MOB BOSS 3: LOVE AND RETRIBUTION (17 page)

Vito was shaking his head. “Everything went wrong,” he said. “Because she did me a favor and was wiling to take the heat for it, she asked me to get her people up to the penthouse, to make your people stand down so her people could take care of business. She told me it was going to be a quick in and out. They had one target they were supposed to take out. But those fools she hired didn’t try to just take out Katrina. They tried to take out everybody in the house!”

But Reno was stil lost. He was stil frowning. “What are you teling me, Vito? You’re teling me that. . . that MarBeth wanted my wife. . . That. . . .” Reno’s heart was barely beating, and his voice began to sound faint. “Are you saying to me that MarBeth wanted Trina
dead
?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Reno,” Vito replied.

And as soon as it hit, it hit like a sledgehammer.

“God, no!” Reno screamed as Shawna turned back around and took off in that limo so fast that al three men in the back bucked forward. She slung the limo around corner after corner and was speeding as if it wasn’t her first time driving such a long machine. She hung a U-turn so hard that al of the men in the back slid against the doors.

“God, no!” Reno kept saying as he puled out his cel phone, too nervous to even dial the numbers. It flipped out of his hand.

Tommy grabbed it and dialed for him.

“Don’t let this be happening again,” Reno was saying. “Please don’t let this be happening.”

Tommy looked at Reno, as Trina’s phone began to ring. And closed his eyes and prayed as fervently in silent, as Reno was praying aloud.

Trina and Carmine were seated side by side in the front of the plane when her cel phone began to ring. And then the world became senseless.

MarBeth, who was seated just behind them, immediately stood to her feet, puled out her revolver, and then walked in front of the twosome and fired a bulet through the head of her own husband.

Trina screamed and quickly tried to stand, as Carmine’s blood splattered al over her, but MarBeth just as quickly slammed her back down. Trina tried to reach for her phone.

“You answer it, you’re dead,” MarBeth warned. And then she smiled. “Not that you aren’t already, anyway.”

Trina stared at her sister-in-law. Beyond stunned. “What are you doing, MarBeth?” was al she could ask. Then she looked at poor Carmine, who was now slumped over beside her, blood everywhere.

“What have you done?”

“I’m the bitch who took out her own mother,” MarBeth said, her bottom lip trembling at the mere thought of how everything had gone so awry. “It’l take absolutely no thought whatsoever for me to take you out too.”

Tears wanted to shed in Trina’s stunned eyes, but she knew that would be exactly what MarBeth wanted.

And her phone stopped ringing.

“What did I ever do to you?” Trina asked her sister-in-law.

MarBeth smiled. “You’re kidding right? I know you are not asking me that question.” Then MarBeth’s voice rose achingly loud. “What do you think you did to me, you black bitch? You hit the scene, distracted Reno, and then half of my family was taken out! My father and my brother. The good half. And you have the nerve to ask me what you ever did to me?”

MarBeth sat down, across from Trina, her gun stil pointed at her. She looked like some wild woman to Trina, like a total stranger.

“It won’t work, MarBeth,” Trina said, wondering what would Reno say. “Not here. The pilot’s probably running back to the plane right now. They probably already heard that gunshot.”

“They didn’t hear shit!” MarBeth snapped, not bothering to look away from her intended target. “Now shut the fuck up and wait.”

Trina wanted to ask what it was they were waiting for, but she wasn’t about to risk it. MarBeth had always had some chip on her shoulder. She’d always been the one to give Reno the hardest time. But never could Trina have thought she’d stoop to this.

So she waited.

And prayed.

It took less than fifteen minutes for the limo to arrive at the plane site. Reno, Tommy, and Shawna jumped from the limo and ran toward the plane, none of them answering Vito’s relentless questions about what was going on. But as soon as they did jump out, Vito, nobody’s fool, got out as quickly as his big bulk and age would alow, got behind the wheel of the limo, and took off.

The pilot, who was joking around with some of the baggage handlers, saw his bosses running toward the plane and began running across the tarmac too.

“Where the hel were you?” Tommy was yeling, his one hope, that the pilot would have been able to help Carmine contain MarBeth, gone.

