Until You Come Back To Me, Book 5 (12 page)

“You
aren’t thinking about him?” Trina asked.

“You
heard me right, Tree.
 
Why should I?
 
He can run up and down the coast, do anything
and everything he’s big enough to do, and if I accept a gift from a man who has
been nothing but kind to me, a man who was like a second father to me, and
he’ll beat my ass for that?
 
While his
ass doing
I-don’t-know
what
shit?
 
Give me a break!”

Trina
understood the frustration Gemma felt.
 
She felt it many times over in her marriage to Reno.
 
And everything she said was logical and made
perfect sense.
 
But there was no logic in
it when it came to the Gabrini men and their women.
 
There was no sense to it either.
 
They did all kinds of shit, Gemma was
right.
 
But she was wrong, Trina thought,
if she thought they were going to let their women do all kinds of shit too. If
she was Gemma, she’d tell that man, father-figure or no father-figure, to take
a hike.

But
she wasn’t Gemma.
 
She didn’t love and
respect the judge the way Gemma did.
 
He
wasn’t just any old man giving her something.
 
He was someone near and dear to her and always would be.
 
He just wanted to do something nice for
her.
 
He used to treat everybody that
way.
 
That was why Gemma accepted his
generous gift.
 
She accepted it
wholeheartedly.
 
And hugged him in the
bargain.

Sal
drove his Porsche alongside the Acura that was parked in the back of the night
club’s deserted parking lot.
 
The
Wolverine nightclub used to be a popular spot years ago.
 
Now it was shut down.
 

Sal
got out of his car and got into the backseat of the Acura:
Rabina’s
car.
 
Two big, burly men sat up
front.
 
They were her muscle no doubt, as
if two men were enough to take on Sal Gabrini.
 
He almost felt offended by such a puny show of force.
 
And he had scoped the area long before they
arrived in it.
 
There was no backup
anywhere.
 
Just her two henchmen, which
was laughable.
 
But that was a laugh for
another day.
 
Right now he had to
retrieve that tape.
 
He sat down and
looked at the slight woman.
 

“We
meet again,”
Rabina
said.

“Where’s
the tape?” Sal asked.

Rabina
smiled.
 
“Still impatient.
 
Still the same man who tortured me for
hours.
 
The man who treated me like I was
a common dog in the street.”

 
“Cut the fake outrage, Chen.
 
Where’s the tape?”

Rabina
looked at Sal with nothing but disdain in her eyes.
 
“It is where it always was.
 
It is under seal.”

“Well
you’d better unseal it, because I want it.
 
I’m not going through this shit with you again.
 
You damn-near gave me a heart attack when you
showed up at that restaurant with my wife sitting right there!
 
My wife!
 
I don’t bring this shit around her, and you aren’t going to bring it
around her either!”

“That
tape is under seal,”
Rabina
said again.
 
“I cannot touch it and you know I cannot.”

“I
don’t know shit!
 
I know that’s what
you’re telling me, but I don’t
know
shit.”

“Then
why am I alive?”
Rabina
asked.
 
“Why did you and your men torture me the way
you did, but let me live?
 
Because you
know what I said was true.
 
Because you
know that if anything happens to me, if I die from anything but natural causes,
that tape will be revealed.”

 
Sal let out a harsh exhale.
 
“One thing I can’t live with,” he said, “is
blackmail.
 
I can’t have that shit over
my head.
 
I can’t deal with that.”
 
He looked at her.
 
“I should have took you out when I had the
chance.
 
Now you’ve just given me a
second chance.”

As
soon as Sal said that, the two henchmen in the front seat immediately pulled
out their guns and was about to whip around and take Sal out.
 
That was their order if it got even a little
bit dicey, and that was what they intended to do.
 
But what they didn’t know was that Sal
already had his weapon out, and as soon as they whipped around, he put a bullet
in the driver’s head and then a bullet in the passenger’s.
 
Both men fell back dead.

Sal
then turned his weapon toward
Rabina
.
 
