Reno Gabrini: For His Lover (The Mob Boss Series Book 14) Read online

  That was why, while the gun battle ensued, Jimmy ran behind cars and anything else he could run behind, and made his way around back.

  Reno, inside the building, jumped out, only to be thrust into a gun battle of his own. He shot one guard in the lobby. Another on the stairs. And then, realizing Trina was most likely up those stairs, began heading that way.

  But he met resistance there too. Alberto Serrantz came out of an open room upstairs firing.

  Reno frowned. “Motherfuck,” he said when he saw him. He knew that guy. It was Albie. It was the dude who used to drive for and protect his old man. Now this fucker was on their team? Reno had to take cover, but made it his mission to kill that turncoat. And he did. Alberto took one in the heart, and slumped over dead against the railing.

  And then he heard the voice he had been dying to hear. “Reno?” Trina yelled. “Reno!”

  Reno ran even faster up those stairs again. He couldn’t run faster if his life depended on it. But he knew he couldn’t just bust in the room. He knew there was some trap. When he got upstairs, he got bait. He grabbed Alberto’s dead body, dragged it up to the open room, and pushed it in.

  The gunfire erupted immediately, as if the gunmen thought it was Reno himself. But Reno came in after they had nearly emptied their clips, and he rolled onto the ground firing.

  He could only take a cursory view of the room, and what he saw scared him. Zell was firing two guns his way, firing wildly and madly, while Jean Paul Cousteau was lifting Trina, and the chair her hands and feet were tied down to, over the banister. Reno knew he had to act fast. And he did.

  Zell was the first one in view, and the greatest obstacle, so he took her out. It took several shots, but he took her out.

  And then he shot Cousteau. But Cousteau had already hoisted the chair on top of the banister. When Reno shot him, he was just pushing it over.

  Reno’s heart dropped through his shoe. “Noo!” he screamed as the chair, and Trina, began falling off of the banister. Reno ran over to the banister and flung himself over, reaching as he did. But he missed everything. All he felt was air. He thought he was missing everything!

  Until, at the last possible second, he caught Trina’s ankle.

  His hand on Trina’s ankle was all that stopped her from completely going over. It stopped her midair. It stopped her from certain death. But Reno had a precarious hold. It wasn’t firm, it wasn’t tight. But he still held onto that ankle with a death grip.

  The gun battle outside was still raging on, and he could hear the gunfire. They were still defending the outside territory so that Reno could defend indoors. But that left him defenseless. He had to hold up Trina, the chair she was tied to, and her entire body weight with his one hand.

  But he held on.

  The veins of his arms felt as though they were popping, but he held on.

  “I’ve got you, baby,” he said to his wife. “You know I’ve got you!”

  But Trina was so flustered she could hardly think straight. She looked down, and saw how far her drop would be, and looked up at Reno hanging nearly completely over the banister. She knew it was no use. “Reno, don’t fall!” she begged. “The family needs you! If you can’t hold on, let go. Don’t you fall too!”

  Reno was so far over the banister that only his shoe, pushed against the under hang, prevented him from toppling over. But he wasn’t about to let go. He would die before he let go.

  “Just hang in there, baby,” he said to Tree. He was almost out of breath. “Just hang on!”

  Trina was in tears. Because she knew Reno. She knew, if Reno lost his grip, he would jump off of that banister and die with her. She knew it as certain as she knew her name. “I’ll kill you, Reno,” she yelled angrily, “if you fall too! You’ve got to let me go. Please, let me go and take care of our family! Please, Reno!”

  Jean Paul was still down, but he wasn’t dead. His daughter was dead, and she was dead at Reno’s hand. Seeing her caused him more pain than the bullet lodged in his gut. He witnessed his daughter’s death. He witnessed their entire plan go up in smoke just like his own life was about to go. The end was near and he felt it. They all were going to die at the hands of a Gabrini. First Jeneen. Then Zell. And now him.

  But he couldn’t allow it. He was a proud man. He was Jean Paul Cousteau! He could not die and let their deaths go unpunished. He couldn’t let those damn Gabrinis get away with it again!

  He began to crawl. He was bleeding, his life was leaving him, but he had to get his revenge. And he was about to get it by ending the life of two Gabrinis for the price of one.

