CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
As Reno sat straight back in the private waiting room, with his face appearing zombie-like because he seemed so zoned out, Sal Gabrini was in a state of near-rage.
On his phone and pacing the floor, he was chewing out his underboss for making half-ass moves he didn’t tell him to make.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what they’re working on,” he yelled into the phone.
“I don’t care where they’re located across this entire country.
I want every single one of my men on this particular matter and nothing else.
I want them pounding pavements. I want them working the phones.
I want every single one of those usual suspect motherfuckers lined up and interrogated like we’re the fucking police!
Do you hear me, Robby? No stones unturned. None!”
As Sal continued to scream his point to Robby Yale on the other end of that phone call, the door to the waiting room opened, prompting Reno and Sal to look in that direction. But it wasn’t the doctors coming in. Or even a nurse. It was Jimmy walking in with Sophia and Carmine at his side.
When they saw their father, Sophia and her baby brother ran to him. Both of them were crying. Both of them were terrified.
When Reno saw his two youngest children running to him, he opened his arms and grabbed them both, one on either side of him, and held them tightly. He knew the news of their mother’s shooting had devastated them. He knew what they were going through.
He looked at Jimmy. Though Jimmy was playing the role of big brother and doing all he could to keep it together for his younger siblings’ sakes, Reno could see the agony in his eyes. Jimmy was devastated as well.
Sal saw it too. “I’ll call you back,” he said to Robby and ended the call.
And while Reno comforted Soph and Carmine, Sal went to Jimmy and hugged him.
Which Reno appreciated. Because that was the hardest part for Reno: Knowing that his children had to go through this hellishness too.
Jimmy wasn’t Trina’s biological son, but he loved his stepmother dearly.
They were like best friends. Reno knew James was hurting just as badly as Sophia and Carmine were.
Although Jimmy was closer to Sal’s big brother Tommy now because he worked for Tommy, there was a time when Sal and Jimmy were thick as thieves.
And they still remained close. As Sal held his nephew, he was fighting back tears just like Reno was.
He couldn’t believe it when Reno called him.
And when he heard it in more salacious details on CNN during his drive to the hospital, with them making a point of saying how Reno Gabrini’s wife was in some seedy motel room with another dude, and how they both were shot multiple times, it just made no sense.
And that damn hospital staff was lame too, if you asked Sal.
They came in often enough with updates alright.
But it was all the same: she’s still in surgery.
That was all they said. That was all they knew.
And that was the hardest part of all. The not knowing if she was going to pull through made a horrible situation that much worse.
“Where’s Auntie?” Jimmy asked Sal when they stopped embracing.
“She was in court and the courthouse doorkeepers wouldn’t let my guys interrupt the proceedings.
So they have to wait until it’s over for them to give her the word.
Which pissed me off. Like I got a bunch of wussies working for me.
They’d better be glad I wasn’t at that courthouse.
Oh she would have gotten the word,” Sal assured Jimmy. “Bet that!”
Then he calmed back down. “But she’ll be over as soon as she can get here. Trina’s not just her business partner, but her friend. She’ll be here,” Sal was saying when the door opened again, and Mick walked in.
Which surprised all of them. Except for Sophia.
“Uncle Mick? How did you get here so fast?” Sal asked. He had only just phoned him half an hour ago.
“He was already in town,” Sophia said. “He came to see Mommy earlier today.”
Reno was surprised to hear it. Sal was too. “You saw Trina?” Reno asked him.
“How is she?” Mick asked as he made his way further into the waiting room.
“She’s still in surgery is all we know,” said Sal. “But I thought Roz said you guys were going on vacation in Italy. What are you doing in Vegas and nobody knew about it except for Tree?”
Mick was still horrified about what happened, and felt guilty that he didn’t get to Javon Douglas fast enough before Trina would have met up with him. It was a sinking feeling in his gut. And he knew all this shit had to come out. “She asked me to come,” he said.
Which was an answer that made no sense either. “Why would Tree ask you to come to Vegas?” Reno asked him.
He looked at the children. Jimmy and Sophia were grown, and although Carmine was young in years, he was not young at all in intellect. He decided they could handle the truth. “She was being blackmailed,” he said.
If shocked was a face, it would be everybody in that room’s face except for Mick’s. They were all dumbstruck. “Blackmailed?” asked Reno. “By who?”
