Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards by Mallory Monroe Page B

suit, was slouched down,
with his legs outstretched and crossed at the ankle.   Gemma, in her business suit, was slouched
down too, with her legs crossed, beside him.   But because she was worried about him, she didn’t view her role as his
wife right now.   But as his lawyer.
    “Do you
personally know any of the accusers?” she asked him.
    “I know
them.   Some I know better than others,
but I know’em.”
    “Are they
good workers, or terrible ones?”
    “No, they’re
good.   I checked their personnel
files.   They’re excellent workers.”
    “And you’ve
had no problems with any of them?”
    “None,” Sal
admitted.   “I tried to find shit, but
nothing’s there.   All of them have been
exemplary employees.”
    “Then what
we need to find out is why would exemplary employees make such terrible
accusations against you?”  
    “Money,” Sal
said.   “What else?   The almighty dollar.   I have it, and their asses want it.”
    Gemma didn’t
respond to that.   It was never that simple
to her.
    Sal noticed
her non-responsiveness.   He looked at
her.   They were mere inches apart.   He could smell her sweet perfume.   “What is it?” he asked her.   He respected her opinion above all others.
    “I saw the
video of their press conference,” she said.   “Those employees weren’t just angry, they were hurt.   They had a lot of hurt and pain in their
eyes.   Money may play a part in this, and
a very big part, but I don’t think it’s just about money.”
    “Then what
is it about?   I never did any of that
shit they’re accusing me of doing.”
    Gemma hated
to ask it, but she knew the public would.   “What about your staff?” she asked.   “Their bosses?   Could they be the
problem?”
    “No.”
    “Are you
sure, Sal?”
    “Think about
it, Gem.   If all of that was going on,
why didn’t anybody come to me?   I have an
open door policy.   Why didn’t they let me
know what was going on?”
    “It could
have been because they didn’t want to lose their jobs,” Gemma said firmly.   “I’ve handled discrimination lawsuits in the
past, Sal.   It’s never cut and dry.   If there was a hostile work environment, they
may not have felt empowered to come to you.”
    “So they sue
me instead?   And claim I’m the one who
did all that stupid shit?”
    “To get the
attention and exposure their lawsuit needed, they had to loop you in.   They had to show that you knew what was going
on and turned a blind eye.   They needed a
perp.   They needed to put a human face on
their allegations.   So why not get the
top guy?   That’s how they might have been
thinking.   They’ve decided to take you down.”
    “Hell if
that’s going to happen.”
    “But that’s
what they’re trying to do,” Gemma warned him.   “And there may be some validity to their accusations.   They’re just using you instead of individual
managers.”
    Sal ran his
hands through his hair.   “So what do you
suggest we do?”
    “Have you
scheduled a press conference yet?”
    “Not yet,
but I know I have to.”
    “Let me go
in with you.”
    But Sal, as
she expected, immediately began shaking his head.   “No way.”
    “We need to
show a united front, Sal.”
    “We are
united!   This has nothing to do with
us!   I’m not parading you in front of
those vultures as if you did something wrong.   No way, Gemma.”
    “I need to
be by your side.   I also need to do the
talking.”
    Sal
frowned.   “Get out of here!   I’m not putting you in that position.   They’re lying on me, that’s bad enough.   I’m not letting them put any of this shit on
you!”
    But Gemma
was not backing down.   “I need to do the
talking, Sal.”
    Sal looked
at her.   She knew him better than
that.   “Why do you keep harping on
that?   I said no.”
    But he could
tell Gemma wasn’t going to take no for an answer.   Was he missing something?   “Are you saying you need to do the talking as my