TOMMY GABRINI 2: A PLACE IN HIS HEART (16 page)

“Why
am I not surprised it’s you?” she asked with a grin.

“You’d
better be at home,” Tommy said on the other end.

Grace
began cranking up.
  
“Where are you?”

“I’m
at the office, but that’s different.”

Grace
laughed.
 
“Yeah, right.”

“But
seriously, Grace, it’s eleven o clock at night.
 
Do I have to come over to Trammel and drag you out of there?”

“For
your information I’m in the car leaving now,” she said as she began backing
out.
 
“But what about you?
 
Do I have to come over to Gabrini, Inc. and
drag you out of there?”

Tommy,
seated behind his desk, smiled and leaned back.
 
“I’m wrapping it up as we speak.”

“Good.”

“Did
you at least get you something to eat tonight?”

“Of
course I did.
 
Nothing spectacular, but I
ate.
 
What about you?”

“I
grabbed something too.”
 
Then Tommy began
rubbing the top of his head.
 
“We’re two
very busy people,” he said.

Grace
nodded as she pulled out into traffic.
 
“Agreed.”

“Maybe
too busy,” Tommy added.
 
“I think we need
to get some time away.”

“Time
away?
 
I don’t see how I can swing that
just yet, Tommy.”

“I
don’t see where I can swing it, either, but I’m going to do it.
 
And so are you.”

Grace
didn’t say anything.
 
It was simply
impossible for her to get away right now, with Trammel still in shambles as far
as she was concerned, but she also knew Tommy.
 
And nobody could be more stubborn about ordering her around when he was
convinced it was in her best interest.
 
He was going to make her find a way, and she knew it.
 
“We’ll see,” she said.

“Anyway,
get off of that phone while you’re driving.
 
And drive carefully.”

“You
too.”

“And
call me as soon as you get home.”

“You
too.”

Tommy
smiled.
 
“Bye, love.”

“Bye,”
Grace said, and hung up her phone.

When
Tommy hung up too, he looked across the room.
 
Sal was at the conference table, along with two potential buyers of a
major business Gabrini, Inc. was attempting to flip, and all three men were
smiling at Tommy.

“You
baby her,” Sal said matter-of-factly, nodding his head, and the other men
laughed.

Tommy
felt slightly embarrassed, but he smiled anyway.
 
“Up yours, Sal,” he said lightheartedly, and
the men laughed even louder, as he headed back to the negotiating table.

When
Grace arrived at her apartment complex, she grabbed her briefcase, a stack of
loose files, and the cell phone she had tossed onto the passenger seat and made
her way out of the parking garage.
 
She
walked into the lobby.
 
It had been yet
another long day.
 
She was so tired, in
fact, that she didn’t even see the woman as she spoke to the Doorman, the
Security Guard, and the Concierge on her way to the elevators.
  
Other people were in the lobby as well,
coming in from Seattle’s active nightlife or going out into it, so she wasn’t
trying to see anybody at that point.
 
But
just as she adjusted her loose files and was about to press the elevator
button, her hair was yanked back, causing her to fall back.
 
Her cell phone, her files, and even her
briefcase all went flying from her hands as she fell, and before she could
understand what was even happening to her, a woman had jumped on top of her and
was attempting to beat her senseless.

Grace
could hear feet running their way, but she didn’t wait for anybody’s help.
 
She managed to flip the skinny woman over
onto her back, then she got on top of the woman and began returning the beating.
 
Only Grace was even angrier than the woman
had been.
 
She was in pain and she hated
that she had been blindsided like that, and she was beating the woman down.
 
For every one lick that woman had given
Grace, Grace was giving that woman four.
 
By the time Security and the Concierge made it to the fight, and saw the
state of the woman, it was Grace who appeared to be the aggressor.
 
It was Grace that they had to sling up and
physically restrain.

The
man Tommy had hired to follow Grace, a man Grace didn’t even know was following
her everywhere she went, was about to intervene too until he realized the
one-sided nature of the fight.
 
Instead
of blowing his cover, he remained as one of several onlookers and was able to
allow the building Security to easily pull the two ladies apart.
 
Although Grace was bleeding from the lip, the
woman was bleeding from the lip, the nose and the mouth, and she also had what
appeared to be two black eyes.

But
the woman was the animated one.
 
“Get her
away from me!” she kept yelling as she backed up, on her ass, away from
Grace.
 
“Get her away from me!”

Grace
kept trying to get away from Security to pick up her files, but he wouldn’t let
her anywhere near the other woman.
 
It
was the Doorman, who had also raced over, who began picking up her files, her
briefcase, and even her broken phone for her.
 

“Are
you okay, Miss McKinsey?” he asked as Security sat Grace on the bench against
the wall.
 

“I’m
okay,” she said, although she really wasn’t.

“Should
I call Mr. Gabrini, ma’am?” the Doorman asked.

And
that stopped Grace cold.
 
Tommy
? she thought.
 
And then she looked at the woman, who they
now had lifted from the floor also and had seated in a chair on the opposite
side.
 
She was beautiful, she was
African-American, and she was on the small side.
 
She was definitely Tommy’s type.
 
But was she one of Tommy’s ex’s?

“No,”
Grace replied to the Doorman.
 
