Reno Gabrini: I'm Losing You

by Mallory Monroe

  Trina was mortified to see him there. Seeing him, she knew, meant something was wrong; something had happened. “What is it?” she asked as he stood up. “Something happened to the children?”

  Reno began walking toward her. She could tell he was pissed, but she was too concerned about her children. “Reno! Are the children alright?”

  Reno made it up to her. He didn’t want to say shit to her, he was that angry. But he didn’t allow his feelings toward her to interfere with their responsibilities to their children. “The children are fine,” he said to her.

  Trina sighed relief. But she was still puzzled. She was about to ask what was he doing there, but then she suddenly realized what. His men had undoubtedly seen her with Garry, and sent him photographs. He undoubtedly saw the photographs and, without asking her anything, hopped a plane to Florida. It was typical Reno.

  But then Garry, who didn’t know Reno like that, smiled and extended his hand. “How are you, Reno?” he asked. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

  Reno looked at Garry’s hand, looked at Trina, and then began leaving the hotel.

  “Reno?” Trina asked, moving to hurrying after him.

  But Garry pulled her back. “Don’t you dare,” he said. “You are too beautiful and desirable a woman to be running after some man.”

  Some man, Trina thought. Was this fool out of his mind? She tore away from Garry and ran after her man. “Reno!” she yelled as she hurried behind him. “Reno!”

  But Reno was getting in his limousine by the time she made it outside.

  “Reno!” she yelled again, but the limo sped away.

  Trina watched as the limo disappeared from sight. She watched with her heart sinking. Garry came outside and made his way toward her. It was a windy night, and her gorgeous hair was blowing in the wind. He looked at her curvaceous body, and his dick was throbbing. He’d give his right arm to get inside of that. But all night, at the party, he’d been trying. And all night, at the party and even during the cab ride back from the party, Trina wasn’t thinking about his ass.

  “That man,” Garry said, “left you standing here? He left the most gorgeous woman in the world standing here? That man,” he added, “is a certified, undisputed idiot.”

  Trina looked at Garry with a look he’d never seen on her before. “Say another negative word about my husband,” she continued, her face still a mask of seriousness and pain, “and I’ll cut off your balls and shove them down your fucking throat.” She glanced down at his balls, which was showing an erection, then she looked into his handsome face. “That’ll give them something to get excited about.”

  Garry, astounded by her words, stared at her. “So what are you saying, Katrina?”

  “I’m saying I think you better leave.”

  “Does that mean our business arrangement is off too?”

  “We don’t have a business arrangement yet. But discussions are off, yes.”

  Garry smiled. “Just because I called your husband an idiot?”

  “Just because the timing is wrong,” Trina said. “I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”

  He nodded. He could see the anguish in her eyes. He reached into his pocket, and handed her his card. “Call me,” he said, “if you want to resume discussions or,” he added, “if being Mrs. Reno Gabrini becomes too much for any self-respecting woman to continue to endure. I’ll gladly be that listening ear.”

  He smiled at her. And headed upstairs, to his room, to pack and leave.

  After still standing there for several more seconds, hoping that Reno would return, Trina went back into the lobby and headed for the elevators too. But not before taking Garry’s card, and tossing it into the waste basket.

  By the time she made it upstairs to her suite, she didn’t feel like herself at all. All she could think about was that look on Reno’s face. He was so disappointed in her that it couldn’t be repressed. But his hurt showed through even more. She hurt him. Not that she did anything wrong. She didn’t. She kept it one hundred with Garry the entire night, and did nothing inappropriate in any way. It should have been obvious to him that she wouldn’t.

  But as Trina laid across her bed, she also realized that Reno never really lived in the world of the obvious. He lived deeper than that. He could do his shit with his female associates and ex-lovers all day long. But let Trina start. Let her do as he did and she wouldn’t hear the end of it. Just like with her decision to expand her business. He expanded the PaLargio, and was still, to this day, expanding it, and that was fine. There was no issue whatsoever. But as soon as she decided to expand her business, to take on licensees and expand Champagne’s, she was met with all kinds of despair from Reno. He was against it, still was against it, and he made his feelings known. It was beyond a double standard. But it was Reno. It was the man she married.

