Mob Boss Eleven- The Wrong One (The Mob Boss Series Book 11) Read online

  Reno’s desk intercom buzzed. “Excuse me, Mr. Gabrini,” his secretary said, “but a Miss Faye Greenwood is here to see you.”

  Reno looked so stunned that it caught Trina’s attention. “Who is she?” she asked.

  “Send her in,” Reno said into the intercom. “Somebody I used to know,” he said to Trina.

  “Business or personal?”

  Reno hesitated only briefly. “Personal.”

  “Why are you so stunned?”

  “I haven’t seen her in a while.”

  The door opened. “What’s a while?” Trina asked.

  “Years,” Reno said. And when a tall, beautiful blonde entered his office, he smiled as soon as he saw her. “Well hello there!”

  The tall blonde smiled too. “Hope I’m not disturbing anything.”

  “Come in!”

  Faye closed the door and headed for Reno’s desk. She was gorgeous, Trina noticed, but also older than Reno. Perhaps a decade older.

  “You didn’t expect to see me today, now did you?” Faye asked with a grin.

  “Not today,” Reno said. “Not any day. I didn’t think you frequented Vegas anymore.”

  “You mean after you dumped me?” Then she finally made it up to the desk, and looked at Trina. “You must be Mrs. Gabrini.”

  “Yes, this is my wife,” Reno said. “Trina, meet Faye Greenwood. An old friend.”

  Trina reached over and shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Greenwood.”

  “Faye. Please,” Faye said as they shook.

  “And Katrina,” Trina said.

  “So you’re the lucky lady.” Faye said this and then looked Trina over carefully, from top to bottom, but offered no compliment. Reno caught the slight and placed his hand around Trina’s waist.

  “So what do you need, Faye?” he asked. “What’s up?”

  “Nothing’s up. And I don’t need anything. I wanted to see you again. It’s been a while.”

  Reno wasn’t buying it. “Why all of a sudden?” he asked.

  “Sudden?”

  “It’s been years, Faye.”

  “I know how long it’s been. You were out all night with Katrina, as I later found out her name. You came back to the penthouse, and I was waiting for you. You respected me enough back then to tell me the truth about where you were, and I didn’t argue with you. We ended up spending the entire week together. Then a couple weeks later, I’m in Vegas again on business. I try to see you as I always do, but you turn me down. And stop calling me altogether. Oh, yes. I remember how long it’s been.”

  Trina’s expression remains unchanged, but she was floored. She remembered that night. It was the first time Reno made love to her. But it turned out to be a one night stand because she didn’t hear from him again until she had accepted a job offer at the PaLargio she had applied for before she met Reno. She was stunned to discover that he was the owner, and he was stunned to discover that she had applied for a position at his hotel before they had even met. At the time, it felt like serendipity in the extreme for both of them.

  “May I sit down?” Faye asked him.

  “No, you may not,” Reno responded. “We’re busy here and I don’t get the point of this sudden need you have to come here.”

  Faye stared at him. “Okay, I do have a reason, all right?” Then she looked at Trina. “But it’s personal.”

  “Oh yeah?” Reno asked. “What is it?”

  “It’s personal, Reno.”

  “I heard you the first time. But if you think for a second that I’m excusing my wife so we can talk, you have lost your damn mind. Now what is it?”

  Faye let out an exhale. “I tried to respect your wife, but here goes. I need you to kill my husband.”

  Reno and Trina stared at her. Reno frowned. “You what?”

  “Now come on, Reno,” Faye said. “I know you, remember? I know you well. Eliminating people is a part of your portfolio. You do it well.”

  Reno hurried from around his desk and grabbed her by the arm. “Get the fuck out of my office!” he yelled as he hurried her to the door.

  “Okay!” she said as he pulled her along. “Forget I asked! It was just an idea!”

  At the door, Reno turned her around and pointed his finger. “You don’t want to be married anymore? Leave him! Divorce him! Because if I hear of any harm coming to that man, I will go to the cops and turn your ass in myself!” Then he threw her out of his office.

