Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Took out about six of their guys,” Tallon continued, “but it didn’t seem like they had any other operations running out of that place. No cookers, no books. But we didn’t exactly do an in-depth search.”
Gio nodded. “Sal needed immediate treatment.”
Tallon grimaced a little. “That, and we didn’t exactly make a clean exit. There were eight guys in the house. Two escaped over the roofs, and we didn’t want to be around when they came back.”
“Fuck,” Gio hissed. “Saw faces?”
Tallon nodded.
Gio ran a hand through his hair. “I guess it’s nothing they didn’t know. Lorenz wouldn’t have offered the trade if he didn’t think we wanted Sal.”
“Just means we have to hit back fast,” Tallon replied. “That’s another part of why we brought him here.”
I smoothed my hands down my legs, staring at the cow-patterned leggings I’d chosen for an easy day at home with Elio. I’d thought I might do some painting while he napped, something to commemorate his triumphant return. But I should’ve known life around here didn’t stop. I couldn’t ever dress for a regular day when catastrophe might strike at any moment.
“Because he may have valuable information.” Gio nodded slowly. “Well, he owes us his life now. Let’s hope that keeps him as talkative as he was the other night.”
I swallowed. Gio’s voice had taken on that steely tone I always thought of as his Don voice, the one that brooked no disagreement. He had saved my father because he though it might make me unhappy if he died, but that didn’t mean he was above doing what he had to do to get the information he needed. I knew all too well how many of the men I interacted with on a daily basis were skilled in, as Tallon had put it, interrogation.
Talon nodded sharply. “I’ll put as many guards as we can spare at his bedside and let you know as soon as he wakes.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I said suddenly.
Tallon’s eyes darted to me in surprise. I’d surprised myself, honestly.
“I mean, the guards, sure,” I corrected. “But I want to sit with him, at least for a little. That’s what family does when family is sick.”
My voice held admirably steady as I said the word ‘family,’ despite the conflicting emotions in my system. I wanted to sit there, wanted to be with him when he woke so I could say what I needed to say, but part of me worried that hatred might overwhelm me when I saw him awake again.
I smothered that part. If it rose up, I could handle it. I was good at this now.
Tallon glanced at Gio, sending a frisson of frustration through my system, but Gio looked at me. I met his gaze as evenly as I could. I wanted to look strong, to be strong.
His eyebrows furrowed, but he nodded at Tallon. “Olivia will sit with him, at least until Elio’s done napping. I’ll send her down in a moment. Thank you for your good work.”
Tallon left without another word, closing the door behind him, and Gio narrowed back in on me.
“Something changed in the middle of that.” He frowned. “Are you alright?”
I laughed, feeling a bit like a live wire Gio was trying to touch. My emotions strained in all directions. I wanted to be the perfect mob wife for him. I had to be, because he was in the mob, and that meant we would spend the rest of our lives facing disasters like this, and I had to be ready. That was what mattered most, that I could weather the storms.
“I will be,” I said.
He cupped my face very gently. “I think you’re not telling me the truth.”
“I am!” I protested.
I was. I was certain I was. I just needed to turn myself into Olivia Valentino, mob wife, and then I would be telling the truth.
“Carina,” he murmured. “Please.”
I stared into his eyes and found nothing but love and worry.
Gio loved me as Olivia Robinson. He fell in love with the hapless art student, in over her head. He held me during the disasters and picked up the pieces in the aftermath. And he never once complained.
Maybe he didn’t want me to become the perfect mob wife.
“Do you ever get tired?” I asked suddenly.
He blinked, taken aback by my line of questioning. “Yes, of course. I’ve often been exhausted during crises like this. Do you need more sleep?”
“No, I mean tired of–” I waved my arms around. “Tired of this, everything.”
“This?” He furrowed his eyebrows. “We can go on another trip soon if you like.”
I shook my head, trying to figure out how to ask the question without him getting defensive.
“Not Italy, this life… the constant disasters.” I stood and stepped a little closer to Elio’s room so I could see his chest rise and fall. “The constant risks.”
Gio sighed heavily. “I do, but I knew the risks when I took the job. James was very clear about how much my life would change.”
“But it’s been a while since then,” I pressed. “Are you more tired now than when you were young?”
He leaned back against the couch and stared at the ceiling for a long moment. I crept a bit closer to Elio’s room and leaned against the doorframe. He was still there, still sleeping.
“I suppose.” Gio picked his head up. “But it seems like there’s something else you want to ask me.”
I knocked my head back against the doorframe. The couch creaked as he stood and crossed the room to stand in the doorway with me. He put his hands on my shoulders, and I met his eyes.
I didn’t need to beat around the bush. I didn’t need to become the icy mob wife. I just needed to talk to my husband.
“Do you ever think about retiring?” I asked. “Because I really, really think I want out.”
*Giovani*
‘Do you ever think about retiring?’
I drummed my fingers on my desk, the wood steady and dull as I did the motion over and over. I glanced at my phone, still waiting for a call on our next move while I reached out for my drink. The bourbon in the glass was smooth, just the way I liked it, and though I had been cutting back on my drinking, I think I deserved a glass tonight.
Olivia’s soft pleading eyes haunted me, the words she’d spoken following me around like a ghost over my shoulder.
The simple question she had posed to me was easy to answer, but I hadn’t. I could’ve said anything, but the way she was looking at me, sad and tired and run down, had made me pause.
It wasn’t until then that I truly took in the differences from when I’d first met Olivia when she was hopeful, bright, and with a youthful glow that I thought would never disappear. Some might’ve called her naive or even sheltered.
But when I first saw her, all I could see was the potential within her, the beautiful woman she had yet to blossom into, the one who reached out in kindness to even her enemy, whose love and compassion were as deep as the sea and as never-ending. She was like the only star on a cloudy night, forever shining brightly above us to guide me home.
And I had latched onto her, her taken her fragile light in my hands and now, I could see it dimming.
She wasn’t that young, hopeful girl anymore. She had been hurt and beaten down, broken, and forced to repair herself too many times. But god, she was still just as beautiful as the first day I saw her.
But little by little, that hope and naive kindness had begun to fade away. Why hadn’t I noticed it? Why hadn’t I seen how much being with me had affected her? She’d had her best friend kidnapped and shot, her childhood friend blackmailed her, she’d had constant threats on her life and those of her friends and family, not to mention seen someone killed in front of her and now… her son, our baby.
Even if it was just a single day, we’d lost Elio.
