Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I flushed, still not understanding, until Gabriele muttered, “Oh, for the love of God.”
Gabriele stepped forward, pushing Giovani out of the way as he glared down at me.
“The police don’t know anything about Dahlia or who took her. They don’t even know she’s missing. We didn’t tell the police, and in fact, we actively hid that information to keep everyone in this room safe. We won’t be letting them know anything, and neither will you, unless you want everyone in this room to end up in a body bag or behind bars.”
My mouth fell open as I stared at the raving-mad man who’d just spouted out a speech I could barely follow.
“Enough, Gabriele!” Giovani snapped, pushing him away from me.
“The police don’t know? Why not?” I whirled onto Giovani with a shocked and irritated look.
Giovani sighed, grasping my shoulders as he very seriously looked me in the eyes.
“Gabriele’s right, Olivia. The police can’t know.”
They can’t?
Maybe I really was stupid because I felt like the kitchen had been turned upside down.
Dahlia was missing. If someone’s missing, you go to the police and start a search. What on earth were they talking about?
But thinking back, something had always been odd about Dahlia’s family–the fact that they had maids and servants who called them “sir” or “master” and “madam.”
Also, there was the neverending pool of money that ended up in Dahlia’s credit card, and the weird evasive answers to anything I asked about the family business.
Something had always been fishy but since I’d grown up with these people, I never thought to question it before.
What did James do for a living? What did Giovani do? Why did this have anything to do with Dahlia being missing?
I opened my mouth, bewildered and annoyed and frustrated as I finally asked the burning question inside of me.
“Why?”
*Giovani*
There was awkwardness in the air as Olivia stared up at me with those wide, innocent eyes. It was clear to me that she had no clue what I was talking about.
I could feel Tallon and Gabriele’s eyes on me, wondering what I was going to say, but no matter how much I tried, the words wouldn’t fall from my lips.
It was like there was a hard ball of lead stuck in my throat, cutting off my airway, and all I could do was try to swallow it down pathetically.
I had a choice to make right here.
I could keep silent and not tell her that everything she had thought was true was actually not–that her mother had been hired by the former head of an Italian mafia family, and she had grown up with their kids like siblings.
I could tell her she was living inside of the mafia’s compound and that everyone around her had known before she did that Dahlia had been kidnapped because of a grudge from long before she was born, and that Olivia was now in that same danger without her ever knowing it.
I could tell her and risk the chance that she might accept it, risk that she would still gaze at me with those sweet and caring eyes, that she would still want to be with me in whatever kind of relationship we were in.
Either way, I had no idea how she was going to react, but I had to do something right now. I had to make a choice. I just didn’t know what the right one was.
I sat down in the seat next to her, grasping her hands in mine as I very seriously gazed at her, hoping no one else in the room could read my emotion as anything other than concern for my missing cousin’s best friend. She frowned, clearly uneasy, and I wanted to wipe away what was making her so anxious because she should always be happy and safe and loved.
“Giovani?” she questioned, her pouty lips drawn into a deep frown.
It was incredible to me that she hadn’t figured it out yet, that she had gone her entire life without knowing even a hint of James’s former lifestyle that he’d brought Becca into. She had been here for weeks and still hadn’t caught on to the fact that I ran an Italian mafia family.
But her mother had to have known. At the very least, she had to have signed a non-disclosure agreement the minute she signed a working contract. But her mother had gone this long without saying anything for a reason.
Who was I to break the bubble, to thrust her into a world she wasn’t prepared for?
Still, though, a piece of me wanted her to know, wanted to blurt out the secret right here and now. Under her honest eyes, it was impossible for me to lie right now.
She trusted me and for some reason I couldn’t explain, I felt like she was trustworthy as well, that she would keep this secret.
So I glanced up at her determinedly and made up my mind. I was standing on the edge of a cliff and I took a leap of faith.
“This place is guarded twenty-four-seven. There are hundreds of people living here; servants are just a small fraction. Surely, you’ve noticed the insane security, the way all of the guards carry guns on them? This isn’t just a mansion. It’s a compound,” I started out slowly.
She frowned, her eyes flickering to the right as she thought about it.
“I mean, yeah,” she said, a bit confused, “but James and Becca’s house is like that too–the security I mean. It’s always really thorough.”
No wonder she wasn’t getting any of this. She probably thought all rich people had James and Becca’s standards.
Tallon shook his head, “Just spell it out man, or she’ll never get it.”
I shot him a glare, and he only smirked back. Cheeky teenager.
“Our compound is so heavily secured because we are always concerned about kidnapping and assassinations. That’s why I tried to put guards on Dahlia, but she kept refusing them and trying to lose them,” I explained softly.
“I get that you guys are rich and all, but the people who took Dahlia didn’t do it for money, did they?” she asked, and I could see as some of the pieces began to click in place for her. “If they had, they would’ve sent a ransom or something.”
“That’s right.” I nodded. “Dahlia wasn’t taken for money. She was kidnapped due to another family wanting revenge against us. It was something that started long ago, before she was born, but due to her being related to us, she was involved.”
She crossed her arms, shaking her head firmly. “Like a former business partner of her dad or something? But how could any respectable man hire men to kidnap an eighteen-year-old girl?”
“They wouldn’t,” I said, a helpless smile on my lips.
She nodded as if agreeing with me, and I decided to take a more direct approach.
“Who, besides the military, has a compound where they keep guards and soldiers, Olivia?” I asked, firmly. “Who has the power to keep a kidnapping out of the press without the government?”
She pondered, a thoughtful and distant look to her as she stared at her hands like she was remembering and thinking at the same time. Finally, a small smile burst onto her lips.
“I don’t know, the mafia or something?” She laughed, like the very thought was ridiculous.
I squeezed her hand tightly. Just the word out of her lips sounded wrong, like something dirty and horrible, not something someone like her should be talking about.
When she realized that nobody else was laughing, all three of us just staring firmly at her, Olivia’s laugh died away. She looked over my shoulder at Tallon and then Gabriele.
Finally, she looked at me with wide eyes, the realization dawning on her. There was a question on her face, a silent request to tell the truth and that what she was thinking was correct.
Silently, I nodded in confirmation.