“No need
to bother him.”

Besides,
she needed time to digest what had just happened herself.
 
But when Security asked if she wanted to
press charges, it all became crystal clear to Grace then.

“Absolutely,”
Grace replied without hesitation.
 
Nobody
was going to jump her like this, out of the blue like this, and expect her to
just let it slide.
 

But
as they contacted the police, and as the woman continued to complain as if it
was all Grace’s fault, Grace looked at the woman again.
 
Most of Tommy’s ladies had accepted the fact
that he was no longer on the market, and they moved on with their lives.
 
But there were a small stubborn group of
females that still refused to believe it.
 
Grace had gotten her share of phone calls in the late night from ladies
telling her how she’s not good enough for Tommy, or how she was just a fad to
him even after they were engaged.
 
But
Grace wouldn’t rise to their bait and it would all blow over.
 
But none of those ladies, not one of them,
had ever resulted to this.
 
Tommy’s stuff
was good, and worth the effort, Grace knew that much.
 
But nobody’s stuff, Grace also knew, was
worth a woman acting a fool like this.
 
She felt as if she was back in high school somewhere when she was
rolling on that floor.

Now
the police had to be called.
 
All
because, if Grace’s suspicion was right, some woman refused to give up on
Tommy.
 
Grace leaned her head back as she
waited.
 
She had a monster headache,
because of this fool woman.

The
call came into Tommy as soon as his man could make it, and although he and Sal
shut down the negotiations they were conducting and practically flew over to
Grace’s apartment building, the police had nonetheless come and gone by the
time they arrived.
 

The
Security Guard hurried to Tommy and Sal as the two brothers entered the
lobby.
 
Both were in their expensive
suits, both looked angry, and the Guard knew he had to get this right because
he feared what guys like them could do to him.
 
They could blame him for allowing the woman to so much as approach Tommy
Gabrini’s girlfriend, and he could be fired.
 
He had to get this right.

“She’s
absolutely fine, Mr. Gabrini,” was the first news he broke.

“Where
is she?” Tommy asked without breaking his stride.

“She’s
upstairs in her apartment, sir.”
 
He was
trying to keep stride with the fast walking Italians.

“And
the woman?” Tommy asked.

“The
police was called, but she wasn’t arrested.”

“Why
the hell not?” Sal wanted to know.

“The
police said, given the nature of the other lady’s injuries, that they would
have to arrest both women.
 
Because you
were involved, sir, they viewed it as a domestic violence situation.”

Tommy
and Sal glanced at each other.
 
One of
Tommy’s females.
 
Sal had figured as
much.
 
Tommy also glanced over at the man
he had hired to protect Grace.
 
He was
maintaining his cover, but was still lurking around in the lobby.
 
That chilling look on Tommy’s face, just
before he stepped onto the elevator, made the man certain that he would be
severely reprimanded or even fired.
 
He
might be able to plead his case to Sal, because Sal had a heart for people in
distress, but he knew he could forget it with Tommy.
 
He knew Tommy.
 
Tommy Gabrini could be a hard-hearted man, if
you blew it with him.

Tommy’s
heart was pounding when those elevator doors shut.
 
He was angry and fearful all at the same
time.

“This
shit serious, Tommy,” Sal said to his brother.

“I
know,” Tommy said.

“What
if that bitch had had a gun?”

“I
know, Sal, I know.
 
Got
dammit, I know!”
 
Tommy
didn’t mean to sound so harsh, but he couldn’t help it.
 
He ran his hands through his hair.
 
He was so filled with fear that he could
hardly contain himself.
 
He had to see
Grace.
 
He had to make sure for himself
that she was as
absolutely fine
as
that sorry-ass security guard seemed to believe.

“How
the fuck could this happen?” he asked angrily.
 
“I have one man shadowing her, and the building had another security
guard who was supposed to be looking out for the tenants.
 
Two
got
damn
strong men within reach of her but yet some little ass female still managed to
come out of nowhere and jump her like this?
 
And they expect me to understand this shit?”

“Like
hell,” Sal said.
 
“Because I’m with
you.
 
If that bitch would have had a gun,
if that bitch would have been out for real blood, she could have killed Grace.”

Tommy
looked at his brother.
 
The mere prospect
of it was too much for him to even entertain.
 
He just had to see her.
 
He’d deal
with the security breach later.
 
Right
now he had to see Grace.
 

And
when the elevator finally stopped on the seventeenth floor, and the doors slung
open, he didn’t hesitate.
 
He and Sal
both ran to Grace’s apartment.

It
took longer than they would have liked, even though it was mere seconds, but
she eventually opened the door.
 
As soon
as she opened it, and saw Tommy’s beautiful face, that fear that had choked her
alive released itself and she jumped into his arms.
 

Tommy,
relieved too that she was all in one piece, hoisted her up and carried her
further inside the apartment, while Sal closed and locked the door.
     

“How
did you know?” Grace asked.
 

He
sat on the sofa with her on his lap.
 
“Let me look at you,” Tommy said instead, as he took her chin and looked
over her face.
 
He could see bruising
underneath her eye and a small cut on her bottom lip.
 
She’d been in a fight, all right, and it
angered him even more than some bitch had forced her to this.
 
But she was okay.