Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I had planned to lure him in, to seem at the end of my rope and like I had no choice but to turn to him and do whatever he wanted. All of that fell away in the face of his glib calm, his fucking laughter. This Russian shitstain had my son, and I needed him to know that wasn’t the sort of slight he survived dealing me.
“A bit impatient, are we?” I could hear his smile across the line. “Rest assured, I have plans in place to restore him to you in due time.”
“I’m done with your fucking games.” I stood and began pacing around the living room. “No lieutenants. No hoops. Just you and me. Let’s settle this like men instead of cartoon fucking villains.”
He sighed. “Dmitri always said you lost your cool when someone touched something you loved, but I didn’t expect you to lose your business sense as well.”
A low, furious sound tore out of my throat. I hate Sal for his spinelessness, his weakness, but I hated Lorenz at this moment for his strength. He’d put me on the back foot. He held all the cards. I had nothing to bargain with, and he knew it.
“Alright, alright, if you’re going to get your panties in a twist.” Lorenz hummed thoughtfully. “How do you feel about two days from now?”
I slammed my fist into the wall, cracking through the plaster and sending up a shower of dust. “Sooner.”
“Unfortunately, I’m all booked up until then.” His smug condescension leaked through the phone, coating my ears and driving my rage to even higher heights. “I can squeeze you in in the morning, if that helps?”
I pulled my hand out of the walls. Plaster clung to the bloodied spots on my knuckles. It ached dully, and I anchored myself to the pain.
Through gritted teeth, I spit, “That sounds great.”
“Wonderful!” he chirped with so much indifferent pleasure that I almost punched the wall again. “I’m so glad we could come to this agreement.”
He recited an address, the same one Sal had given us earlier.
I exhaled slowly. Sal might be a worm, but he was a worm on our side for the time being. Tallon and Alessandro would get what he knew of the floorplan on the way to his house, and we would be as ready as we could be.
“Oh, and Giovani?” Lorenz said.
“What?” I ground out.
“I don’t need to tell you to come alone, do I? Because I’m afraid any outside interference will result in some rather… unfortunate things happening to your son.” He hummed. “I might even regret it if you forced my hand. He’s rather cute, your little heir.”
Distantly, across the phone line, I heard the distinctive sound of Elio fussing like he always did right before he woke up. It was as though an arrow pierced my heart. All my rage fell away, instantly consumed by a father’s panic.
He had my son there with him. He could do anything he wanted, and I couldn’t stop him. I wasn’t just a mob boss avenging a hit. I was saving my son’s life.
“Of course,” I said quickly. “No outside eyes.”
“I’ll see you in a few days, Giovani,” Lorenz said. “Don’t worry, I’ll take good care of him until then.”
The line went dead before I could respond.
My fingers flew automatically, updating Alessandro, Tallon, and Gabriele. I canceled the team Alessandro sent to the location.
Then, I sat back and stared blankly around the living room… the hole in the wall, the table scattered out of place, the blood and pasta sauce on the carpet.
I couldn’t fix that tonight. I couldn’t fix anything tonight. But I owed Olivia an update.
I had to take care of my wife in all the ways I couldn’t take care of my son right now.
*Olivia*
“Maybe you should slow down a bit,” Dahlia remarked timidly.
She stared at me with blatant worry on her face, watching as I paced back and forth on the patio with a bottle of some kind of alcohol in my hand.
“Fuck that,” I cursed, shutting my eyes tightly as I guzzled down whatever was in the bottle. Bourbon? Whiskey? Hell if I knew.
It had taken all of five seconds after leaving the sorry excuse of a sperm donor that was father to the hands of Gio before I decided I could not spend the rest of this night sober. Gio had severely cut back on his alcohol collection for the sake of our son, but that didn’t mean he completely got rid of it.
Our son….
I swallowed the bitter liquid, letting it run down my parched throat, and hit the empty well that was my stomach. I hadn’t eaten all day, not since dinner last night, and though I knew it was a bad idea to drink this much on an empty stomach, I couldn’t give a damn right now.
I slammed the bottle in front of Dahlia, taking the seat beside her and slumping at the table.
“Fucking hell, that tastes awful,” I wiped the corner of my mouth, grimacing at the aftertaste still lingering in my mouth.
Dahlia took a swig, almost immediately going to spit it out but she managed to hold on to the mouthful she took, swallowing it down with a glare at the bottle. “How the fuck does Gio even stomach this shit?”
“Who knows?” I shrugged, grabbing the bottle from her and taking another shot of the nasty-tasting alcohol. Whether it tasted bad or not, it would numb my mind, and that was all it needed to do.
I slid the bottle back to Dahlia but she just shook her head, shuddering at the sheer thought of taking another drink.
“All yours. I’ll just try one of these instead,” She grabbed the nearest bottle, popping it open masterfully. I shrugged, guzzling down another gulp.
I was halfway through the bottle by the time the screen door slid open and Gio stepped out onto the patio. There was a serious look in his eyes, a dark one like someone who had to deliver the news that a man who became cancer-free was now dying from a different kind of cancer.
“What did you find out?” I asked, not liking the look on his face one bit.
He glanced at the bottles around us, a look of disapproval in his eyes as he noted the half-empty bottle in my hand and the one Dahlia was currently nursing. We probably looked like complete messes–a result of having gotten no sleep and no food and having cried practically all night.
But considering the circumstances, Gio smartly didn’t say a word.
“Did you find out where Elio is?” Dahlia asked, looking up at him hopefully.
He sighed, running a hand through his hair and pushing it away from his face. There were bags under his eyes, a pale look to his skin, and lines around his eyebrows from too much frowning. He looked just as bad as I did.
“We know Lorenz has Elio,” Gio said grimly, “and he’s not willing to give him up without getting what he wants in return.”
“Which is what? Money?” I demanded, crossing my arms. “Is that his excuse? Kidnapping a one-year-old for cash? Is he that much of a greedy bastard that he’d harm our son just for this?”
“It would be a lot simpler if he just wanted money, carina.” Gio grimaced, avoiding my eyes as he stared into the garden with a distant look. “Unfortunately, he’s smarter than that.”
“You can’t be fucking serious,” Dahlia growled, whirling on Gio with an incredulous look. “You can’t be thinking of—”
“What choice do I have, Dahlia?” Gio shot back angrily. “Elio is probably terrified, surrounded by men he doesn’t know who only want to hurt him! I’m not going to leave him there for any longer than necessary.”
“Back up” I cut in, giving them both stern looks. “What are you two talking about? What does Lorenz want?”
Dahlia huffed, turning away with a sour look as she took a large drink from the bottle. Gio sighed, finally looking me dead in the eyes. I had a sneaking suspicion of what he was going to say next, but I begged for anything else to come out of his lips and not what I was thinking.
“He wants me.”
I shut my eyes tightly, gripping my wrist in one hand. I should’ve known. Things couldn’t ever be simple, could they? It seemed like the whole world had it out for my family, to make sure none of us were ever happy.
