Reno Gabrini: A Family Affair Read online

  RENO GABRINI

  A FAMILY AFFAIR

  By

  MALLORY MONROE

  Copyright©2015 Mallory Monroe

  All rights reserved. Any use of the materials contained in this book without the expressed written consent of the author and/or her affiliates, including scanning, uploading and downloading at file sharing and other sites, and distribution of this book by way of the Internet or any other means, is illegal and strictly prohibited.

  AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING

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  THE AUTHOR AND AUSTIN BROOK PUBLISHING.

  This novel is a work of fiction. All characters are fictitious. Any similarities to anyone living or dead are completely accidental. The specific mention of known places or venues are not meant to be exact replicas of those places, but are purposely embellished or imagined for the story’s sake.

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  INTERRACIAL ROMANCE SERIES

  BY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  MALLORY MONROE:

  THE SINATRAS OF JERICHO COUNTY

  SERIES IN ORDER:

  BIG DADDY SINATRA

  THERE WAS A RUTHLESS MAN

  BOOK ONE

  BIG DADDY SINATRA 2

  IF I CAN’T HAVE YOU

  BIG DADDY SINATRA 3

  THE BEST OF MY LOVE

  BRENT SINATRA

  ALL OF ME

  MICK SINATRA

  FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE

  BOOK ONE

  MICK SINATRA

  LOVE, LIES, AND JERICHO

  BOOK TWO

  MICK SINATRA

  HIS LADY, HIS CHILDREN, AND SAL

  BOOK THREE

  THE PRESIDENT’S GIRLFRIEND

  SERIES IN ORDER:

  THE PRESIDENT’S GIRLFRIEND

  THE PRESIDENT’S GIRLFRIEND 2:

  HIS WOMEN AND HIS WIFE

  DUTCH AND GINA:

  A SCANDAL IS BORN

  DUTCH AND GINA:

  AFTER THE FALL

  DUTCH AND GINA:

  THE POWER OF LOVE

  DUTCH AND GINA:

  THE SINS OF THE FATHERS

  DUTCH AND GINA:

  WHAT HE DID FOR LOVE

  FOR THE LOVE OF GINA

  BOOK EIGHT

  THE MOB BOSS SERIES

  IN ORDER:

  ROMANCING THE MOB BOSS

  MOB BOSS 2:

  THE HEART OF THE MATTER

  MOB BOSS 3:

  LOVE AND RETRIBUTION

  MOB BOSS 4:

  ROMANCING TRINA GABRINI

  A MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS:

  THE PREGNANCY

  (Mob Boss 5)

  MOB BOSS 6:

  THE HEART OF RENO GABRINI

  RENO’S GIFT

  BOOK 7

  RENO GABRINI:

  A MAN IN FULL

  BOOK 8

  RENO AND TRINA:

  GETTING BACK TO LOVE

  BOOK 9

  RENO AND SON:

  DON’T MESS WITH JIM

  BOOK 10

  MOB BOSS ELEVEN

  THE WRONG ONE

  BOOK 11

  RENO AND TRINA

  IN THE SHADOWS OF LOVE

  BOOK 12

  THE GABRINI MEN SERIES

  IN ORDER:

  ROMANCING TOMMY GABRINI

  ROMANCING SAL GABRINI

  TOMMY GABRINI 2:

  A PLACE IN HIS HEART

  SAL GABRINI 2:

  A WOMAN’S TOUCH

  TOMMY GABRINI 3:

  GRACE UNDER FIRE

  SAL GABRINI 3:

  HARD LOVE

  SAL GABRINI 4:

  I’LL TAKE YOU THERE

  TOMMY GABRINI 4:

  DAPPER TOM BEGIN AGAIN

  SAL GABRINI 5:

  UNTIL YOU COME BACK TO ME

  SAL GABRINI 6:

  HIS HOUSE OF CARDS

  ADDITIONAL BESTSELLING

  INTERRACIAL ROMANCE

  FROM MALLORY MONROE:

  DANIEL’S GIRL (ROMANCING AN OLDER MAN)

  ROMANCING MO RYAN

  ROMANCING HER PROTECTOR

  ROMANCING THE BULLDOG

  INTERRACIAL ROMANCE

  FROM

  BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  KATHERINE CACHITORIE:

  LOVERS AND TAKERS

  LOVING HER SOUL MATE

  LOVING THE HEAD MAN

  SOME CAME DESPERATE:

  A LOVE SAGA

  ADDITIONAL BESTSELLING

  INTERRACIAL ROMANCE:

  A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP

  YVONNE THOMAS

  AND

  BACK TO HONOR:

  A REGGIE REYNOLDS

  ROMANTIC MYSTERY

  JT WATSON

  ROMANTIC FICTION

  FROM

  AWARD-WINNING

  AND

  BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  TERESA MCCLAIN-WATSON

  DINO AND NIKKI:

  AFTER REDEMPTION

  AND

  AFTER WHAT YOU DID

  Visit

  www.mallorymonroebooks.com

  for updates and more information on all of her titles.

