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At the hospital, Robby was in bed while Curtis sat in a chair beside him. Sal and Gemma, and Reno and Mick, walked in. Although both had suffered smoke inhalation, Robby had been burned.

Sal hurried to his bedside while Curtis jumped up and he and Gemma hugged. She kept asking if he was alright, and Sal kept asking the same question of Robby.

“My side was burned when I fell, that’s all, but Curtis was there to drag me out and try not to pass out himself. It was awful.”

Although Mick stood back, leaned against the wall, he was listening intensely to every word while he watched the entire scene unfold. He wanted to know, like Sal wanted to know, if Robby Yale was a traitor.

And when all of them, including Reno, were beating around the bush because they felt sorry for Robby and Curtis, it was Mick who asked the proverbial question. “What the hell happened?” he asked.

Robby was still in considerable pain as he lifted his bandaged arm to relieve some pain, and then sat it back atop the pillow that propped it up. But he told what happened.

“It was late, but when I got up to take a piss, I thought I heard a noise in the garage. I ran back into the bedroom, told Curtis what was happening, and then I quickly grabbed my gun and we hurried to see what was going on. When we got into the kitchen, and as soon as I opened the door that leads into the garage, there was a gun in my face. I don’t know who it was because they had on a ski mask and was talking with a heavily distorted voice. ”

“Male?Female?”Reno asked.

“It could have been male. It sounded like a male. But like I said, the voice was heavily distorted. It could have been a female attempting to disguise her voice as a man, but I can’t say for sure either way.”

How convenient,” said Reno. Then he looked over at Curtis. “You heard the voice, didn’t you?”

“Sounded like a girl trying to front as a man to me,” said Curtis, much more definitively.

But they all knew Curtis was never above exaggeration.

They took his definitiveness with a grain of salt.

Although, by the way Reno and Sal glanced at each other, they were more inclined to believe Curtis.

Bianca’s car was on their driveway after all.

And they couldn’t help but wonder if Robby was being purposely evasive.

“Go on,” said Sal.

“The person ordered me to drop my weapon and for Curtis and me to turn around so that our backs would be to him or her. I asked the person one question, they answered, and then the next thing I know I felt a blow to the back of my head and that was all I remembered.”

“What was the question?” Mick asked.

“How did they get into my house.”

“Did they answer you?” Sal asked.

“They said they were casing my house and saw Curtis put the garage code into the box outside of the garage to open it up.”

“After they said that, then that’s when I saw Robby fall, and I screamed and tried to run,” said Curtis, and everybody turned their attention to him. “But then I was hit in the back of the head and was knocked out too.”

Curtis had to compose himself to continue.

Gemma placed her arm around his waist. “It seemed like it was hours later, but it could have just been thirty or forty minutes later, but I woke back up when I thought I heard an explosion. And immediately smoke was everywhere in that kitchen. I saw that Robby was still unconscious when I first woke up, but we were so engulfed in smoke that I couldn’t see him anymore.

All I knew was that we had to get up out of that house.

I knew that! So I felt for him, since he should have been near me, and when I got my hands on him I started dragging him toward that back door, and dragging myself because I was still groggy.

I was scared to go through the garage door because I didn’t know if that intruder was still out there.

But when I saw that the house was on fire in the dining room, I knew we had only seconds to get out of there.

It was spreading just that fast. So I kept trying to drag him out even more desperately, but I couldn’t move him hardly at all.

And the smoke was too much. Then the next thing I know I’m waking up in an ambulance on my way to the hospital. ”

“Sal and Reno rescued you and Robby just in time,” said Gemma. “Just in time.”

Curtis nodded. “Thank you,” he said to both men.

“Yes thank you,” Robby said too. “But we have no idea who would have tried some shit like that.”

Sal and Reno exhaled and looked at each other, and then they looked at Uncle Mick.

“Bianca’s car was in their driveway,” Mick reminded them.

Sal turned to Robby. “Could it have been Bianca?” he asked him.

“The person was about the right size, I guess, but . . .” He was shaking his head. “I can’t say that for certain at all. But I didn’t know her car was in my driveway.”

