Reno's Gift (Mob Boss Series) by Mallory Monroe Page B

Trina turned serious again.   “So what did you say to Jody?”
    “I
told him I couldn’t help him.   We can’t
let anybody play one of us against the other one. So I wasn’t about to get
involved, no matter how it went down yesterday.   We’ll just have to find another accountant.”
    Trina
smiled.   She truly loved Gemma Jones.
    And
because they were on one accord, the rest of the day went as well as the
morning.   Fran hung around laughing and
talking, as they knew she would, and the day went by.   Until late afternoon, when the boutique’s
door opened and Belle Patrone stepped inside.
    Belle
walked around the boutique in a slow paced, nothing-but-time-on-her-hands
wandering gait.   She kept glancing over
at Trina, who was serving a customer, and Gemma, who was ringing up another
customer.   When both customers had
finally left the store, and Trina was now behind the counter with Gemma and
Fran, Belle grabbed a blouse she had been eyeing and made her way to the cash
register.
    “Hi,”
Trina said as she accepted the blouse, and moved to ring it up.
    “Hi,”
Belle said, pulling the coins out of her Michael Kors handbag.   “You have lovely clothes in this boutique.”
    “Thank-you,”
Trina said as she rang up the sale.   “Thank-you very much.”
    Belle
looked at the amount- eight hundred and forty-nine dollars- and pulled out her
Discover card and handed it to Trina. Trina swiped the card while Gemma bagged
the blouse.
    Belle
accepted the bag and then her card and receipt.   She smiled and began putting her card back into her purse.   But just before she was about to take her
leave, she looked again at Trina.  
    “Aren’t
you Reno’s wife?” she asked her.
    Fran
and Gemma both looked at her.   Trina
smiled.   “Yes, that’s right.”
    Belle
gave a weak, tight smile.   “Thought so,”
she said.
    The
look that was now on her face surprised Trina.   “You know him?” she asked.
    “Yes,”
Belle said, staring at Trina.   Trina,
Fran, and Gemma waited for more of an explanation, but none came.  
    Finally
Belle had put her card and receipt away and was now ready to go.   “Good afternoon,” she then said, grabbed her
bag, and left.
    Fran
looked at Trina.   “What was that about?”
she asked her.
    Trina
was staring at Gemma as she walked across the sidewalk and got into her
Lamborghini .   “Don’t know,” Trina said,
and meant it.

 
    The
stairs to the private plane dropped down and Tommy practically ran off of the
plane into the Seattle night breeze.   Sal, looking flustered, was waiting by the limo, but he rushed toward
his brother to meet him halfway.
    “She’s
okay,” he said, to reassure Tommy.   He
knew how his brother could be.
    “Where
is she?” Tommy asked as they continued to hurry toward the limousine.
    “I
took her to your place.   I figure she’d
be better off there.   Some of those
nosy-ass reporters were surrounding her apartment asking for a comment.   I almost told them to go fuck themselves
bugging her like that, but I didn’t.   Grace is a lady.   I didn’t wanna,
you know, mess up her reputation by being myself.   So we both agreed she’d be better off at your
place.   They know not to pull that shit
with you.”
    “What
about Cameron?   Is he dead yet?”
    “Not
yet,” Sal said.   “But he’s on life support.   The bastard.”
    When
they arrived at the limo, his driver Albert greeted him.   “Where to, sir?” he asked as he always did
whenever Tommy returned to town.
    “Home,”
Tommy said.   “And fast.”  
    And
he and Sal hurried inside.

 
    Grace
showered, put on one of Tommy’s big dress shirts, and was now in his bed
fielding phone calls from members of her board of directors and her closest
friends.   Everybody wanted to know if she
was okay.   Everybody wanted to know if
Cam was still alive.   And everybody, to a
man and woman, wanted to know what in the world was that fool thinking.
    And
that summed it up