  After he did, he leaned against the door. Trina went to him. They looked at each other.

  Reno shook his head. “They always bring that shit to me. Always. ‘Reno, can you beat up my boyfriend, shoot my cousin, kill my cousin.’ It’s fucking disrespectful!”

  “They think you’re in the mob, Reno,” Trina said, rubbing his arm. “You aren’t, but they don’t believe it.” Then Trina smiled. “Leave it to me to marry a man who women want to hire, not to love them, but to kill for them.”

  And even Reno had to laugh at that. But then Trina’s smile was gone.

  “I’d better get back to my office,” she said.

  Reno noticed the change. “What’s wrong?”

  Trina attempted to play it off. “Nothing’s wrong.”

  Reno stared at her. “What? Now I know you aren’t upset about what she said.”

  “I was laughing at that, Reno.”

  “Not that part,” Reno said. “The part about how I didn’t phone you after our first night together.”

  That was it. Reno saw it too. He stared at her. “I chose you, Trina.”

  “I know that,” Trina said.

  “Then what’s wrong?”

  “It’s how close we came to never seeing each other again.” She said this and looked at Reno. Reno touched her arm.

  “If I would not have applied for that job at the PaLargio before I met you, and got hired, we may have never---”

  Reno pulled her into his big arms. “Yeah, well, God took care of that, didn’t he?”

  “And how,” Trina said, smiled, and Reno kissed her.

  But he understood exactly how she felt.

  CHAPTER SIX

  The speeding Porsche stopped at the curb in front of Champagne’s clothing store, and Reno, always in a hurry, got out and hurried in. Liz Mertan, one of the co-owners of the store, along with Trina, was standing behind the checkout counter opening a stack of lingerie boxes. A handful of customers were also in the shop.

  Liz rolled her eyes when she saw him approaching, but then she smiled. “Well hello there, Reno,” she said as he made his way toward the counter. She didn’t care for him, and the feeling was mutual.

  “How are you?” he responded.

  “I’m fab, thank-you very much.”

  “My wife around?”

  “That’s you, Reno. Short and to the point.”

  “Trina around?”

  “Yes, she’s around. She’s upstairs in her office.”

  “Alone?”

  “Not alone. She’s meeting with two business associates about reopening Halperin House. I’m not sure if she mentioned it to you?”

  “Yeah, she mentioned it,” Reno said with a sudden edge in his voice as he headed for the side stairs.

  Liz, surprised, leaned over the counter. “You don’t have to go up there. She’ll be down shortly!”

  But Reno wasn’t about to wait for her to come down. He headed up instead. He made it clear to her that teaming up with those gold diggers to reopen some shelter they probably ran in the ground anyway was off the table. Trina was a strong-willed woman and stubborn when she wanted to be, but she knew when his no meant no. And at that prior meeting, he made clear, it was a no.

  He walked onto the second floor landing and headed for the backside office. The door was open and he could see those same two moochers sitting in front of the desk. Trina was sitting behind the desk. She wore the glasses she only wore for reading and she looked, to Reno, as studious as she looked beautiful. If he didn’t love her so much he wouldn’t care if sh
e hitched her wagon to a dozen different causes. But he loved her. Deeply. She wasn’t hitching her wagon to anything more.

  Trina sensed him before she saw him. She looked up, toward her office door, and there he was. She would have smiled, but she could already tell he was not in that kind of mood.

  “I didn’t expect to see you this morning,” she said to him.

  “That’s obvious,” he said to her as he walked into the office. Maurice and Gennifer looked at him as if they were looking at Killjoy himself.

  But Reno wasn’t thinking about them. He was staring at Tree. “What do you think you’re doing?” he asked as he approached her desk.

  “I’m having a meeting.”

  Reno continued to look at her. He stood beside her desk. “I thought I told you to let this go.”

  “I am letting it go. I’ve already told them I won’t be able to participate. At least not right now.”

  Reno exhaled. “Then why a meeting?”