She was peeing she was so stunned.
 
“Now do you understand who you’re fucking
with?” he asked her.

Rabina
stared at him.
 
“I already
understood that.”

“Where
is the tape?
 
And if you tell me it’s sealed
and you can’t retrieve it, you’re dead.
 
There will be no torturing.
 
There
will be no more conversation. I will put a fucking bullet through your fucking
brain and go home.
 
This will be your
end.
 
I spared you before because I
couldn’t take the chance.
 
Now I don’t
give a fuck.
 
I may not get that tape,
but you’re be dead.”

“And
everything will be exposed.”

Sal
pointed his weapon at her head and cocked it.
 
“Final warning.
 
Where’s that
tape?”

“Okay,”
Rabina
said nervously, staring at the barrel of that
gun.
 
“I can give it to you.”

Sal
was actually shocked to hear her say that.
 
He felt like he’d been played all this time.
 
He even tortured her ass for hours just like
she said, but she still wouldn’t give up the goods.
 
Now she was willing?
 
All of that talk about it being under seal
all over the country was a pack of lies?
 
“Then give it up,” he said to her.

“I
no
have it here,”
Rabina
said
with a heavy Asian accent, as if she had forgotten she spoke perfect
English.
 
“I have to go get it, but I cannot
leave the state.”

“You
either leave the state, or leave this earth.
 
Now pick your choice.”

“But
I no lie!
 
The men they are in Asia.
 
In Taiwan.
  
They will not release it that easily.
 
Their livelihood depends on me.
 
If I am found guilty in the courts, I will not be able to continue to
supply their livelihood.”

Sal
frowned.
 
“’You’re a fucking madam!
 
A
got
damn
pimp!
 
What the fuck are you talking
about?
 
What men are depending on you for
their livelihood?”

“My
pimps,” she said.
 
“We do trafficking.
 
It is my biggest business.
 
You do not understand.
 
These men are relying on that trade from Asia
to the U.S.
 
I am their conduit.”

Sal
stared at her.
 
It made sense.
 
But those
under
seal
lies made sense at the time too.

“If I
am convicted of this crime, they will suffer great financial loss.
 
If I am free, the tape will mean nothing to
them.
 
They will honor your request and
give it to you.
 
They know who you
are.
 
They will not backstab a Gabrini.”

Sal
was thinking, and therefore wasn’t speaking.
 

“You
can kill me,”
Rabina
said, “and lose all chance at
retrieving that tape.
 
Or you can help
set me free, and retrieve the tape once and for all.
 
They will not backstab you.
 
They know who you are.
 
They will not backstab a Gabrini.”

“So
you want me to fly you out of here, to Taiwan, in exchange for that tape?”

“No,”
Rabina
said as if Sal didn’t understand her at
all.
 
“I am of no use to them if I am on
the, how do you say it?
 
The lamb?
 
If I am a wanted fugitive, our trade will
cease.
 
I cannot operate it on this
end.
 
They need me functional on this
end.”

“Then
what the fuck do you want me to do?
 
How
else am I supposed to help set you free?”

Rabina
reached down, inside her purse.
 
“Careful,” Sal said.
 
“I won’t
beat a bitch, but I’ll kill one.”

“I
have no weapons.
 
I only have the
paperwork.”
 
She pulled out a file and
handed it to Sal.

Sal
tossed it aside.
 
“What is it?”

“The
information on three of the men serving as jurors in my trial.
 
We believe they are prime to find me guilty
of the charge of murder.”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What do you want me to do
about it?”

“Get
to them.
 
They are not sequestered, they
go home every evening after the trial.
 
Convince them as only you can that they must find me innocent.
 
Or, as the judge would say it, not
guilty.
 
If they find me not guilty, the
rest of the jurors, who are too stupid to make up their own minds, will go
along.
 
Those three jurors in that file
are the ring leaders.
 
Those three jurors
are the prosecution’s greatest hope for a conviction.”

