Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“One thing is clear,” Alessandro stated firmly, “He’s ruthless. He’s been planning this for a long time, and he’s not going to stop until he’s dead.”
“Then we just need to find him and kill him,” Gabriele said simply. “Simple problems require simple solutions.”
“Agreed,” Alessandro nodded.
“Hold on,” I glared at the both of them. “We don’t have any leads right now. Having a motive for why he wants to kill us isn’t good enough to go off. He and his people could be everywhere, and we know he’s smart. With the Russos behind him, we’re stuck.”
“So we do nothing?” Alessandro snapped, crossing his arms. “I should’ve known you wouldn’t have the balls to–”
“Alessandro!” I yelled as I got to my feet, slamming my hands onto the desk. I glared at him, my temper fraying at the edges.
His mouth closed with a snap as I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. Now wasn’t the time. He was still suspicious of me and Olivia, and I couldn’t blow it.
“I never said we do nothing,” I started, as calmly as I could. “Gabriele and you will divide forces. Alessandro, you head out into Florence proper to do some recon. Take maybe five to eight men with you, and visit any places we know they’ve been before. There might still be some clues hiding there.”
“Fine,” Alessandro agreed easily. “But I’m in charge of this team. Make sure those men know that.”
I rolled my eyes but nodded. Alessandro turned on his heel and slammed the door behind him. It was hard enough to rattle the few pictures I had on the wall, and I sighed, collapsing into my chair.
I was exhausted from dealing with him. I turned to Gabriele, who only raised an eyebrow in response.
“Take your own force and investigate the Russos. See if there’s anywhere they could be hiding Dmitri or his organization,” I ordered.
“Yeah, yeah.” He waved his hand, absentmindedly as he too, turned to leave.
Right before he grabbed the door handle, I called out to him, “Gabriele.”
He glanced at me over his shoulder, a neutral look on his face.
“Remind me to give you a raise,” I smirked.
“You can count on it.” He grinned back before gently shutting the door behind him.
I gathered up the papers laid out on my desk and placed them back into the manila folder I had been given.
I grabbed one of the pens I had in a holder on the desk. It was just a common pen, most would assume, until I unscrewed the top. Inside the pen was a smooth, small key that I pulled out and used to unlock the desk drawer.
I stuffed the manila folder inside with all the other confidential information I had stored before locking it and resetting the key inside the pen.
Once the pen was in the holder, it looked just like any other and no one could tell the difference, except for me and Gabriele.
Now with everything else settled for the time being, I had time to myself. I smiled, my mind going back to a pair of bright eyes.
It was time I took her out on a proper date.
*Olivia*
Even inside the compound of the Italian mafia, the garden was overflowing with summer activity.
The smell of chlorine was comforting to me, having always been around the pool at Dahlia’s house. Summers were always my favorite time, and this year was no different.
Since Dahlia couldn’t swim with her injury, I had elected to join her just sitting by the pool and the garden. It was beautiful this time of year, and we weren’t missing anything.
It felt like forever since the last time we had just hung out and enjoyed the sun on our skin. So many things had happened to complicate our trip here, and I was glad to have a moment to just breathe and relax.
“Do you really think we’re ready?” Dahlia asked quietly out of nowhere.
“For what?” I asked, turning to look at her.
“University,” she answered, glancing at me with wide eyes. “I mean, classes start in a few weeks, and we don’t have everything ready yet. What if I suck at finance? What if I totally fail my first classes?”
“Dolly, we’re doing Gen Ed classes first.” I frowned, sitting up. “We’ve been planning this our whole lives. Why are you so worried? We’ve always known that you’ll study finance, and I’ll study art, together at the same university.”
“But what if it isn’t enough?” Dahlia said, her breath hitching as she turned to me with worried eyes, “We were going to stay on campus, but what if they find me again? Giovani can’t keep his men with me all the time. I’m so nervous that things are just going to fall apart on us, and I can’t do anything to stop it.”
“Dolly–” I reached out to her to give her some kind of reassurance, but she pulled away, wrapping her arm around her waist.
“No, Olive.” She shook her head. “Things aren’t as simple as when we were kids. We thought we had it all figured out… but what if we were just kidding ourselves? What if–”
She hesitated and then met my eyes, her eyes filled with fear.
“What if I’m too scared to go?” she murmured, half to herself.
“Dolly, no.” I rushed to her side, grabbing her hand as I shook my head furiously. “You are the bravest girl I’ve ever met, and it’s okay to be scared. We can figure all of this out. But don’t give up on your dream so easily. That isn’t like you at all.”
“I don’t know what is ‘like me’ anymore,” Dahlia muttered softly.
I could see the cracks she had been hiding, the wounds in her heart that hadn’t healed. But I didn’t know how to help the emotional scars she was dealing with.
I didn’t know how to reassure her this time.
Dahlia sighed, gripping her phone in her hand as she got to her feet. “Don’t worry about me, Olive. I’m just tired and spouting nonsense. These meds are something else.”
She attempted to laugh, but it didn’t sound the least bit real. What could I say to help her?
“I’m gonna go to bed early,” Dahlia told me. “Night, Olive.”
And then she was gone.
“Night,” I called out quietly as I watched her walk away.
I frowned, worried about Dahlia as I headed inside. I’d never seen her look so unsure and scared. She’d always been a headfirst kind of girl, but I guessed the kidnapping had scared her more than she wanted to admit.
I didn’t want her to put her dreams on hold because of the bastards that did this, but I also wanted her to be safe. She was right. If we lived on campus, there’d be a greater risk of something like this happening.
I sighed as I headed straight for my room, a little put out. The afternoon had started so well, and now I was feeling bad again. I doubted the reminder of Dahlia’s kidnapping would ever go away. It would always be looming over our heads.
I entered my room and shut the door behind me. I stood in the middle of the room, simply gazing around as I wondered what on earth I was going to do now.
I heaved a sigh as I sat down on the edge of my bed, boredom already settling into place. Normally, it was Dahlia who came up with ideas to keep us entertained. But with her asleep, I didn’t know what to do.
Right when I was feeling lost and a bit empty inside, there was a knock on my door. I glanced up, a bit surprised but hopeful as I opened the door in a hurry.
My eyes met with the beautiful brown of Giovani’s. He smirked, leaning against the doorway, looking like an Italian god. I swore, I could’ve drooled from the casual clothes he wore.