“I was just over there talking, Tommy. I was--”

But nobody cared what he was. Reno, Shawna and Tommy al entered the plane in swift succession. But as soon as they saw first Carmine slumped over, and the blood, and then MarBeth standing there, with Trina standing in front of her, they stopped in their tracks. Although Reno already had his gun drawn, MarBeth had hers against the side of Trina’s head.

“Shanks, Tommy, put those hands where I can see them,” MarBeth ordered, although her brother was the only one who had his gun drawn. But somehow, it seemed to Shawna, MarBeth was certain

Reno would not fire.

Shawna and Tommy, however, did as she commanded. “Come further in,” MarBeth said. “So I can see your pretty faces.”

Al three did as she commanded, with Reno in front, Shawna just beside him, and Tommy beside her, his body slowly moving in front of her.

“Close the door,” MarBeth ordered and the pilot did as he was commanded.

Reno looked at Trina, whose face was such a mask of anguish that he almost felt like taking that gun and ending her pain right here and right now. Because as surely as he was standing there, if something was to happen to Tree, it would amount to the same thing. It would be as if he had taken that gun, and kiled her himself.

Reno’s heart was hammering, but he knew if anybody was going to diffuse this situation, it was going to be him. He looked at his sister, tears in his eyes.

“MarBeth,” he said, shaking his head, looking down at bloody Carmine, a man he loved, and back at her, “talk to me.” They were far beyond the point of no return, and Reno knew it. Which made it horrific. Which made the terror of this moment feel like thick shards of glass in his throat.

“Talk to me, Mar,” he said again.

He looked so pitiful and said it so heartfelt that those tears Trina had fought so hard to keep at bay, came anyway.

“I was waiting for you to get back,” MarBeth said, fighting her own tears. “I wanted you to see this for yourself.”

“See what, MarBeth? That you murdered a good man like Carmine, your own husband, in cold blood?”

“None of this would have happened, Reno, if you would have listened to me. But you never listened to me. You just ordered me around, me and Franny, like our opinions never counted to you. But you was so in love, when you barely knew this woman, but you was acting like you was so in love.”

“I love you too, MarBeth.”

“You never loved me! Never! Don’t tel that lie! I loved you,” MarBeth said, tears now in her eyes. “Everybody loves Reno. But Reno only has eyes for Trina. His
Tree
. Wel I’m about to chop down this tree.”

“MarBeth, talk to me,” Reno said hurriedly, panicky.
Keep her focused on him
, he said to himself.
Keep her hate directed at him
. “I won’t know if you don’t tel me.”

“You should have helped Pop. When you found out Frank Partanna was gunning for Pop, you should have helped him. But you didn’t. You left it up to Carmine and Dirty, Reno. Carmine and Dirty!

Two losers! Then to put salt in our wounds by giving the PaLargio to this bitch.”

Reno frowned. “I didn’t give the PaLargio to anybody.”

“You made her president, it’s the same thing, Reno! You didn’t make me and Franny nothing. When you left, and I asked you if me and Franny could work there, could learn the business, you told me no.” She paused. “You know why you said no?”

“I didn’t want my sisters to bear that burden.”

“That’s a lie!” MarBeth shot back. “You didn’t want anybody to get in the way of Katrina’s ascension to the top. She was always your first and last concern and you know it! Her, above family, Reno.

Her
?”

MarBeth cocked her pistol. Shawna looked at Reno, stunned that he hadn’t made a move.

“MarBeth, please don’t do it,” Reno said as tears like blood dropped from his eyes. “Please don’t make me do it. You take out Tree, I’l have to take you out.”

MarBeth laughed. “And that’s supposed to scare me? You already took me out, Reno, when you married this bitch!”

And as soon as she said it, she was ready to pul that trigger. And there was no time to think, no time to negotiate, no time to hesitate. Time was out.

Shawna grabbed Reno’s gun right from his hand and puled the trigger, catching MarBeth right between the eyes, missing Trina by mere inches.

And MarBeth’s revolver was the first to fal. And then MarBeth, with her suddenly stunned look, dropped like a haggard Cabbage Patch dol, to the floor.

And Trina let out a sharp, tight, overdue exhale that she incorrectly thought was her heart beating again.

Tommy took the smoking gun from Shawna’s hand, and puled her against his body. She did what she had to do, he knew, but the fact that she had to do it hurt him to his core.

