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

  “But yes, there is! I know we had a miscarriage. I know what that did to you. But this isn’t normal, honey. You’re not yourself anymore. You were handling it better than this two months ago.”

  Val knew it was true. But she couldn’t help it. Didn’t he realize that? “I’m alright,” she said.

  But Jimmy shook his head. “No, you’re not. Your recovery is regressing. There is something wrong, Val. For both of us.”

  Val frowned. “For both of us?” she asked. “Both of us?” She couldn’t believe he would compare his pain to hers.

  “What did I say?”

  “Speak for yourself,” she said angrily. “Don’t you dare speak for me!” Then she pushed him off of her, and got out of bed.

  Jimmy was so frustrated, and so angry, and so hurt that he grabbed the alarm clock off of the nightstand and threw it across the room. It dented the wall, and then, just as Jimmy felt about their marriage, it crashed to the floor.

  He placed his hands on his head, and closed his eyes.

  “Oh, yes,” he was moaning. “Oh, yes!” He kept jerking it. Faster and faster and faster. “Oh, oh, oh, yes!” He was soon to cum and the anticipated drove him crazy. He jerked even faster. He kept squeezing the tip ever so softly, and yanking it harder and harder. He was almost there. He was almost about to cum. Just one more jerk. Just one more yank. Just one more second and his world was going to erupt with the euphoric feeling that only he could give to himself.

  Then the light came on. At first he kept jerking, because he knew he was alone, lying on the top of his bed, in his small house. And he hadn’t turned on any lights. Then he wondered if he was delirious. Had he jerked so hard that he caused his brain some harm?

  But then he turned his head, toward the light, and nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw Reno Gabrini standing there. His dick hit hard against his stomach.

  Maurice Pender quickly moved to get up, but Reno’s gloved hand pushed him back down. “Enjoying yourself?” Reno asked him.

  “What do you want?” Maurice asked Reno.

  “Answer my question. Are you enjoying yourself?”

  Maurice stared at Reno. He had that same, icy look. He decided to smile. Maybe Reno was on the down low. Macho guys like him often were. “Not anymore,” he said with a smile.

  But Reno remained serious. This was a matter of business for him, and he wasn’t joking. “No, I think you’re enjoying yourself,” he said. Then he took his gloved hand, picked up Maurice’s dick, and began rubbing it. “I think you’re having the time of your life. It has to be that way. You have to be getting some kind of serious high off of approaching my wife and giving her a piece of your mind the way you did earlier today because only a man high as hell and out of his fucking mind would approach my wife that way.”

  Maurice’s heart began to hammer. Reno was fondling his dick, but he knew right away that it was no sensual fondle.

  And he was correct. Reno squeezed his dick so hard, and then twisted it so violently that he nearly detached it from Maurice’s balls. Maurice screamed in agony and doubled over in pain.

  “Don’t you ever,” Reno said angrily, “go near my wife again. Ever! Do you hear what I’m saying to you, Maurice?”

  “Yes!” Maurice screamed. “Oh, yes! I hear you loud and clear, Mr. Gabrini. Nobody could hear you better!”

  “If she offers to give you a thousand dollars for that shelter you want to run, you turn her down. A hundred thousand, a million. You turn her down. You hear me?”

  Maurice was crying. He nodded. “Yes,” he said. “I hear you.”

  “I want you to hear me loud and clear.”

  “I hear you. A jet engine couldn’t be louder than how loudly I hear you!”

  Reno took Maurice’s face in his hand and turned it toward his own. “I’m a nice guy, I really am. But you can’t step to my wife that way. I understand you, Maurice. I know you care as much about battered women as a brick cares about a building. You’re in it for the money, Mr. Pender. And in my wife you saw dollar bills. You got desperate when she said no. And desperation, well I know about that. It’s a dangerous thing. It makes you say and do what your good sense would tell you not to say or do.”

  Reno squeezed the man’s face. The fear in Maurice’s eyes was palpable. “I’m your good sense today,” Reno said. “Don’t approach my wife again. Don’t call her on a phone. Don’t arrange a third party meeting. Or the only thing you’re going to be jerking on is the stem that will be left when your dick is gone.” Then Reno smiled a chilling smile. “Understand?”

