Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards (13 page)

“And during
one of these banging sessions,” Gemma continued as if he hadn’t said a word,
“something else happened, didn’t it?”

Sal looked
puzzled.
 
“What is that supposed to
mean?
 
Nothing else happened, what are
you talking?”

“I’m talking
about the child she bore you,” Gemma said, rising to her feet.
 
“I’m talking about that mansion you kept her in
while you were married to me!”
 
She beat
her chest when she said those last words.
 
Sal had never seen her so unhinged.

But he was
still stuck on the part about the kid. “What child?” he asked, his face creased
with anguish.
 
“That woman never had any
child of mine, or anybody else’s.
 
She’s
never been pregnant a day in her life!
 
What are you talking about?”

“Were you
having sex with her the day I was kidnapped by those guys in that parking lot?”

“No,” Sal
said empathically.

“So the two
of you weren’t together?”

They were
together.
 
Blanche had been ordered to
stay away from the house, but she came over anyway and tried to give him
head.
 
Sal rebuffed her, but he But Sal
wasn’t about to get into that.
 
“No,” he
decided to say.
 
“Of course I wasn’t with
her.
 
Whatever that woman told you are a
pack of lies, Gemma.
 
She’s imagining
things.”

“And I guess
that mansion in Chicago,” Gemma asked, “is also a figment of her imagination?”

Sal knew he
had to deny that too.
 
He knew, if he
tried to explain away why he failed to mention the fact that he had that house
in Chicago, and that Blanche had once stayed there for an extended period of
time, even after they were married, Gemma would believe everything else that
woman had told her.
 
She would believe
that he had cheated on her when he never had.
 
He had to deny it.
 
“Yes,” he
said.
 
“It’s a figment of her
imagination.
 
I never even owned a house
in Chicago for her to live in.
 
And she
damn sure never had any child of mine!”

Gemma stood
there amazed.
 
She couldn’t believe
it.
 
It was the first time.
 
It was the very first time that she could
remember ever catching Sal in an out-and-out lie.
 
She stared at him for a good long time, and
then began to leave the room.
 
She had to
get away from him.
 
The man she loved had
just lied to her.
 
She had to go.

But Sal
couldn’t let her go.
 
Because he loved
her more than life itself.
 
He hurried
behind her.
 
“Gemma, wait,” he was saying
as they hurried across the landing.
 
“That woman never had any child of mine.
 
I never fooled with her once since I met you.
 
She’s lying to you!”

Gemma began
hurrying down the stairs.
 
Sal was right
on her tail.
 
“I haven’t been with her
like that in years, Gem.
 
Long before I
met you.
 
She was just some side chick
even when I was fooling with her.
 
Gemma.
 
Gemma.
 
Gemma, wait!”

But Gemma
was at the front door.
 
Sal jumped down
the last stairs and slammed against the door before she could open it.
 
He looked shaken, and so sincere.
 
But she couldn’t give in that easily.
 
Everything she stood for, every right she
ever fought for, would be doomed if she did.

But all Sal
could see is Gemma leaving him and never coming back.
 
He wasn’t in any state of fear.
 
He was in a state of panic.
 
“I didn’t have a child with that woman,” Sal
declared.
 
“I swear on Tommy’s life I
didn’t!
 
She’s lying to you!”

Gemma knew
he wouldn’t knowingly have a child in this world and ignore that child.
 
But he never even mentioned that there was a
possibility.
 
When obviously, given his
history with her, there could have been.

But Sal was
sticking to his story.
 
“She was never
pregnant by me,” he said to her.
 
“That’s
what I’m trying to get you to understand.
 
She’s lying, Gem!”

Gemma stared
at him.
 
She decided to give him another
chance, one more chance, to come to her correct.
 
To tell her the truth.
 
“What about that mansion in Chicago?” she
asked.
 
“Was she living there like she
claimed, or is that a lie too?”

Sal was
desperate.
 
He never cheated on Gemma
with that woman, but if he admitted she lived in his house for all those years,
even after he and Gem were married, it would seem as if everything else Blanche
had said was true.
 
He could lose Gemma
forever.
 
But that wasn’t going to
happen.
 
He made his decision.
 
“There is no mansion in Chicago,” he
said.
 
“That woman never stayed in any
house of mine, because I don’t even own a house like that, and she knows it,
Gem.
 
