Sal Gabrini: His House of Cards by Mallory Monroe

up
with his own team of lawyers, but he arrived alone.   With a stack of packets in his hand.
    Marty
Guggenheim, the accusers’ attorney, stood to his feet.   “Where’s your counsel?” he asked.
    “They
couldn’t make it,” Sal said.
    Marty was
disappointed, and so were his clients.   But they had to follow protocol.   “Then we’ll need to reschedule,” he said.
    “No, we
won’t,” Sal said and began tossing packets in front of each accuser.   Their names were on the outside of the
letter-sized vanilla envelopes.
    “What’s this
about?” Marty asked as Sal tossed him one too.
    “Take a look
and see,” Sal said.
    “If this is
money, Mr. Gabrini,” Marty made clear, “we are not at liberty to accept it like
this.   We have to draw up a contract and
agree to all terms before we accept any of your money.”
    “Open the
envelopes,” was all Sal would say.
    Although
Marty was still protesting, Sal’s accusers quickly opened their respective
envelopes.   But instead of being thrilled
by the money amount, they were horrified.   Not by the fact that no pile of money was found in the envelopes, but
that a long dossier was inside.   A
dossier that chronicled each and every negative incident that they were ever a
part of.   Chapter and verse.
    Marty, their
attorney, opened his dossier hesitantly.   And every bad act he ever committed was right before his eyes too.   From nude pics to sordid affairs to real
crimes such as money laundering and embezzlement allegations, everything was
spelled out.   It horrified even Marty,
who had the worse dossier of them all.   But they all had one consistent theme in their lives: enormous
debt.   They came together, not because of
any discrimination, Sal had decided, but because of their common interest in
eradicating their overwhelming debt.   They looked at Sal.
    Sal looked
at Marty.   “As you can see,” he said,
“it’s clearly documented that you’re the one who got in touch with them
first.   You researched their background,
followed the debt, and pulled an ambulance chase on them.   You’re also the one who found that videotape
and decided to release it just after they made their allegations.   It was all planned out.   We tried to find out who might have put you
up to it, but we couldn’t find any footprints.   But I suspect there are some.”
    “Nobody put me
up to anything,” Marty was quick to point out.
    Too quick
for Sal.   He stared at the attorney.     “Don’t worry,” he said.   “If there’s some fool out there pulling your
string, his ass will cross my path too.   Then I’ll double back and cross yours.”
    A chill ran
through Marty’s spine when Sal spoke those words.   “There’s nobody else,” he repeated.
    “For your
sake,” Sal said, “I hope you’re right.”
    Marty became
defensive.   “Are you threatening me,
sir?” he asked.
    “Hell no,”
Sal responded.   “Who?   Me?   I
don’t threaten people.   I do, or I don’t
do, but I don’t threaten.”
    Then he
looked at his accusers.   They were all
terrified now.   “My suggestion is that
you drop this sham of a lawsuit and resign your positions in my company.   You admit to lying, and move on.   But if not, if you prefer to see this joke to
the bitter end, then fine.   But here me
clearly.   If you go into that courtroom
and lie on me, you’d better understand that I will go into that courtroom and
tell the truth on you.   I’ll tell all of
that sordid truth in those cute little packets you have in front of you.   And what the courts won’t allow me to tell,
I’ll take it to the media.   They’re print
anything, as you already know.”
    Sal was
doing all he could to control his anger.   He had to make himself clear.   He
didn’t have room for any further misunderstandings.   “Racial discrimination goes on all over this
country,” he continued.   “It happens in
more corporations than any of us in this room could ever