Page 36 of Trina Gabrini: Bring Him Back Home to Me

“You asked if a woman was involved. I said when it comes to our problems, there’s always a woman involved: You.”

“Reno, you’re not making sense. Make it make sense to me or shut the fuck up. Now what are you talking about? If your decision to leave me and our children isn’t about her, then what’s it about?”

“She came to me with information that her old man knew something. But it was a setup. We went to the hotel where she claimed she was staying, and that was when two of her goons tried to take me out.”

Trina’s heart dropped. “Were you harmed in any way?”

Reno shook his head. “I wasn’t, no. But they were. And Lydia got away. Well, she thought she got away, but I had a tracking device on her body. I was able to pinpoint her location. That’s when Sal and Tommy and Robby showed up. Lydia had a small army of men with her and we were able to take them all out.”

“And that’s when she tried to get away?” Trina asked.

Reno nodded. “Yes. That’s when Lydia tried to get away. But we plan to use her as leverage to smoke out her old man.”

“Moose Vatelli?”

Reno nodded. Sal told him that he told Trina about what Reno’s father did to Moose’s daughter, and how Reno covered it up. And about that fake will he and Lydia tried to pawn off on him that led to a mob war that Reno won.

“But why are they coming after you now?”

“Lydia said some guy that used to work for my old man recently got out of prison and needed ready cash. He sold his story to the Moose. A story that included what my Pops did to Moose’s little girl.”

But Trina could see the hesitancy in Reno’s eyes. “And what else, Reno?” she asked him.

Reno shook his head. “You don’t wanna know,” he said.

But Trina was adamant. “Nope. No, Reno, no. We are not doing that today. Not today. You’re going to tell me everything and you’re going to tell me now.”

Reno stared at Trina. She had that look in those sexy hazel eyes that made clear she was not going to be trifled with. She was not going to accept half-truths. He knew it was now or never. He knew he had to come clean.

“Sit down, Tree,” he said to her.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

And Reno Gabrini finally shed all of his defenses and told Trina the full story.

“After I tricked Lydia into signing over to me any rights she claimed to have in the PaLargio, which she didn’t have but I was taking no chances, I was spooked by what Moose tried. If it went to probate, my lawyers said I could have lost everything based on some bullshit will. Then I get word that Moose was still making noises about me. I hear how his family was plotting another hostile takeover of the PaLargio. And that this time, they weren’t going to leave it up to the courts. They were going to take me and everybody associated with me out instead. And that when I knew I had to strike first this time to put an end to this bullshit once and for all.”

Trina was afraid to know, but she knew she had to know. “What did you do, Reno?”

“Moose had two sons who were set to eventually succeed him as boss and underboss in his organization. He was preparing both of them for their roles. He wanted to take it easy and let them do all the heavy lifting. Which meant they were deeply involved in the scheme too.”

“What did you do, Reno?” Trina was now dying to know. “You ordered a hit on his sons? Is that what you did?”

Reno hesitated, but then he answered her. “I didn’t order a hit on Moose’s two sons, no, I didn’t do that. That would have involved too many people. I handled it myself.”

She didn’t expect to hear that. “How did you handle it yourself?” Her voice was no longer animated. Her voice was low and deliberate. And scared.

Reno was staring as if he was staring back into yesterday. “I waited until the early morning hours. Four a.m. was my go time. I had already set my traps and was able to penetrate his weak-ass defenses easily. And I took out both of his sons, which were his heirs, and everybody else in that house. I set it off. I blew that whole motherfucking compound apart. I didn’t leave anybody alive to come after me or mine years later.”

“What do you mean everybody?” She was certain he couldn’t possibly mean what it would normally mean.

But it meant exactly that, Reno was ashamed to admit. “By everybody, Trina, I mean everybody that had a pulse on that property. His two sons. Their wives. Their children. Everybody.”

Trina’s heart fell through her shoe. “Their children? Reno, you didn’t!”

“They were children today, but they were going to be my executioners tomorrow if I left their stones unturned.”

“They weren’t stones!” Trina yelled at him. “They were children,” she said in a lower voice. “They were babies, Reno.”