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  EPILOGUE

  PROLOGUE

  Iceman Nelson lifted the crowbar as if it were a golf club, brought it down with a wide swing, and slammed it across the back of Reno Gabrini. Reno fell to his knees.

  “You think this is some kind of fucking joke?” Ice was angrier now. “You think I’m playing with your ass? Where is that bitch, Gabrini? Where’s Trina? Tell me where we can find her, my men will secure her, and you’ll live. Keep pulling this silent shit on me, and you’re a dead man. And guess what? She’s going to be dead too because I will find her. No matter how long it takes, I will find her.” He slammed the crowbar across Reno’s back again. “Talk, motherfucker. Talk!”

  Reno flinched in pain, but he didn’t say a word. His eyes were swelling, his stomach had been beaten so badly that it felt as if it was churned into raw hamburger meat, and his hands and legs were chain-shackled together as if he was their legal prisoner, not their illegal captive.

  But he kept his eyes, not on the two flunkies flanking their boss, but on the boss himself. He kept his eyes on the Iceman. And all he could think about was how much pain he was going to inflict on that bastard when he got out of this fix. But it was a hell of a fix. He was in chains, he had been worked over ever since they nabbed him: he was in trouble. And what Ice wanted him to give was the one thing Reno Gabrini would never give.

  They were on a bridge that shut down in the middle of construction years ago, and now led to nowhere on a backroad nobody traveled anymore. But the Iceman was getting tired of this useless exercise. He knew Reno would be a handful. He knew
he was a strong man who wouldn’t bend easily. But he wasn’t bending at all.

  “All you have to do,” Ice said, “is turn her over. You give me Trina, and I’ll give you life. No Trina, no life.” Then he lifted that crowbar again and slammed it across Reno’s back again. Reno bend down in pain again, but he didn’t bow. “I’m not fucking you with, Gabrini!” the Iceman yelled. “You think I’m fucking with you?”

  But Reno wasn’t fucking with him either. And that undeniable fact was already painfully obvious to the two ex-cons on that bridge with Iceman: Copperton Pechetti and Ridge McCumberland. They knew Gabrini wasn’t like them. They’d give up their wives, sisters and brothers without batting an eye if it would save their own lives. But they knew Reno Gabrini wasn’t cut from the same gangster rags they were cut from. Reno wasn’t giving up shit.

  A van drove up on the bridge and parked behind the SUV. Mike Rawls got out from behind the wheel and gave the thumbs up. Pechetti looked from the van to Ice. “It’s time to raise the stakes,” he said. “It’s time for plan B.”

  Speaking up like that was a risk and Pechetti knew it. Ice was a very unpredictable man. But it had to be said. It was their trump card, and it was time to play it.

  Ice looked back, saw that the van had arrived, and gave the okay. Pechetti then nodded to Mike Rawls. As Rawls walked around to the back of the van, Ice motioned for McCumberland to stand Reno back up. Pechetti stood Reno back onto his wobbly feet.

  “You’re a tough guy, Gabrini,” Ice said. “I give credit where credit is due. But I’m tough too. And your chance of getting out of this alive just changed dramatically.”

  As soon as he uttered those words, Rawls came from behind the van carrying a pretty little biracial girl in his arms. Reno’s vision was blurred from the beatings, and he knew a beat down could promote hallucinations, but when he saw that little girl he knew it was no mirage. His eyes stretched so wide they seemed to fill the sockets. He’d recognize his child anywhere! But how could they have Sophie? How could this be?

  “That’s right, Reno,” Ice said with a smile. “I’ve got your little girl.”

  Reno’s heart dropped like a lump of steel. “Nooo!” he roared. “Nooo!” He started moving side to side, like a caged animal. “Nooo!”

  When Sophia heard her father’s cry, and saw him on that bridge, she began wiggling and squirming to get out of the brute’s arms. “Daddy!” she began to cry, her little arms outstretched. “Daddy!”

  “Give me Trina or the baby bitch is dead,” Ice warned as the brute ran with Sophia to the railing. When he dangled her small body across the rail on the highest peak of the bridge, Reno’s heart stopped.

  “Where’s Trina?” Ice asked, unconcerned with Reno’s sudden distress. “Where did you take her? I’m not parting this world until you give her to me!”

  Reno looked at his daughter as she struggled hard against the brute’s grip. She looked down at the roaring waters beneath her small body, and fought even harder.

  “Okay,” Reno said. “Okay! Pull her back and I’ll tell you everything you need to know.” And he was going to tell. Not the truth of Trina’s location, he could never tell that. But he had to give them enough to buy Sophie some time. They were going to kill him once they realized he was lying to them, but at least he would have more time!

  Ice lifted his arm for Mike to pull Sophia back. But Sophia was wiggling and squirming so hard in Mike’s arms that he lost his grip. And to Reno’s utter shock, to Pechetti and McCumberland’s shock too, Sophia began slipping out of Mike’s arms before he could reel her back in. Reno was screaming, he was crawling out of his skin as he saw his child reach out grabbing, but only grabbing at air, as she fell away from Mike’s grasp. As she fell.

