Free Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards by Mallory Monroe Page B

reveal so much.   But
she had a right to know.   He hesitated,
then nodded.   “Yeah.   He’s pulling the strings.”
    “But
why?   Why would he care about something
like this?”
    “He found
out, Blanche.”
    Blanche
couldn’t believe it.   “He found out?   When?”
    “He found
out!   Fuck when.   The gig is up.   I had to beg his ass to spare you.   So you’d better be glad he’s letting you work
your way back into his good graces.”
    “He found
out everything?”
    Victor
nodded and looked back toward the law firm building.   “Everything,” he said.
    Blanche
still couldn’t believe it.   Her eyes were
darting back and forth, searching for answers.   “But I don’t get it.   Who told
him?   How could he know?”
    “He knows.”
    Again,
Blanche was searching for answers in her mind.   And what good would this do?   She
looked at Victor.   “But I still don’t get
it.   How would telling Sal’s wife about
my relationship with Sal help Rudy?”
    “He’s a man
with a plan.   I told you that.   You just do your job.   Sal is a tough guy.   But he ain’t shit compared to Rudy.”
      Then Victor’s eyes grew large.   “I’ll be got damn!”
he yelled as he grabbed his binoculars to make sure he was seeing what he
thought he was seeing.
    “What is
it?” Blanche asked excitedly, and then looked toward the law firm too.    When she saw that a tall black woman had
walked out of the door and was now heading toward a car parked at the curb, she
frowned.   “Who is that?”
    “That’s
her,” Victor said with anguish.   “That’s
the wife.   Got dammit!”
    Blanche was
shocked.   “I thought you said she hadn’t
arrived yet.   But she’s been inside all
this time?   I could have gone in hours
ago?”
    “They told
me she drives a BMW,” Victor said.   “Those fuckers said to look out for a BMW.   There’s no BMW here.   I’ll be got damn!”
    Blanche
looked at Gemma Jones-Gabrini.   She was
tall and statuesque.   Dark and lovely.
Very attractive.
    “So that’s
Mrs. Sal Gabrini,” she said.   “That’s the
one he picked over all of us.”   Jealousy
took root in Blanche’s heart.   Sal was
always her favorite, although the feeling, she knew, was never mutual.   “She doesn’t look so special to me,” she
added.
    “She’s hot,”
Victor said.
    Blanche
looked angrily at him.
    Victor
looked at her.   “What are you looking at
me like that for?   Sal Luca think she’s
hot.”
    “What do you
think?” Blanche asked.
    Victor
looked again at Gemma’s long black legs, and her beautiful black face, and her
bouncy, natural hair.   She was hot, Sal
got that much right.   But he didn’t give
a damn either way.   “She’s driving a
Porsche,” he said as Gemma opened the door to her husband’s Porsche parked at
the curb, and got inside.   “Who the fuck
confuses a Porsche for a BMW?”
    They watched
as Gemma drove away.
    “What do we
do now?” Blanche asked.   “We can’t follow
her all over town.”
    Victor
exhaled.   “Go inside her law firm,” he
said.   “Schedule an appointment to see
her.   This ain’t the way he planned it,
he wanted a surprise visit, but fuck it.   We just need you to be able to meet with her.”
    Blanche
still felt as if she was groping in the dark.   Why would Rudy Balotti care about Sal’s wife knowing anything?   What was he up to?   But Victor was right.   Rudy was giving her a chance to redeem
herself.   She didn’t understand why.   The Rudy she used to know would have killed
her ass and asked questions later.   But
she wasn’t about to look that gift horse in the mouth.   She got out, and headed for the law firm’s
entrance.

 

CHAPTER EIGHT

 
    The meeting
was held in the conference room of the law firm representing Sal’s
accusers.   All five accusers were there,
all five in a jovial mood, as they were all expecting to hear a settlement
proposal.   Sal was supposed to show