  Tears began to well in her eyes as she thought about that man. It wasn’t just that she had been out with Garry that bugged him. She was convinced that Reno knew she wouldn’t cheat on him. But it was everything combined: the expansion, the fact that she was going to have to travel extensively in the coming months to get the franchises off the ground, and then, on top of his anxieties about that, she was hanging out with some lothario like Garry. He had had enough. She saw it in his eyes tonight.

  And the one thing she loved most about Reno, his unpredictability, was the very thing she feared most as she laid across her bed. The first conference was a rousing success. Her business model was becoming a rousing success. But was her marriage crumbling before her very feet? And was Reno, the love of her life, over it already?

  Knocks were heard on the door of her hotel suite, as she was just thinking about the unfairness of it, and she immediately shook her head. It was undoubtedly Garry again. He seemed like a brother who didn’t give up and was probably coming to apologize for speaking negatively about Reno, or to apologize for coming onto her all night, or to forget all she said to him and come on to her again. Garry was like that.

  Trina wiped her eyes as she made her way to her door. When she looked through the peephole, she was certain she would find Garry’s face on the other side. But when she saw that it was Reno, not Garry, her heart soared. And she opened the door quickly.

  Reno stood there, looking as if it took all he had to come back to her, and he lifted a cellphone. “I believe this is yours,” he said.

  Trina realized she had left her cellphone nearly an hour after she and Garry had arrived at the party, but by then there was no going back. The party was held at the home of their South Beach franchisee, and she was the guest of honor. She had to remain. She removed it from Reno’s hand, sat it on the table beside the door, and then looked at him again. “Is that why you came back?” she asked him.

  She didn’t realize it, but Reno’s look changed from the time she turned away from him to place her phone on the table, to the time she turned back to him. When she turned back, and Reno saw that her beautiful hazel eyes were now filled with unshed tears, his heart sank. She thought he came back to return a phone. She thought that was the only reason. He stepped inside her suite, and closed the door behind him. He’d show her why he came back!

  He grabbed Trina and pulled her into his arms. He looked into her eyes, and she looked into his, and both of them, at that moment, knew exactly why he had returned. He loved her, and he had a sudden urge to show it.

  They kissed long and lovingly. They kissed so long it was as if they couldn’t stop kissing. Reno turned her back against the door, and intertwined her fingers with his fingers, and lifted her arms over her head. And he continued to kiss her. He loved this woman. He had to make her understand that!

  One of his hands moved down, inside her panties, and began massaging her clit as he kissed her. And as she got wetter, his penis got larger, and soon he was pulling that out too and entering her.

  She sighed and leaned her head back as he fucked her. It was Reno doing her. That was all that mattered. And she loved how he felt.

&
nbsp; He lifted her higher, and she wrapped her legs around his waist, as he fucked her. Even as he carried her to the bed, he didn’t stop moving inside of her. And when he laid her down, and got on top of her, he felt as if he was living a dream. They made long lasting love. And when they came, Reno let out a loud cry Trina had never heard before. It was agony and ecstasy. It was hope and fear. It was love and doubt.

  Afterwards, as they laid in bed, under covers and side by side, Trina looked at Reno. He came back, and made love to her, but he left her with so many questions. And she was not the kind of woman to go along to get along. She spoke what was on her mind. “Why did you come back?” she asked him.

  Reno smiled, but it was more of a smile of reflection than joy. “I was going to leave your ass right here,” he said. “I didn’t wanna hear it. I didn’t care what happened. I was going to leave. And if you had been any other human being on the face of this earth, I would have left your ass right here. But you aren’t any other human being. You’re Trina. Tree.” He looked at her. “Mine.”

