TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART (23 page)

Tommy
stopped in his tracks.
 
Sal did too.

“What?”
Tommy asked.

“It
was your daddy.
 
It was Mr. Gabrini.
 
He paid them.
 
He set it all up.”

“You’re
a liar!” Sal yelled.
 
“You think we’ll
let you get away with more of your lies?”

“It’s
the truth!” Nayla yelled back.
 
“He set
it up.
 
He came to me after he met Grace
at some shooting range.
 
At Ekland.
 
He said he met her there and he wanted to
know all about her.
 
He said
 
he heard I was her best friend and he would
pay me to tell him what I knew.”

Sal
looked at Tommy.

“Go
on,” Tommy said to her.

“So I
told him what I knew.
 
I told
 
him how she changed when she took over
Trammel, I told him everything.
 
He paid
for, and I gave it to him.”

“Did
you tell him about that accident she had when she was in college?”

Nayla
hesitated, which angered Sal.
 
“Talk
motherfucker!” he yelled.
 
“You just
implicated our old man. You’d better talk!”

“Yes,”
she said.
 
“I knew about that accident, I
helped Grace through it when it first happened, and yeah, I told him about it.”

“You
told him how to get in touch with Rait?” Tommy asked her, staring at her.

Nayla
nodded to that too.
 
“I told him,” she
admitted.
 
“And when I told him about how
she demoted me and Jared, he came back a few days later and told us what he
wanted us to do.
 
He paid Jared too.
 
He told me what day he wanted me to approach
Grace, and how he wanted me to make sure she fired me.
 
Then, he said, the fireworks would begin.”

Tommy’s
heart was pounding against his chest.
 

And
Nayla, confident that if they knew the real villain here they would leave her
alone, told it all.
 
“He had his people
hire those lawyers and had them schedule that press conference.
 
He told us to what to say,” she said.
 
“He said we couldn’t lose.
 
He said even if we lost the lawsuit, we would
still get paid.
 
He would see to it,
that’s what he told us.”
 
Then Nayla
shook her head.
 
“He was so determined,”
she said.
 
“It was like he was so angry
at Grace,” Nayla said, looking at Tommy, “for being with you.”

Tommy
and Sal both looked as if they’d just been blindsided.
 
And they both took the news very
differently.
 
Although Sal still refused
to believe that his own father, that the chief of the Seattle police department
would get so down and dirty involved in something like this, Tommy didn’t have
that problem.
 
Tommy’s problem wasn’t
that he didn’t believe it.
 
Tommy’s
problem was that he believed it, and he believed it absolutely.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The two
Ferraris swerved onto the circular driveway of Tommy’s home, and Tommy hurried
out of the red one.
 
He walked over to
Sal’s white Ferrari, as Sal pressed down the window.

“You’ll
drive,” Tommy told him.

“Damn
straight,” Sal said.
 
“I don’t trust your
driving.”

Tommy
smiled weakly.
 
“Let me get her and I’ll
be back.”

“But
are you sure this is a good idea?”

“Now
wait a minute,” Tommy said.
 
“You’re the
one who’s always telling me I need to introduce her to Pop.”

“From
what that chick Nayla said, you already have.
 
At Ekland’s.”

“That
wasn’t an introduction,” Tommy said.
 
“That was an intrusion.
 
By Pop.”

“But
still, Tommy,” Sal said.
 
“It’s five o
clock in the morning.
 
Pop’s gonna
already be pissed, and you’re going to bring Grace on top of it?”

Tommy
exhaled.
 
“She needs to be there,” he
said. “What he did--”

“If
it’s true,” Sal said.

“What
he did affects Grace just as much as it affects me.
 
She needs to see what kind of an asshole
we’re dealing with here.
 
I can’t imagine
a better time than now.”

“Okay,”
Sal said and Tommy made his way toward his front door.
 

Sal
shook his head as he watched his big brother.
 
Tommy used to treat Grace like some fucking kid, now he was throwing her
into the lion’s den.
 
And at five o clock
in the morning.
 
Either Tommy knew
something about Grace now that Sal wasn’t privy to, or Tommy was finally waking
the fuck up.
 
Better to have a woman who
could take care of herself should you no longer be around, than to have one
who’d be lost without you.
  
That was how
Sal saw it.
 
