Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
A door thudded shut upstairs, and both of us looked up.
“I’d guess that’s the office,” Dahlia said.
“Could be Gabriele leaving,” I offered.
She shook her head. “Only Gio slams that door, and Alessandro during his rough patch. Sounds to me like you’re wanted back upstairs. Your husband’s going to be lonely in bed otherwise.” She waggled her eyebrows.
I shoved her shoulder. “He’s not my husband.”
“Sure, you just share a room and a bed and secret mafia meetings in the dead of night. You’re in a super casual relationship.” Dahlia rolled her eyes.
“I didn’t say we were casual, just not… that.” I shrugged and looked away. I was nineteen, far too young to be married. I wasn’t even thinking about being married. If someone had asked me before I moved here, I would have said that I wouldn’t be married until thirty. I intended to have all the fun I could.
Dahlia scoffed. “You can’t even say it. Go, crawl into bed with your totally regular boyfriend and be totally regular about the whole thing. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
I drifted out of her room and up the stairs. Gio and I hadn’t been together nearly long enough to think about marriage yet, right? But these scant few months held more passion and romance than anything else I had ever experienced in my life before. I loved waking up next to him in the morning, slipping into the shower beside him, eating across from him. I loved him, enough to stay in Italy and get shot at for the rest of my life.
And I knew he loved me, too. He said it often enough, but if I had ever doubted him, the meeting tonight proved it. He was letting me into his life, letting me have a say if I wanted one. Sure, I was still learning—the memory of my yell brought color to my cheeks—but he let me learn.
I trailed my hand up the banister and remembered the way he’d stroked my cheek when I left, the fire in his eyes. How could I possibly pass up an opportunity to have that forever?
But would he ask me?
*Giovani*
I stared at the grim-faced, middle-aged asshole who stared back at me in the mirror. I buttoned up my suit smoothly, having done it thousands of times over my lifetime. Truth be told, I’d always preferred casual wear over restrictive suits.
I brushed back my salt and pepper-colored hair, putting in my cufflinks before I turned away from the mirror.
I was officially ready.
I tried to don my usual confidence, the one that you had to have when facing down a couple dozen thieves and murderers you had to convince to follow you. But it just wasn’t there today.
Anxiety clung to my every move, a nervousness I’d never quite felt before hanging in my throat as I made my way out of the suite. I’d always been a confident man, more than anyone else, to the point where some considered it a fault.
I’d never felt as shaken as I was right now.
I turned into the living room, paying the rest of it no mind as I headed straight to the fireplace. I tapped the bricks laid into the wall right above the fire, one at a time as I counted up to eleven.
Finally, on the eleventh brick, I pushed in on it. It slid inward, and I heard the creak of something opening behind me. When I turned around, I was glad to see it still worked; the secret passage had opened.
I stepped in, the wall sliding closed behind me, and I made my way down a long, winding hallway with no lights in it. I had memorized the passageways here since I was a kid. What child didn’t appreciate a good secret?
At the end of the darkened hallway was a door, and standing in front of it were three darkened shadows, broad-shouldered and tall.
The meeting room, one that wouldn’t even be found on the master blueprints of the compound, was not the only one of its kind, but certainly the most used.
“Took you long enough,” Alessandro spoke up, grumpy as he glared at me accusingly.
Tallon wrinkled his nose when I pushed past him. “Are you wearing perfume?”
I ignored the two of them, giving Gabriele a look as I asked, “Is everyone here?”
Gabriele nodded firmly in response and I smirked.
“Showtime.”
I entered the meeting room with purpose, wiping all emotion from my face as more than a dozen men and women turned to look at me. Large and small, mean-looking with scars and clean-shaven in suits, there was no end to the variety of men employed in our family.
I knew each one by sight and could recite their drinking habits and sin of choice. I knew every man before me like they were my own brothers, and they were the same.
There was a trust that couldn’t be bought between us, and it was exactly that trust that I needed right now.
“Hey, boss!” A loud friendly greeting cutting through the tense air had a smile growing over my face.
“Leandro,” I smirked as I spotted the man I was looking for.
Leandro leaned back in the biggest wooden carved chair, his feet propped up on the table as he grinned like a madman.
“You’re in my seat,” I stated, crossing my arms with an amused look.
“And you’re late,” Leandro shot back with a grin.
I shook my head, grinning at the man’s nonchalant appearance. He was not the biggest man–far from it–but he was one of the most crucial. His outgoing and non-threatening appearance allowed him to get close to anyone very quickly.
He looked like an average, trustworthy Joe.
And that’s why he was perfect to work as a spy.
I stood in front of him, waiting patiently as I jerked my head to the right. “Up,” I said simply.
“Yeah, yeah,” He rolled his eyes, holding his hands out in a peace symbol, “Just keeping your seat warm.”
A few men chuckled behind us as Leandro sulked away into a new chair. I replaced him in the seat with Tallon and Alessandro taking the ones next to me. Gabriele stood behind me as usual, a stoic look on his face.
Once I was seated, everyone began to take their own seats until all the men and women were settled.
“You have news?” I asked, turning to Leandro with an expectant look.
“I do.” Leandro grinned. “I met the thorn in your side the other day–quite a character.”
“So he was at Russo,” Alessandro growled, leaning back. “Looks like they haven’t been affected by their recent losses if they’re still sheltering that bastard.”
“Did he notice anything?” I asked, first and foremost.
“Who do you think I am?” Leandro grinned, shrugging his shoulders. “I’m the best spy in Europe. He didn’t notice a thing, boss. He was in quite a hurry, but I managed to sneak a tracker onto his car.”
He slapped his phone onto the table and slid it across to me. I managed to grab it before it slid off the table, and right on the screen was a flashing red light on a GPS location.
Dmitri’s location.
“Good job,” I smirked.
“That’s not all,” Leandro smirked. “I also managed to sweet-talk the receptionist and get some details on his involvement. Russo’s been providing Dmitri and their new head with safety, but apparently, that’s changing. They provided him with a safe house to get resources from and he goes there once a week. It’s a remote area outside the city, completely isolated.”
