Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards by Mallory Monroe Read Free Book Online Page B

you,” he said, but Trina smiled
and tried to run away from him.   He
caught her and pulled her into his arms.   They both were laughing, but then he turned serious.   “I only have heart for you,” Reno said.   “That better?”
    Trina smiled
and touched his face.   “Much,” she
said.   “In fact all.”
    And they
kissed.   Reno squeezed his eyes shut and
held her tightly.

 
    “That gold chain,”
Gemma said as she leaned against the front of her desk and folded her
arms.   She was reviewing her opening
statement with her paralegal.   The trial
was to start in a few days, but she still didn’t have her defense nailed
down.   “How do I explain away that gold
chain?”
    “I don’t see
how you can,” Barbara Jiles said as she sat in the chair in front of Gemma’s
desk.   “He claim he never met the woman,
never even been in the same room with the woman, yet the police found his
broken chain in the victim’s closed hand.   She fought for her life and snatched it off of his neck in the
fight.   He didn’t even realize it was
missing until it was too late.   That’s a
powerful piece of evidence, boss.”
    “But I’ve
got to have a plausible counter to that argument or he’s going down.   And I’m talking Life without the possibility
of parole.”
    “Why
wouldn’t he take a plea deal?”
    “He wouldn’t
even consider it,” Gemma responded.   “Like most of my clients, he thinks he can beat the rap.”
    Barbara was
a busty black woman who was more than just Gemma’s paralegal.   She ran the entire office for her.   And she always helped to put it all in
perspective.   “Don’t you just hate murder
cases?” she asked.
    Gemma
smiled.   “With a passion,” she said.   “I lost one last week, and this one isn’t looking
promising either.”
    “But that’s
not your fault, boss,” Barbara made clear.   “You’ve been forced to defend a bunch of clients guilty as sin.   You have no choice but to have a losing
record.   And considering some of those
characters, I’m glad you do.”
    Gemma smiled
as the door to her office opened and Curtis Kane, her secretary,
unceremoniously barged in.
    “Did you see
it?” he asked Gemma in a voice almost out of breath, as he hurried toward her
with his phone in hand.   “It’s just
breaking.”
    Barbara frowned.   “Why didn’t you knock first, Curtis?   I told you about that.”
    “Did I see
what?” Gemma asked him.
    “About Mr.
Gabrini,” Curtis said.   “It’s just
breaking.”
    Gemma’s
heartbeat began to quicken.   She was
always alarmed when Sal’s name was connected to breaking news.   “What about him?” she asked.
    “I just got
an alert from Yahoo News,” Curtis said, “about this big racial discrimination
lawsuit.”
    Gemma
frowned.   “Racial discrimination?”
    “It’s a big
lawsuit employees of the Gabrini Corporation plan to file.”
    Gemma was
puzzled.   “Involving Sal?”
    “They named
him by name, boss,” Curtis said.   “They
claim he never promoted any blacks or Hispanics to any management positions in
his Vegas office, even though they were far more qualified than the whites he
promoted over them.   And I mean far more
qualified, from what I’ve read.”
    Gemma’s
heart began to pound.   “May I see it?”
she asked, and Curtis handed over his IPhone.
    The headline
was crystal clear: The Gabrini
Corporation Charged with Rampant Racial Discrimination in its Vegas Corporate
office .   Which meant the office run
by Sal.   Sal’s brother Tommy ran the home
office in Seattle.
    But Curtis
kept talking even as Gemma continued to read.   “They further allege,” he said, “that Mr. Gabrini would constantly tell
demeaning jokes about blacks around the office, and would never discipline
their white counterparts for using the n-word or leaving nooses at their desks
or for calling Mexican-Americans illegals and ranting about how they want to
take over and turn America into a third