Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Gabriele!” Giovani barked angrily.
“She asked to hear this,” Gabriele said sharply. “She asked to be here and listen to what had happened, to be a part of this life. If she can’t even handle hearing about a kidnapping, what do you think will happen when it’s worse news? She’s frozen up once already. She’s a liability waiting to happen.”
I raised my head, glancing at Gabriele with wide eyes.
“Shut your fucking mouth right now, Gabriele!” Giovani demanded, storming forward to grab the front of Gabriele’s already messy jacket and slam him against the wall.
I flinched at the loud noise, but Gabriele only stared into Giovani’s eyes impassively, not an ounce of emotion visible.
“You can’t let your relationship with a little girl affect business,” Gabriele said coldly.
“Gabriel–” Giovani snarled, but a new voice cut him off.
“He’s right.”
Gabriele and Giovani both blinked in surprise, turning to look at me with bewilderment. I sniffed, wiping the rolling tears away from my face, and I turned to face both of them with my head held high.
I was always the emotional one, the one most likely to burst into tears at any little thing. Dahlia had been kidnapped, shot, and been on bed rest for weeks, and I had been the most inconsolable one.
I wasn’t made of stone. I had emotions I couldn’t suppress, but I couldn’t let those control me. Every time something bad happened, I burst into tears. Now, I was dragging them down.
Gabriele was right. I had asked to be here, to listen to what had happened even if I knew it wasn’t good. I wanted to be with Giovani, and that meant accepting that this was part of this life. Every moment I spent here crying was a moment that Alessandro spent tied up who knew where and under the control of those bastard Russians.
I couldn’t be a hindrance. I wouldn’t be a liability.
I took a deep breath, stuffing my emotions down deep where they couldn’t affect me right now. I could deal with it all later. Right now, I needed to be clear headed and listen to what was going to happen now.
“Let him go,” I said to Giovani, trying to remain calm despite the tremble in my hands. That part of me wasn’t so easily deceived, but it was good enough for now.
Giovani turned to look at me, wide eyed, but I sent him a confident look, and he relented, releasing Gabriele.
Gabriele stared at me for a moment and then nodded like I had passed some sort of test.
“What do we do about Alessandro?” I asked, determined to remain focused.
Giovani fell silent, staring at me for a moment. But then he sighed, turning to Gabriele with a resolute look.
“Where are we to do the exchange?” he asked determinedly.
I knew from the look in his eyes that he’d made a decision and he wasn’t going to change his mind.
“The shipping yard where the attack happened,” Gabriele replied easily. “Tomorrow night at ten o’clock PM. He said to come alone.”
“Good. Prepare the team. I’ll be doing the exchange tomorrow night.” Giovani nodded to his right-hand man.
I clenched my teeth together to prevent any words from spilling out. I couldn’t make another scene, even if I felt like I was going to implode from keeping it inside.
Gabriele glanced at me then Giovani before nodding and heading for the door. The two of us stayed in silence until the door shut behind him, leaving us alone.
“No,” I said, my voice disturbing the uneasy atmosphere around us. “You’re not really going to exchange yourself, are you?”
Giovani clenched his jaw and didn’t answer. But that was enough for me.
“You can’t!” I yelled, getting to my feet. I wobbled after everything that had happened, and grasped onto the nightstand to keep my balance. “There has to be another way!”
A sob escaped my throat, and I struggled to hold my emotions in check.
“Olivia,” Giovani said gently, coming to my side immediately as he laid his hand on my cheek. “I have a plan.”
“A plan that doesn’t involve you handing yourself over to Russians who want to kill you?” I snapped.
The guilt in his eyes made the last straw of my self-control snap. I sobbed fully, burying my head in his chest.
He lifted me into his arms, taking me back to bed as he laid me down and then got in next to me. He guided me to his chest where I clutched onto his shirt, letting his scent calm me down.
“Don’t worry, carino,” he hushed me, softly brushing his hands through my hair. “I will be okay, I swear to you. You just have to trust me, okay? Can you do that?”
“I–” I stammered as I ran out of any more tears to cry. “I don’t know.”
“We’re going to get Alessandro back, and I’m going to make sure no one else gets kidnapped or tortured or hurt. But to do that, I need to be taken first. I’ll have everyone watching my back, Olivia, so just wait for me to come home to you.” Giovani attempted to persuade me, his voice gentle and sweet as he talked to me.
I sniffled for several moments. As time passed, my tears dried up, and I finally calmed down. But I still wasn’t convinced, and I doubted anything he said would make me think this was a good idea. The fear was visceral.
It was a black hole, and it kept dragging me back into its gravity with no escape, nothing to do but wait until it devoured me.
I could only hold him close for this moment and pray to the universe that his promises were true.
Just as my eyes began to close and I snuggled into him, exhausted after everything that had happened, I heard something pounding down the hallway.
Shoes… no, they were too sharp.
Heels.
My eyes snapped wide open in panic as I realized exactly who was heading straight for us, and I didn’t have any time to hide before the door swung open.
“Alessandro was kidnapped!”
Dahlia stopped in the middle of the doorway, her eyes wider than dinner plates as she stared at me and Giovani tucked in an embrace, both of us wearing fewer clothes than we should have on if this was just my friend’s cousin comforting me.
Her mouth dropped open as she exclaimed one final thing.
“Oh.”
*Olivia*
Oh fuck.
Oh fucking fuck fuck.
“Wait, it’s not what it looks like, I swear–”
I sat up so fast that my head began to spin, the whiplash causing pain in my neck as the top of my head collided with Giovani’s chin. He grunted in pain, but my eyes were only on Dahlia, who stood watching us in stunned silence.
The cogs in my brain whirled around for an excuse, my eyes searching every inch of the room for anything I could use, but there was nothing. There was no way to hide it or to keep this secret anymore.