“Why did you show up at our house that time of night anyway?” asked Curtis.

“Our guys had been looking all over the city for that Massi Sal bought Bianca,” Reno said. “Since I knew Sal would never tell his guys to do so, I told my guys to drive by your house every few hours just to make sure there was nothing unusual going on over there.”

“Because you thought Robby was involved in that ambush, right?” Curtis asked Reno.

“Because I didn’t know if he was or wasn’t involved,” Reno responded. Oddly enough, Reno and Curtis got along better than Reno and Robby did. “But what you bitching about? The fact that they saw Bianca’s car on your driveway forced us to show up and save your life. You should be thrilled.”

Curtis smiled. Reno made him smile by his mouthiness. Sal, on the other hand, just made him mad. “Yes, sir, your presence definitely saved our lives. I cannot thank you enough.”

Reno nodded. “That’s better,” he said.

“But if her car is still there,” said Robby, “where’s Bianca?”

“She might have burned up in that fire,” said Sal. “Why else would have car still be there? Maybe she thought she was coming for you one way, and somebody else was coming for both of you another way.”

Robby shook his head. “This shit is getting stranger and stranger.”

“At least we know now,” said Reno, “that you weren’t involved in this.”

“I already knew that,” said Sal. Then he opened his long coat and placed his hands in his jean pockets. “And you only saw one person in your garage?”

Robby nodded. “Just one, yeah.”

“Then she must have died in that fire,” said Reno, “cause we damn sure wasn’t risking our lives searching for her ass.”

But Gemma and Mick were watching Sal. He looked downright distressed. Reno suddenly noticed it too. “Well damn, Sal,” he said with no filter, “you’re acting like you loved that girl.”

Sal frowned. “What love? She did my organization a big favor, Reno. That means something to me. I’m sorry, but it does,” he added, and then glanced over at Gemma.

Gemma knew it all along, but it clicked with her as she watched Sal’s reaction to the news that Bianca could have died in that fire.

He was loyal. She’d never met a man more loyal than Sal.

It was a great character asset and a great character flaw.

Because when it all came down to it, that loyalty he could never abandon, especially when it came to helping women, constantly kept them at odds and him in her doghouse.

She left Curtis’s side and went over to Sal. She placed her arm around his waist. Sal had to be who Sal was, good and bad. “I’m sorry about your friend,” she said to him.

Sal leaned against her, and nodded. It was a comforting thing to have Gemma in his corner. He needed no other person, if he had Gemma.

Then Mick’s phone rang. They all looked as he answered. “Put it on Speaker,” Reno said, and then smiled. Mick didn’t play that shit and they all knew it. That was why he said it. Mick kept his conversation very much off of speaker.

But when he ended the call, he was ready to roll. “We got eyes on Dickie Lamm.”

They all perked up. “Where?” Sal asked.

“House number three. My guys have been on around-the-clock surveillance at all of his properties, at least the ones I knew about. House number three he rarely ventured to unless he was in deeper than he’d ever been before.

He just pulled up there,” Mick added as he headed for the exit, with Reno behind him.

Sal touched Robby’s shoulder. “Get some rest,” he said.

“Get some answers, Boss,” said Robby. “And clear my name.”

Sal squeezed Robby’s shoulder and then was about to leave. But when he saw Gemma heading behind him, he knew better than that. “Not this time, babe,” he said.

“I can be the driver.”

Sal placed both hands on her arms and stopped her in her tracks. “I said not this time.” He was searching her eyes. Did she forget who was in charge?

She didn’t. Gemma knew how to push the envelope with Sal, but she also knew like Trina knew when to not push it too far, or he’d push back. And Sal could be as ruthless and hard as Mick when he pushed back.

She backed off and Sal kissed her on the lips, and then took off.

Security was already at the hospital because Sal’s underboss was in that hospital. But he ordered an even heavier presence now that his wife was going to be there too.

And Reno and Sal piled into Mick’s big, black Cadillac Escalade, and they took off.