  Maurice was nodding so hard he was giving himself a headache. “Yes, sir. I understand. I truly understand. You’ll never know how much I understand!”

  Reno stared at him longer. Then he released his chin and began heading for the exit.

  Maurice, still holding his testicles, sat up. But Maurice, being Maurice, couldn’t hold his tongue. “So you’re Mafia after all?” he asked Reno.

  Reno couldn’t believe that fool would be foolish enough to say another word. But it only reinforced his calculation about the man. He was a fool, not a fighter.

  Reno turned around. “Whatever your worst nightmare is to you,” he said to Maurice. “That’s what I am.”

  And then Reno, satisfied that Maurice was finally getting the message, left the house for good.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Dominic Gabrini pushed his baby sister Sophia, who was safely strapped in her stroller, around the private playground. He stopped, to teach her a lesson, telling her how it was impolite for her to doze off when he was taking time out of his busy schedule to spend time with her, but she would only wake up, see his flustered face, and then grin at him. Then she’d try to eat her mittens.

  Dommi looked at his parents. “She’s hopeless,” he said.

  Reno and Trina laughed. They were sitting on a swing in the back courtyard inside the PaLargio, in the private play area Reno had constructed specifically for his two younger children. But even he was beginning to see the limitations of such a strategy.

  “I mean it,” Dommi responded to their laughter. “She won’t stay awake. And when she wakes up, she’s laughing at me!”

  “If she falls asleep again, don’t wake her up,” Trina told him. “Leave her alone and then go do your thing.”

  “But I thought you said I had to play with Sophie.”

  “You do. But not if she falls asleep.”

  Dommi smiled. He liked that proposition. He began pushing his sister around some more, but constantly peeping to see if she had fallen asleep again.

  Reno exhaled. “I don’t know, Tree. I thought this could work, but I don’t know now.”

  “They need a house with a big backyard,” Trina said. “A hotel and casino is no place to raise children. Even a penthouse like ours. Even with this wonderful playground.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been thinking about that too.” Then Reno smiled. “I saw that palace Sal bought Gemma Jones. With his showy ass.”

  Trina laughed and looked at Reno. “Showy? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. You’re the personification of showy, Reno. Your father didn’t nickname you Reno for nothing!”

  Reno smiled. “Yeah, well, it’s a beautiful home. But it’s not that simple with us, Tree. They don’t have children. I have to do what I have to do to protect my family. Living here, at the PaLargio, is the best way I can do that.”

  Trina looked at him. “It’s always all about us. What about you? What would you really want in your heart of hearts?”

  “I like the flash, you know that,” Reno admitted. “I’m not a suburbia kind of guy. Remember when I moved you to Georgia to get you away from this rat race in Vegas? That move nearly took all of us out.”

  “That was crazy,” Trina said. “How’s that little restaurant doing anyway? Clauson’s? You still own it, right?”

  “I still own it, and it’s doing fine. Slow down, Dommi,” he added when he saw his son pushing the stroller faster. “You drop he
r, your ass is mine!”

  “Yes, sir,” Dommi said, and began pushing slower.

  “What a way to talk to a little boy,” Trina said.

  “I’m just telling that little boy the truth. His ass will be mine if he hurts my baby.”

  “Dommi’s your baby too.”

  “Dom’s a boy. Big difference. But yeah, Clauson’s is doing just fine. Jimmy asked, after they suffered that miscarriage, if he and Val could move back down there, since it is his hometown, and take over that restaurant. He thought it might do her some good.”

  “You told him no?”

  “I told him I doubt if she’ll go for that. And she didn’t. She told him no way. She was staying right here in Vegas.”

  “Poor girl,” replied Trina.

  Reno didn’t respond to that. He didn’t believe in pity parties, not even for sweet Val.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you!” Trina said. “Grace is going to drop by Sunday night on her way back to Seattle. I’m going to take her out to this jazz club she likes to go to. She’ll spend the night with Sal and Gemma, just to spend some time with them, and then be back in Seattle by Monday.”

