Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Rinaldo pumped the man in charge of securing the location for info, and it looks tough. The safehouse is up in the Chianti Mountains, with only one road in and out. We haven’t been able to get anybody up to scout, but it seems like access is going to be a hassle.”
I nodded. “Can we get a helicopter in time? Being able to drop in from above should solve some problems.”
Gabriele sighed. “Probably, but there’s another issue. Dmitri seems to take this time away from the city to meet with big-name partners, and that means the place will be crawling with security–easily fifty or more made men, and that’s before we account for the partners’ own forces.”
I ran a hand through my hair. If I only wanted our best guys—and I did—we couldn’t match that. And the mountain stronghold would give them the advantage on approach, helicopter or no.
“Any other bad news?” I joked.
Gabriele smiled ruefully. “Rinaldo said Dmitri was insistent this one had to be perfect because he was holding a very special party there.”
I laughed bitterly. “Nothing in this life is ever easy, huh?”
When the words slipped from my lips, I realized they applied to Olivia as well. We’d had to fight and struggle to get to where we were, but I wouldn’t give up a single moment of it. Well, perhaps a few of the moments where I’d blown up at her and had to grovel. But beyond that, every disagreement, every scare, I’d keep everything to be sitting here knowing she was in this house, and she loved me.
Gabriele nodded. “How do you want to approach this?”
I sighed. “I said I wanted our best, and I mean it. This has to go perfectly. If a single fish slips the net, we’ve got to hunt them down. I’m not leaving a brick of this organization standing.”
“I’ve already got the calls out. Earliest everyone can be here is eight PM tomorrow, so I’ve scheduled a meeting for then.” He began pacing back and forth. “I’m optimistic that we can get eyes on at least the local area before he arrives, if not the house itself, but that’s gonna mean pulling some lower-ranked guys up or spending energy we need for planning.”
I tapped my desk. “Send Alessandro and Tallon. I want them for the hit, but they lack the experience to be extremely valuable during planning stages yet. That youthful exuberance has to be good for something.”
He nodded. “I’m sure they’ll be pleased to get out instead of waiting around. Alessandro really has been a good asset since his kidnapping.”
I chuckled. “Of all the things you can say about a cousin–but you are right. It’s too soon to be thinking like this, but maybe he’ll get his shot at the Don seat after all someday.”
Gabriele stopped pacing and peered at me. “That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you mention giving up your seat. You’re not going soft on me, are you?”
A denial sprang quickly to my lips, but something made me hesitate. In Tuscany. Olivia and I had talked all night about the future we saw for ourselves, and none of it involved me being shot down in the line of duty. My family needed me, and Alessandro was still far too green to be allowed the sort of control my position offered, but for the first time since I’d accepted James’ offer, I was sort of thinking about an end to my time here.
“Not soft, Gabriele. Just starting to get a little old,” I answered.
He pursed his lips like he didn’t quite believe me.
“I’m not giving this up any time soon, don’t worry. Where else would I get the excitement of mountaintop helicopter raids?” I smiled.
Gabriele met my smile with one of his own, but there was a pensive slant to it. I was about to ask what he had on his mind when he began pacing again, and his expression reverted to normal.
“We still haven’t solved the manpower problem,” he reminded me.
“I am well aware,” I huffed. “We could take out the road to limit reinforcements, but then we risk trapping ourselves and preventing Dmitri from arriving in the first place. We don’t have nearly enough time to get our guys into their security force. We could try poisoning his guys to incapacitate them, but I’m not certain we could do it subtly enough not to spook Dmitri.”
I leaned back in my chair, feeling the worn leather creak under my weight. How many Dons had sat in this chair planning how many raids? I needed their smarts and their luck now.
“Maybe spooking is exactly what we need,” Gabriele offered.
I crossed my arms. “This is the slipperiest enemy we’ve ever faced, and you want to give him reason to be suspicious?”
He shook his head. “Not for his life, and not for his safehouse. You’re right; he’s slippery, and being as slippery as he has been requires resources… not just Russo and whatever strings they’re pulling but manpower.”
