Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I’d chosen the trappings of power over my son. I hadn’t known it at the time, but I should have. In this life, every choice could be my last. I had to weigh them more carefully with Olivia and Elio in the balance.
I raced into the nursery and found Olivia alone, smoothing Elio’s blanket back into place like he’d be back to take a nap any minute. She tucked his sharkie in with shaking hands.
Tears welled up in my eyes. I could picture nothing but Elio, in the hands of our faceless enemy, screaming and squirming because he couldn’t sleep without sharkie.
One of the dark, faceless enemies pulled back a hand to smack him, and I scrubbed my eyes.
Olivia turned to me. Her face still bore signs of her flood of tears in redness and puffiness, but no sign of them threatened now. She crossed her arms with a face like stone.
“What’s the plan?” she asked.
I crossed the room in a few massive steps and gathered her in my arms, overcome with gratitude for the beautiful, strong woman I married. She bore the kisses I dropped on her head, but she didn’t melt into my arms.
She needed answers. I wished I had better ones.
“The plan, carina,” I said, “is that we find who did this and make them pay.”
She nodded slowly. When she looked up at me again, hurt and rage warred in her eyes.
“I want to be there when you talk to my dad.”
*Salvatore*
I scrubbed my sweaty palms down my pants and took a deep breath. Lorenz had called me and said we needed to meet. Nothing good ever came of meeting with the boss. I’d learned that the fucking hard way. Worse, he had a hardline no-weapons policy for these meets.
Now I sat in my crappy car, staring at a warehouse I could barely see because of the broken streetlight in front of the door.
“Fuck,” I muttered.
I knew about Stefan’s little hit, and I knew about the Valentino retaliation. There was no getting around the fact that this cold war was starting to become quite a bit hotter than I preferred. If I had my druthers, I’d have pulled up stakes and hit the road by now. That was what anybody smart should have been doing.
I wiped my hands again. I didn’t exactly have my druthers. My assistance was the only thing keeping Olivia out of the crossfire. I knew I’d never be a dad worth writing home about, but that didn’t mean I wanted to sign her death warrant. And that kid of hers was cuter than I would’ve guessed.
“Fuck it.” I clambered out of my car and headed for the warehouse door. I couldn’t feel any Italian eyes on my back, but something had happened since Stefan caught one of them. They’d gotten slicker. I couldn’t be certain they weren’t watching me now.
One light on, second floor of the warehouse–Lorenz had only given me the address, but I knew I’d find him there. I shoved my hands in my pockets and tried to whistle as I strolled forward as if that would trick anyone with half a brain in their head.
The door opened smoothly on oiled hinges, despite the rust I could feel crackling under my palm. It was a proper safehouse then. I burned the address into my memory and headed upstairs.
Light glimmered from under the shut door. All around me, rotted, ruined shelves and packages slumped. The place looked abandoned, except for that one light.
I knocked.
“Come in,” answered a low voice I recognized, thick with a Russian accent.
I pushed open the door and found myself in a ramshackle studio apartment. I’d seen squats like this all across Europe, spent more evenings than I’d like on beds identical to the creaky cot in the corner. All you needed was one abandoned office and the ability to install a couple of pretty good locks. Lorenz sat on a folding chair with his arms crossed, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
No, all I could look at was Elio, drooling on himself in a cheap-looking car seat next to a pink box of over-the-counter antihistamines.
“You promised—” I said.
Lorenz waved his hand. “I promised you the girl, and you know it. Don’t go asking for things you haven’t earned.” He glanced at the car seat. “He’s only drugged. Misha didn’t even jostle him in transit. I’m not planning on hurting the little heir anyway.” He smiled. “Currently.”
I straightened up. The bulky Russian might be the sort of broody asshole I’d never interact with under normal circumstances, but he stood between me and my payday.
“Sounds good.” I nodded. “What’s the plan with the kid, then?”
Lorenz flicked out a knife and began cleaning his nails. “Bait.”
I swallowed. I hadn’t cared about the kid. It didn’t matter that he had the thickest hair I’d ever seen on a kid his age, or the exact same way of smiling when he found something new that Olivia had as a baby. I’d made the deal for my daughter. I knew she had a kid then, and I didn’t say shit about him.
I couldn’t go soft just because he kept holding onto my finger like he didn’t want me to leave.
“And the trap?” I asked.
“That’s why you’re here.” Lorenz grinned. “It’s time for you to step out of the shadows.”
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from making another expression.
“I would like you,” he said, pointing the knife at me, “to contact Giovani, on something untraceable. Let him know that if he ever wants to see his son again, he has to come to your house alone within twenty-four hours.”
I nodded. The plan was solid. Giovani tended to get reckless when people endangered things he loved. He’d come charging into my apartment like a bull in Pamplona, and Lorenz could spring whatever he wanted around him.
“What about his right hand? He’s gonna try to stop him.” I crossed my arms.
Lorenz chuckled. “If I remember correctly, ladder-climbing is what got you in trouble at your last job.” He met my gaze, and his voice became sharp. “Don’t think, Salvatore. It doesn’t become you.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth. This was how I liked things, I reminded myself. I wanted to be a grunt, to take orders and not think twice. I liked the freedom of being able to cut and run when my boss got in over his head. It was what had kept me alive these last twenty years.
But somehow, I wasn’t cutting. I wasn’t running. I was staring at a dogshit car seat with my drugged grandson inside and trying to figure out if I had anything else to say to stick around a little longer.
“Any other complaints?” Lorenz asked. “Or can I expect you to actually do what you’re ordered one of these days?”
Anger flushed my veins. I’d never been able to tolerate condescension.
“Let’s get one thing straight.” I took a step forward. “You may have my money, but I don’t belong to you. When you say jump, I say in a minute.” I balled my fists. “That’s how it’s gonna be unless you want to lose me right before the game wraps up.”
Lorenz simply smiled and rocked Elio’s car seat with the tip of his knife. “I can run this game without you. Leave if you want. Call if you don’t.”
I swallowed. The threat to Elio was clear. “I’ll call in the morning. Let him sweat.”
Lorenz smiled wide. “Perfect.”
I turned and marched out of the safe house, and down to my car. I started the old piece of shit and drove half a mile before my brain kicked back on.
I’d just shown my hand to the soon-to-be king of Florence, a man with the resources to hunt me down from here across most of Asia. Worse, I let myself have a hand to show.
My car sailed through a red light amidst a flurry of honks. I slammed my hand down on my horn.
“Fuck you!” I screamed out the window. “Fuck your mom, fuck your car, and fuck this goddamn city!”
I pressed the gas pedal to the floor, whipping through the tiny Italian streets. I’d spent a good couple of years as a wheelman, and nothing relaxed me quite like testing my skills.
My hand itched for a bottle of something, but I took this car to see Olivia, so I kept all my vices elsewhere. I didn’t even have a goddamn cigarette.