  “To tell them. I just told them.” Then she stood up. “As I said,” she said to the twosome, “the timing just isn’t right. Not right now. But thank-you for discussing it with me.”

  Reno looked at the twosome as they stood to their feet. Neither one of them were ready to throw in the towel. Especially Maurice, Reno noticed. And he was right.

  “You simply must reconsider, Mrs. Gabrini,” Maurice said. “You said yourself this is a worthy undertaking.”

  “And it is.”

  “We’ll run the day-to-day. You will not be needed for any reason.”

  “Beyond her money you mean?” Reno asked.

  Trina gave Reno one of her stay out of this looks. Then she looked at Maurice. “I get it, Mo,” she said. “And I’m sure you and Gen will run the day-to-day just fine. But I won’t be involved. The answer is no.”

  Maurice looked at Gennifer. Gennifer was disappointed too. “Will you at least consider a donation,” Gennifer asked, “even if you won’t become an investor?”

  “Yes,” Trina said. “I’ll be happy to donate.”

  “Well at least that,” Maurice said in a flippant tone, and Reno looked at him.

  “But I won’t donate a dime until all of your investors are on board,” Trina added. “I’m not throwing my money down a black hole.”

  Gennifer was angry, and Reno could see the underpinnings of that anger, but she nodded, and put on a smile. “Understood,” she said. “Hopefully, once we have everybody onboard, we’ll be back.”

  “That’ll work,” Trina said.

  “Mr. Gabrini,” Gennifer said with a nod toward Reno, and then she began to leave. She had to coax Maurice to leave, but he left too. Reno went and closed the door behind them. He walked back over to the desk.

  “So what brings you to my hideaway?” Trina asked.

  Reno smiled and kissed her on the lips. “Can’t a man come and see his wife?”

  “When that man is a workaholic like you, and it’s the middle of his workday? No.”

  Reno laughed. “Remember when I told you I needed to be in Georgia this weekend to look over some details before I would agree to finalize the deal?”

  “I remember.”

  “I was able to give my people the go-ahead to finalize the deal, babe.”

  Trina smiled. “For Georgia? For PaLargio South?”

  Reno nodded. “We will have a footprint in Georgia now, that’s right.”

  Trina moved from around her desk and hurried to him. She threw herself into his arms. “That’s great, Reno!” They kissed again. “So when’s the big day? When do you sign everything and making it all official?”

  “Monday is still the day. I’m going to fly down there Sunday night.”

  “But why?” Trina asked. “Why not wait until Monday morning?”

  “I need to have meetings with my people just in case we missed anything. It’s how I do business. I need to see each one of the negotiators face to face, to make sure they all agree with this deal, or if any of them feel we can wring out a better offer.”

  Trina smiled. “You are one savvy businessman, Mr. Gabrini. I’ll give you that.”

  “I just pray this little experiment works. I’m dumping a lot of money into it.”

  “I think it’s going to be fantastic,” Trina said.

  “I agree with you,” Reno said. “The PaLargio South hotels will definitely give us the best bang for our buck.”

  “And you do look out for our bucks,” Trina said with a smile.

  Reno gave her a spank on the ass. “And so do you, I see. I liked the way you handled that situation with those two money grubbers.”

  Trina laughed. “Don’t call them that.”

  “That’s what they are! I like the way you handled them.”

  “Thanks, Ree. Coming from you? That means a lot.”

  Reno stared into his wife’s eyes. Then he moved to give her another, more sensual kiss. But before he could make his move, the office door flew open and Maurice Pender came marching back in. It was obvious that Gennifer had tried to stop him, because she was hurrying up behind him with a flustered look on her face and her wild red hair flapping against her bone-thin back. But he seemed like a bull coming into a china shop. Nobody was going to stop him.

  “I have to give you a piece of my mind, Mrs. Gabrini,” he said as he made his way toward the couple.

  Reno frowned and moved in front of Trina. “You have to what?” he asked the charging bull.

  But Maurice’s total focus was on Trina. “You said we had a great idea. You said how near and dear to your heart the entire project would be.”