Sal
shook his head in disgust.
 
“So that’s
why my wife was chosen as lead counsel?
 
That’s why you assholes involved her in this shit?”

“You
will get your tape, and I will get my freedom.
 
I have been instructed that I can bargain with that tape now.
 
But they will not give you a second
chance.
 
You kill me, the tape goes
public. You spare me again, and your wife secures my freedom with your help,
and that cloud over your head, that cloud that will probably cause your wife to
leave you anyway, will fade for good.”

Sal
knew he had no choice.
 
He could kill
her, but what if she was telling the truth?
 
His slick ass would be done for in every direction, including with
Gemma.
 

He
had been trying to figure out how to get that tape since he first found out her
people had it.
 
But there was nobody they
could track down.
 
Until now.
 
Taiwan was the connection.
 
But he needed time.
 
He had to give her what she wanted, and hope
that his people found her Taiwan connection, or whatever connection she truly
had, before it was too late and that tape was revealed.
 
A tape that could not be revealed.
 
He didn’t have a choice.
 

He
grabbed the file and opened the car door.

“I
ride back to Las Vegas with you, yes?”

“Hell
no,” Sal said, getting out of the car.

Rabina
looked at the dead men in the front seat.
 
She looked at Sal.
 
“But what am I to do?
 
My driver is dead!”

“Call
Ted Coggan,” Sal suggested bitterly, “since he’s the asshole who sat this whole
scheme up anyway.”

Sal
slammed the door, got into his Porsche, and sped away.

It
was three in the morning when Sal drove up to his estate.
 
He and his men had wasted no time contacting
the jurors.
 
They had to do it under
cover of darkness anyway.
 
But there were
still no guarantees.
 
That was why he had
another group of men, his best and brightest, investigating that Taiwan/illegal
trafficking angle.
 
It had been a tough
day all around.

But
when he drove onto his circular driveway, and saw a sparkling Bentley in the
circle, he was concerned.
 
Reno and Trina
owned a Bentley, he knew, but it wasn’t this one.
 
And why would somebody be at his home three
in the morning anyway?
 
He grabbed his
weapon out of his glove compartment before he exited the car.

Gemma
was lying in bed by the time he entered the house, tripping the alarm.
 
She knew it was Sal because the alarm was
quickly cleared.
 
Then she heard his
footsteps on the stairs.
  
When he
entered their bedroom, and walked up to the bed, turning on their bedside lamp,
she didn’t pretend that she was asleep or annoyed or any of that.
 
She just looked at him.
 
As usual when he wasn’t at home, she was
lying on his side of the bed.

She
looked angelic to Sal as she laid there.
 
His heart swelled with love for her.
 
But he was also concerned.
 
Was
there somebody else in their home?
 
“Hey,” he said.

“Hey,”
she responded.

“Who
does that Bentley belong to?”

Gemma
was disappointed in him.
 
“Is that all
you have to say?”

Sal
frowned.
 
“What do you mean is that all I
have to say?
 
It’s three o’clock in the
morning and I’ve never seen it before.
 
None of our friends own it.
 
None
of our relatives own it.
 
Whose is it?”

Gemma
shook her head.
 
She wanted to turn over
and go to sleep.
 
“It’s mine,” she said.

Sal
frowned again.
  
“Yours?
 
Since when?”

Here
we go, Gemma thought.
 
“Since Judge
Calhoun gave it to me.”

Sal
was beyond a frown now.
 
He was
seething.
 
“Since he gave it to you?
 
What the fuck he giving you a car for?”

Gemma
didn’t like his tone and wasn’t about to allow him to speak to her that
way.
 
She moved to turn over, effectively
turning her back to him.
 
But he angrily
pulled her back over, facing him.
 
“You heard
me,” he said.
 
“Why would that guy give
you a car?”

“For
my birthday, okay?” Gemma said with equal venom.

Sal was
shocked.
 
“Your birthday?” He began
thinking.
 
What day was it?

