Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I’m going to be more involved here now,” he said firmly, “like I always should have been.”
What?
Alessandro wanted to work here… in the mafia?
There were warning bells going off; something didn’t feel right about the declaration. I glanced at Gabriele for a moment. Our eyes met in the rearview mirror before he shrugged and looked away, shifting the car into drive and pulling us out of the driveway.
I bit my bottom lip, searching my brain for any other possibilities or meanings to what he’d said, but there were none. It was clear-cut and dry.
He was going to be involved. Fine. It was his life, and he was a grown adult. He could make his own decisions, but something kept bugging me about the way he’d said the last part.
“What do you mean that you always should have been?” I asked, sending him a wary glance.
He paused, his anger sliding away like melting snow in spring as he chuckled, embarrassedly.
“Never mind any of that,” he said quickly. “Anyway, what are your plans? You’re going to school here, aren’t you? Any idea what major you’re taking?”
I frowned. His clear slip-up hadn’t been planned, but my thoughts wandered back to what Giovani had said–that Alessandro felt cheated.
Neither of them was willing to tell me what that was, but I was beginning to piece things together.
But it wasn’t like Alessandro to let details slip to me. If he did it on purpose, it was almost like he was trying to turn me against Giovani and get me onto his side.
But why? Why did I have to take anyone’s side?
They were family, but they felt less like cousins and more like enemies trying to one-up one another, at least on Alessandro’s part. For Giovani, it was less so, but I hadn’t forgotten the way he had been with me last night.
Jealousy could be cute, but not when it was so restricting as he had been.
I sighed, leaning my head against the window as I duly answered his questions.
Why are there even sides in this situation?
If they were going to catch whoever did this to Dahlia, they needed to work together and not be taking sides.
That wasn’t how family worked.
*Olivia*
The hospital was especially quiet today, and we were the only ones in the waiting room. The lady at the desk was reading a magazine, flipping through it lazily like she had no care in the world.
“Excuse me.” Giovani cleared his throat once we had approached.
“Can I help you?” the woman asked in Italian without looking up. It seemed I was beginning to understand a phrase or two.
“We’re here to see Dahlia Valentino,” Giovani said a little rudely in English so I would understand. There was annoyance in his eyes as he looked at the woman, but I felt it was justified.
She finally set the magazine down, popping her bubblegum as she typed something up and then said, “Limited visitors–two only. Oh?”
The woman looked surprised as she stared at the screen.
“What?” Alessandro demanded anxiously.
“Looks like she’s getting discharged tomorrow. Her doctor requested a meeting with her parents or guardians to go over aftercare.” The receptionist smiled to herself. “Thank God. I heard she stole all the pudding cups.”
“Tell me when her doctor is free to talk,” he said roughly then turned away from her. He rolled his eyes, not even bothering to talk with her any longer as he turned to Alessandro and Tallon.
“You two can go see her first,” he offered blandly. “I’ll talk to her doctors once they’re free.”
“Olivia?” Alessandro turned to me with a soft smile. “I can stay behind, and you can go first if you want.”
“No,” I shook my head immediately. “You go. I’ll see her right after.”
Alessandro opened his mouth, probably to argue about this some more, but Giovani was quick as he said, “Go on,” tilting his head toward the doors that led to the rooms.
Alessandro huffed but turned to go with Tallon quick on his heels. Tallon turned around to send me a grin before he followed Alessandro.
It was just me and Giovani now.
We both took a seat, and I glanced around the empty room, feeling a bit awkward that we had all this space to ourselves except for the receptionist, who had gone back to her magazine.
I turned in my seat to see Giovani. He leaned back in the plastic chairs, his head leaning on his fist and his leg crossed on top of the other. He was gorgeous, his eyes shut as he peacefully relaxed next to me.
I didn’t want to disturb him, but there were questions bubbling up in my chest that I needed answered.
“Giovani,” I called out to him.
His eyes opened and turned to me with no effort, as handsome as always.
“What’s going on with Alessandro?” I asked directly. There was no other option now. I had to be blunt and ask him outright if I was going to get any answers. “He said something odd to me, and I need to know what’s going on between you.”
Giovani frowned. “Odd? Like how?”
“Well,” I hesitated, then I decided to just throw it out there like a bowling ball racing to the pins. “He said he was going to be more involved with the organization, ‘like he always should have been.'”
Giovani groaned, straightening in his seat as he brushed a hand over his face. “That idiot,” I heard him mutter, almost too low to hear.
“Please,” I grabbed his other hand in mind, staring at him pleadingly. “Just tell me what happened between you two.”
He gazed at me, silent for a moment, and then sighed, squeezing my hand back.
“It’s a long story,” he said tiredly. “But basically Alessandro had been next in line to be the Don, before me. James and Becca didn’t want to be involved anymore, and Alessandro was still a baby, so I was given the position instead. If I had to guess, he probably feels like I stole his job.”
It wasn’t much of a shock. I knew that James had been the previous Don before Giovani. If that was so, it made sense that Alessandro would be first in line after him… except things didn’t happen that way.
I frowned more the longer I thought about it. The decision had been made when Alessandro was still just a baby, so why did he feel so cheated about it?
Why would Alessandro even want to be the Don in the first place?
I glanced at the dark circles under Giovani’s eyes, the exhausted lines on his forehead. I’d seen multiple scars on his body from who knows what kind of things he’d been through.
Being the Don was dangerous. With the kind of temper Alessandro had, I couldn’t imagine him doing well in the position.
“You’ve been the Don for years, right?” I asked gently. “So why is he so angry now?”