  Gennifer grabbed Maurice by the elbow, to pull him back, but he jerked away from her. “You said it was something you would love to back,” he continued to rant. “You said it was the best idea you’d heard in years and you would love to back it!”

  Trina frowned. “Yes, I said all of that. So?”

  “So?” Maurice asked as if the word itself was insulting. “Are you kidding me? We were relying on that money!”

  “Then that’s your problem,” Trina fired back. “I didn’t tell you to rely on anything.”

  “But you were in favor of it!”

  “I’m still in favor of it! But my husband and I have decided that I’m not participating in it. So what I don’t understand is why are we still discussing this?”

  “Liz claimed you had so much integrity,” Maurice said like the desperate man he appeared to be.

  Reno was staring at him.

  “She said you were a woman of your word,” Maurice continued. “She said we could count on you to come through for us every time. But she lied. She lied through her teeth! You’re no woman of your word. That’s absurd now!”

  Trina moved in front of Reno. “If you know what’s good for you,” she warned him, “you’d better get your ass out of my office and get out now.”

  Maurice wanted to continue his tirade, but he looked over at Reno. And that cold stare chilled him to his bones. He finally allowed Gennifer to grab him, and get him out of there.

  When they left, Trina turned to Reno. She could hold her own with anyone, but that didn’t mean she enjoyed confrontations. He pulled her into his arms. But his eyes were wide open. Because he was staring at the blur, at the contrail left by that foolish little man.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  He slid his dick into her with a slow, loving, sensual glide. But she just laid there. She used to respond with a start, or with a smile that was so sexy it almost broke Jimmy’s will. But not anymore. Now she was just lying there, as if he’d just withdrawn rather than moved in, and it broke Jimmy’s heart.

  But he kept doing her. He kept it slow and beautiful just for her. It wasn’t his style. He liked it hard and fast, and Val used to like it that way too. But now, he realized, as he began fucking her, that she didn’t like it at all. Either way.

  He stared at her as he fucked her. He began grunting as the feelings began to intensify within him. But he had no partner in Val. She wasn’t
talking to him. She wasn’t sighing or arching or doing shit like she used to do. She continued to lay there, her head turned to the side, her beautiful eyes closed. And her action, or lack of action, caused Jimmy to feel burdened down with guilt. He felt guilty making love to his own wife.

  But he couldn’t stop. It had been over three months now and he had to have it tonight. She said he could have some, and he was getting some. And the way it felt to him, as he rubbed along her ridges, made him certain he had to continue.

  And he did. It felt too good. He laid down, on top of her, and continued to pump into her and pump into her. He began sweating he was pumping so hard. And soon his will power broke. His tempo began increasing because that was the only way his young dick knew how to get satisfied. The slow way wasn’t working for Val. So he decided to do it his way. Hard and fast.

  He began thrashing into her. He wanted to feel that feeling again and he wanted to feel it now. To hell with being the understanding husband. To hell with being longsuffering and giving her room and being turned down over and over and over again. He felt he needed her pussy tonight like he needed air to breathe, and he was getting it. She had agreed. She had told him to just do it and get it over with. And although it hurt him the way she said it, he didn’t turn her down. He was doing it. He was getting it over with.

  She didn’t cum. But he did. He strained his muscles as he poured into her. It was so intense that he knew she had to have felt it. She had to!

  But after he had throbbed and pulsated and poured completely out, he leaned up on his elbow and looked at her. He was certain that it had at least excited her. But instead of seeing a woman who had to admit it was good to her too, he saw Val. A woman with a sad look. And tears were in her eyes. His heart sank.

  “Honey, what’s wrong?” he asked her for the thousandth time.

  “Nothing’s wrong,” she said firmly, and wiped away her tears.

  But Jimmy wasn’t buying it. He continued to stare at her. “I think we need to go back to the therapist, Val. Or at least talk to your pastor about it.”

  “I told you I’m fine,” Val said harshly. “I’m not talking to any therapist or anybody else. There’s nothing wrong with me.”