But even he was concerned
about this meeting this morning.

Sal
parked in the driveway of his father’s old style home.
 
Gemma, Sal’s girlfriend, called the home dark
and uninviting when she first saw it, and he knew she was right.
 
It was their childhood home, and it was a
joyless one.

Tommy
and Grace sat in the back bucket seats in a car she used to think, before she
met Tommy, was a two-seater.
 
But even
though it was a tight fit, it was still far more comfortable than she
felt.
 
When Tommy woke her up, told her
to get dressed because he wanted her to meet his father, she thought it was a
joke.
 
Meet his father?
 
The man he decked at the gun range?
 
And wasn’t it five in the morning?

But
it was no joke.
 
Tommy was dead serious.
 
She therefore cleaned herself up, brushed her
teeth and her hair, threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, and followed
him.
 
He held her hand the entire drive
over.
 

And
even when they stepped out of Sal’s car, and all three began heading for the
front door of the creepy house, Tommy continued to hold her hand with a mighty
grip.
 
He looked more uncomfortable than
she felt, and she wondered why in the world would he want to have this meeting
now.

It
took several rings and knocks, and a neighbor’s dog beginning to bark, but the
outside light eventually came on and the door was eventually opened.
 

Shockingly
enough to Grace, Mr. Gabrini didn’t seem surprised to see his two sons standing
on his doorstep at this time of morning with a woman at their side.
 
He, in fact, left the door opened and walked
away.
 

Sal
looked at Tommy, and Tommy touched Sal on his shoulder, as Sal led the way
inside the home.
 
Tommy kept his hand on
the small of Grace’s back as they entered.
 
Benny Gabrini was seated in the flanking chair as all three made their
way to the sofa.

“Aren’t
you going to ask why we’re here, Pop?” Sal asked as they walked.

Grace
could see a look of irritation on Benny’s face when Sal asked that
question.
 
“I’m sure you’ll let me know,
Salvatore,” he said.

He
looked at Tommy and Grace when they sat down.
 
Tommy crossed his legs, and he kept his arm around Grace when they
sat.
 
Benny, in his bathrobe, crossed his
legs too.

“Hello
Thomas,” he said.
 
“You haven’t been back
home in what, twenty years?”

“This
isn’t my home,” Tommy said.

“So
how you’ve been doing, Pop?” Sal asked, to keep the tension at a minimum.
 
It was tough enough.

Benny,
however, ignored Sal.
 
“It’s good to see
you, Thomas,” he said.
 
“I forgave you
after you did what you did at Ekland.
 
It’s just your temper, isn’t it?
 
Even as a child you had such a temper.
 
I was the only one who knew how to deal with it.”

Tommy
looked hard at his father.
 

Benny,
however, smiled.
 
“So what brings you all
the way out here?
 
And to bring Sal and
that girl with you.
 
What gives?”

Tommy
wasn’t going to rise to the bait.
 
He had
to find out if it was true.
 
He had to
hear it straight from his father, and Grace had to hear it too.
 
“You know why I’m here,” he said.

Benny
attempted to smile.
 
“If I knew why, I
wouldn’t have asked you.
 
So I suggest
you cut the bullshit and tell me why it is you’re here.”

“Nayla
sent me,” Tommy said.
 
“Nayla
Santiago?
 
Or was it Jared Graham?
 
Or was it Rait Rawlings?”

Benny
stared at Tommy.
 
“Your lady’s enemies,”
he said.

“And
your friends,” Tommy said.
 
Grace looked
at him, and then looked at Benny.

“How
much did you pay them?” Tommy asked him.
 
“How much was destroying Grace worth to you?”

Benny
laughed.
 
“You sound like a fool.”

But
Tommy was steadfast.
 
“How much? A few
thousand?
 
A few hundred thousand?”

That
number got a rise out of Benny.
 
“Are you
out of your mind?” he asked.
 
“She’ll
never be worth that!
 
She doesn’t deserve
you!”

“Nobody
does,” Tommy said.
 
“Except you, right?”

Grace
and Sal both looked at Tommy.
 
But Tommy
continued to stare at his father.

“Am I
right?
 
You’re the only one who could
ever deserve me.”

Benny
stared back at his oldest son.
 
“You’re
my rock, Tommy.
 
You won’t give me the
time of day, but you’re my rock.
 
