detail chief said, “they don’t know the landscape. They might not turn them videos over.”
“If you get any resistance, call Dommi. He has a knack for cutting through the bullshit. Call my son. He’ll get the tapes.”
“And then what?”
“And then we find that bastard. And when we find him, whomever he is, it’ll be my turn.”
“Damn right,” the chief said with a smile. “We’ll get over there right now,” he added, and then Reno watched as they drove away.
But as soon as they drove off, a very familiar, loud-ass Bugatti drove up and stopped beside Reno. And then the front driver’s side window was pressed down. It was Sal Gabrini.
“You got her out?” Sal asked.
“Yeah,” said Reno. “How did you know she was in?”
“I have my connections.”
“Did they tell you some joker gave her a black eye while they were at it?”
Sal frowned. “What?”
Reno exhaled. “They hit my little girl like she was a dude.”
“Damn,” said Sal. “Need me to track’em down?”
“You can help, hell yeah. I just sent my guys on a video hunting expedition. I told them to call Dommi if they can’t get every video out there.” Dommi was Reno’s son, but he worked for Sal.
“Good,” said Sal. “Dom will get’em all.”
“Right.”
“How’s Sophia taking it?”
“She’s okay. But she’s tough like her mother. Always has been. Why don’t you get out and say hey to her?”
“At a police station?” Sal asked. “Fuck that. These crooked cops won’t be arresting my wop ass on some trumped-up charges.”
“But you have connections,” Reno said sarcastically.
“Kiss my ass, Reno,” Sal responded with no sarcasm whatsoever. Reno smiled.
Then Sal turned serious. “I still can’t get over what happened last night,” he said. “You saw that shit coming? I didn’t see that shit coming. And they took out two of my men right along with Turf Coreddi.”
“You talked to his underboss yet?”
“I called him. Told him what happened. I also told him to get his ass to Vegas. We need to talk.”
“Problem is,” said Reno, “we don’t know if that explosion had something to do with my hotel situation, or with something that had nothing to do with me.”
“That’s why I want his underboss here,” said Sal. “I want to find out what he knows.”
Then Sal put his car in reverse. “Tell Sophie I’ll kick her ass she pull that underage drinking shit again. But I also want to be a part of the kick-ass crew when you find out who attacked her.”
“I’ll keep you in the loop.”
Sal said his goodbyes, and then drove away.
Reno watched Sal leave. A part of him wanted to go down hard on Sophia for being in that club, too, but when he got inside of his own car, and he looked at his little girl through the rearview, he wanted to hug her more than punish her. But he knew, like Trina knew, that they could never let her get away with what she’d done. Sneaking out. No security. It could have been far worse than what it ended up being.
Instead of consoling her, he remained silent, too, and drove away. But just seeing that blackeye, and just thinking about where he was picking his baby girl up from, made him far more sad than angry. Was this her future? Was she headed down the same treacherous roads Jimmy and Dommi headed down?
He grabbed whole of Trina’s hand as he drove. Because his heart was hammering.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Von Dorsey parked at the curb outside of Dorsey Construction, and walked into his father’s storefront office in Vegas. Although his construction company was one of the largest in town, his father knew what he was doing. He kept it looking as a small, struggling business on purpose, and he wanted his office to prove it. On the surface, they did a lot of small jobs, and Von handled all of those. But his father and now-deceased brother handled the other side of the coin. A coin that operated everywhere except in Vegas, their home turf. And it was a big coin. The prostitutes. The drugs. The Lord-only-knows what else because they purposely kept Von out of the loop. Unless they needed him to handle an enemy. And then he became the loop.
Mustafa Dorsey was leaned back in his office chair when his son walked in.
“Sit down,” Mustafa said.
Von sat down.
“Why you looking so tired?” Mustafa asked. “What job you been working on other than wooing a girl?”
Von looked at his father. “Why you working on funeral day?”
“I had to get out