When he still didn’t notice her, she got louder still. “Reno!”
Everybody jumped and looked at the door. They saw Trina standing there beckoning for her husband’s attention. But Reno frowned. “What you bothering us for, Tree? Don’t you see we’re having a conversation here?”
“I was trying not to interrupt your conversation but your big head wouldn’t look my way.”
“What’s wrong, Trina?” Big Daddy asked her. He could see the concern on her face.
“What’s wrong with Roz is what I wanna know,” Trina responded.
“She got some disturbing news,” Big Daddy said.
“Is that why she left?”
Mick looked at Trina. “Left? What do you mean she left?”
“She left. She hopped in her Mercedes and left.”
Mick jumped up. “And you let her go?”
“Let her? How the hell was I supposed to stop Roz from going anywhere, Mick?”
Mick hurried from around his desk and began rushing toward the exit. Everybody in that room hurried behind him.
“Call gate security,” Teddy ordered Nikki and Nikki got on the phone as they were hurrying out of the office, into thefoyer, and toward the front door. Jenay, Grace, and Gemma, who were playing cards in the dining hall, saw them hurrying out so they followed them too.
“Did she say where she was going?” Nikki was asking gate security as they all hurried out of the house.
Teddy looked at Nikki, waiting for a response. But Nikki shook her head. “She didn’t tell security anything,” she said to Ted. “She just left.”
Mick glanced back at Nikki. “Did a detail follow her?”
“Did a security detail follow her?” Nikki asked over the phone.
She shook her head again. “No sir,” she said to Mick.
“Motherfuck!” said an angry Mick as he pulled out his phone and hurried toward his big Cadillac Escalade. Grounds security was on alert, watching to see if they were needed.
“You got a read on her, Pop?” Teddy asked his father.
Mick didn’t respond as he checked the GPS he had on Roz’s car. When he got to his SUV, he barked out orders. “Nikki, you come with me. Everybody else stay here. I don’t want any surprises.”
Then he hopped behind the wheel of his Escalade. Nikki’s heart always began hammering when she was forced to go anywhere with Mick. Mainly because she knew, if she made one wrong move, he’d be down her throat. And everybody in the family insisted she was Mick’s favorite. Yeah right!
But as Nikki hopped in on the passenger seat and they sped away, the Gabrinis looked at Teddy. “Better watch out,” said Reno. “One day he’s gonna make her the boss over your ass.”
Although they laughed, Big Daddy could see the distress on Teddy’s face.
But Teddy had Monk on his mind. “Let Pop handle Roz,” Teddy said. “We’ve got to resolve this war with Monk before anybody else gets hurt.”
“Can it be resolved?” Sal asked. “Because Uncle Mick is right. After he took out that many of Monk’s men, Monk has no choice but to retaliate against us.”
“Retaliate?” asked Big Daddy’s wife Jenay. It was shocking to her. “What are you talking about?”
“We’re at war with Monk, ‘Nay,” said Amelia. “We’re at war.”
But Teddy was shaking his head. “Frankie wouldn’t do that to us. That ain’t Frankie. That’s why this is so crazy. I’m going to go see him and talk this shit out,” Teddy said as he began to walk toward Nikki’s car. He was still waiting for his insurance company to replace his totaled Porsche. But he had to see Monk face to face. He believed in his soul that nothing was so far gone that he couldn’t talk it over with his closest friend.
But both Reno and Sal pulled him back. “Nope,” said Reno.
