Free Mob Boss 4: Romancing Trina Gabrini by Mallory Monroe Page B

let her leave early,” Mondo said.
    Barkley shook his head.   “You need to quit,” he said to Nell.   “They wouldn’t try that shit with
Hilda.”   Hilda wasn’t the name of the
manager of Clauson’s.   Her name was
actually Gweneth.   But her
take-no-prisoners management style had rendered her as spiteful as Broom Hilda,
the cigar-smoking, beer guzzling witch from the comic strips, and thus the
nickname.  
    “She’s sick,” Nell said.
    “So am I,” Barkley said, his dark skin
sparkling against his white teeth.   “So
can I leave early, too?”
    “What do you want, Bark ?”
    “I want details, that’s what,” he said, pulling up a chair in front of the desk.
    Nell frowned.   “Details about what?”
    “The new owner.   Who is
he?”
    Mondo looked at the bartender.   “What new owner?   What are you talking about, Bark?”
    “Y’all jiving,” he said, amazed.
    “What?” Nell asked.
    “You mean to tell me Broom Hilda didn’t tell
y’all?”
    Mondo was getting impatient.   It was always like Barkley to drip it
out.   “Tell us what you mean, got dammit!”
    Barkley looked Mondo up and down.   “Oh, no, you didn’t talk to me like that.”
    “Barkley!” Nell yelled.   “Just tell us.   What is it?   What new owner?”
    Barkley gave Mondo another up and down look,
and then looked at Nell.   “Mr. Clauson
sold this place.”
    Nell nor Mondo could believe it.   Nell
immediately stood, and Mondo stood with her, and they left her office and
hurried to Gweneth’s.   Barkley was known
to get his facts all twisted up.   They
had to hear this from the horse’s mouth.
    “I just found out myself,” Gweneth said as
soon as Nell, her assistant manager, and Mondo, her chef, came racing into her office.
    “But is   it true?” Nell asked.   “Mr. Clauson has sold out?”
    Gweneth Plant, a tall red head with small,
brown eyes, was standing behind her desk.   She nodded her head.   “Yes,” she
said to them.
    “But when?” Mondo asked.   “To who?”
    “When, I don’t know. He called me this morning
and said they finalized the deal and he’s sold his ten percent share of
Clauson’s Restaurant.”
    “Ten percent?” Nell asked.   “What are you talking about?   Mr.
Clauson didn’t own a hundred percent?”
    “Not even close,” Gweneth said.   “He said the man who owned the other ninety
percent was a silent partner who allowed him to run the place however he saw
fit.   But when he died his son took
over.   And now his son wants to run the
whole shebang.   He bought Doug out.   He didn’t have a choice the way he
talked.   But given how poorly we’ve been
doing over the last couple years, he probably gladly sold out.”
    “But why was it called Clauson’s if Clauson
only owned ten percent of it?” Mondo wanted to know.
    “Because he once owned it all before he got a
partner.   This silent partner brought out
the entire restaurant and left him with the ten percent, and agreed to keep the
name since it was a successful business at the time.   Clauson used to own it outright.   But that was a long time ago.”
    “So who’s the boss now?   Who is he?”
    “His name is,” Gweneth started, and then had
to look down at the paper on her desk.   “Dominic,” she said, “Ga-bri-ni. If that’s how you pronounce   it .”
    Nell was stunned.   She just stood there, unable to believe her
ears.
    “Ga-bri-ni?” Mondo asked.   “What kind of name is that?”
    “Italian apparently.   And
he’s supposed to be a big shot, too. Mr. Clauson says he owns or used to own
some big time hotel in Vegas.”
    Nell felt suddenly numb as her hand
involuntarily knocked over the cup of coffee on Gweneth’s desk, splattering the
liquid.
    “Oh, no!” Gweneth yelled. “Look what you’ve done!”   She immediately began to retrieve all of the paperwork from her desk,
with Mondo helping.
    “I’m sorry, Gweneth,” Nell said, attempting to
help, too.
    “Just