Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“And that’s why I need to come with you two tonight,” I pointed out.
Elio pinched the bridge of his nose and stole a glance at Alessandro who merely shrugged his shoulders.
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s go then.”
I hadn’t bothered to bring my bag with me when the three of us made it out to the cars. But I made sure to keep my phone in my pocket just in case another call came in.
Alessandro informed us that we’d be heading to one of the warehouses his team has been operating out of. I didn’t see the need to ask any further questions since my mind was currently occupied with other pressing matters, like how the hell we were going to get my mother back.
Paul’s nauseating voice echoed in my ears. “If you want your mother back, you’ll have to bring Alessandro to me….”
I rolled my eyes at such a ridiculous remark. How could he seriously think that we’d just willingly hand over another person in exchange for someone else? What kind of fucked up business was this?
We made it off the main road to head down an eerie-looking side street.
“I’m going to do the exchange,” Alessandro said evenly.
“You what?” I gasped. “Alessandro, you can’t be serious!”
Elio turned to glance at him from the passenger side. “How?” he asked.
Alessandro rolled an inquisitive brow.
“We’ll figure it out somehow.”
I sat back in my seat and shook my head in bafflement. How has this become my life? When did my sense of normalcy change from a night out with my friends to now tagging along on a ransom exchange?
‘Will it always be like this?’ I asked myself solemnly. ‘Is my life bound to revolve around nothing but danger and fear?’
Maybe so.
But if that was truly the case, then I knew I had to learn how to evolve along with it. I couldn’t just let myself curl up and shrivel away when times would get tough. I knew for a fact that the previous version of myself would have. The old me would have been a coward and hid from the thought of danger. But not anymore—I wasn’t going to lie down and just take it.
These people had already taken my dad away from me, I was not about to let the same thing happen to my mom.
We arrived not too long after that at the warehouse, Alessandro had mentioned earlier. Elio kept me close to his side as we all walked through the various doors and hallways. We gathered in a main room that acted as the center of Alessandro’s base.
Dozens of tables were lining the walls, holding pounds of heavy equipment. There were men on guard everywhere. It made me feel both secure and unsettled.
Once they all noticed that Alessandro was there, they stopped what they were all currently working on and gave him their immediate attention. A tall man with dark hair approached the main table.
“Sir.”
“What have you got for me?” he asked.
The man went on to pull out a tablet and began reading through the notes he’d made.
“We’ve got eyes on where they’re keeping Matilde Leone.”
I immediately perked up and took a step closer. Alessandro noticed my heavy interest and pressed for further details.
“She doesn’t seem hurt, but she is, in fact, surrounded on all sides.”
Alessandro grimaced. “So, there are no weak points is what you’re telling me then.”
The man nodded.
“We can’t get to her without the likely chance of someone killing her before we do. I would be too risky to make any rash decision, sir.”
I sucked in a fearful breath and swallowed hard. Alessandro slowly nodded his head before falling into sudden thought. “Anything else?”
The man nodded. “Yes. Turns out we discovered a hidden tracking device that was purposely planted on Caterina’s car. We ran the prints through our system and found that they belonged to a Paul Bryant.”
“That would be Antonio Jr.,” he grumbled.
The man with the tablet nodded. “Our theory says that Caterina was the original intended victim of the kidnapping.”
My stomach clenched in distress as Elio’s hand enveloped my own.
“We’ve made that same discovery ourselves before we got here,” Elio noted.
The room was suddenly overcome by a buzzing sound that was coming from my back pocket. I quickly pulled out my phone and saw the caller ID belonged to my mom.
“It’s Paul,” I said weakly.
Alessandro snapped his head up. “Put it on speakerphone… and act normal.”
“Hello?” I silently prayed for the off chance that it would be my mother waiting on the other end of the line. But I was wrong. Paul’s snarky tone filled the room, and it made me feel sick.
“Well, are you ready for the details of this exchange?”
*Elio*
‘What a complete cluster fuck of a day,’ I thought dryly.
How did we go from having a quiet night in with a home-cooked meal to all three of us standing in the center of Alessandro’s team base?
Yet, there we all were. Paul had taken Matilde with high expectations of it originally being Caterina. I was happy to hear that she was alive and well, but knowing we couldn’t reach her was nerve-wracking.
Also, learning that the psycho had set up some sort of tracking device on Cat’s car made me wonder just how long he’d been able to know about her location. I knew Alessandro had taken great care to keep the safehouse location confidential. Few of his men even knew where it was, and they were all the most trusted associates.
When we moved Cat and her mom to the safe house, we’d been sure they were secure. Going to a store a block away shouldn’t have been a problem.
‘Who the hell was I trying to kid? Caterina was never truly safe,’ I thought bitterly to myself.
I’d never given such an idea even a moment of my time to consider.
But there was a deeper level of fear for Cat when it came to Paul. It was awful watching how just the mere sound of his voice affected Cat when he spoke to her on the phone. I wished I could just go straight through the line and level the guy for daring to frighten her.
But I had to be careful because her mom was still in danger. Ironically, it was the same people who had killed her father who had her mother’s life in their hands.
I couldn’t let Cat lose another parent, not if I could help it.
He mentioned making a trade—Matilde for Alessandro.