  Then he shook his head. “There was no way I was leaving you here.”

  Trina smiled and hugged him. He placed his arm around her, gathered her in, and she laid her head on his shoulder. “How far did you get?” she asked.

  “You like rubbing it in, don’t you?”

  She laughed.

  “I barely made it to the corner,” he said.

  Trina continued to laugh. She knew he’d made it further than that, but it was still funny.

  But then her look turned serious, and she looked at Reno. “For your information,” she said, “although you had the decency to not ask, nothing happened. Not with Garry. Not with anyone. I would never dishonor you like that, Reno.”

  “Why were you with him?”

  “We were hanging out earlier, and he admitted that he came to Florida because he wanted to partner with Gemma and I for a ten-percent interest in Champagne’s.”

  Reno was surprised. “Marshall has that kind of cash flow?”

  “He claims he does. He’s a venture capitalist looking for new investments, and he believe Champagne’s is a good one.”

  “And you two were talking business until four in the morning?”

  Trina smiled. “Of course not! We attended the end-of-conference wrap party at the home of our Miami franchisee.”

  “A wrap party?” Reno asked. “Why didn’t my people know about this party?”

  “They stay in the shadows, remember? Completely out of sight? I thought they were following me the whole time. I had no idea they weren’t.”

  Reno still exhaled. He had ordered Calanesi’s release from the safe house, which was actually a motel room across town. But hearing Trina talk reminded him of just how weak Calanesi’s protection strategy was. She went up to her room early in the evening, and Calanesi called it a day too. Pathetic prick!

  “So you’re telling me,” Reno said, “that Marshall never came onto you?”

  “He tried, yeah,” Trina admitted. “But I’m used to that, Reno. You know I can handle that. That’s nothing to me.”

  “But I don’t want any business partner of yours with that kind of attitude.”

  “I think I checked his attitude tonight,” Trina said. “I don’t think I’ll have to worry about that anymore.”

  “But you still want him as a partner?”

  “I don’t know. He can inject some good capital into the business if we let him in.”

  “I can do that for you myself,” Reno said.

  “Nope,” Trina responded. “I’ve got enough of our family money tied into Champagne’s. Your money is our children’s future. We aren’t risking anymore.”

  Then Reno, as if a bulb just went off, looked at Trina. He leaned up. “I forgot!” he said.

  “You forgot what?” Trina said, anxious too.

  “Your birthday.”

  She smiled. “Oh, Reno!”

  But Reno was dead serious. “I forgot your birthday! Good Lord, Trina! I forgot your birthday!”

  Trina rubbed him. “It’s alright.”

  Reno frowned. “No, it’s not alright. It is not alright! What do you want? Tell me what you want and I’ll get it for you tonight if I have to.”

  Trina laughed.

  “I’m serious, babe. Tell me. What do you want?”

  “Honestly?”

  “Honestly.”

  Trina’s smile was gone. “You,” she said.

  Reno’s heart melted. Nobody loved him like Trina did. He pulled her into his arms. “No greater woman alive, Tree,” he said to her.

  And that, for Trina, was the best gift he could have gave her. They kissed again. Long and lovingly.

  And then they just laid there, staring at each other, thinking about her business ambition, and his business ambition, and what it was going to cost them. “Wish you could come back with me tonight,” he said.

  Trina looked at him. “I wish I could too, but I’ve got fifteen new people to instruct tomorrow. It’ll only be a couple more days. But stay until the morning. Jimmy takes great care of the kids.”

  Reno nodded. “Yes, he does. He’s a great protector. I only wish he could do a better job with that wife of his. He ought to divorce her ass. I would.”

  Trina smiled and looked at Reno. “You talk a lot of noise, you know that?”

  “I would divorce you if you pulled half the shit Val pulls on Jimmy.”

  “And Jimmy pulls on Val,” Trina said.

  Reno smiled. “That’s true too,” he said, and they laughed. “But she came onto me last night, Tree.”