  “Will Tommy and the baby be with her?” Reno asked.

  “I wish. But no, it’ll just be her. She’s attending some kind of trucking industry tradeshow in Oklahoma. Tommy’s back in Seattle with little Destiny.”

  Reno smiled. “Lucky bastard,” he said. “I’ll bet he’s all domesticated and everything now.”

  “He really stepped up,” Trina agreed. “He slowed down on his overseas trips, although he hasn’t stopped them altogether, but Tommy used to spend almost half of his time overseas. It’s a stunning change. They’re planning to celebrate Dez’s one year birthday at Sal’s house in a few months.”

  “Sal’s house,” Reno said, shaking his head. “I got on Tommy about that. The PaLargio’s not good enough for your daughter, I asked him. He claims it has nothing to do with that. Sal and Gemma really wanted to have it at their place. So he agreed.”

  “And rightly so,” Trina said. “They want their child’s first birthday at a house, not in a hotel.”

  Reno looked at her. He understood what she meant. They’d been discussing the environment they were subjecting their own children too also. “You want a house, Tree? You want to move out of the PaLargio for good?”

  Trina thought about it. “I don’t know what I want at this point. But I think it may be what the children need.”

  “What do the children need?” a voice asked, and both Reno and Trina turned to the sound. Jimmy Mack had entered the code only area, and was heading their way.

  When Dommi saw him, he abandoned his sister and ran to him. “Jimmy!” he said with a grin as he ran.

  “What about Lexie?” Reno asked Dommi, but Dom was gone. He and Trina laughed.

  “Hey, buddy,” Jimmy said, as he hoisted his baby brother into his arms. Trina went over to the stroller and lifted Sophia into her arms. Jimmy, with Dom, walked over to their father.

  “So what do the children need?” he asked him.

  “A home,” Reno replied.

  “They have a home.”

  “They have a hotel. They need a home.”

  “You own homes everywhere, Pop. Move to one of those places.”

  “He won’t be moving my children to any of those places,” Trina said as she, with Sophia in her arms, came back over to Reno. “They’re called safe houses, but there’s nothing safe about them.”

  Reno laughed and took Sophia from her. “They’re decent places,” he said, as Trina sat down.

  “They’re safe houses for bad men,” Trina replied. “No thank-you.”

  Reno looked at Jimmy. “Everything okay in the casino?”

  “Everything’s okay. I’m not here about the casino. It’s personal.”

  “Yeah?”

  Jimmy sat Dommi down.

  “Go play, Dom,” Trina told him.

  “Can I get on the carousel?” Dommi asked.

  “Just be careful,” replied Trina, and Dommi excitedly headed in that direction.

  “So what’s wrong?” Reno asked his son.

  “It’s Val.”

  “Still Val?” Reno asked.

  “Still Val,” Jimmy replied. Then he looked at his stepmother. “She hasn’t gotten any better, Ma. No matter what I try, she won’t respond.”

  “We’ll sorry to hear that,” Reno said. “But what can we do about it?”

  “Could you and Ma come over tomorrow night and have dinner with us? Maybe if we can talk about it, it’ll help her more.”

  “She and Trina talked yesterday. That didn’t help?”

  “But you don’t know Val the way I do,” Jimmy said. “She’ll tell everybody she’s fine, she’s still getting over it. But there’s more going on with her. A lot more.”

  “She’s still seeing that therapist?” Reno asked.

  “She stopped going, and even the therapist claimed she was fine and didn’t really need any more counseling. But I know my wife. She’s not fine, Pop. I try to get her to talk about it to me, but she dismisses me as if I can’t possibly know what she’s going through. ‘What do you know about it, Jimmy,’ is all she’ll say. But you and Ma have been through it. You guys had a miscarriage before. She won’t dismiss both of you together. Nobody would.”

  Reno knew that was right.

  “You want us to come over tomorrow night?” Trina asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. If you guys can come over, then maybe we can get her to finally open up and start healing again.”

  “You know I’ll come,” Trina said. And then both she and Jimmy looked at Reno.