  He saw Reno’s predicament. He saw that Reno was hanging by a thread too, just like his pitiful wife. Jean Paul was dying, and bleeding profusely, but he began moving over, toward the banister, toward where that one shoe, that expensive Italian leather shoe, was holding Reno and Trina up.

  Reno was pulling as hard as he could. His gold chain fell from around his neck. His shades clipped onto the front of his dress shirt, fell too. But not Trina. She wasn’t going to fall. He was going to pull Trina up if it killed him. And he was trying with all his might. But he didn’t have enough leverage. And he was about to lose the little he had when Jean Paul crawled to him, grabbed his shoe, and tried bitterly to push it away from the under hang.

  But Jimmy Gabrini ran into the room just as Jean Paul was succeeding in dislodging Reno’s shoe. And Jimmy shot him. He shot him repeatedly. So there could be no doubt. So there would be no second wind. Jimmy shot him dead.

  But Jimmy didn’t rest on his laurels. He saw the peril his parents were in and ran with all he had to that banister. He ran and wrapped his arms around his father. He was terrified, but he was determined. With the mighty strength of his now muscular upper body, with all the strength he had, he pulled Reno up. And Reno, with Jimmy’s help, pulled Trina, and that chair she was tied to, up and over the banister.

  All three collapsed to the floor.

  It was only then did Reno realize the gunfight outside had ended, and Nark and his driver had run into the building and was yelling up if they were okay.

  “We’re okay!” Jimmy yelled back down. “We’re okay.”

  Reno and Trina both looked at each other with that look of great terror and great relief, but then they both looked at their son.

  Reno and Trina were in tears when Reno pulled Jimmy, his hero, and Trina, and that damn chair, into his exhausted arms.

  EPILOGUE

  Reno and Trina sat in the middle of their bed, their backs against the headboard, as their children slept around them. Dommi on Reno’s lap. Sophia on Trina’s lap. And Jimmy asleep at the foot of the bed. It was nice and sunny on a Saturday afternoon, they were back home in Vegas all in one piece, and Reno knew how close they came to certain disaster.

  “When I was holding your hand,” he said to Trina, “I don’t think I’ve ever been more afraid of letting go in my life. And it wasn’t even my firmest grip. When I caught your ankle, I barely caught it. If Jimmy hadn’t come when he came . . .” Reno couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “I was so shocked to see you, and then Jimmy.” Trina smiled. “Thank God for that gut of yours.”

  Reno laughed. “It never lies,” he said.

  “But what about Cousteau? Was Jeneen Tufarna his wife?”

  “His mistress,” Reno responded. “The girl, that Zell Tufarna, was their secret love child.”

  On the trip back to Vegas, Reno told her all about that night his father killed Jeneen, and about how he, for the sake of his beloved PaLargio, didn’t turn his father in. He, instead, buried Jeneen and destroyed her will.

  “It was wrong what I did,” he said to Trina while they were on the plane heading back, “but my old man left me no choice. I wasn’t snitching on my father. And I wasn’t losing the PaLargio.”

  To his shock, Trina didn’t judge him, or think less of him. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “We’ll never lose the PaLargio,” she said firmly. “You purchased it, and it was a l
egal purchase. It’s a shame what your father did to that lady, but you didn’t do it. You were just protecting what was yours. The PaLargio is yours. That’s our children’s legacy. Nobody’s taking the PaLargio.”

  Reno stared at Trina in that moment. He stared because she never ceased to amaze him. He could have told her a long time ago, and she would have understood. In the end, when it counted, she always did.

  Now, in their bed, in their estate on the outskirts of Vegas, he placed his arm around her, even as he held onto his son. He knew the manner of woman he had. He knew how blessed he was.

  They looked at each other, and kissed passionately.

  When they stopped kissing, Reno slanted the hair strands on Trina’s forehead, and stared into her eyes. “I wish Jimmy could find a woman like you,” he said.

  “He’s trying to make it work with Val,” Trina said. “They’re still trying to pull their family back together.”

  “After what she did?” Reno asked.