“He
gave me the car for my birthday,” Gemma repeated.
 
“He was thoughtful enough to remember my
birthday, even after all these years, and give me a gift.”

Sal
felt like shit.
 
How could he forget his
wife’s birthday?
 
She was his
everything!
 
How could he do her like
this?
 
“
Oh, Gemma
,” he said so heartfelt that she felt it, and then he got
in bed beside her, wrapping her in his big arms.
 

Gemma
snuggled against him, loving the smell of him and his magnificent touch.
 
He had hurt her mightily with his absence,
but she realized it was his forgetfulness more than anything else.
 
And even though the fact that he forgot her
birthday wasn’t a good thing, it wasn’t unforgiveable.

“What’s
wrong with me?” he asked.
 
“How could I
forget your special day?”

“Where
were you?” Gemma asked, although she knew she wouldn’t get a straight answer.

The
thought of where he had been, and what he had to do while he was there, only
added to Sal’s distress.
 
He was no
coldblooded killer.
 
Every action he
took, not just killing those two men but threatening to kill those three
jurors, affected him in ways even he couldn’t verbalize.
 
Especially when he realized what Gemma would
think of him if she truly knew the full extent of his extracurricular
activities. “I had to handle some business,” was all he would say about it.

Gemma
rolled her eyes and tried to turn away, but Sal turned her back to him.
 
“You know I have business I have to handle.”

“Why
can’t you tell me the truth?
 
I can take
it, Sal.”

“I
didn’t say you couldn’t take it.”

“Then
why don’t you tell me?”

“Because
I’m not dirtying you up with my filth!”
 
Sal didn’t mean to fire at her, but the stress was getting to him.
 
He rubbed his forehead.
 
“I’m not taking you down that road with
me.
 
It’s too dark, it’s too narrow, it’s
a dead end.
 
We will not be discussing
that.”

Gemma
didn’t like his tone, but she understood where he was coming from.
 
He told her before they were married that any
discussions of his “business” outside of the Gabrini Corporation business was
for him to deal with alone.
 
She accepted
that.
 
And because she was a woman of her
word, she always would.
 
“I shouldn’t
have gone there anyway,” she said. “I apologize for that.”

Sal
felt even worse when she apologized.
 
He
pulled her into his arms again.
 
“You
have nothing to apologize for,” he said.
 
“I’m the asshole who forgot your birthday.
 
I have no excuses for that.
 
I can’t believe I put you on a
backburner.”
 
Then he looked her dead in the
eye.
 
“I’m sorry, Gemma.
 
You know I didn’t mean it.
 
You’re the love of my life.
 
You’re everything to me.
 
I can’t believe I forgot!”

Gemma
knew she shouldn’t let him off the hook.
 
He blew it and that was all there was to it.
 
But she was looking into his eyes.
 
She’d seen that look before.
 
He’d been to hell and back today.
 
She could tell it.
 
And she was not going to add to his
distress.
 

It
was her time to pull him into her arms.
 
“It’s okay, baby,” she said as she held him.
 
“None of us are perfect.”

Sal
felt a swell of emotion shoot through his body as she held him.
 
He was trembling with love for her.
 

When
he finally looked at her again, he placed his hand on the side of her
face.
 
“Forgive me?” he asked her in a
way a child would ask his mother for forgiveness.
 
Gemma, and Gemma alone, brought out that
tender side of him.

She
smiled.
 
It amazed her how easily she
could forgive Sal Gabrini anything.
 
“You
know I do,” she said.

Sal
smiled too.
 
Nobody made him
happier.
 
“So what do you want for your
birthday?
 
It’s not too late.
 
You want a new house, a new plane, a new
car?”

Gemma
laughed.
 
“I have a new car.”

“Like
hell you do!
 
That Bentley goes back to
Judge Calhoun first thing in the morning.”

“Oh,
Sal, it’ll break his heart.”

“Then
his heart will have to break.
  

“Oh,
Sal!”

“Don’t
oh, Sal
me!
 
