CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Quiet desperation hung over the room as Reno sat behind his office desk at the PaLargio.
Sal and Trina sat in the chairs in front of the desk, while Sal’s big brother Tommy Gabrini, who had flown in from Seattle as soon as he heard the news, was leaned against the side wall standing beside Jimmy.
Nobody said a word for several minutes because they all seemed to be in a shellshocked stupor. They just couldn’t believe it.
Until Dominic walked into that office and everybody turned and looked at him.
He had showered and changed and wore a double-breasted suit not unlike the kind favored by Sal, and he entered with his two capos at his side.
He entered, even Reno would acknowledge, looking like a boss.
That sheriff, good old boy facade was gone.
He walked in like he was the man and there was no doubt about it.
He was now that Dommi that Reno and Trina always feared he’d become.
But if his ass thought strangers were going to sit in on any conversation he had with his own son, he was grossly mistaken. “Who are they?” Reno asked Dom.
“These are my guys. After what happened, they won’t let me out of their sight.”
“That’s a good thing,” said Reno, “but their asses getting out of my office while I talk to you.”
Dommi smiled and shook his head. “You never change, Pop.” Then he looked at his capos.
“We’ll wait outside the door, Boss,” one of them said, and then both of them left the office, closing the door behind them.
“Satisfied?” Dommi asked as he walked over and stood alongside his father’s desk.
“What the hell happened, Dominic?” Sal asked him. “First they tell us you’re the new head of the Arvanatti crew. Then they tell us you were kidnapped. Why would Lolo kidnap his own guy if you’re the guy?”
“After Dolph died,” Dom said, “Lolo became the acting head of the syndicate. But everybody knew his ass was too old and too set in his ways to be the main guy. He was out of touch. He wouldn’t keep up with technology or drones or any of that shit that bosses like Scorvino uses. He didn’t have the balls for it.”
“Don’t be so quick to dismiss him,” said Sal. “Before Lolo got all those ailments, he used to hold his own. I’ve been in a few battles with him. He could hang.”
“But not anymore, Uncle Sal. That’s what I mean. And when it was time for them to name a replacement, they named me.”
“But that’s the part that makes no sense,” said Trina. “How would they even know to name you?”
Dom didn’t want to admit it. “Kasi and me used to talk. Nothing serious. But me and Mariah wasn’t working out.
This was before we got back together. But after we got back together, I lost contact with Kase.
But then her uncle Dolphus died and I went to the funeral to pay my respects.
Scorvino’s gang showed up and all kinds of crazy broke out.
They tried to take out Lolo because they figured he was the biggest domino to fall next.
I saw what was coming and I took them out before they could do their damage. ”
“How many were there?” asked Tommy.
“Six,” said Dom. “And I took out every one of those motherfuckers.”
“You’re my son,” said Reno. “How did they expect you to act? Like you were Sal’s son?”
“Fuck you, Reno!” Sal shot back.
“They were impressed,” said Dommi. “Let’s just put it that way. And that’s when the entire organization got together and decided they needed a man like me at the helm.”
“But what about your job as sheriff?” asked Reno. “You had a responsibility to that town.”
“And that’s why I still work that job. But come on, Pop. My main job was to make sure no predators tried to scam them again. And nobody even tried me that way. Other than that, my day was filled writing parking tickets and putting drunks in jail. I was bored out of my mind.”
“And now that same job is the perfect cover,” said Jimmy.
Dom nodded. “The perfect cover, yes.”
“But that still don’t answer the question,” said Reno. “Why did Lolo kidnap you and try to put it on Rats Scorvino’s gang?”
“Because it had the element of plausibility,” said Tommy.
The man known as Dapper Tom when he was nice, or Backdoor Tommy when he wasn’t, was also the brainiest of the family.
As Reno once put it, everybody else thought in black and white.
Tommy thought in shades of gray. “Scorvino’s guys put a hit on Lolo at his brother’s funeral.
Why wouldn’t they kidnap the man that thwarted that hit? ”
“Because their asses knew not to touch the son of Reno Gabrini, that’s why,” said Reno.
“And that’s what didn’t sit right with me from the start,” Sal agreed.
“Rats is a coward in the long run. That’s why they gave him that nickname years ago.
The idea that Rats Scorvino would snatch Reno’s kid didn’t make sense.
He knew the entire family would come down on his ass. He had to know that.”
“Right,” agreed Reno.