  Reno’s heart stopped.

  And the silence became pure panic. “No, you stupid fuck!” Pechetti was yelling as he ran toward Mike. Ice looked too.

  “He dropped her!” McCumberland yelled. “That idiot dropped her!” They were both amazed at what they were witnessing.

  But Reno didn’t have the luxury of being amazed. He was too concerned with saving his child’s life to be paralyzed with fear. It was now or never. It was his life for hers. It was no debate!

  Reno tore away from his distracted captors and slammed his muscular body against the rail as hard as he could. The pain of that slam was so excruciating it nearly took his breath away, but it was enough to give his body the lift it needed. And with that lift he propelled himself high over the rail, and fell in too. He was falling from the bridge just as his daughter was falling into the river, and going under.

  Pechetti and McCumberland pulled out their guns and began firing shot after shot at Reno. Even though they knew their chance of finding their real target, Katrina Gabrini, was going up in smoke with every round, they also knew they had no choice. They just killed the daughter. Reno Gabrini’s daughter! An alive Reno Gabrini, with vengeance on his mind, was far more dangerous to them than a dead Reno Gabrini. They still would have Sal and Tommy Gabrini to contend with, and they didn’t even want to think about Mick the Tick. But at least they wouldn’t have to worry about Reno.

  But Ice was worried about Trina. While they fired those shots, he ran toward the SUV. He knew Reno’s state. He knew Reno was not only shackled, but was falling into a raging river. No man could get out of a hell like that alive.

  That was why, as Reno’s shackled body hit the waters hard, and submerged beneath them just as his daughter had done, Ice got in that SUV, turned around, and took off. He didn’t give a fuck about Reno. He had to find Trina. She got away from him once, but never again!

  His men were running too, for the van, as if they realized Reno’s fate was already sealed and they were shooting at a dead man. Reno was in that river. His daughter was in that river. It was over.

  But the waters beneath that bridge ripped and roared even more violently, splashing and crashing against themselves in thunderous claps, as if it was only the beginning; as if even those waters knew the power of the cargo they now possessed.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Two Weeks Earlier

  “You know what they say,” one of the inebriated guests said as he leaned toward the others. “When the cat’s away, the mice will play!” He laughed when he said it, meaning nothing more than what he meant, but it seemed like a fateful thing to say to a man looking for an excuse. Jimmy Mack Gabrini was looking for an excuse.

  It was two o’clock in the morning, the casino was jumping, and Jimmy was ready to take the plunge. But he was antsy. His father, Reno Gabrini, was in the casino. And although Reno already had a crowd around him, mainly hotel guests from middle America who were fascinated that they could actually have an audience with the owner of their favorite casino, Jimmy knew slipping away wasn’t going to be as easy as walking away. Not that he was some kid. He was a grown ass man in his twenties. But his father still kept him under tight control.

  Like last week. Jimmy left his post, for half an hour tops, just to have a drink with a few friends passing through town. When Reno got wind of it, he nearly kicked Jimmy’s ass when he tracked him down, embarrassing him in front of his friends, and ordered him back to work. Jimmy knew why he was doing it. He was Reno Gabrini’s son and Reno had too many enemies. He kept close tabs on all of their whereabouts. But that didn’t make Jimmy’s life any easier.

  Now Jimmy was looking to do more than have a drink with friends, and he knew he had to be careful. His father was sitting in a swivel chair near one of the crap tables, with his back to the table, and Jimmy was standing at his side. What Jimmy loved about his father was the way he put people at ease, but kept them on edge at the same time. It was a fantastic feat to Jimmy. The people felt comfortable around Reno, but Jimmy could also see their reticence, as if they feared his father could turn on them at any moment and they needed to stay on guard. Reno was an old school Italian, big and muscular, even sexier than he was handsome, and filled the room with his outsized personality and oozing test
osterone that put all other males to shame. He was admired by men, including Jimmy. And he had a captive audience.

  But as Reno mesmerized the crowd with stories of how he acquired the PaLargio Hotel and Casino all those years ago, adding his own embellishments for dramatic effect, Jimmy knew an opening when he saw one. As his father continued his amazing story, and his audience remained captive, Jimmy eased behind him until he was away from his father’s peripheral vision, and then eased out of the casino section of the PaLargio altogether.

  He hurried to the lobby of the hotel section of the PaLargio, where his man Finn was waiting at the elevator. He’d been waiting for nearly ten minutes, and appeared super-nervous to Jimmy. A small crowd had assembled to get on the elevator too. But Finn, a short black man and one of Jimmy’s closest friends, pushed past the crowd and hurried to the back of the pack as Jimmy approached. “What took you so long?” he quickly asked.

  “I couldn’t just walk out,” Jimmy responded. “Keep your shirt on!”

  “I just don’t want her to leave.”

  “So you did it?” Jimmy asked.

  “Hell yeah I did it,” Finn said, and handed Jimmy Mack the keycard. “I told you I would, didn’t I? But what about your old man? I hear he’s making the rounds. He’ll beat your ass and fire me on top of it, if he finds out.”