CHAPTER FOUR
Salvatore Luciano Gabrini, Junior, called Lucky by everybody who knew him, opened the tall front door of decorative glass just as Reno was walking up the steps. “Hello Uncle Reno. You look like . . .”
Reno waited for him to finish his sentence. But he didn’t. He just looked at Reno’s wild hair and wrinkled suit. “I look like what?” he asked him as he climbed the steps.
But Lucky was diplomatic if he was anything. He decided to change the subject. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”
“I didn’t either,” Reno said as he entered the house.
“When gate security told me you were on the property, I was hoping Carmine was with you.”
“Carmine? What would he be with me for?”
Lucky didn’t know how to answer that question. He was with his father many times. Mainly because his mother insisted on it. But he didn’t see where a son being with his father was unusual. “I was just wondering,” he said. “Where is he anyway?”
Reno realized he had no idea where his youngest son was. “He should be home.”
“I’ll call him then,” Lucky said as he closed the front door.
“Your mom home?”
“No sir. She’s still at work. She’s the lead counsel on this big civil lawsuit that starts tomorrow. She and her co-counsels may spend the night at the office. Dad had an apartment built at her office building for nights like these. Clever idea, wasn’t it?”
“Hell no. Who wants their wife staying at some office building all night long? She needs to take her ass home. What about Marie and the baby? Where they at?”
“Uncle Reno it’s late. They’re both asleep.”
“Since it’s so late why aren’t you sleep?”
“I will be soon.”
“What about your father? He’s sleep too?”
“He’s in his office.”
Reno began heading in that direction.
“But I don’t think he wants to be disturbed.”
“Tough,” Reno said as he made his way down the hall. When he got to the office door, he didn’t bother to knock. He walked on in.
Sal Gabrini was stretched out on his office sofa, fully clothed in his double-breasted suit, with his Ferragamo dress shoes perched on the bottom arm of the sofa, fast asleep.
Reno stood in the doorway, staring at Sal, wondering if he should even tell him.
Nobody wanted to relive that shit. But he had to tell somebody.
And Tommy, his usual confidant, was in Seattle.
But how would Sal take it, he wondered as he continued to linger at the door.
“If your ass coming in, come in,” Sal said with his eyes seemingly still closed. “Otherwise get away from my door.”
Reno decided in that moment to walk on in and close his door behind him. Then he put both hands in his pockets and made his way to the sofa.
When he sat on the edge of the sofa beside his cousin, Sal completely opened his eyes. First he saw Reno’s hair. Then his unshaven face. And then his suit. “You look like you haven’t slept in days.”
“It feels that way,” Reno responded as he leaned forward and ran both hands through his already messy hair.
“And when is it fashionable to come to a man’s house this time of night anyway? It’s almost midnight, Reno.” But Sal could tell something was horribly wrong. “Where you been?”
“Out.”
“Out doing what?”
“Searching.”
Sal found that an odd response. “Searching for whom?”
Reno was about to respond, but then he looked at Sal. “For whom?”
“Carmine said you’re supposed to say whom. But fuck that. Who your ass searching for?”
Reno took a long exhale, and then he looked back at Sal. “Lydia.”
At first Sal just stared at Reno. And then he sat straight up. “The fuck you say!”
“I saw her tonight, Sal.”
“Where?”
“At Canteen. That restaurant.”
“What did she say?”
“She didn’t say anything. As soon as we made eye contact, she darted inside the joint. I went in after her, but I couldn’t find her.”
Sal was doubtful. “How many drinks did you have, Reno?”
Reno frowned. “What are you talking? I wasn’t drunk!”
“How many?”
“None! I didn’t have any drinks.”
“And you’re certain it was her?”
As much as Reno hated to admit it, he nodded. “It was her.”
“Shit. Was he with her?”
“I didn’t see him. But if she’s in town, I guarantee you he is too.”
“Damn.” Sal flung his shoes off of the sofa and sat beside Reno. Then he looked at him. “What are you gonna do about it?”
“I don’t know yet. I gotta find her first.” Then Reno leaned back. “Why did this have to happen now? I’m not up for this bullshit now.”
“Who’s ever up for it? But you’d better get up for it. That bitch don’t fuck around.”
Reno looked at Sal. “What was the last you heard about her?”
Sal had to think about it. “Last I heard she was doing time in upstate New York on some tax evasion fraud kind of shit. But that was like . . . eight-nine years ago.”
“She might have just gotten out.”
“But why would she come here?”
“You know why. I wouldn’t let her ass take the PaLargio away from me. She never got over that.”
Sal looked at Reno suspiciously. “That ain’t the only reason she never got over it.”
“It was business. I would have buttered-up a serial killer if at the end of the day I walked away with the PaLargio in my control and my control only. Lydia knew that.”
“I told you about playing with these young girls’ hearts. And man did you play with hers.”
Reno leaned up. “That can’t be it. She’s as ruthless as I am. She knew it was business. She knew what I was up to.”
“If she knows all that like you claim, then why are you sitting in my house at damn-near midnight looking like your world is about to come crashing down?”
A dreaded look appeared on Reno’s face. “I think she knows, Sal. I think she knows about that other thing.”
