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

Sal, but I can’t give you a pass
on this.   If people like us don’t give
minorities a shot, they won’t get a shot.”
    Sal ran his
hand across his face.
    “Am I
wrong?” Gemma asked, although she knew the answer.
    “No,” Sal
said.   “You aren’t wrong.”
    “Then why
didn’t you promote any of those minorities you yourself said were exemplary
workers?”
    Sal didn’t
know why.   It never even occurred to him
that he needed to pay attention to that.   He never had before.   But Gemma
was right.   He should have.
    They
continued to drive in silence, as he had no good explanation for her.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

CHAPTER SEVEN

 
    They all sat
around in the family room: Reno and Trina on one sofa.   Sal and Gemma on the other sofa.   Sal, it seemed to all of them, looked
spooked.   Those allegations, and the way the
media was playing it up, were already taking their toll.
    “How are we
going to handle this going forward, guys?” Trina asked.
    “It’s the
media,” Gemma said.   “The media is going
nuts.”
    “Tell me
about it,” Reno said.   “They’ve been
hanging around the PaLargio up my ass too.   It’s crazy.”
    Reno and
Trina were on the board of the Gabrini Corporation, just as Sal and Tommy were
on the board of Reno’s company.    They
had every right to ask questions.   But
they were mainly there because Sal was family.  
    “They had
the nerve to ask me how many African Americans were in senior management
positions within my company,” Reno continued.
    “What did
you tell them?” Gemma asked.
    “I said none
of your damn business, that’s what I told them.”
    Sal looked
at Reno.   “How many?” he asked.
    Reno
frowned.   “How many what?”
    “How many
blacks do you have in management?”
    Reno didn’t
have to think about it.   “Dozens,” he
said.   “I can’t give you a number off the
top of my head.   But plenty.   Why?”
    “Sal doesn’t
have any,” Trina said.
    Sal, feeling
betrayed, looked at Gemma.
    “I didn’t
tell her anything,” Gemma declared.
    “Nobody had
to tell me,” Trina said.   “Your press
conference told me.   Your refusal to
answer the question told me.”
    “None?” Reno
asked.   He was surprised.   “Damn, Sal.”
    But Sal was
still riding the guilt.   “I didn’t think
about it, okay?”
    “But that’s
the problem,” Reno said.   “Nobody thinks
about it.   Nobody wants to accept that
you have to give everybody a fair shot.   That’s why this whole fucking country is out of whack.”
    Reno’s cell
phone rang.   “If we don’t pay attention,”
he added as he pulled out his phone and looked at his Caller ID, “who will?”
    Gemma and
Sal looked at each other and smiled.   Reno was saying exactly what she had told him.
    Reno
answered his phone.   “Yeah, Jim, what is
it?   Dominic misbehaving again?”   Reno’s oldest child, Jimmy, was babysitting
his kid brother and sister.
    Gemma
interlocked her arm with Sal’s.   “You
okay?”
    “I’m mad as
hell, but I’m good.”   He looked at
her.   “What about you?”
    Gemma
nodded.
    “What about
your managers, Sal?” Trina asked.   “Maybe
some of them were discriminating.”
    “I’m
investigating it now,” Sal said.   “But so
far, nothing.   We haven’t turned up
anything.   Because it’s a con.   It’s a money grab just like I said.   They already lied when they injected my name
into it.   None of that shit about me is
true.   Tell racist jokes.   Giving promotions in exchange for sexual favors.   All lies.   So I know they’re liars.”
    Trina
studied him.   “So you don’t cheat on
Gemma then?” she asked him.
    Sal looked
at her.   He was stunned that she would
ask such a thing.   “No,” he said
defensively.   “Hell no!   I don’t cheat on my wife.”
    But Gemma
could tell Trina, like almost all of their friends, had her doubts.   Mainly because Sal was out of town so much