Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I’d fucking failed.
It was time to call James.
*Giovani*
I sat in my car, smoke filling it up as I tapped my cigar on the built-in ashtray. The car wasn’t moving, and the engine wasn’t even on as it sat silently in the garage.
I hadn’t bothered to go inside even after an hour of sitting in the same spot. I kept hoping for a call from Gabriele that would leave me rejoicing as he’d say that he’d found my cousin and gotten her back, that she was safe and would soon be home with that big smile of hers like nothing had ever happened.
But I knew that was stupid.
She was probably waking up surrounded by masked men she couldn’t understand, bound and delirious from the drugs they had given her.
Maybe at this very moment, she’d be begging me to come to save her.
But all I could do was sit in my fucking car and smoke.
I was pathetic.
I snuffed out the rest of my cigar, which was only ashes at this point, and coughed as I briefly rolled down the window. The fresh air was welcome after an hour of breathing nothing but smoke.
Just as I reached for the door handle to drag my ass back inside and face the music and tears of Olivia, my phone rang.
I sighed, too exhausted for this as I answered.
“He cracked.”
Gabriele’s voice on the other side of the phone sounded pleased, but I could still hear another voice in the background, sobbing and muttering–probably the poor son of bitch we’d taken in. I knew how cruel Gabriele could be at times, but this time, I had no sympathy for the Russian bastard.
“What’d he say?”
“Dahlia’s alive. They sedated her, but they have no plans to kill her yet,” Gabriele said calmly.
I breathed a sigh of relief, not sure if I was allowed to be happy with this. Alive wasn’t much.
She could still be tortured or countless other things they could do to her while she was in their custody. There was no limit to what the Russian bastards would do.
“Anything else?” I demanded.
“It was Zaytsev, as we thought. This guy didn’t know the details. All he said was that their boss had a message for you.”
“A message for me?” I clenched my fists. So this was related to the family business. This was my fault, just as I’d suspected.
She’d been kidnapped just to send me a message.
“What?” I bit out, angrily.
“This revenge is a long time coming. That’s what he said.”
“Fuck,” I breathed, running a hand through my hair. Revenge? This had to be related to Mikhail and James. We all thought that mob had been destroyed years ago, but suddenly, they were everywhere.
I knew those bastards wouldn’t give up so easily. But they were doing this now, after all this time?
“Should I clean up here?” Gabriele asked, as easily as if he was asking about the weather.
“We don’t need him anymore,” I said coldly, not an ounce of empathy in my mind.
“Yes, sir,” Gabriele said, and I heard the gunshot immediately through the call.
The muttering in the background fell dead silent, and I felt only an ounce of vengeance. There was still so much rage left in me after this mess.
“We’re searching the area to find the remaining men, and I have a few investigators trying to determine who was running the mob now,” Gabriele told me.
We had been positive they had been wiped out, but recently, somebody had been trying to revive it. But who? Who would still hold a grudge after this many years? And who had the authority to do something like this?
“I’ll deal with the mole on my end,” I said firmly. “You just focus on finding Dahlia and the bastards who took her.”
“Yes, sir,” Gabriele said, and the call went dead as he hung up.
I sighed, glancing into the rearview mirror. I hated how I could see the gray in my hair and the way the stress had formed wrinkles around my eyes.
I knew I was still handsome, but there was no denying that I was getting older.
I shut my eyes tightly, rubbing my temples as I forced back a headache. It felt like my head was between two steel drums, but even in the pain of the headache and stress, all I could think about was Olivia–her sweet smile and her gorgeous body as she clung to me. I wanted nothing more than to see her.
But how could I tell her that I didn’t know where her best friend was… that I had let both of them down?
There was no other choice, though. Hopefully, she would be asleep by now, and I could get away with it.
I climbed out of the car, my phone in my hand as I readied myself to call the second group I needed to get things started.
Just as I unlocked the door and stepped inside, I was met with a figure sitting on the stairs.
Olivia stared at me, her eyes wide and red. There were clear streaks of tears still on her face, dried but prominent enough to be noticed.
She got to her feet, dressed only in a large hoodie that fell past her thighs. She looked like a mess, a beautiful one, but still a mess.
But it was the hope that shone in her eyes that made my heart fall to my feet. I wanted to pretend, as she turned to me with that unwavering faith in her eyes, like I was better a man than I actually was.
But then I saw the realization as I stepped in, alone. Her face fell apart, her eyes watering as she gazed over my shoulder for someone who wouldn’t be coming.
And for a moment, I wished she could scream and hit me, to bang her fists on my chest until she felt better or throw me out of the house until I brought back Dahlia, to punish me for the sin of not protecting my baby cousin.
But I was just kidding myself.
Olivia was too kind. And I was too much of a bastard to let that happen.
But that didn’t mean the disappointment on her face didn’t hurt more than a punch to the face ever would.
***
*Olivia*
I ended up not being able to sleep that night. Exhausted as I was, I only continued to think about Dahlia and Giovani and what was happening out there while I was stuck inside. Eventually, I slipped on my warmest hoodie and sat myself on the front stairs.
