Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Alessandro grinned as he stabbed another bite of pasta. “I knew it! I knew he was bad news from the start, and this is proof. When are you going to tell Olivia?”
I put my hand heavily on the folder he provided. “Let me get one thing straight: this is evidence, not proof. Proof is something that actually connects him to mob business, not just mob members in present day. Even better if it’s Lorenz. This–” I tapped the folder. “This might be the beginning of proof. But this is certainly not over. And you are not to tell Olivia anything until I say it is.”
“Gotcha, boss.” Alessandro’s whole demeanor drooped, suddenly reminding me how young he was. He’d been an invaluable asset these past few years, but in some ways, he was the same kid who blackmailed me for six months over my relationship with Olivia.
“I just don’t want anyone getting hurt,” he said quietly. “She’s my family, too. And the kid.”
I softened. “I’m not going to let anybody get hurt. I have the situation well in hand. And thank you for this work. It is good. Now, why don’t we enjoy this great food and talk about something else?”
He nodded grimly, glancing at Tony in the kitchen. The kid was smarter than I sometimes gave him credit for—he already knew he had more than a cuff on the shoulder to deal with if he sent an unfinished plate back to the kitchen.
When we finally finished our meal, I loaded into the car by myself. I offered Alessandro a ride back, but he said he needed to get back to his guys on watch. I couldn’t stop thinking about what would actually be enough proof to convince Olivia.
Before I finished having the thought, I buzzed up the soundproof barrier and called Gabriele.
“Alessandro caught Sal talking with Russians,” I spat.
Gabriele let out a long breath. “Russians, huh? Anybody we know?”
“Not yet,” I huffed. “But Alessandro thinks it’s tied up with Lorenz. Did he ever resurface anywhere?”
“Not that popped up on our radars,” Gabriele answered. “And I always thought that was suspicious. The kid might be right. It seems too coincidental any other way.”
I let out a long, slow breath. The full weight of Alessandro’s discovery settled on me all at once. Somehow, in Gabriele’s mouth, it felt undeniable. Olivia’s father was working with the Russians, and I had to prove that to her before it got one of us killed, and hope that she didn’t kill me in the process.
“Do you have anything new?” I asked.
“I was going to call you tonight,” he said. “A couple of banking inconsistencies. Not too weird on their own, but if he’s with the Russians….”
Gabriele didn’t need to finish his sentence. If he was with the Russians, every banking inconsistency could be a payment. If he was with the Russians, any banking inconsistency threw up screaming red flags.
“I don’t want to make any assumptions, though,” Gabriele said. “I made up my mind about Elena too quickly, and I don’t intend to fall into that trap again.”
“Smart,” I agreed, as though both of us had not just run down every dark road ‘if he’s with the Russians’ called to mind. “Looking into it further?”
“With our best people,” he replied. “At this time, I would class him as nothing more specific than a threat.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “So you agree he’s a threat?”
A long silence came over the line.
“I think calling him anything else is naive,” Gabriele finally said.
We pulled up in front of the compound, and I got off the phone.
I had to tell her, had to make her see my side despite her desire to have a father in her life. Salvatore was a threat, and most likely a Russian threat.
I’d promised myself one thing when we drove the Russian scourge out of Florence–none of those bastards would ever touch a hair on my family’s heads again.
And I would do anything to keep that promise.
*Olivia*
I patted the ground. “Come to Mama!”
Elio wobbled through another step, gripping the bars on his crib in his chubby little fist. He still preferred crawling, but the doctor told us we should encourage him to walk whenever possible.
I sat on one side of his nursery, slightly beyond the edge of the crib, hoping he would cover the final foot on his own. Dahlia leaned against the wall on the opposite side, ready to continue the back-and-forth if he made it into my arms.
Elio reached the edge of the crib and hesitated. He still had a small smear of blue frosting on his cheek from the cupcakes we got after shopping, and I’d expected him to go down for a nap right away, but he’d insisted on staying up and playing with clear eyes.
I tapped the carpet again. “You can do it!”
He took a hesitant step forward, hand still on the crib.
The door opened, and Gio said, “Olivia?”
I kept my eyes on Elio. We were so close, and now Gio would be here for his first steps!
Elio scooted a little further forward. His arm was now fully extended behind him, and his final step would have to be unsupported.
“Olivia, I need to talk to you,” Gio said.
His voice sounded serious, and I turned to face him finally. His brows were knitted in concern, and the corners of his mouth tugged down. Whatever he wanted, it wasn’t good.
Dahlia burst into cheers, and Elio tumbled into my arms. I caught him and began cooing, so he knew how proud I was, but my stomach flipped. I’d missed my son’s first step.
‘Gio had better have something extremely important to talk to me about.’
I met his gaze over our son’s head and tried to communicate that with my eyes. He swallowed and nodded, silently affirming that it had to be now.
Anger and panic warred in my gut.
“Do you want to hang out with Aunt Dally for a little?” I asked the squirming, giggling baby in my arms.
He clapped and nodded. I glanced at Dahlia for confirmation.
Her eyes flickered between Gio and me. “Yeah, I can take him. He should go down soon anyway, right?”
“That’s the plan.” I passed my excitable son into her arms. Luckily, Elio didn’t seem to notice the total shift in atmosphere.
Silently, Gio led me through the sitting room and into our bedroom. I swallowed. This was the only room in our suite with total soundproofing.
“What is it?” I demanded. “Is someone hurt? Is the world ending? Because it better be something like that to be worth missing Elio’s first step.”
Gio produced a few folded pieces of paper from the interior pocket of his suit and sat on the bed with a sigh. “The world’s not ending, carina, but I do think this is important enough.”
I sat next to him, but not close enough to touch. The paper filled me with a sense of impending doom. He never brought evidence into conversations unless something big was happening.
“It’s about Salvatore,” he said.
My heart swooped, and tears pressed against the backs of my eyes. If I had just gotten a father just in time to lose him, I knew it would break my heart.
“I trust you,” he said slowly, “and I didn’t want to believe anything bad of Sal after our last conversation. So I sent some men to confirm that he just wanted a relationship with you.”
