Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I spun on my heel and stormed for the bedroom door. I flung it open, sending it crashing against the wall, and raced for the nursery.
At the door, I took a deep breath. Whatever else was happening, I didn’t want to scare Elio.
I opened the door. Dahlia was in the middle of Elio’s favorite Dr. Seuss book, Hop on Pop, with him dozing on her chest. She put a finger to her lips and transferred him to the crib. He fussed but rolled over and tucked the blanket under his chin.
She stepped outside with me.
“Can you watch him for a few hours?” I hissed.
She glanced at the open bedroom door. “Sure, but—”
I shook my head. “I’ll catch you up when I get home. Don’t tell him anything.”
She nodded, her eyes wide. Behind me, I heard Gio stirring from the stun my storming out always induced.
I squeezed her hand and bolted for the front door. Luckily, Dom was there.
“I need a car,” I gasped. “Only you and Tino can come.”
Tino ratted on me to Gio all the time, but I half-wanted him to hear this.
Dom looked at me with worried eyes but nodded and took off. In moments, he pulled the Fiat around, the nondescript car Gio used when he wanted to blend in. He and Tino crammed comically into the front seat, and I took the back.
I would’ve laughed at the squeeze on another day. Today, I just smiled grimly and pulled out my phone.
“Dad?” I said.
The word tasted foreign on my tongue, but I saw Tino quirk an eyebrow, and that only reinforced my decision.
“We need to talk.”
*Olivia*
“Uh, sure,” Sal replied, sounding somewhere between confused and pleased. “I can come over in maybe half an hour, or you can swing by here.”
I hesitated. Whatever else I felt about what Gio said, I couldn’t deny there was some evidence that Sal had Russian ties, maybe even deep ones.
“I’d rather meet somewhere public,” I said.
“Alright,” he said slowly. “You wanna eat? We could grab an early dinner.”
“No!” I snapped.
He fell silent. I took a deep breath to regain my temper. I was mad at Gio, not Sal.
Right?
Part of me, a part I didn’t want Gio to see, fought its way to the front. I was furious with Salvatore, almost as much as I was with Gio. I believed he wanted a relationship, but knowing he might be paid to have that, no matter what his desires were, made me sick with anger.
I hated being a pawn in these ridiculous mafia games. But I could be angry with him when I knew the truth.
“No, I’m not hungry,” I said a little more evenly. “Do you have anywhere else you just hang out?”
He hummed. “I like to go for walks in the Parco di Villa il Ventaglio.”
I repeated the name to Dom, who had been driving aimlessly. He took a sharp right, and mouthed the words, “Twenty minutes,” over his shoulder at me.
“I’ll meet you there in twenty,” I said before I hung up.
I inhaled slowly and dropped my head back against the seat, emotions tumbling over each other in my mind.
I meant what I’d said to Gio. If he tried to lock me down like he had when Dmitri ran the city, I would fight him tooth and nail. I wasn’t the same wilting flower I was then, and I had people I could mostly count on to help me. But I couldn’t deny the chill of fear Russians in the city sent down my spine. I had never been more scared, more uncertain than when Dmitri held Florence in the palm of his hand. Little made sense to me, and less made me comfortable. If the Russians were here, even a four-man enclave, I wanted them gone, whatever it took.
I chuckled bitterly. The Olivia who fled a new friend out of fear she might be a Russian plant would never have had that thought. Years with Gio had changed me more than I thought. They made me strong enough to do this, to face down my father and accuse him of betraying me.
I just had to show Gio that, and show Salvatore that I wouldn’t just roll over and be used.
We pulled up in front of the park. It was small, but Sal hadn’t given me a specific place. I peered a little closer at the trees and realized I recognized that particular blend of species from the pictures Gio had shown me.
So he’d invited me to his mob drop zone. A small shiver of fear tingled through me, but I had Tino and Dom.
“Stay close.” I got out of the car and began searching for the bench I’d seen in the pictures.
My two suited guards trailed no more than five feet behind me. Their bulk steeled my nerves. Unless Sal was in far deeper than Gio or I dared to fear and this was an ambush, I would be safe.
I rounded a corner to find the scrolled cast-iron bench with Sal sitting on it and reading a newspaper. He folded the paper up at our approach and smiled, patting the seat next to him.
Part of me wondered if one of Alessandro’s men was photographing me right now.
I sat a bit further away than Sal indicated, and my guards took six and twelve o’clock positions within a few feet of me.
“What’s up, Livi?” Sal asked.
I swallowed. I was stronger than I had been, but sitting in this park, I couldn’t help but remember the man with the gun who’d attacked Dahlia and me in a very similar place–the Russian man.
“I have to ask you something,” I hedged. I needed a little time to scan the trees and the sightlines and reassure myself no one was coming.
Sal nodded. “I figured as much.”
The sunset cast strange shadows through the trees, but the park was mostly empty. None of the leaves moved in a way I wouldn’t expect, and both Dom and Tino kept their gazes ever outward.
I steadied myself. “I know about the Russians.”
Sal blanched. “I can explain—”
“I’m really hoping you can,” I said honestly. “Gio doesn’t want me here, but I think there could be a good explanation.”
He smiled gratefully and put his hand over mine on the bench. I lingered for a moment, trying to feel the daughterly pleasure I’d experienced when I’d hugged him in the hall, but fear and worry overwhelmed everything else.
I took my hand back. I wanted to hear his whole story before I drew any conclusions.
He frowned but nodded.
“I suppose I deserve that.” He sighed. “This story, like far too many of mine, starts back in New York City, before you were born. Your mom and I were bar rats, and I needed a job that didn’t interfere with that.”
