A MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS: THE PREGNANCY (MOB BOSS SERIES) Read online

  Reno shook his head. “I don’t think so, but we’ll see. She may try that shit if I fire her.”

  “But you have to fire her.”

  “I know that,” Reno said. “And I will. I’ve just got to be creative about it.”

  Then Trina smiled. “And here you were thinking you had got some on the side.”

  “I certainly didn’t remember any of it. Not a moment of it. I’m just glad you understand, Tree.”

  “I have to. If I can’t trust you after all we’ve been through, then we may as well pack it in and call it a day.”

  Reno smiled. “And that’s not about to happen.”

  “Yeah, right. You were packing it in just because some woman set you up.”

  “No, I was pretty sure she had set it all up.”

  “Quit lying!” Trina said with a smile. “You were crying like a baby. ‘I thought I lost you, Tree.’ You thought you had screwed that woman.”

  “I thought it originally, but then I started thinking about it.”

  “Yeah, right, Reno. Right.”

  “I was thinking about it!”

  “Think about it while you get up and get in the tub,” Trina ordered, rising to her feet.

  Reno stood and looked sidelong at her. “And when did Reno die and make you Reno?” he asked her.

  Trina fought back a smile. “Just get in the tub, boy,” she said, and slapped his butt.

  “That hurt!” he said, holding his stinging butt. But he did as she commanded.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Later that morning Cheri scrambled to talk to Trina. She needed Trina to believe every word of what she had to say. She needed Trina to believe her and turn against Reno. Then she stood a chance. She had to get to Trina.

  But every time she dropped by, Trina wasn’t in her office. It wasn’t until midday, and on Cheri’s third trip, did Trina’s secretary tell her that she was in luck: the boss was in and had agreed to meet with her.

  Cheri entered slowly. She had to sell her story as if it was the undisputed truth. That was why she walked in as if she was all about business. She even held the same clipboard in her arm that she was often spotted with as she made her rounds at the PaLargio.

  Trina sat behind her desk and stared at Cheri. Cheri felt uncomfortable after doing what she did with that woman’s husband, but she still stood tall.

  “What is it, Cheri, I’m very busy,” Trina said. After what Reno had told her she couldn’t stand the sight of the woman. But she kept her cool.

  “We need to talk,” Cheri said.

  “What about?”

  “Your husband.”

  Trina hesitated. She hadn’t expected her to be this blunt. She offered her a seat.

  Cheri sat down in front of Trina’s desk and crossed her legs. Trina leaned back in her tall executive chair and crossed hers. “Go on,” she said.

  Cheri didn’t beat around the bush. “Reno spent the night with me,” she said pointedly.

  Trina couldn’t even pretend to be shocked. She was too disgusted to pretend anything. “He slept with you?”

  “Yes. And it wasn’t an innocent sleep, either.”

  What a way to put it, Trina thought. And Cheri was so matter-of-fact about it. “What do you mean it wasn’t innocent?”

  “I’m just going to say it, okay? Your husband, my boss---”

  “He’s not your boss. I’m your boss. But go on.”

  Cheri detected some hostility there. She began to wonder if Reno had already told her what had transpired between them. If he had, Cheri knew it would be his version of events against hers. He probably claimed it was all her fault.

  “It wasn’t my fault,” Cheri said quickly. “He invited me to go to a bar with him. So I went. And he kept drinking and drinking and he got a little drunk. But after he drove me home---”

  “After he drove you home? I thought you said he was drunk?” The idea of Reno driving drunk was another big lie. Reno would never do something that irresponsible.

  “I didn’t say he was drunk. I said he got a little drunk. He was able to drive. Goodness, Trina. I’m only the messenger here. Don’t shoot the messenger.”

  Messenger my ass, Trina wanted to say. “Go on,” she said instead.

  “So when we got to my place, he insisted on coming in. He said he needed to use the restroom. That old line, right? But foolish me, I let him in. I went into the kitchen to make some coffee, but when I came back he was asleep on my sofa. I mean fast asleep. Since it was late anyway, and he seemed so peaceful, I left him there and went on to bed myself. It wasn’t an hour later, Trina, that your husband was getting in bed with me.”

