Sal Gabrini: Just The Way You Are by Mallory Monroe

her arms.   She was especially interested now that a woman was involved.   A woman who had apparently been to their
home.
    Sal raked
his fingers across his forehead and let out a harsh exhale.   He still couldn’t get that picture out of his
head of Rita in that car.   “Nothing for you
to worry about, babe,” he said.
    But Gemma
was already shaking her head.   “Not good
enough, Sal.   What was it about?”
    But Sal was
stubborn about it.   He had to be.   “It was about nothing.   Didn’t I tell you it was nothing?”   He pulled her into his arms.   “I don’t want you to be stressing yourself
over this little shit.”
    But Gemma
could see the stress all over him.   “You
tell me not to stress, and all I see in your eyes is stress.   Who was she, Sal?”
    Sal let out
a short exhale.   Gemma was right.   He was still reeling.    “Chick name Rita,” he said.
    “And what
business did this chick name Rita have at our home?”
    “I’m not
getting into that, Gemma.”
    “Sal!”
    Sal removed
his hands from Gemma and began to pace the floor.   “She says somebody put a hit out on her and
she needed my protection.”
    But Gemma
could tell this went deeper than that.   This was personal with Sal.   “Who
put out a hit on her?” she asked.
    “I’m not
going into that,” Sal said.
    “Not good
enough, Sal.”
    “Then
tough.   I’m not going into that.   Now I mean it.”
    Gemma knew
when to back off.   Sal loved her, but he
was still the boss.   “So who is this Rita
that she would feel she could just run up here to see you?   Even your own men aren’t that bold.”
    “I knew her
from back in the day.   We go way back.”
    Gemma hated
to ask it, but when it came to females and Sal, she always had to.   “Was she a former lover?”   Was that why he was so torn up?   Did he love this woman?
    Sal raked
his hand through his hair.   “Back in the day
we did our thing, but she married somebody else.”
    “You wanted
her for yourself?”
    “I didn’t
know what I wanted back then.”   Then he
exhaled.   “Yeah,” he admitted.   “But that was then.”
    “Apparently
not,” Gemma said, “because you’re very upset, Sal.   You’re more upset than I’ve seen you in a
long time.”
    “Hell yeah
I’m upset!” Sal blared.   “She brought
this shit to my front door!   She knows
better than that.   And some fucker killed
her at my front door.   He knows better
than that!”   There was more, like the
fact that the person who hired the fucker to kill her at his front door was one
of Sal’s most trusted underbosses, and he was never told about the
decision.   He had some serious problems
that he wasn’t about to allow Gemma to worry about.
    But when he
looked at her, and saw the strain, he hurried to her.   “Oh, babe!” he said, and pulled her into his
arms.
    Gemma
relaxed at the feel of Sal’s big arms around her.   The idea of this kind of violence at her
front gate had thrown her greatly.   She
knew Sal was deeply involved in mob activities.   She knew that he was, in fact, a mob boss, and all of those trips out of
town he used to take weren’t about the Gabrini Corporation.   His brother Tommy handled those trips.   But to have it so close to home, where Sal
could have easily been killed right along with that Rita woman, unsettled
her.   They were pregnant now.
    Sal pulled
back from her, his hands on her arms.   “It’s going to be alright, babe,” he said.
    Gemma
nodded.   “I know.   It’s just that it was pretty close this time.”
    “And we’re
about to bring a baby into this shit,” Sal said.   “I know you were thinking that too.”
    Gemma looked
into his eyes.
    “It’s not
exactly the idea situation,” Sal said, and then looked hard at Gemma.   “Is it?”
    Gemma was
not a liar.   “No,” she said.   “It is not.”
    A look of
anguish appeared on Sal’s face.   “Maybe
you should go to your parents, go to Indiana, and