She’s a liar.
 
How can you believe her over me?”

Gemma’s
heart grew faint.
 
She couldn’t believe
that this was the same man she had loved and believed in so completely.
 
How could he do this to her?
  
Was their entire marriage a farce?
 
She looked at him with pure pain in her eyes.
 
She looked at him as if she was looking at a
man who had disappointed her beyond belief.
 
“I was there, Sal,” she reminded him.

Sal’s heart
dropped through his shoe.
 
“You were
where?”

“I’ve been
to your house in Chicago.
 
How could you
forget that?
 
Tommy got shot in Chicago
and you ordered his girlfriend to take him to that house.
 
To your house.
 
Reno and Tree and Jimmy, we all showed up
there.”

Sal didn’t
remember it.
 
He was traumatized when his
brother got shot, deeply traumatized, but he didn’t remember Gemma ever being
at that house at all.
 
But he knew the
bottom line.
 
She had just caught him in
a world class lie.

“I’m an
attorney, Sal,” Gemma went on.
 
“Don’t
you think I know how to look up property records?
 
I looked it up after that woman left
Champagne’s.
 
You not only own that
estate in Chicago, but you were renting it out.
 
I was able to find that out too.
 
You were renting it out to a woman I doubt very seriously paid you a
dime.
 
Her name, in fact, is still on the
lease.
 
And guess what her name is?
 
Blanche Delilah.”

Gemma could
see life drain out of Sal’s handsome face.
 
He knew he’d been caught.
  
He
knew he was doomed.

And Gemma
pounced.
 
“I stood by you,” she said with
more emotion than she wanted to reveal.
 
“All that shit people accused you of, I stood by you.
 
All my friends told me to leave you.
 
Even my parents used to tell me time and time
again to get away from you.
 
But I
didn’t.
 
I kept taking it and taking it
and I stood by you.
 
And how do you repay
me?
 
How do you reward my devotion to
you?
 
By lying to my face!
 
By treating me as if I’m one of your tricks
that you don’t give a damn about.
 
By
taking everything I thought our marriage was about, and throwing it out the
window!”

The tears
began to come.
 
She reached for the
doorknob.

“Gemma,” Sal
said, his heart breaking because he knew he had hurt her.

But she
didn’t want to hear his voice right now.
 
She pulled on that knob so hard that he had no
choice but to move.

“I lied to
keep you, Gem,” he pleaded as she flung open the door.
 
“I was just trying,” he continued to say as
the door slammed hard behind her.
 
“To
keep you,” he added.

But she was
already gone.

The
Mercedes-Benz drove onto the driveway of the modest suburban house and parked
behind the Aston-Martin.
 
Trina, still
marveling at that beautiful car Sal bought Gemma, began unbuckling her
seatbelt.

“Is that Daddy’s
car?” Little Sophia asked.

Trina
smiled.
 
Every pretty car Sophia saw was
Reno’s car in her eyes.
 
“No, baby,”
Trina said as she got out.
 
“That’s Aunt
Gemma’s car.”

“Oh, goody,”
Sophia said with a grand smile as her mother helped her out. “I haven’t seen
Uncle Sal in days and days.”

“And I doubt
if you’ll see him tonight,” Trina said.
 
“Aunt Gemma’s here alone.
 
We came
to see Aunt Gemma.”

“Aunt
Gemma?”

“That’s
right.
 
This is her house.”

“No, it’s
not.”

“It was her
house before she married Uncle Sal.
 
Then
they bought that big house together, the one we go to all the time.
 
But she kept this house too.
 
So you’re going to see Aunt Gemma tonight.”

“I see her
lots of times,” Sophia said as her mother took her hand and they began walking toward
the front door.
  
She was a gorgeous
interracial little girl, Reno and Trina’s youngest child, and was full of life
and vitality.
 
“But that’s okay,” she
added as they walked.
 
“I love her too.”

Trina
smiled, walked up to the front door, and rang the bell.
 
When the door opened, she and Gemma hugged
for a long time.
 
Even little Sophia
could tell that her aunt had been crying.

“What’s
wrong, Auntie?” she asked her.

Gemma looked
at Sophia and then knelt down and gave her a great hug too. “I’m fine, baby,”
she said.
 
“Don’t you worry.”
 
Then she stood up.
 
