her heart skipped a beat when she saw it, but she was not about to give it away. As their eyes met, she decided to just talk.

  And she talked about Jordan and how he was texting her about the fun he was having with his godparents. Alex, glad that she instinctively knew how to play this, kept his eyes on the driver. He also placed a silencer on his revolver, as a just in case.

  And as soon as the chauffeur turned down a side street, and Alex saw a car waiting at the end of the street, he knew shit was going down.

  Knowing the limo was completely tinted, Alex wasted no time. He immediately pointed the gun at the driver’s head. “Put the car in Park,” Alex ordered, “or you’re dead.”

  The chauffeur quickly stopped the limo and placed it in Park.

  “Now get your ass in the passenger seat,” Alex ordered.

  The chauffeur quickly raised his hands as he got over into the passenger seat.

  Alex quickly got behind the wheel and continued to drive. He didn’t want to give whomever was in that waiting car a chance to know something was wrong.

  “How many?” he asked the driver, with his gun still pointed at him.

  “Four,” the driver responded.

  “Put your hat on my head,” Alex ordered, and the man did as he was told.

  Alex didn’t have time to ask any more questions. He shot the driver through the head, causing blood to splatter on the passenger side window, and the chauffeur’s lifeless body to slump against the passenger door. It also caused Kari to flinch and almost lose control and scream, it was so sudden.

  But Alex didn’t wait for her shock to ease. “Get his gun,” he ordered her.

  Kari knew that four men were waiting to ambush them, so she quickly did as she was told. She moved closer to the front seat, and took the chauffeur’s gun from out of his pocket.

  “Use it,” Alex ordered.

  “I will,” said Kari. She’d held a gun before when she was fooling with Vito’s crazy butt. Shot one before too. But this felt far more dangerous.

  And as soon as the limo, driven by Alex, approached the waiting vehicle, four armed men got out of the car. But Alex was ready for their asses. He rolled down his window and Kari’s window, who sat just behind him, and swerved the limo away from the car. Then he began shooting and took out numbers one and two before they could raise their weapons, while Kari quickly took out number three. Number four, however, got off some rounds.

  “Get down, Kari!” Alex yelled at her. “Get your ass down!”

  Kari dropped down as Alex sped away from the incoming fire. The gunman got into the middle of the street and fired round after round after round after round. He aimed to kill and was firing and firing.

  Until he was firing, and no more bullets came out.

  As the man quickly tossed aside the empty gun and r
an to grab a gun off of one of his fallen colleagues, so that he could fire more rounds, Alex hit on brakes, got out of the limo, and it was his turn to walk toward the gunman firing round after round toward his ass. Alex shot the gunman repeatedly, until he, like his comrades, was dead in the street too.

  Then Alex went around to the front passenger side of the limo, pulled the chauffeur out and tossed him onto the street, too, and then closed the door, ran around, and got back into the limo. He was looking around for more action. But none came.

  But he took no chances. He got back behind that wheel and sped off. “Are you okay?” he was asking Kari, and looking through the rearview at her, as he drove.

  “I’m good,” she said, sitting up. “I’m good.”

  “Come up here,” he ordered, and she did as she was told.

  Alex, to her surprise, pulled her into his arm as he drove. He was breathing heavily.

  “Where was security?” Kari asked him. She was breathing heavily too.

  “I didn’t think I needed any,” Alex responded.

  Kari was surprised to hear it, since he kept security on her in Apple Valley at all times. But she didn’t say anything. She knew he was already upset with himself.

  But Alex was more than upset. He was disgusted with himself. And that disgust, and anger he felt toward himself for being so shortsighted when he knew Kari would be with him in Vegas, was palpable.

  He held her tighter.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  The Presidential suite was second only to Reno and Trina’s luxurious penthouse apartment at the PaLargio, and Alex and Kari were the guests of honor inside that suite. But what was to be a wonderful day in Vegas, and a wonderful night in that very suite, turned out to be a nightmare.

  Alex had been on the phone since they returned from the crime scene, as he paced the floor ordering his security team to get a detail to Vegas, and to find out everything they could about that planned attack. He was also calling contacts he knew in the underworld, to find out if they’d heard anything too. But so far, he was turning up blanks.

  Kari was on the sofa, with Trina sitting beside her with her arm around her. Trina knew exactly how she felt. She’d been in so many ambushes with Reno, and the kind of close calls that still gave her chills, that she could write a book. But right now, she just wanted to make sure Kari was okay.

  “I’m okay,” Kari said to Trina for what felt like the tenth time. “I’m still a little antsy, that’s all.”

  “I’m sorry you had to go through it,” Trina said. “Especially with Alex. I never knew he . . .”

  “Had that kind of background?” Kari asked her.

  Trina nodded. “Yeah. He’s a businessman. That’s all I knew him to be. I mean, I heard that his family in Greece might have some dealings, but I never thought he had that in him too. That he was one of them.”

  “He’s not,” Kari said. Alex had told her that he had been very much involved in his family’s business back in Greece, but that he gave it all up after he relocated to the States. She assumed, at the time, that he had told her that very personal info in confidence. And although she liked Trina very much, and was looking forward to getting to know her better, she wasn’t going to go into details about what she’d been told.

  But Trina shared with her, and in that moment changed their relationship.

  “I hear what you’re saying,” Trina said. “You’re saying he’s not involved in his family business, but he is involved in it too. I know how it goes. It’s just like my husband. His father’s enemies became his enemies. His father’s business became his burden. And is to this day. Trust me, I know.”

  Kari was shocked. Was Reno Gabrini, the owner of the famed PaLargio Hotel and Casino, connected to the mob? Was that what she was telling her?