No man is getting my wife any birthday gift
that’s more than a token of their kindness.
 
A Bentley is more than a token.
  
It’s a fucking engagement!”

Gemma
laughed.

“It
goes back in the morning,” Sal said.
 
“You understand me?”

Gemma
still didn’t like it.
 
But she wasn’t
going against Sal.
 
“I understand,” she
said.

“You
better be glad I don’t beat your ass for accepting it in the first place,” Sal
added.

Gemma
looked at him.
 
“Beat my ass?
 
Over something like that?
 
Boy bye!”

Sal
didn’t like how dismissive she was of his admonition.
 
And before he realized he had done it, he had
turned her onto her stomach, lifted up her gown, and was wailing on her bare
ass.
 

At
first Gemma was laughing.
 
He had taken
her by such surprise that it amused her.
 
But when he continued to spank despite her protestations, and his licks
began to sting, it was no laughing matter.
 
“Sal, that hurts!” she groaned.

Sal
stopped.
 
And laid down beside her.
 
She turned her face his way.
 
He began rubbing her aching ass.
 
But Sal was serious too.
 
“I blew it tonight,” he said.
 
“I forgot your birthday and that’s a bad
thing.
 
But that doesn’t give you a pass
when it comes to Judge Calhoun or Ted Coggan or any of those men out there who
I believe, yes, have more than innocent intent when it comes to you.
 
They want to fuck you, Gemma, whether you
want to believe it or not.
 
That’s why
you accept no gifts from any of them, you hear me?
 
Not a watch, not a bracelet.
 
Not a fucking car ever!
 
You’re off limits.
 
They need to understand that or I’ll have to
make them understand that.”

He
continued to stare at her.
 
A distressed
look came into his eyes.
 
“Don’t make me
make them, Gemma,” he added.

Gemma
looked at this man she loved.
 
She didn’t
like the way he did a lot of things, especially when he put his foot down so
decisively.
 
But she understood why he
did it.
 
She understood that he was only
looking out for her and for her best interest.
 
She nodded her head.
 
“It goes
back in the morning,” she said.
 
“And I
won’t let it happen again.”

Sal
stared at her.
 
“I love you,” he
said.
 
“With all my heart.”

Gemma
placed her hand on his gorgeous face.
 
“I
love you,” she responded.
 
“With all my
heart.”

They
stared into each other’s eyes, and then down at each other’s luscious lips, and
then they were kissing.
 
It was a tender
thing for them at first.
 
Nothing like
the last time they made love when Sal had too much on his mind and took it out
on Gemma.
 
And soon Sal had undressed,
had lifted her gown off of her, and was between her legs licking and eating her
senseless.

Gemma
was lifting and moaning and guiding his head further between her legs as his
mouth devoured her.
 
She pushed her hips
forward, simulating sex, as his tongue slid deeper into her pussy.
 
She cried out with the passion she couldn’t
suppress, and all was forgiven as he ate her.
 
And when he got on his knees, and pulled her body closer, and guided his
huge, fully aroused cock into her folds, all was forgotten too.
 
Only his love, and his masterful strokes, and
the way he made her feel at that moment in time was the only thing she had on
her mind.

Sal
fucked her with tenderness this time.
 
There was no anger, no desperation, no remains from a day that was too
horrible to relive.
 
This was his love,
his wife.
 
He was going to do her right.

He
fucked her for a long time.
 
He laid on
top of her, and held her, and fucked her.
 
He kissed her as his ass pumped and squeezed and his dick moved back and
forward inside of her.
 
Nobody made him
feel the way Gemma made him feel.
 
And he
loved that feeling to a point that he never wanted it to end.
 
He fucked her long and slow as he moved in
her the way a lion king moved confidently through his terrain.
 
Because Gemma belonged to him and him
alone.
 
Judge Calhoun and any other man
had better understand that.
 
They weren’t
taking her away from him, he didn’t care how clever they thought they were.
 
She belonged to him.