Page 9 of Trina Gabrini: Bring Him Back Home to Me

“That’s what you said about Jason and Tavia. The answer is still no.”

“But why? Just because it didn’t work out the last time?”

Didn’t work out was an understatement. “You’re a Gabrini, Maddie. There are too many vultures out there seeking you out because of your name. That’s why!”

“You’re overly-protective, Daddy.”

“The answer is still no,” Jimmy said as he blew through a green light with his high-revved sportscar.

But just as he blew through it, he could see one of those Tesla Cybertrucks speeding through that same intersection as if it had no stopping sense and was certain to smash into the side of his small car. Which, Jimmy, knew, would rip it apart.

But Jimmy wasn’t about to let that happen. He pressed so hard on that gas that he floored it. His car, that was capable of accelerating from zero to one hundred in three seconds, accelerated even faster than that and tore out of that intersection so fast and furiously that that red-light running Cybertruck missed a collision by even less than a millisecond.

When Jimmy looked into his rearview mirror and saw that truck blow through that intersection and kept on going, he pulled over and leaned his head back. He thought he was going to have a heart attack. A sure collision had been just that close.

“Daddy? Daddy?”

Until he pulled over, he didn’t realize Madison had been calling his name while he was speeding through that intersection.

“Daddy, are you alright? Daddy?”

“I’m okay,” Jimmy finally managed to say.

“What happened?”

“Some damn fool almost sideswiped me.” That, he knew, was also an understatement.

“Let me get off of this phone so you can pay attention to the road and stop worrying about me.”

Stop worrying about his baby? That will never happen, Jimmy thought. “Love you, bye,” he said, and ended the call.

He still had to take several breaths before he could regain his composure enough to drive again. Then he pulled away from that curb and left.

As he pulled away, that big, gray Infiniti SUV, idling in the parking lot of a Burger King at that same intersection, slowly pulled out of that parking lot and drove away too.

CHAPTER FOUR

Salvatore Luciano Gabrini, Junior, called Lucky by everybody who knew him, opened the tall front door of decorative glass just as Reno was walking up the steps. “Hello Uncle Reno. You look like . . .”

Reno waited for him to finish his sentence. But he didn’t. He just looked at Reno’s wild hair and wrinkled suit. “I look like what?” he asked him as he climbed the steps.

But Lucky was diplomatic if he was anything. He decided to change the subject. “I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“I didn’t either,” Reno said as he entered the house.

“When gate security told me you were on the property, I was hoping Carmine was with you.”

“Carmine? What would he be with me for?”

Lucky didn’t know how to answer that question. He was with his father many times. Mainly because his mother insisted on it. But he didn’t see where a son being with his father was unusual. “I was just wondering,” he said. “Where is he anyway?”

Reno realized he had no idea where his youngest son was. “He should be home.”

“I’ll call him then,” Lucky said as he closed the front door.

“Your mom home?”

“No sir. She’s still at work. She’s the lead counsel on this big civil lawsuit that starts tomorrow. She and her co-counsels may spend the night at the office. Dad had an apartment built at her office building for nights like these. Clever idea, wasn’t it?”