Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
They were uniformed police officers.
The fact that they came in with guns drawn told me that they knew exactly what they were going to find. If I made one wrong move, they would shoot me dead where I stood.
I held my hands up where they could see them and displayed my open palms. I stood still as they rushed at me, despite every instinct in me screaming to run. I had to remain calm.
There was shouting, but it seemed far away at this moment. The first man who had entered was speaking, but I could hardly understand what he was saying. The flood of adrenaline he was experiencing was causing his words to slur.
I didn’t move as he reached me. I just stared straight forward. My arms were wrenched behind me forcefully. I didn’t resist as I was handcuffed. There was no getting out of this arrest. I had to mitigate the damage as much as I could, and that meant keeping my mouth shut.
Once I was booked, I’d be able to call my lawyer and get this mess sorted out. Right now, I just had to make sure I didn’t get shot.
This was a setup. Someone had put this body here, texted me from Vinny’s number, and alerted the police once I arrived. They had told the police what they were going to find, and likely, told them that I would be armed.
I wasn’t. Thankfully, I had chosen not to grab my gun on the way out the door. One of the officers turned my pockets inside out and frisked me as the first officer held my hands behind my back. The other two holstered their weapons and walked over to the body.
“Who is this?” one of them demanded.
I didn’t say a word.
This was a complicated scheme that relied on having access to me, my men, and my property.
There weren’t a lot of people who could manage this. I couldn’t stomach the thought that it was an inside job.
The word murder rang out as the police officer holding my arms shoved me unnecessarily. I was under arrest for murder. I listened numbly as they informed me of my rights.
As far as a worst-case scenario went, this was pretty much it. Vinny knew something was going on, so he would be able to put the family on alert. That was the only thing that I had going in my favor.
I stumbled as I was man-handled by the officers and attempted to walk toward the door. I glanced back at the body on the ground before I was dragged out of the building. I had no idea who that man was or how he’d ended up here, but his death could have cost me my life if this confrontation had gone wrong.
I allowed the officers to shove me into the back seat of their cruiser.
I looked out the window at the warehouse. Light was spilling out of the open door, and the other two officers were still inside, probably taking photos as they waited for backup and the crime scene techs.
There was one question that kept echoing in my mind.
What the hell was going on here?
*Natalia*
There was a sound cutting through the peaceful quiet and I wanted it to stop, but for an indeterminate amount of time, I couldn’t do anything about it. It was an annoying, repetitive, and high-pitched sound. I was so warm and comfortable that the idea of moving my arms or opening my eyes felt absurd.
I’d had a lot of cocktails with Mia, and I was drunk. I was just the right amount of drunk to sleep soundly and not have any bad dreams. This sound was ruining it.
When I realized that the source of the noise was my phone, I reached across the bed to shake Tallon’s arm. It was ungodly late, or early, depending on how you looked at it. No one would be calling me right now. Whoever was calling was probably trying to get a hold of Tallon. Sometimes if he fell asleep with his ringer off, and people called my phone looking for him.
My hand landed on a cold blanket, and that was strange enough for me to crack my eyes open. I stared at Tallon’s side of the bed and frowned. I was alone in bed. I was immediately annoyed that he was no longer cuddling me. Sleeping in his arms was one of my favorite things.
I sat up with a grumble and grabbed my phone from the nightstand. The screen lit up and blinded me for a moment. The bedroom was pitch black, and the light stung my eyes as they adjusted to the sudden intrusion.
I looked down at the screen and all my complaints fell away when I saw that it was Vinny calling. There was only one reason that he would be calling me in the middle of the night. I looked at Tallon’s empty pillow and braced myself for bad news.
I accepted the call and held the phone to my ear.
“Hello?”
“Are you at home?” Vinny asked in a tense voice. The tone was enough to confirm my fear that something was terribly wrong.
“Yeah,” I said. I could hear the fear in my own voice, but I didn’t mind Vinny knowing that I was scared. “What’s going on?”
He sighed in relief and there was a long pause before he answered my question. “Tallon’s been arrested.”
I inhaled sharply and held my breath. What the hell happened after I fell asleep? Tallon hadn’t mentioned anything about going out later, and I couldn’t think of a reason why he would have snuck off without saying anything to me.
It must have been something bad. I remembered the murders of Russian assets he had mentioned, and my stomach churned. Could he have gone out to deal with another death? What if he had run into the killer….
No, I couldn’t let my imagination run wild. There was no reason to believe that Tallon was hurt.
I exhaled slowly and forced myself to stay calm. I had to hold it together, there would be time to get upset later. Right now, I need answers.
I braced myself for whatever bad news Vinny might have to tell me. “What happened?” I asked.
“I don’t know, exactly,” he said in frustration.
The admission shocked me. Vinny always knew what Tallon was getting up to. He was his right hand and his best friend. If Tallon did something dangerous enough to get him arrested, Vinny should know all about it.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” I asked in disbelief.
I heard shuffling on the other end and Vinny hissed at someone to shut up. After a moment, he came back onto the line. “He left me a weird voicemail, and the next thing I know he’s booked for murder. All I know is that he was found with a body. I’m trying to figure out what exactly happened, but I haven’t been able to talk to Tallon yet.”
I felt like I was going to be sick. He was found with a body? How could that have happened? I wasn’t sure if the alcohol in my system or the fact that I had just woken up was a factor, but I just couldn’t wrap my head around this right now.
“The lawyer is on his way, but it seems like this is going to be bad. He’s not in for questioning. He’s booked into custody.”
There was another sound on the line, and I realized that Vinny must have been giving orders to his men and trying to contact Tallon’s men while he was on the phone with me.
I was so grateful that he had taken the time to fill me in, considering all the chaos that was going on and how many things he must have been trying to coordinate right now.
If I had just woken up alone in the morning, I would have had no idea that Tallon was in trouble.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to get him out right away. Bond hasn’t been set yet,” Vinny added. He sounded so frustrated.
“So, he has to spend the night in jail?” I asked in disappointment.
Tallon had to deal with the police from time to time, but it was usually a formality that annoyed him, but only cost him a few hours at a time. It was part of the cost of being the Don.
There was another long pause before Vinny answered. “I think it’s going to be more than a night,” he said sympathetically. “I’ll call you the second I know more,” he promised.
“Thank you,” I managed to say.
The line went dead, and I dropped my phone as the reality of the situation started to sink in.
Tallon was in jail, and I didn’t know when he was going to get out. It felt like the world had just dropped out from beneath me. I could feel tears streaming down my face, but I felt like I couldn’t move. I was frozen.
Tallon was in trouble and there was nothing I could do.