I nodded slowly as realization dawned. “If we scare him someplace else, he’ll divert men there. He has no idea we even know he leaves the city, much less that we’ve got the address for his next soiree. In fact, if he thinks we’re hitting a lesser target, he might just get cocky in his mountain getaway and let his guard down.” I slammed a hand down on my desk. “You’re a genius, Gabriele. Thank god I’ve got you as my right hand and not some moron who goes around hiring students to leave notes.”
Gabriele smiled. “A discussion of targets might be better left for a room with more heads than just ours. I know most of our men have a particular hit list of Dmitri’s underlings they’d like to see at their feet.”
And Dmitri himself topped mine. I’d been dreaming about seeing his blood splattered on the floor, knowing he could never reach me or Olivia again. In my wildest fantasies, I stretched his death out for days and weeks, extending the torture for as long as he’d had his boot on our necks.
But in this moment, the violence didn’t seem paramount. I wanted him to suffer as much as possible for as long as possible, but more than that, I wanted a long, safe life with Olivia away from him. And the brutal death of the old Zaytsev was what called Dmitri’s fury down on us in the first place.
Gabriele had already accused me of going soft. I had much to think about before I committed to letting a man like Dmitri live.
I fought back a yawn and looked at Gabriele, who was starting to sway on his feet. “I will do some thinking, but I agree, the rest of this is for our best and brightest to solve together.”
He nodded sharply. “As Olivia said, I will be pleased to have this over with. We have suffered too many losses and dark days.”
“Too many,” I agreed. “Thank you for bringing me the news we needed to fix things once and for all. The bodies in Eterna will rest easier thanks to you.”
“Sleep, if you find the time,” he said as he turned for the door.
“And you, brother.”
On the threshold, he hesitated and turned back to me. That same pensive look overtook his face, and I knew I was going to learn what he had held back.
“If you love her enough to let her into these conversations,” he said slowly, “perhaps it may be time to begin thinking about a more serious commitment.”
I looked at him, and all the armor of my second-in-command folded away to show the old friend underneath. He hadn’t seen me happy in a while, I realized, and he liked how happy she made me, how she made the tension in my shoulders release and helped me keep my temper in check.
On the heels of that realization came a second one. I had been thinking of a future with Olivia for some time now. A future where she was a permanent fixture in my life, in my bed, where we settled down together and had all the babies we dreamed of. That future tied my tongue about staying Don and had me hesitating to kill an enemy.
I leaned back in my chair. “Way ahead of you, my friend.”
*Olivia*
After a couple of minutes of banging on Dahlia’s door, she finally yanked it open.
“What?” she demanded.
I burst into helpless giggles at the sight of my best friend. She’d clearly been asleep, but it seemed she’d passed out before getting all her makeup off, so black lines smeared down from her eyes, and that soft mauve lip color she’d found at an Italian boutique before we got locked inside smeared up to meet it. Her hair was a rat’s nest, tangled so aggressively it stuck all the way up from her head in places.
“Did Tuscany wipe you out, Dolly?” I asked through laughter.
She patted her hair, wiped at her face, and winced. “Did you wake me up in the middle of the night to make fun of me for being tired?”
I bounced on my toes as I remembered why I was here. “Absolutely not! Let’s get you cleaned up and I’ll tell you.”
She huffed and opened the door a little wider. “This better be good, Olive. I need my beauty sleep.”
I laughed again, near giddy with relief at how soon this was going to be over. “I promise it is.”
Dahlia let me lead her into the bathroom that adjoined her bedroom, sit her down on the edge of the tub, and begin working a comb through her hair while she scrubbed off the remnants of her makeup. For a moment, we worked in companionable silence. I stared around at the sleek white and silver of the bathroom and thought back to all the times we helped each other get ready or clean up across childhood. At this point, I knew her face as well as my own.
So much of our time here in Italy had been spent in chaos, or worse, with me lying to her. I savored this moment of peace, where I had only good news to share and knots to untangle.
“I’m so glad I came here with you,” I said quietly.