  Wait a minute. Trina looked at her. Reno said it had all went down on her sofa. “He got in bed with you?” she asked Cheri, unable to conceal her surprise.

  “Yes! And he was naked.” Cheri waited for a response from Trina, but Trina continued to stare at her. “He was butt-naked,” she went on. “And he started kissing on me and feeling on my breasts and the next thing I knew his finger was in my vagina.” She wiped away an invisible tear. “It was awful, Trina. I’d never felt so brutalized. And he kept fingering me. He wouldn’t stop. I tried to pull him away, but you know how muscular and strong Reno is. I couldn’t do it. He just kept kissing me. And then the next thing I knew he put his penis inside of me. And began pumping on me.”

  Trina was getting nervous. She sounded so convincing. It sounded almost true!

  “It was horrible,” Cheri went on. “He ripped my gown off, he sucked my breasts until they were sore. He was so brutal! I was bleeding when he finished with me.”

  Trina’s heart began to pound. “Are you telling me. . . Are you saying that he raped you?”

  “I’m not going to call it that,” Cheri said, in what sounded like a different voice. But she changed on purpose. This was going to be her trump card. And she had to sell it right.

  “You claim he forced himself on you, but he didn’t rape you? Why wouldn’t you call it rape?”

  “Because. . .,” she paused again, for effect. “Because I enjoyed it too much,” she said and looked her large eyes at Trina.

  Trina swallowed hard. She didn’t understand. “You enjoyed it?”

  “Yes. I enjoyed it. That’s why it wasn’t rape anymore. Who enjoys a rape, right? I mean, who does that? And the way Reno made me feel, I would have let him fuck me all night if he had wanted to.”

  Trina’s heart dropped. This woman was crazy!

  But the crazy woman went on. She could tell she was getting to Trina. She could tell Trina was beginning to believe her. She knew how good her man was in bed. Cheri believed Trina understood exactly what she was talking about. If she would have said she didn’t enjoy it, Trina would have never believed her.

  “He was talking about how much he cared about me and how badly he had wanted to do this to me for a long, long time. So I kind of enjoyed it. But afterwards I felt awful. It was wrong what we did. It was wrong what he did to you. And I had to tell you about it.”

  Trina felt as if she’d been hit by a ton of bricks. She felt blindsided. She was expecting Cheri to come in her office and declare Reno forced himself on her. She expected her to declare that she was the innocent victim who didn’t want to go to the authorities, so she came to Trina. But she admitted she enjoyed it? She admitted that she was guilty, too? Trina hadn’t expected that at all!

  “I don’t believe you,” she finally said, although she said it a lot weaker and less certain than she had intended.

  “Why don’t you believe me?” Cheri asked. She had been expecting initial resistance. She also expected Trina’s common sense to overrule her emotional sense and she’d come around to her side. “Why would I lie on Reno, Trina?” Cheri went on. “Why would I risk my entire career on a lie?”

  Trina couldn’t even begin to answer that question. And she wasn’t going to try. She stood up. “Come with me,” she ordered.

  Reno’s office had its usual circus-like atmosphere with so ma
ny managers and assistants competing for his attention that it was a wonder to Trina the he didn’t go nuts. He sat on the front edge of his desk, in a fabulous blue periwinkle suit. He had his reading glasses on as he reviewed a proposal to get Diana Ross and other mega stars at the PaLargio. Trina’s heart started hammering as soon as she saw him. So many of these women around here wanted that man right there, and she was beginning to wonder if some of them, specifically Cheri Dallas, had already had him.

  Since she never had to be buzzed in, Reno didn’t even realize she was in his office until she spoke up.

  “Will everybody please leave,” she said. “I need to talk to Reno.”

  Since everyone knew who Trina was, they didn’t argue any points. They began leaving. When Reno looked up and saw that Cheri was with her, he didn’t argue either.

  After the office was cleared, and Reno had set the contracts aside, Trina walked over to him.

  “Cheri,” she said, “tell Reno what you just told me.”