And
nobody’s taking my rock away from me!”

“You
paid them?”

“Yeah,
I paid them!
 
What else could I do?
 
You wasn’t marrying her!
 
I wasn’t going to stand for it!”

The
reality of his words hit Sal hard.
 
He
frowned.
 
“How could you do a thing like
that Pop?” he asked him.
 
“Grace is a good
person.”

“She’s
a whore!” Benny yelled and Sal stood up, ready to fight.
 
But Tommy didn’t.
 
He continued to stare at his father.

“Go
public,” he said to his father.
 
“Admit
your part in the lies they told on my lady.”

“Your
lady?
 
What are you talking about?”

“If
you don’t go public,” Tommy added, “I’ll go public on you.”

Sal
looked at Tommy.
 
What?
 
“Go public on him?”
 
Sal asked, confused.

But
Tommy continued to stare at his father, and his father continued to stare at
him.
 
Sal might not have known what Tommy
was talking about, but Benny Gabrini knew.

“Don’t
be a fool, Tommy,” Benny said.
 
“That
black gal don’t mean you any good.”

“Clean
that shit up regarding my lady,” Tommy said, “or I’ll tell it all.
 
Then I want you to see how many of those
political operatives will be clamoring to run you
 
for governor then.
 
I want to see how many citizens in this town
would want to keep you as their top cop then. A sadistic piece of shit like
you.”

Benny
stood up.
 
Tommy, with Grace right beside
him, stood up too.
 

And
something shifted.
 
The hate in the room
was so strong, Sal could taste it.
 
“Tommy, take it easy,” he said to his brother.

But
Tommy was in the zone.
 
His eyes were
glassed over.
 
They were unblinking.
 
“I’ll tell it all,” he said.
 
“I’ll tell about the abuse,” he started
saying, but Benny interrupted him.

“That’s
enough!” Benny blared.
 
“You will not
defame me like this!”

Sal
and Grace both were staring at Tommy.
 
“Abuse?” Sal asked.
 
“Tommy, what
are you talking?
 
Pop never abused you!
 
He loved you.
 
He treated you like a fucking king.”

“I
was a king all right,” Tommy agreed.
 
“
His
king.
 
Wasn’t I, Pop?
 
Especially after mom ran away.”

Sal
and Grace were stunned.
 
Sal looked at
his father.
 

Benny
walked away, rubbing his hair.
 
“It’s all
lies,” he said absently, as if he said it because he had to say it, but not
because he believed it.

“I
was his favorite,” Tommy said to Sal and Grace, although he was staring at his
father.
 
“You’re always telling me that,
Sal.
 
You’re always telling me how much
Pop loves me.
 
He loved me, all
right.
 
Every night he loved me.
 
Every day he loved me.
 
He loved me until he made me sick to my
stomach.
 
He loved me until I wanted to
kill his ass!” Tommy screamed this out.

“Tommy,”
Grace said, grabbing his arm, her heart pounding.

Tommy
settled back down.
 
He was now talking
directly to his father.
 
“If you don’t go
public and clear my lady’s name, then I will go public and trash yours.
 
And it won’t be dirt, but the truth.”

And
that word set Benny off.
 
“The
truth
?” he asked.
 
“What the hell do you know about truth?
 
I did everything for you!
 
Everything!
 
I got you and Sal out of Jersey.
  
You could have been a gangster just like all my brothers were, and just
like Reno became.
 
You could have been
dead today if I would have let you go down that road.
 
But I wouldn’t allow it.
 
I got you out of there!
 
I got both of you on the police department as
soon as I moved up the ranks.
 
And I
looked out for you, Tommy.
 
I made sure
you moved up the ranks.
 
You was a fucking
Captain before you was thirty!” Benny blared.
 

Then
he calmed back down.
 
“And you’re talking
to me about truth?”
 
he asked.
 
“What truth would you know about?”

“I
know the truth about what you did to me,” Tommy said.

“That’s
nonsense,” Benny said.

“I know
the truth.”

“I’ve
had about all I’m going to take of your bullshit, Tommy,” Benny said, hurrying
toward his son.
 
“What truth you
know?
  
What truth can an ungrateful
asshole like you know?”

“You
used to fuck me!” Tommy screamed.
 
“That’s what truth!”