“By whom,” said Carmine, correcting his father.
“Shut up, Carmine,” said Sophia. “Who was blackmailing Ma, Uncle Mick?” she asked.
“That’s what I was looking into. I flew to Reno, Nevada, where Javon Douglas lives, but he wasn’t there.
I talked with people that knew him, but they knew nothing about his whereabouts or what he was up to involving anybody nearly seven hours away in Vegas.
They didn’t fuck with Vegas, was what they all were telling me.
So I got nothing from them. I even called Trina to see if she’d heard from him, but she didn’t answer. ”
A strained look appeared on Mick’s face. They all could see that Trina’s shooting had even affected his normally stoic self too. And it suddenly reminded Reno and Sal how Mick once had a thing for Trina. They could see him doing a special favor for her.
“I was flying back to Vegas when Sal called me and told me what happened. I landed and came right over.” Then he looked at Reno specifically. “I take it she didn’t tell you?”
Reno was confused. “That she was being blackmailed? Hell no, she didn’t tell me anything about that.”
Mick looked at Sal.
“You know if she didn’t tell Reno, she wasn’t about to tell me.”
“But what I don’t understand is why did she tell you?” Reno asked Mick. “And what does Javon Douglas have to do with Trina being blackmailed?”
Then it dawned on Reno. “Was he the one blackmailing her? Was that why they were in that motel?”
Mick quickly shook his head. “He was supposedly the middleman. They knew he knew Trina’s secrets and therefore they used him to get the word to her. Trina insists he’s not involved. But I don’t know that yet.”
But Reno was still confused. “What secrets?” he asked Mick.
“She was supposed to tell you. I take it she didn’t.”
“No. But tell me what?” Reno asked, and everybody looked at Mick.
But Mick placed his hands in his pockets and exhaled.
“She was going to tell me, but I knew she was going to put her own spin on it, so I didn’t wanna hear that shit coming from her.
I told her to tell you. She should have told you a long time ago.
But as for me, I wanted to hear it straight from the middleman.
I wanted to hear it straight from Javon Douglas first because I knew I could torture his ass and get the truth out of him. ”
Jimmy quickly jumped up. No way were his siblings hearing that mob shit he hated with a passion. “Sophia and Carmine, let’s go downstairs and get something to eat.”
“But I’m not hungry, Jimmy,” Sophia said.
“Tough,” said Sal. “Do what Jimmy says.”
Sophia looked at Reno. “Daddy, do I have to?”
Reno looked at her as if she was insane. “Your big brother told you to get your ass out of here. Your Uncle Sal told you to get your ass out of here. What do you think you have to do?”
“Get her ass out of here,” said Carmine, which caused Mick to almost smile.
He had his eyes on that young man the same way he once had his eyes on Dominic.
Not that he had ever wanted either one of them to step foot anywhere near the mob.
He didn’t. It was a tough life. But to Mick people were who they were, and you couldn’t go against that.
And Carmine, if he had to bet his life on it, was one day going to be a bigger boss than he was. And even more vicious.
“I know you’re hurting,” Reno said to his daughter. “I am too. We all are. But get your ass out of here and do whatever Jimmy tells you to do. You understand me? He’s only looking out for your best interest because right now I’m in no position to look out for anybody.”
A pained look came over Reno’s face and Sophia could feel her father’s pain.
And she was ashamed for adding to it. “Ma’s gonna be alright, Daddy,” she said, and hugged him.
She knew how much her father loved her mother even if the world didn’t think so.
Then she stood up and she and Carmine headed for the exit.
Carmine, feeling sorry for his big sister, held her hand.
But Reno wanted full protection for his children. “How many men do you have outside of this door, Sal?”
“Five.”
“Have four of them go with my children,” he said.
Sal got up and followed the children to the door. He gave the order for four of his capos to blanket Jimmy, Soph, and Carmine. He knew it didn’t take that many. Three tops, one each, would more than do the trick. But he knew Reno was too scared to leave anything to chance.
Then Sal came back inside and closed the door behind him. He went and sat next to Reno. “So the bottom line,” he said to Mick, “is that you don’t know anything either.”
“Other than the fact that somebody was blackmailing her again and that their ask was astronomical.”
“Wait what?” asked Reno. “What do you mean blackmailing her again? This happened before?”