  Although Cheri was far less confident now, she nonetheless relayed the same story. Including the complete fabrication about the bed and the bleeding. But Reno was actually relieved. Now he knew that she was a liar. Now he knew that Trina was right, and he had been set up all along.

  He listened without any emotion whatsoever as Cheri went on and on. How brutal he was, she said. How shocked she was, she insisted.

  Trina stared, not at Cheri, but at Reno. She knew how Reno hated lies. She knew how Reno hated to be caught up in somebody else’s agenda. But when Cheri finished, he didn’t rail against her. He remained remarkably calm. He paused and did nothing at first, and then he removed his reading glasses.

  “Here’s the deal,” he said as he folded his glasses and placed them on his desk. He rubbed his hand across his tired eyes and then looked at Cheri. “Right at this very moment there are certain friends of mine at your home. Certain skillful friends of mine. They’ve planted what will amount to roughly fifty thousand dollars’ worth of cocaine inside of your home.”

  At first there was no reaction from Cheri. Then she frowned. “They planted? What do you mean?” All she could think about were gardens and flowers. But why would he be talking about gardens and flowers? And then, when she realized what he was actually saying, she jumped from her seat, causing the chair to fall back and crash to the floor. Her heart started pounding. “Drugs? They planted drugs? In my house? What are you talking about?”

  “You know what I’m talking about,” Reno said, his voice measured but his eyes as cold as ice. “And after those drugs are conveniently placed in your home, Miss Dallas, certain police officers, in response to a certain tip, will conveniently visit and search your home. And find those specific drugs. All it will take is a phone call from me.”

  Cheri was shaking. “You can’t do this to me! You can’t get away with something like that! What are you talking about? What are you talking?”

  “I’m talking ten to twenty. Fifty grand worth of dope? Oh, yeah, I’m talking at least that. You’re going down. You will soon become Big Bertha’s girlfriend for at least ten to twenty years. That’s what I’m talking!” Reno showed his first flash of anger.

  Cheri was now terrified. She began looking around. She began searching for a way out of this nightmare Reno had just plunged her into. “You can’t,” she said absently. “How can you . . .” Then she looked at Reno. “I don’t understand.”

  “You don’t?” Reno asked. “Now suddenly you don’t understand? What, you thought you were going to waltz into my hotel, tell my wife all of these lies about me raping your ass, and I’m supposed to cower in a corner and let you get away with that shit? Is that how it was supposed to go? Is that it? You’re out of your gotdamn mind! Who the fuck you think you’re dealing with?”

  It was at that very moment did Cheri realize who she was dealing with. He wasn’t just some businessman. This was Reno Gabrini. The man reputed to be a mob boss. This was the man reputed to have ordered a hit on Frank Partanna and Pags and Johnny Drago. What in the world was she thinking? How in the world could she have been so stupid?! She just put herself in all of this jeopardy over some damn dick!

  Reno began pulling out his cell phone. “The cops are waiting for a phone call from me,” he said. “I give them a call and it’s over for you, sweetheart. It’s the end of the line for you. You won’t see the light of day for many, many years to come.”

  “But you won’t get away with it!” Cheri pleaded. “I’ll tell them what you did to me.”

  “I didn’t do shit to you and you know it!” Reno blared.

  “But they don’t know it!” Cheri blared back. “I’ll say you raped me. I’ll say you planted those drugs after I said I was going to the cops.”

  “And I’ll deny your charges,” Reno said. And that little line stopped Cheri cold.

  “But,” Cheri said, far less assured just that quickly. “They won’t believe you.”

  “Why won’t they?” Reno wanted to know. “Especially after I confess to sleeping with you.” Trina looked at him. “And I’ll declare it was consensual and a one-night stand and I regret every second of it. And I’ll even throw in the fact that I begged my poor wife for forgiveness. That’ll make more sense than me raping your ass.” Then he pointed angrily at her. “Who the fuck you think you’re dealing with?”

  Cheri felt defeated. Reno showed her his cell phone again. “All it’ll take is one phone call from me,” he said again.

  “But I don’t deserve this. What have I done to deserve this, Reno?”