“That’s why Rats had nothing to do with my kidnapping,” said Dom. “It was Lolo all along.”
“But why?” asked Trina. “This still doesn’t make sense.”
“Lolo thought he was going to be head of the family. That’s why he didn’t cover his tracks. But when I got in, it was too late. Because the first thing I did was to bring in some guys from outside to audit the books.”
“Why would that be your first move?” Reno asked.
“Because of what Jimmy told me.”
Reno frowned. “Jimmy, you knew they made him boss and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t know any of that,” said Jimmy. “He asked me general questions. I knew something was up by the tenor of the questions, and that’s why I told you to call him. But I had no idea he was being considered as the boss of an established mob. I had no idea.”
“Go on, Dom,” said Tommy. He, like everybody in that room, needed answers.
“Jimmy said if I wanna know if a group deserved my membership I needed to follow the money. Find out where they were getting it from and what they were doing with it. And that’s why I ordered an audit.”
“What did you discover?” asked Tommy.
“Lolo was making side deals with some unsavory characters, and he was amassing a fortune. By the time of my kidnapping, I had already uncovered where he embezzled from the syndicate and put millions of dollars in his personal coffers in overseas bank accounts. When Lolo found out that I had guys snooping around, he and his underboss paid hired hands and I was snatched.”
“But why didn’t he just kill you?” asked Sal. “Why would he kidnap you and claim Rats did it?”
“Because he had to take that spotlight away from his ass and put it squarely on somebody’s else’s or you and Pops and Uncle Tommy and Uncle Mick, too, would have eventually start suspecting him.
After you bought into the idea that Scorvino was behind my kidnapping and you start killing up his crew, then he’d kill me and dump me in the river.
If I was ever found, everybody would blame Scorvino anyway.
His hands would be clean. He’d get his mob back.
And Scorvino, his main rival, will be wiped out. That was his plan.”
“That motherfucker,” said Reno.
But Trina was just concerned. She looked at her son. “Are you’re certain you want to go down that road, Dommi? Did you just listen to yourself? It’s a road paved with blood and you know it.”
But Dom seemed unmoved by her passionate plea.
“It’s paved with blood,” he said, “and it’s in my blood.
I need that excitement. I need that adrenalin rush.
” He nodded his head. “I’ve tried everything else.
This is the only thing that keeps me going.
I was working for Uncle Sal, but he was too protective of me.
I was working for Uncle Mick, but shit he had Nikki over me.
A girl over me! I’ve been mob-adjacent my whole life, and she shows up and because Uncle Mick likes her big-ass and big-ass titties, or whatever it is he just loves about Nikki, he put her over me.
Cousin Teddy might have been able to handle that shit, but I couldn’t.
But the Arvanatti crime family was the only organization that was willing to give me complete control.
And that’s what I am. A complete control guy.
Nobody’s running me anymore. So yeah, Ma. I’m certain. This is what I want.”
“That Arvanatti family are running drugs,” Reno said. “You gonna keep that up?”
Dommi looked his father dead in his eyes. “I’m gonna say it like Uncle Mick says it: That’s my business.”
Reno jumped up from his chair, lunged at his son, and punched him so hard that Dommi fell on his ass. He proved that Dommi might have changed overnight and now looked like a boss to be reckoned with, but he was no Mick Sinatra.
He stood over his son. “Is it still your business, motherfucker?” he yelled at him. “Is it still your business?!”
Tommy and Jimmy were looking at Trina to see what she was going to do about it. Would she scold Reno for going too hard at Dom? Or would she agree with Reno?
She agreed with Reno. “Get your ass up,” she said to Dommi.
“Talking about Mick Sinatra. Your ass ain’t no Mick Sinatra.
Ain’t no Teddy Sinatra either. Teddy would have gotten back up as soon as he got hit and then he would have told Mick a thing or two.
” She looked hard at Dommi who, it seemed to her, wanted to cry. “What are you gonna do?”
Dommi was pissed, but he slowly got back up. But he did not tell Reno a thing or two. He knew what his father was capable of. He wanted to live.
“See what I mean?” said Trina. “You can handle the bad guys. You proved that at that funeral by taking out six men single-handedly. I’ve seen what you can do, Dommi.
But how are you gonna handle the people in your corner like your men outside this door?
How are you gonna handle them if you can’t even stand up to your own father?
They’ll size you up and cut you down to size, boy, if you aren’t careful. ”