  “After what he did?” Trina responded. She loved Val, and always would. “They both messed up, Reno. As hard as it is for you Gabrinis to accept that, Jimmy cheated too. They can either forgive each other and try to make it work, or divorce. But that’s up to them and them alone. I don’t want you influencing Jimmy, and I won’t influence Val. It’s up to them.”

  “Yeah, I dig that,” Reno said. “But a woman who cheats? A woman who casually mentions family business to her lover? Her ass wouldn’t be with me, that’s for sure.”

  Trina smiled in that teasing way of hers. “You don’t know if I’ve ever cheated on you before.”

  “I know,” Reno said with certainty.

  “You don’t know.”

  “I do know.”

  “How Reno?”

  “Because your ass is still alive,” Reno said. “I know.”

  Trina pushed him playfully on the arm, and he smiled. But before they could even comment further, the intercom buzzed, notifying them that someone had entered their home.

  “What now?” Trina asked, worried.

  But Reno didn’t say a word. He moved quickly. He grabbed a gun from the side of his bed, moved Dom off of his lap, and was ready to get up and defend his family. But he was baffled too. Who could have possibly penetrated all of his security? Then they heard a familiar voice.

  “Reno? Tree? Where the hell are you?” It was Sal. He was one of only a few people, including Sal’s wife Gemma, his brother Tommy, and Mick Sinatra, who had a key to their home and could enter at the gate without requiring authorization from the main house. Reno calmed back down.

  “Up here,” Trina yelled down with a relieved smile. “We’re upstairs!” And she playfully wiped her forehead.

  It sounded as if he was running up. But not only him, but another set of footsteps could be heard too.

  And then they entered the bedroom. Sal with Gemma. Dommi was already waking up, and now Jimmy was too.

  But Sal looked puzzled when he saw the family laid out. “What are yous doing in bed this time of day?” he asked, in his Sal vernacular.

  “What is your ass doing busting in our house this time of day?” Reno responded, in his Reno smartass.

  “Everything alright?” Trina asked, looking more at Gemma.

  “No,” Sal said. “It’s not alright and it couldn’t wait.”

  Reno wasn’t showing it, but his heart began to hammer. He didn’t think his heart could handle any more drama. “Then spill the beans, fool,” he said. “What happened?”

  “What’s wrong, Uncle Sal?” Jimmy asked, still groggy but awake, his heart hammering too.

  Sal suddenly started smiling so widely, and looked so thrilled, that everybody relaxed. Sal could barely contain himself. “We’re pregnant,” he said. “We’re pregnant,” he said again. “We’re going to have a baby!” he added, in case they didn’t understand his first two pronouncements.

  “Oh, yes! Yes!” Trina laid Sophia on the bed and, with a grand smile on her rested face, hurried out of bed to hug and congratulate both of them.

  Jimmy got out too, and Dom. They were just as thrilled as their mother.

  Even Reno appeared thrilled, as he gave Gemma a hug. “How do you feel?” he asked her.

  Gemma let out an exhale, and nodded. She was smiling from ear to ear too. “I’m happy, Reno,” she said. “And seeing Sal so excited? I couldn’t be happier.”

  “Tommy almost fell off his chair when I called and told him the news,” Sal said excitedly. “‘It’s about time,’ was what Tommy said to me. You could tell he was crying.”

  “And he’s right,” Reno said. “It is about time.” But then he looked at Sal. “You’re going to be somebody’s father?”

  “I know, I know,” Sal said, knowing Reno’s zingers by hard. He’d been hearing them since they were little kids. “It’s a scary thought.”

  “Actually,” Reno said seriously, and everybody looked at him, “it’s not a scary thought at all.”

  Trina smiled, and so did Gemma. It was about time Reno and Sal stopped needling each other.

  “It’s a horrifying thought,” Reno said, still in the needling business, and Sal pushed him back onto the bed.

  Reno laughed. Everybody laughed.

  And Reno and Trina looked at each other and winked. Their Sal becoming somebody’s father somehow felt magical. It felt special. It felt as if it was the best homecoming gift, after what they’d been through, that they could have ever hoped for.

  Mallory Monroe is the bestselling author of numerous titles.

  For more information on all titles, go to:

  www.mallorymonroebooks.com

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  www.austinbrookpublishing.com

  Table of Contents

  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

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  EPILOGUE