  Reno couldn’t believe how clueless she was. “You lied on me woman! You’re accusing me of raping you! And you don’t get it? You tell my wife the truth now, or I declare I’ll call those cops without batting an eye. And I don’t bluff, Cheri. You know that.”

  Cheri’s heart felt as if it was pounding out of her chest. She’d never been this afraid in her life. She looked to Trina. Trina was a cold bitch, too, but she was never ruthless like Reno.

  But Trina sat on the edge of the desk next to Reno. There was a time when she would have felt sorry for Cheri. There was a time when she would have told Reno to take it easy, and she would have ran to Cheri’s defense. But Trina had seen too many people attempt to destroy her husband for all kinds of twisted reasons that had more to do with them than him. Her days of pity were over.

  “If I were you, Cheri,” she said, “I’d tell the truth. Then I’d submit my resignation and get as far away from Vegas as my lame little lies can take me.”

  Tears began to appear in Cheri’s eyes. “This can’t be happening.”

  “Tell me the truth, Cheri,” Trina insisted.

  “You already know the truth!” Cheri shot back. “You know it didn’t happen. That’s why you’re sitting next to him now. You let me make a fool out of myself because you’re an asshole just like he is!”

  “Why did you lie?” Trina asked.

  Cheri frowned. “Why did I lie? Why do you think? Because I wanted to fuck him, you idiot! But he woke up!”

  Trina smiled. “So that’s the bottom line? You risked your entire career over a little dick?”

  “Little?” Reno said, taking offense.

  “Not the size,” Trina corrected. When he smiled, she hit him. “Oh, forget you!” Then she looked at Cheri.

  Cheri dripped with bitterness. She wanted to shoot both of their laughing asses. “It’s funny to y’all?” she asked Trina. “I’m dying here and you think it’s funny?”

  “I didn’t do this to you,” Trina pointed out. “I didn’t try to rape my boss’s husband!”

  “Rape?” Cheri asked. “Please. I don’t have to rape anybody, okay? Men beg me because I know how to put it on a man better than you ever would.”

  “Ha!” Reno said with a laugh. “In your wildest fucking dreams, lady!” he added.

  Cheri almost zapped him back, but she remembered the fix she was in and felt defeated again.

  “You were trying to fuck my husband,” Trina
went on. “But by trying to fuck with him, Cheri, you just fucked yourself.”

  Cheri looked at Reno. “What do I have to do? I told her the truth. What do I have to do now?”

  “You will go downstairs and submit your resignation.”

  “Done,” Cheri said. She was in survival mode now.

  “Then my people, who are waiting downstairs, will escort you out of Vegas.”

  “But I have to go home first and---”

  “No. You go anywhere near that house, and I call the cops. You don’t know where those drugs were planted, but they do.”

  “Okay,” Cheri said anxiously. “I’ll leave town.”

  Reno nodded. “Then I suggest you get to it. My men are waiting downstairs to accept your resignation, and then to escort you out of town. You don’t go back to your house to get shit. You just get out and get out now. And if I hear any talk of you telling any more of your tall tales about me, then I’ll pull another rabbit out of your ass. Do we understand each other, Miss Dallas?”

  Cheri nodded her head. “Yes,” she said reluctantly. “I understand.”

  “Then get the fuck out of my face.” Reno said this with such heartlessness that Cheri shivered. But then she left.

  Trina folded her arms. “I don’t know, Reno,” she said worriedly. “What’s to stop her from going to another town and tell the authorities there that you raped her?”

  “She won’t do that.”

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because she’s not crazy.”

  “She was crazy enough to try it in the first place.” Then Trina shook her head. “She’s just like Dirty. I don’t know what gets into these people’s heads. It’s as if they think they’re dealing with a chump.”

  Reno snorted. “Yeah, I got their chump right here,” he said, dialing his cell phone.

  Trina, however, stopped him. “What are you doing, Ree? You’re going to tell the cops to raid her house anyway and let them find those drugs anyway?”

  “Damn right I am! She’ll be out of Vegas in a few hours and I’m going to tell the cops to go in then. In a few hours. And by nightfall she’ll be a fugitive from justice.”