Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I told him roughly.
The kid swallowed, clearly unsure of what to do, but finally, he dropped his gun, raising his hands in the air in surrender. I saw tears in the corner of his eyes, and it was clear that he hadn’t been in this life for long.
“You fucking coward!” Lorenz screamed, seething in rage. “Fucking die with honor!”
That seemed to be the last straw for the hired men. The other two dropped their guns to the group, raising their hands in surrender as they turned away from their former boss.
I jerked my head to Gabriele, who nodded. He gestured to the five men who surrendered, each walking forward obediently with their hands raised. He zip-tied their hands behind their backs, forcing them to lay on their stomachs one by one.
Lorenz was left standing there all alone, staring at the end of twenty barrels.
“You think you’ve won?” Lorenz snarled, giving me a nasty glare. “You haven’t. You can kill me. You can kill every Russian in Italy and it won’t matter. We’ll always come back. We’ll never stop coming until you and your filthy kin are dead!”
I shrugged, not caring about his idle threats.
“They can try, but we’ll always win in the end,” I smirked. I pointed the muzzle of my gun straightat his temple, with no remorse or hesitation at all. “Any last words?”
Lorenz straightened his spine, looked me right in the eye, and announced loudly for everyone to hear, “Long live the Zaytsev.”
And I pulled the trigger.
Dark red liquid splashed across my face and the back wall. I heard the kid on the floor gagging and whimpering as we all heard the loud thud. I watched emotionlessly, simply brushing the blood away with the back of my hand and lowering the gun.
“What do we do about them?” Gabriele asked, his arms crossed as if he hadn’t just witnessed a brutal murder in front of his eyes.
This was a Tuesday for us.
I glanced at the kid on the floor and then to the resigned looks of the other four. I gave Gabriele a dark look.
“The plan hasn’t changed,” I said coldly.
I stepped over the handcuffed men on the floor, heading back upstairs as Gabriele gave the order. I was out of the house by the time the shots rang out.
I cleaned off my gun, waiting outside as the men stripped the house, making sure not a single piece of evidence linking us to the scene could be found. I glanced at the sky above. It was cloudy tonight, with no sign of any stars. The moon barely peeked out occasionally.
I suddenly missed the starry sky Olivia had painted in Elio’s room. The mural was more beautiful on a dreary and bitter night like tonight.
I waited for the calls from Tallon, only mildly paying attention as he confirmed that all the Russian spaces were destroyed and the entire leadership had been taken out in one fell swoop. Alessandro phoned in and shared in great detail how he had taken care of the runners.
I didn’t particularly care how it got done, so long as it had.
Maybe I was being needlessly cruel.
But I held no regrets. I did what needed to be done to keep my family safe. Though I was sure the face of that kid, of Lorenz, and every man I’d ever killed would come to haunt me on quiet nights, I could deal with that.
The conclusion could only be made better if there was a sunset I could ride into.
Now all that was left was to complete my final act as Don–naming my successor.
*Olivia*
I hummed a soft lullaby, gently stroking the back of the precious child in my arms. Elio was fast asleep and I held him steadfastly. He was growing so big, and I knew that soon I wouldn’t be able to carry him like that anymore.
I laid my cheek onto his soft curls, closing my eyes as I swayed back and forth gently like a slow dance just for the two of us. I couldn’t even begin to explain how much love I held for him in my heart. I would do anything for him.
He was the greatest joy I had ever been given.
The soft lullaby I had been singing ended and before I could begin again, I heard the sound of footsteps just outside the door, heavy, like something was weighing them down. The door creaked open, the spot of light from the hallway cutting through the dark room.
My heart leaped to my throat as my husband stood in the doorway, glancing at me and Elio with such sheer palpable relief. I knew instantly that he needed to talk to me. I gently moved Elio to his crib, laying him down.
He stirred slightly as I laid him on his back, clenching his fingers as he stretched them over his head but eventually, he relaxed and fell back into sleep once more. I tucked him into his baby blanket, settling his stuffed sharkie in his armpit.
I turned to Gio, who watched me with a warm look in his eyes. I tiptoed out of the room, grabbing Gio’s hand as I passed and led him out into the sitting room of our suite. We left the door open, and though I was still a bit worried about leaving him to sleep in there alone, our security measures had tripled since he had been kidnapped.
I reassured my anxieties, remembering all the locks and changes we had implemented to make sure a repeat never happened again, not to mention that the baby monitor we installed was strapped to the wall and was solar-charged, so there was no chance of removing the batteries.
We’d spared no expense to make sure Elio would be safe from now on.
I let Gio into our room, gently shutting the door behind me as I placed the new monitor on the nightstand. I stepped closer to him, lightly brushing my palm against his cheek. There was a bit of stubble there, a shadow that he hadn’t shaven yet.
“Gio?” I asked, wondering what the vague look in his eyes meant. Normally I could read him like a book, but I was lost now.
He leaned into my touch, grasping my hand and holding it to his cheek like I might disappear or like he was trying to reassure himself that I wasn’t just a dream version of myself. I was startled when I saw the shine in his eyes, the welling of a tear in the corner of one, and I immediately stepped closer, pulling him into a hug.
“What happened? What’s wrong?” I demanded, my head racing with possibilities.
Never before had I seen him shed a single tear, except for the night Elio had been taken. I was the emotional one in our relationship, and Gio was the rock who kept me from floating away into the clouds.
It felt weird and alarming to have it reversed all of a sudden.
Gio held me tightly, clutching me in his arms as he buried his face in the crook of my neck. Then with a heavy whisper in my ear, he said, “It’s over.”
At first, it didn’t register in my head. Over what? Was he breaking up with me? Did he want a divorce? Then why would he be clinging to me like this? What on earth was he–
Then it hit me like being slapped with a bag of bricks. These were the words I’d been longing to hear for so long now.
“Oh,” I said, eyes wide in realization.
The heat welling up my eyes hit a crescendo as tears poured down my cheeks in an overwhelming sense of relief, and then I was holding my husband just as tightly as he was me. I sobbed into his shoulder, not even sure what I was crying about, but his words echoed through my mind like a mantra.
It was over. It was truly, truly over… no more would I fear every person who passed me on the street. There would be no more double-checking every lock in Elio’s room before bed, no more hesitating over the motivations of every person I met, no more looking over our shoulders for someone to stab us in the back.
And there would be no more wondering if today would be the last time I would see one of my loved ones.
The endless fear and anxiety we’d been put through were over. My tears seemed like they would never stop as I cried into my husband’s chest, gripping him tightly. Eventually, we both ended up on the floor, me in his lap in a twist of messy limbs.
I cried until my eyes were raw and red and nothing more was coming out, but we sat there together for what seemed like forever. Just as he had his hands in my hair, comforting me with soft kisses to the forehead and my cheeks and nose, I comforted him right back, my palms on his jaw, keeping the two of us as entwined as possible as he held me so tight it was almost painful.
But all I felt was safe and secure.
And hopeful.
“What now?” I finally asked after my tears had stopped, my voice hoarse after the sobs had wrecked it to pieces. I pulled back from Gio just enough to look into his eyes, searching for whatever he had planned next.