Sal’s look suddenly changed. “But how would she?”
“I don’t know! But it has to be that. Why else would she see me and then make a run for it the way she did? Why can’t I find her ass anywhere if it was just that old business bullshit? She’s no sentimentalist. Her ass don’t care nothing about no heartbreaks.”
“But she cares about that other thing,” Sal said. Then a distressed look appeared on his handsome face. “But Reno, if that’s true . . .” He shook his head. Then he looked at Reno again. “Have you told Trina?”
“Hell no!” Reno jumped up and began pacing the floor. “There’s no way she can ever find out anything about that ever, Sal. And I mean that.”
“You stood by Trina when she told you about that mess she was involved in. She’ll stand by you.”
“I don’t want her to stand by me. Are you joking? I wouldn’t be able to look her in the face if she found out. I’ll take out Lydia and fifty more like her before Trina finds out. I’ll take out myself before Trina finds out.”
It was Sal’s turn to exhale and lean back. But then Reno just stood there. Thinking. “Something happened tonight,” he said.
Sal looked at him. “You mean other than seeing Lydia?”
“It was at the restaurant. I ran back into the restaurant to try and find Lydia. Trina was at the valet station still waiting on her car. A drunk driver got behind the wheel of his car and drove straight for Trina.”
Sal was astounded. “What?” He sat upright.
“If some random guy wasn’t out there and was able to shove Trina out of the way, she would have been . . . She wouldn’t have made it, Sal.”
“And you think Lydia had something to do with it?”
Reno was shaking his head. “No. The guy was skunk drunk. First chance I got I ran to that motherfucker ready to take his ass out. But he was already passed out. He couldn’t even stand up. The cops said he had to be at least six times the legal limit.”
“But still, Reno.”
“I know. It’s a possibility. Especially since Lydia just so happened to show up, take my attention away from Trina because she knew I was gonna run after her ass, and then the accident happens.
I get it. It’s a possibility. But that ain’t Lydia’s style.
Her games don’t be rational like that. That’s too easy. ”
Sal nodded. “I agree.” Then he thought about it. “But …”
Sal didn’t finish his thought. “But what?”
“I don’t get it, Reno. What are you doing at my house right now? Your wife nearly died tonight, if what you’re saying happened like you said it happened, but you would rather go out searching for Lydia than comforting Tree?”
“Absolutely,” Reno said without hesitation. “Because if Lydia’s in town because of that other thing then none of us are gonna have any comfort. Least of which Trina if she finds out.”
It was a startling admission, but Sal knew it was true too. He stood up. “I’ll call Robby and order him to get every available man on the search. And you need to do the same with your guys.”
“No, no, no, Sal! We can’t rope anybody in on this. Are you nuts? Nobody knows but you, me, and Tommy, and we’ve got to keep it that way. You can’t even tell Robby. And you damn as sure can’t tell Gemma. She’ll run straight to Trina.”
Sal exhaled. He knew it too. “So what you want me to do?”
“Sit tight for right now. Let me make some more phone calls. I got the widest net of any human being here in Vegas. Somebody knows something they can tell me. Especially for a price. And I’m putting a hefty one on the line for intel on her ass.
I’ll find out if she’s doing her own bidding, or if she’s in town on his behalf. ”
“Don’t let it be on his behalf. Because if that motherfucker is involved,” Sal added as he shook his head, “it’s going to be horrific.”
Reno leaned his head back. He knew. Better than anybody alive, he knew.
But when silence took over the office, Lucky, who was listening at the door outside of the office, hurried back to the living room.
And he was right to rush because within seconds Reno came out of the office and made his way for the front door.
Lucky was lounged on the sofa strolling down his phone as if he’d never left the spot. “Leaving already Uncle Reno?” he asked when he saw Reno darting for the exit.
“Yep.”
“Tell Carmine I said hello.”
“Tell him yourself,” Reno said and walked out on.
Lucky laughed. But his laughter turned into concern after what he overheard his uncle and father talking about.
Because he had so many questions: Who’s Lydia?
What did they mean by the other thing? And who was this guy that two of the strongest and most powerful men in the world would be fearful of encountering again? What was that all about?
But as Reno got into his Bentley, he wasn’t trying to answer anybody else’s questions because he had too many of his own. He drove trying to figure out an answer for every single question.
He wasn’t a mile away from Sal’s house when he was alerted of a new text message. He pressed the button on his infotainment screen, and when he saw that the message was from Lydia, he immediately pulled over to the side of the road. And read it:
We need to meet. Come to Boyzie’s tomorrow. 5pm. Just you. I have news about a certain secret. If you don’t show up alone, you’ll never hear the news. Until it’s too late.
And she signed it L with a broken heart emoji. Which was the way she always signed off even when her heart wasn’t broken. That was Lydia.
But her text confirmed Reno’s worst fear. She knew something about that other thing. She couldn’t possibly know the whole story: Nobody knew that but Reno. But she knew something. Even a part of a horror story was still a horror.
“Damn, damn, damn!” Reno was so angry that he punched his steering wheel, triggering his car alarm.
He was so outdone that he leaned back against the headrest, and just let it blare.