Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“Don’t let it happen again,” I ordered. I sighed and rubbed my temples. “I want everyone on this, but I’m sure you already know that.”
He nodded. “We’re already monitoring all channels. If there are any developments, we’ll know right away.”
“Let me know the second we know more,” I said.
Vinny nodded his understanding.
“Does Alessandro know about this?” I asked.
I knew the answer already. There was no way that my brother wouldn’t have told me about this if he knew. Vinny shook his head, confirming that Alessandro hadn’t been told about these killings either.
“I’ll call him,” I said. “Whoever is already monitoring this, tell them I want answers yesterday.”
“Yes, sir,” Vinny said.
I turned and walked out the door. Ripping into Vinny wasn’t going to help the situation, so I did my best to let my anger out with a long, deep exhale. I had to keep my wits about me.
I got into my car and started the engine, then called Alessandro.
He picked up almost immediately.
“Hey,” he said. There was a tension in his voice that I recognized as concern.
“We need to talk,” I said. “Right now.”
“I was afraid you’d say that,” he muttered. “Hang on a second.” I could hear the soft sound of him doing something on his phone, then his voice returned. “Should I come to you?”
“No,” I said. “I’m already on my way.”
“Anything you can tell me now?” he asked.
“Not much,” I said. “It’s going to be a long night. We may have problems with our oldest friends.”
I could tell by his sharp inhale that he understood what I was saying.
“Well, that’ll kill your buzz,” he said. “I’ll be waiting for you.”
“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes,” I replied.
Alessandro hung up.
I drove straight toward his house. I wasn’t even sure what I was going to say to him when I got there. This was a mess and there was no clear path for us to take in dealing with it. Was this an inside job? Maybe the Russians were thinning their ranks or dealing with some rats? That would explain why they hadn’t made any moves to deal with the situation yet.
Or it could be that they knew who was behind the killings. It was possible that this was retaliation for something the Russians had done, and they were already aware of the culprits identity and were dealing with it quietly.
Then there was the possibility that someone in our orbit had gone rogue. Not everyone was happy to see the feud with the Russians end. I couldn’t think of a single person who would go behind my back to do something so reckless, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t happening.
Or it could be a completely unknown party that had decided to make their debut by gunning for one of the oldest players in the game.
I didn’t know, and that’s what made this so dangerous. There was no way to mitigate the potential risk to my family because I didn’t know who that risk could be coming from.
Alessandro needed to be appraised of the situation, even though I wasn’t confident that he would have any insight that would help me understand the situation. I had to make sure that all of my trusted men knew that something was brewing, and we needed to keep our ears open and our heads on straight.
We couldn’t let ourselves be distracted and risk missing something.
The Russians hadn’t made a move in response to the killings yet. That meant that something was on the horizon. Knowing the Russians, it wouldn’t be long before they did something major in response.
My head spun when I tried to think of what that response could be.
I didn’t have enough information to come up with a plan yet, and it was maddening.
I thought of Natalia, who was so hard at work planning our big day, and I felt sick. This could derail everything. She would be devastated if we had to postpone the wedding.
She would understand, of course, but it would hurt her all the same. I couldn’t stand the thought of her being so disappointed.
Then there was the potential human cost to this. If the war started again, there would be no telling who might get caught in the crosshairs. It was my responsibility to keep everyone alive and thriving. I couldn’t let this happen. I had to make the right call, and I had no idea what that call was right now.
The only thing I knew for sure, was that we couldn’t let the war resume.
This had to be stopped.
*Natalia*
I wasn’t sure how long I’d been outside for, but when I went back into the house, Tallon was gone. When I realized that he had left, I was upset.
It wasn’t like him to storm off after a fight. I was getting worked up about it when I found the note that he’d left next to the door.
“Work emergency. Needed in person.”
I stared at the note as a sour feeling rose in my throat.
That wasn’t good. If there was a business issue that he had to drop everything to deal with in person, it was a fair bet that someone had died.
I sat the note down and sighed. This day just wasn’t going well for us.
There was no way to tell how long Tallon was going to be gone for, and I really didn’t feel like being home alone right now.
There were the guards around, of course, but I was so used to them that I might as well be on my own. If I just sat around here, I was going to dwell on our fight and get myself all worked up.
I pulled out my phone and called Mia.
We had just parted ways, but I couldn’t think of anyone else to reach out to who wasn’t busy. We’d had a good time, so maybe she would be up for coming out for dinner with me.
I started to feel silly as the phone rang, but I resisted the urge to hang up. I didn’t have a lot of friends, and I worried that I was coming on too strong with Mia, but I really didn’t want to sit around waiting for Tallon to come home right now.
“Hello?” she answered.
“Hey Mia,” I said nervously. “I was wondering if you were busy tonight.”
“You know, Alessandro actually just canceled our dinner date for tonight. He said something about work. I take it you’re free, too?” she asked.
Alessandro was probably dealing with the same thing that Tallon was. I worried about what could be so important that they both had to drop everything and rush to deal with it. There was nothing I could do about whatever it was, at least not right now.
