Free MOB BOSS 3: LOVE AND RETRIBUTION by Mallory Monroe Page B

financialy. And yeah, the public may move on in a couple of months, sure they may. But they may keep moving on and forget to return to the PaLargio.
    I’ve seen it happen.”
    “I hardly think that we should be concerned about that at this point, Reno,” the lead attorney said with an obnoxious smile, his voice always modulated, super-calm, a quality that drove Reno insane. Show some life, some passion, something.
    “Because the fact remains,” the lead attorney continued, “that there was a horrible shooting at that place that took the life of your mother; that has your sister stil fighting for her life; that has your wife traumatized. The idea that it would be business as usual after something like that is a little amazing to me, quite frankly.”
    “Would be downright disrespectful,” said his second-chair attorney. “I agree with Carl that we should shut down for a time.”
    The third attorney nodded. “Me too,” he said.
    “Not me,” Reno said, siding with Lee. “I understand how you’re looking at it. You’re looking at it from a public relations angle, I get that. But I have to look at it from a long term business angle. We were already bleeding revenues, gentlemen. And I don’t mean in drips. Although the casino is stil thriving, the hotel is only at a third capacity and the lounges are almost deserted-looking late at night.
    People are gambling here, may get a drink at the bar here in the early hours of the night, but they aren’t staying here. They’re going to our competitors to stay. If we close now, that casino revenue wil be gone, the hotel and lounge revenues wil be gone, thousands of employees wil be out of a job. And it’l be as if we’re confirming that this place is tainted, and is closed because of the taint. I’m with Lee on this one. Our customers may never come back.” Reno shook his head. “No, gentlemen. That’s a risk too high for me to take. I can’t take that risk.”
    “But have you considered your wife?” his lead attorney asked.
    Reno’s jaw tightened. How dare that asshole mention his wife, as if Reno wasn’t considering her every moment of every second of every day? He had already decided that Trina was going to Tommy’s place in Seattle to recover, and he was going to be by her side there, until she was herself again and until he could figure out the who, what and why of that “penthouse massacre.” But that was none of the business of some punk lawyer who was going to get paid no matter what decision Reno made. The fewer people who knew his and Trina’s whereabouts, the better.
    “Don’t worry about my wife,” he warned.
    The lawyer suddenly realized his blunder. “I didn’t mean any disrespect, Mr. Gabrini,” he clarified, but Reno had already moved on.
    “What about advertisers?” Reno asked, and as soon as he asked it, he heard his wife scream.
    Reno and Lee were up and running before the team of lawyers knew what hit them. Reno ran down the hal and slung open the door of the bedroom, his heart about to go into some kind of cardiac arrest, until he saw her. She was stil asleep, her head turning side to side, her mouth intermittently mumbling and screaming, stil caught up in her nightmare.
    “Get rid of the suits,” Reno ordered Lee as he moved toward the bed, “and you can go too. I’l get with you in the morning.”
    “Right,” Lee said, glancing at Trina, wondering if she was ever going to be al right, and then he left, closing the door behind him.
    Reno sat on the bed beside his wife. “Tree,” he said, gently shaking her.
    When she did open her eyes, and saw that it was him and not her nightmare, she lifted up and fel into his arms.
    Reno closed his eyes tightly as he held her. “It’s al right,” he said. “It won’t be like this for much longer, babe, I promise you.”
    He knew he could have let her go back to Seattle with Tommy, while he stayed in town, took care of business, attended his mother’s funeral, and met up with her