  Trina smiled when she saw Kari’s reaction. “You didn’t know,” she said. “Didn’t you?”

  Kari shook her head. “No, I didn’t.”

  “Not even a quick Google search?” Trina asked.

  “Not even that. I didn’t think there would be anything to find out. He owned the PaLargio. That, I thought, spoke for itself.”

  Trina nodded. “And for the most part, it does. But people have pasts. Sometimes we can live them down, like you and me. Sometimes we can’t, like my husband and your man.”

  Then the door to the suite was opened, and Reno walked in.

  “Speaking of the devil,” Trina said with a smile.

  “I love your ass too,” Reno responded.

  “I’ll call you back,” Alex said to the person on the phone, and ended the call. He looked at Reno. “Found out anything?” he asked.

  “This is my town,” Reno said. “It happened in my town. What do you think? Have a seat,” he said, as Alex sat in the chair. Reno took the seat beside Kari and his wife.

  “What did you find out?” Alex asked.

  “First of all,” Reno said, “where the fuck is your security?”

  Kari looked at Alex. She knew how badly he already felt about that oversight. Alex crossed his legs.

  “I mean, come on now,” Reno continued. “You can’t make that kind of mistake. Not when you’ve got a woman now. Not when you just lived through that ambush in Florida.”

  Kari was shocked. “An ambush?” she asked. “There was another attack, Alex?”

  Alex had no intention of Kari ever finding out. But that cat was loose now. “Yes,” he said.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “There was nothing to tell,” Alex said. “I defused the situation.”

  “Like hell you did,” Reno said. “You took out Vito Visconni--”

  Kari was surprised. “Vito?” she asked.

  Now Trina was surprised. “You know this Vito person?”

  “Yes. I used to live with him. What about Vito?” she asked Alex.

  “He’s the one I was told had hired guys to ambush me. And I had to take care of that.”

  Kari fully understood. They could have taken Vito out even before then, but he was suffering and they decided to let him suffer. He was begging to die then. He didn’t give a damn about getting revenge. He just wanted to die. What changed?

  “After you took care of that,” Reno said, “my sources are telling me that his uncle didn’t take too kindly to the way you took care of that.”

  “His uncle?” Kari asked. “What uncle?”

  “His uncle,” Reno said. “Wise guys have uncles. Some are related to them by blood. Some are related to them by other means. His uncle.”

  “Did your sources say where this uncle could be located?” Alex asked.

  “Yes,” Reno said.

  As soon as Reno spoke that word, Alex rose to his feet.

  “Alex?” Kari said, rising too. This prompted Trina and Reno to stand as well.

  “Where is he?” Alex asked.

  “I’ll tell you where,” Reno said, “if I go with you.”

  “No,” Alex said. “I work alone. Where is he?”

  Reno stared at Alex. A man had to do what a man had to do. “You’ll need more firepower than I’m sure your ass brought with you.”

  “I might have left security at home,” Alex said, “but I didn’t leave my protection. Give me the address, and I’ll take it from there.”

  “There’s no address. This crazy fuck lives in the woods. But I can draw you a map.”

  “That’ll work,” Alex said, and Reno went over to the bar counter with pad and pen.

  But Alex looked at Kari. His eyes, she thought, were hard and soft at the same time. It was as if he was telling her, with those eyes, that everything would be alright, but only if he made it so. And then he followed Reno.

  Trina looked at Kari. She knew what it felt like to stay back while your man went away to war, as it were. But when Kari returned her gaze, and Trina could see the unshed tears in her bright, brown eyes, she put her arm around her.

  “He’s beating himself up enough over this,” Kari said in a voice Alex nor Reno co
uld hear. “I don’t want him to see me this way.”

  Trina’s heart went out to her. She was falling hard for Alex. “Come on,” Trina said, took the younger woman in her arms, and escorted her toward the balcony.

  But when Alex saw them heading that way, he stopped them. “Kari?” he asked. “Where are you going?”

  “She’s okay,” Trina said. “We’re just getting some air.”

  “Is it safe?” Alex asked anxiously.

  “Is it safe?” Reno asked.

  “This is the PaLargio, Alex,” Trina said. “Reno runs this place like it’s Fort Knox. There’s no sharpshooters waiting to mow us down this high up. Trust, okay?”

  Alex exhaled. He wanted to make eye contact with Kari, but Trina had her well buried within her bosom like some mother hen. Since he knew Kari undoubtedly needed that comfort, especially from somebody like Trina who understood turmoil, he didn’t interfere. And Trina and Kari went outside.

  Once outside, Trina sat Kari on the leather couch away from the sliding glass door and Alex’s view, and sat down beside her. She kept her arm around her. And it was only then did Kari shed a tear.

  “I’m sorry,” Kari said. “But it can be difficult sometimes.”

  “I know,” Trina said, wiping Kari’s tear away. “You think you’ve met the man of your dreams, only to find out he comes with an occasional nightmare too.”

  “But Alex is wonderful. I’ve never met a man like him. And the way he treats me, oh, Trina. It’s far and above the way anybody’s ever treated me.”

  “But?”

  “But that occasional nightmare you mentioned,” Kari said, “is because of me. It’s my ex-boyfriend that caused all of this. It’s my poor choices that led him to have to risk his life over and over. He’s no gangster. He was out of that life. But I--”

  “But you nothing, Kari,” Trina said firmly. “And don’t think for a second the gangster life is something you can put down like a bad suit and never have to pick up again. Truth is, he’s going to always have to pick it up. Tonight, it might be because of your ex. Tomorrow night, it might be because of his ex. The night after that, it could be because of some enemy he doesn’t even remember. Whatever the reason, it’s all the same. And trust me, nine times out of ten, it’s going to be about him and his past, not you and yours.”