“She’s looking more and more like you every
day,” she said to Trina.

“You always
say that,” Sophia said.
 
“You always say
I look more and more like Mommy.”

“It’s always
true,” Gemma said.
 
“Where’s your big
brother?
 
Where’s Dominic?”

“Dommi is my
next big brother.
 
Jimmy is my biggest
brother.”

Gemma
smiled.
  
“Well excuse me.”

Trina shook
her head.
 
“No need to excuse
yourself.
 
It’s her.
 
I have some grown-ass children, you hear me?”

Gemma
laughed.
 
“But she’s right.”

“They’re
smart now,” Trina agreed with a smile.
 
“But they’re still way too grown for their young ages.
 
But Dom’s with Reno,” she added.

Gemma looked
at Trina.
 
“I thought Reno had to work
tonight.”

“He
does.
 
He is working!
 
But Dommi is with him.
 
You won’t believe what our little boy said
today,”

“What?”
Gemma asked.

“In school
today, he told the teacher she didn’t know what she was talking about.”

Gemma
laughed.
 
Trina was already cheering her
up.

“That’s why
he’s with Reno,” Trina said.
 
“Reno can
handle that wild child.
 
He knows Reno
will kick his ass if he acts up on him.
 
I can handle him too, but it takes every ounce of strength I have.”

“I know it
does,” Gemma said.
 
“Come on in,” she
added, as she began closing the door.

“I couldn’t
find a babysitter for this one,” Trina continued.
 
“Jimmy and Val’s on some date night and her
father’s taking care of their baby.
 
Reno
won’t allow Sophia, his precious little princess, around his smoke-filled
casino, which rules out her ever going to work with him.
 
So she gets to follow me around.
 
But that doesn’t mean I didn’t come
prepared,” Trina added, and pulled out a kid’s tablet.
 
“Sophie, dear,” she said, handing it to her,
“why don’t you go over on the sofa and play some games.
 
Aunt Gem and I need to talk.”

“Yes,
ma’am,” Sophia said, and hurried to the sofa.
 
She was thrilled to play games.

Gemma and
Trina went over to the kitchen table on the other end of the great room’s open
floor plan.
 
“Want something to drink?”
Gemma asked Trina as they sat down.

“No,
thanks,” Trina responded.
 
“And Sophie
just had her juice.
 
I want to know what
happened.
 
You left Sal?”
   

Gemma still
couldn’t believe it either.
 
She nodded
her head.
 
“I left him, yes.”

“So what
that woman said was true?
 
She’s his
mistress like she said?”

“He
vehemently denies it.”

“Then you
can take it to the bank,” Trina said.
 
“Sal’s no liar.”

“That’s what
I thought too,” Gemma said.
 
“But that’s
why I left him, Tree.
 
He lied to me.”

Trina didn’t
expect to hear that.
 
“What did he lie
about?”

“The fact
that he owns that house in Chicago.”

Trina
nodded.
 
“Yeah, he has a house in
Chicago.
 
More like a mansion,
really.
 
I’ve been there.”

“I’ve been
there too!”

“When Tommy
got shot, right?” Trina asked.
 
“His girlfriend
saved his bacon and Sal told her to drive Tommy to his house there in
Chicago.
 
We’ve all been there.
 
What, he denied it?”

Gemma
nodded.
 
“He denied it existed, and he
denied it to my face, Tree.
 
He forgot
I’d been there.
 
He forgot all about it.”

“He was in
shock that day, that’s for sure.
 
Tommy
nearly died.
 
You know how close they
are.”

“But he lied
about it, Tree.
 
He knew he owned that
house.
 
He didn’t have to lie about
it.
 
Why should I believe anything else
he says if he could lie so easily about something like that?”
 

“You have a
point,” Trina agreed.
 
“You catch a man
in a lie like that, it usually means he’s lying his ass off about a lot of
other things too.”
 
Then Trina looked at
her.
 
“What about her claim that he’s the
father of her child?”

Tears began
to appear in Gemma’s eyes, and anguish was in her voice.
 
“He says that’s not true, and that it’s
impossible and all of that, but I don’t know.
 
I just don’t know!”

Trina stood
up and hurried to her.
 
She could feel
her pain as she held her.

“I believe
in him so much!” Gemma cried.
 
“I love
him so much.
 
But he lied to me.
 