Reno just stood there, unable to move, staring at his sister’s lifeless body. He couldn’t have kiled his sister any more than he could have harmed his wife. But somehow, he felt, he had managed to do both. It wasn’t physical, he wasn’t the one to pul the trigger because he could never have done it that way. But his actions, his decision to include one in his life and exclude the other one, was the real culprit here.

And then he looked at Trina, who was stil standing, who appeared just fine but for the terror in her eyes. And he moved to her, and puled her into his arms.

And then he looked at Trina, who was stil standing, who appeared just fine but for the terror in her eyes. And he moved to her, and puled her into his arms.

Neither one of them felt celebratory. Neither one of them felt lucky. They, in truth, didn’t feel anything but the heartbeat, the very lifeline, of each other.

And Reno knew like he knew his name that he had to give it al up: the PaLargio, Vegas, al of these mob hits and counter-hits. He had to give it al up. If he ever expected to hold on to Trina, it al had to go.

The chauffeur lifted the luggage into the limo’s trunk as Reno and Tommy stood talking on the steps outside of Tommy’s house. Trina and Shawna were talking too, at the limo’s passenger door. They looked at the two men. Both men wore their Italian silk suits as if those suits were stitched onto their athletic bodies. Both looked gorgeous, and strong, and, to the ladies, something else not as easily discernible.

To Trina, she believed it was relief. Reno looked relieved, as if he was finaly able to let out a long exhale. They were moving on, to a quieter life, and she could hardly wait to get there.

To Shawna, she believed it was hope. Tommy looked hopeful: because she was stil there, stil in his arms, stil in his bed, stil so deeply embedded in his heart that his hope was making her hopeful, too.

And as she continued to take peeps at Tommy, as her heart continued to flutter at just the thought of how wel he took care of her, she felt for the first time in a long time that she actualy belonged somewhere.

Tommy felt circumspect too, as he and Reno continued to talk. Only he was more worried about Reno than anything else.

“Stop beating yourself up,” Tommy urged his cousin. “MarBeth put herself in that situation.”

“I know that,” Reno replied.

“It’s over now. It’s al over.”

Reno, with a pair of dark shades covering his expressive blue eyes, looked past Tommy, at Trina. Trina was now laughing at whatever it was she and Shawna were talking about. But he could stil see that terror, that unspeakable fright, al over her. “I feel like it’s just beginning, Tommy,” he replied.

“What are you talking about, Ree? Just beginning? Franny’s doing fine, she’s on track to make a ful recovery, and Dirty hasn’t left her side. He’s stepped up big time. There’re no mob hit lists that you’re on, at least nothing we know about, which means none exist. And Trina made it through in one piece. It’s over. You can take your beautiful wife back to the PaLargio and live your life now on your own terms.”

“Until the next craziness strikes, right?” Reno asked, now looking at his cousin. “Then it’s on again.” He shook his head. “I can’t take that risk.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I can’t risk it,” Reno said. “I love Tree too much. And I’m getting her out of Dodge and keeping her out.”

“Ah, Reno, please don’t tel me you’re leaving her again.”

“I’m not leaving her. I’l never do that again. But I’m taking her away from the bright lights of my life. We talked about it. We’re starting over somewhere, just she and I, before it’s no longer possible.”

Tommy stared at his cousin. “Where?” he asked him, although he already knew Reno wasn’t teling. At least not yet.

And true to form, Reno extended his hand. “Take care of yourself, Tommy,” he said as he and his cousin shook hands. “And don’t neglect the weightier matters.”

Tommy stared at him and then frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked him, but Reno was already walking toward the limo. “What’s that supposed to mean, Reno?” he caled after him.

When Reno made his way to the car, he stood in front of Trina. Looked carefuly at her.

“You good?” he asked her.

Trina nodded. “Better than good,” she said.

Reno smiled, kissed her on the lips. Looked at her again carefuly.

Then he looked at Shawna. “Something I’ve been meaning to ask you,” he said. “How did you know I wouldn’t do it?”

To Shawna it was a no-brainer. “She was your sister, Reno. You could never harm your family, even when they deserved harming. And MarBeth deserved harming. But you wasn’t going to be the one to do it. And one thing I’ve learned about you, Reno, is that you’re always true to form. Even I know that much.”