Mob Boss Eleven- The Wrong One (The Mob Boss Series Book 11) (8 page)

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 her, 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.”