What else is he lying about?
 
It’s just so painful, Tree.
 
It’s just so painful!”

Trina held
Gemma tightly as tears appeared in her eyes.
 
She loved Sal and Gemma as if they were her blood brother and
sister.
 
But if Sal was cheating on this
good woman, this classy lady, Trina was going to personally cut off his balls
and shove them down his throat.
 
Then,
and only then, would she even consider forgiving him.

Little
Sophia Gabrini had been playing her game on the tablet, but now she was too
busy watching her distressed mom and aunt.

Tommy
Gabrini flew into town on his private jet as soon as he got the call.
 
Now he was sitting on the edge of the bed in
Sal’s big, quiet home while Sal laid in the middle of the bed.
 
Sal was fully clothed, in his double-breasted
suit and spit-polished shoes, with one leg lying down and the other one kneed
up.
 
He looked like hell to Tommy.
 
He looked as if he was so upset that he couldn’t
blink anymore.
 
He was staring at his
ceiling.

Tommy
exhaled and folded his arms.
 
“So you
lied to her?” he asked.

Sal’s strong
jaw tightened.
 
And he nodded.
  
“I lied,” he said.

“But she’d
been to that house before Sal.
 
She knew
it existed.”

“I forgot.”
 
His voice was filled with anguish.
 
“God help me, I forgot!”

Tommy had
never seen Sal quite so defeated.
 
And
Tommy was worried too.
 
He’d already had
a failed marriage.
 
He couldn’t bare for
his kid brother to have one too.
 
“What
else did you lie about?” he asked him pointblank.
 
“Did you have an extramarital affair with
this Blanche person?”

Sal shook
his head.
 
“No.
 
Hell no, Tommy.
 
I wouldn’t do that to Gem.”

“Then why
did you lie about the house?”

“Because I
didn’t want to lose Gemma!
 
Blanche was
telling her that she was my kept woman and that I fathered some child and all
that kind of bullshit.
 
If I told her
Blanche was staying in that house, everything else Blanche said would have
seemed plausible.
 
I would have been
doomed.”
 
Then he scrunched up his
face.
 
“Only to be doomed anyway.”

“All of
those different houses and female house sitters,” Tommy said.
 
“I told you that shit was going to catch up
with you.”

Sal closed
his eyes, but his face could not hide his distress.
 
“You can’t tell me anything that I haven’t
told myself.
 
You can’t be more
disappointed in me than I am in myself.”
 
He looked at Tommy.
 
“It’s not
possible,” he added.

Tommy’s
handsome face was distressed too.
 
Because he loved Sal so much.
 
His
girlfriend Liz had his heart completely.
 
And Destiny, his daughter, was his life.
 
But Sal had a special place in his heart.
 
Sal was the one who would always put himself
in harm’s way to protect Tommy.
  
Sal was
the one who used to allow himself to be physically abused by their sadistic
father so that Tommy wouldn’t continue to be sexually abused by him.
 
He killed to protect Tommy.
 
He was the best human being Tommy had ever
known in his entire life.
 
And although
Sal was younger, and everybody used to call him Tommy’s shadow, Tommy knew
better than that.
 
They were one.
 
But Sal was the glue.

He
unbuttoned his Armani suitcoat and laid on the bed beside his brother.
 
It was an awkward thing.
 
He knew Sal was a man who hated touchy-feely
situations, but that was too bad.
 
Tommy
pulled him into his arms.

Sal, at
first, resisted, but then he allowed it.
 
Because he knew he needed it.
 
Because he couldn’t bear the thought of what Gemma’s absence meant.
 
And he found himself sobbing in his brother’s
arms.

“I can’t
lose her, Tommy,” he said as he sobbed.
 
“I can’t lose Gemma.”

Tommy held
him tighter.
 
And allowed him to shed his
tears.
 
And then, when the sobbing
ceased, he eased his grip so that Sal could move out of his embrace without
feeling imprisoned by it.

And they
just laid there.
 
Until Sal looked over
at his big brother.
 
“You look
exhausted,” he said.

“I am
exhausted.
 
I’ve got to be in Japan
tomorrow.”

“Goodness,
Tommy.
 
And here I am bothering you.”

“You can’t
bother me.”

“How’s
Destiny?”

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Sweet as ever.”

“When are
you and Liz going to give her a playmate yourselves?”