  It wasn’t Reno’s thing at all, but he loved Val as surely as he loved his own daughter. He nodded. “Of course we’ll come,” he said.

  Jimmy smiled. “Thanks, Dad. I really appreciate it. Val looks up to you so much.” Jimmy wanted to add, and she has a thing for you, but he let that slide. All the women Jimmy used to date would always have a thing for his father. That was just the way it was. And although he thought Val was different, and wouldn’t be so easily taken in by his father’s sensual charm, she turned out to be just as taken by Reno as the rest of them.

  “Reno!” Buddy Wellstone said as Reno entered his office. He stood up from his desk and extended his hand. “Nice to see you again!”

  They enthusiastically shook hands. Buddy was Val’s father, and he and Reno had an excellent, respectful in-law relationship. “Good seeing you too, Buddy,” Reno replied.

  “Have a seat. Take a load off. I’d been meaning to call you all week.”

  “Yeah?” Reno asked as he sat down in front of the desk. “What about?”

  “All of that high-end work you’ve been throwing our way. I appreciate it. I’ve never closed more million dollar real estate deals in my life than I have since you became my daughter’s father-in-law. Thank-you, Reno.”

  “Ah, don’t mention it!” Reno said. “You’re family now. Besides, I saw that Porsche out front. You’re one of us now.”

  Buddy laughed. “Yeah, it was high time I started living in my life, not just working in it.”

  “That’s what I’m talking,” Reno agreed.

  “So what’s going on?” Buddy leaned back in his chair. “You’re a busy man. I know you didn’t come over here for your health. So what’s up?”

  “I thought you could tell me that yourself,” Reno replied.

  Buddy nodded a knowing nod. “James and Valerie?” he asked.

  “More like Valerie, yes.” Reno frowned. “I’m a little worried about her.”

  Buddy exhaled, and suddenly that grand smile was gone. “Yeah, me too. I’ve seen a big change in her after that miscarriage.”

  “Did you talk to her?”

  “Did I? Every chance I could. But she denies having any problems whatsoever. I even got my pastor to talk to her, but she walked out on the man. ‘I’m not crazy,’ was all she would say.”

  Reno leaned forward. �
��She’s a smart girl. She has a great head on her shoulder, thanks to the way you raised her. And she’s hot, let’s just be honest. She has it all. And I understand the pain she’s experiencing, I really do. But what I don’t understand,” he added, as he looked at her father, “is why she refuses help.”

  But that was no mystery to Buddy. “Because she’s stubborn!” he said pointedly. “She believes she can figure this out for herself and she doesn’t need anybody interfering. But she’s not figuring it out and she can’t understand why. Yet she’s too stubborn to say so.” Then Buddy smiled. “Given your superstar wife, I would have thought you’d know a little something about stubbornness yourself.”

  Reno snorted. “A little something my ass. My wife wrote the book on it.”

  Then Buddy exhaled. “She’ll be okay,” he said. “I know my daughter. She’ll be okay.”

  “I hope so,” Reno said. “It’s eating my son alive. That’s why I’m concerned. He’s had a lot of bumps in his life. He met Val and everything seemed to iron itself out. Then that damn miscarriage.”

  Buddy nodded. “Yeah. That darn miscarriage.”

  “That changed everything. Now I’m worried again. But anyway,” Reno said as he stood. Buddy stood too. “I just wanted to see if I could talk with that daughter of yours before we hooked up tonight. Is she in her office?”

  “No, I’m sorry, Reno. She’s home. She left early today. She said she wanted to make sure she had everything ready by the time you and Trina arrived for dinner tonight.”

  “Really? We’re just going over there for dinner. It’s no big deal.”

  “Reno and Trina Gabrini are coming to her house tonight. That’s a big deal to her.”

  Reno nodded. He understood. “I’ve got a couple stops to make,” he said, “and then I’ll probably go on over there ahead of Jimmy and Tree. I’ll see if I can talk to her, and knock some sense into her,” Reno added with a smile.

  “I know my daughter,” Buddy responded skeptically. “Good luck with that.”

  Reno laughed. And then left.