  Trina looked at him.

  “She was in the casino with some guy, and when I pulled her into one of the private rooms, she came onto me. Then slapped me when I offended her.”

  Trina couldn’t believe it. “I hope you slapped the shit out of her. Who does Val think she is?”

  “I slapped her back, don’t worry. She felt me. But it’s still sad.”

  Trina nodded. “Yeah, it is. She used to be so sweet. But I don’t know, Reno. Being married to a Gabrini isn’t for every woman. Some rise to the challenge. Some don’t.”

  “Thank God you did. From day one. At least, from day one after I married you.”

  Trina smiled. She remembered leaving him during their courtship because of his background. “Anyway,” she said. “I still wish you could stay with me for the conference.”

  “I do too, babe. But I’ve got Sal’s plane. You know how he treasures that old ass bucket of his. I’ll have to get back tonight.”

  “Bummer,” Trina said.

  “In more ways than one,” Reno said, although they both knew he was resigning himself to her new business model.

  Then she kissed him on the lips and began getting up.

  He frowned. “Where are you going now?” he asked.

  “Bath time,” she said. “Don’t you realize how wet you have me between my legs? I’ve got to clean up.”

  But as she headed for the bathroom, Reno grabbed his cellphone off of the night stand and called his security clearance chief. “I need a full background,” he said into the phone.

  “Name?”

  “Marshall. Garry with two R’s.”

  “I’ll get right on it, Boss.”

  “And Stevie,” Reno said.

  “Yes, sir, Boss?”

  “Follow the money. I want to know where his riches came from.”

  “Will do,” Stevie responded, and Reno ended the call.

  “Reno!” Trina yelled. “Are you coming?”

  It was only then did he even hear the shower water running. “I’m coming,” he said, and got out of bed too.

  Three hours later, after Reno had been in the air for nearly two hours, four men used a key and entered Trina’s hotel room. The forth man, walking in last, was Luke Brizio, the man Reno put in charge of Trina’s security after Calanesi fucked up. All four wore gloves. All four walked gingerly.

  After closing the door behind them, all fo
ur made their way toward the bedroom of the suite, ready to launch their attack. They knew they were playing with fire. They knew they were about to murder the wife of one of the most powerful men in America. But their thirst was real. This was going to be the biggest payday of their lives. This was going to be their ticket out. They knew Reno and what he was capable of, but the love of money, not the fear of power, ruled their actions. They couldn’t wait to attack that bitch.

  But Brizio, pulling up the rear, counterattacked. He pulled out his weapon, replete with silencer, and shot all three, one at a time, through the back. And not just randomly through the back, but in the exact spot that would penetrate all the way up front, through the heart. All three men died instantaneously.

  As the men dropped dead, making thumping sounds with their lifeless bodies, Brizio could hear Trina stirring in the bedroom. He hurried to the outside of the bedroom door and waited. After she got out of bed and put a bathrobe over her naked body, she made her way up front. She heard a commotion and wanted to see what it was. But as soon as she crossed the threshold from her bedroom into the living area, Brizio, unseen, came up behind her and covered her mouth with a handkerchief filled with an ether mixture. She immediately fell asleep. Brizio then lifted her into his arms, and carried her back to bed.

  When he laid her on the bed, asleep but gorgeous, he thought of his boss. The great Reno Gabrini. All those Gabrini men had a thing for black women. Like it was in their genes. Like they were the male version of those fucking Kardashians. And Brizio couldn’t resist. He opened that robe, to see what the jewels looked like. He knew they had to be perfect to belong to Reno.

  And it was a nice sight to behold. Taut nipples. Flat stomach. And when he opened her legs, and saw her shaved pussy, and thought about all Reno undoubtedly did to that pussy, he immediately ejaculated in his pants. He couldn’t believe it. He was never premature! But it happened. After grabbing his dick, and finishing the pleasure of it, he exhaled. Tied back up her robe. And then got to work.