Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 289 -

*Giovani*

It was cute the way Olivia appeared reluctant to leave us alone. She kept sending me glances, the worry in her eyes sweet but unnecessary. I could tell what she was thinking.

But there was no need for it. Alessandro wouldn't do anything if he knew what was good for him. And if he was stupid enough to try, there was no way he could even land a punch on me. I wasn't the Don for nothing.

Gabriele nodded at her to leave, and she sent me one last glance before she exited through the doors. As soon as Olivia disappeared from sight, Alessandro whirled on me with a dark glare. "What did you need, Alessandro?" I asked distantly as he once again directed his misplaced anger at me. He really needed to get a handle on his temper.

I blamed his birth father.

"What the fuck happened here? Tell me everything and leave nothing out," he demanded with all the tact of a bull in a red textile shop.

I glanced at Gabriele, and we shared the same look. This was a conversation that was best had in private.

Gabriele motioned to one of our men who stood by, and he nodded in response. They would keep the civilians away from us and the conversation quiet. This was going to be messy after all.

"Fine, what do you want to know?" I sighed, taking a seat.

"Start from the beginning," he demanded.

"Okay, God created man-"

"You know what I mean, asshole," Alessandro scowled in reponse, sending me a dirty look.

It was funny to me.

I shrugged and thought back. "There's been some unusual activity around the city-Russians. We didn't expect them to be back, but they were giving us all kinds of hell. I'd had no intell to signal they'd arrived until about the same time that Olivia and Dahlia moved to Florence."

"Should've known they were targeting her the entire time," Gabriele scoffed.

"We only knew Dahlia became involved once she started seeing someone, a boy named Lorenzo," I told him, leaning back in my seat casually. "So I investigated him like any good cousin would. There was some activity near the boy's apartment, so I warned her to be careful and not see him anymore. But she didn't listen."

"Where were her guards?" Alessandro growled. "Are you so incompetent that you just let her sneak out of the compound unattended?"

"Of course not." I rolled my eyes. "I had three men on her at all times. The night she was taken, Gabriele and two other men were watching her, but there was a problem over in the Piazza."

"We got a tip from one of our men that they'd spotted the Russians," Gabriele explained. "We now believe it was an insider trying to lure our men away. Two of them went to investigate, and only one came back alive."

"So you just left her there? With only one guard?" Alessandro crossed his arms over his chest, looking highly like he wanted to punch both of us out. Too bad for him that he needed a lot more training to be able to take either of us. "Gabriele was left alone to protect Dahlia due to the distress signal. Any active threat is to be dealt with immediately. Surely you remember that?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

He fell quiet, but I could see the steam coming out of his ears. He had no leg to stand on here, and he knew it. We did exactly what we could. That didn't mean I didn't feel bad about it, but I'd handle the situation by following protocol, and the Russians had taken us by surprise.

"Once the two left, Three men came in and took her," Gabriele said slowly. "I notified anyone in the vicinity to follow them and confirmed her absence in the hotel room. The boy she had been seeing and his friend were both missing. Lorenzo is still missing, but his friend was found."

"Let me guess," Alessandro scoffed. "He was dead?"

"Floating in the river-accidental drowning, they said," I confirmed.

"So why did it take two days before you finally found her?" Alessandro snapped. "With how many resources you have, it should have been easy to track her down."

"We didn't take two days. We were led to a dead end and then found her location the next day. They chose a very risky spot. If we had made any kind of move sooner, we would've been putting all of us in danger. These weren't novices, Alessandro," I said, still a bit annoyed at how much they made us run around.

The feeling of helplessness as we found the warehouse empty was something I wouldn't be forgetting. And when I caught these bastards, they would pay for it dearly.

"You still should've " Alessandro raised his voice as he rounded on me angrily, but I raised my hand, stopping him in his tracks.

I pinned him with a glare. "Stop. Passing around blame isn't going to do anything. We got her back. She's okay, and she's getting the best treatment possible. There's no point in thinking of what you would've done instead or what you think I should've done. Focus your anger on where it belongs-the Zaytsevs."

"Zaytsevs?" Alessandro frowned, confused as he took a step forward. "I thought they were all dead."

"Not quite," I said, "The family was huge back in the day. While the original head of the family is dead, and he had no children who survived, there are still a lot of people running around with the name. We believe a man named Dimitri Zaytsev is involved and possibly pulling the strings, but it's impossible to know who the mastermind behind it all is now."

"We also know they've got connections, a lot of them. This wasn't a rush job or just an opportunity for them. This was planned," Gabriele said slowly. "They will attack again."

"I'm counting on it," I said calmly.

We knew their game now, and we would be ready for it. I was never letting this happen to anyone else again. Those bastards had breathed their last breath.

Alessandro sighedt, leaning against the wall as he took all of it in. There was more, but he would have to deal with the Cliffs Notes version.

Silence fell upon us, and my eyes naturally traveled to the families going in and out of the waiting room. We'd been here for hours now. Some families had left while different families had entered. It was like a revolving door.

A group of kids were playing with the wooden blocks building a tower, and a smile crept up my face. I missed the days when the three kids were younger like that, when they'd play like there was nothing bad in the world.

I glanced at the curly-haired brat in front of me, lost in his thoughts. Even Alessandro had been innocent once upon a time, if a bit spoiled. But this life corrupted everybody.

Except Olivia, it seemed. But she'd never really been part of it like the Valentino kids.

Alessandro let out a sigh as he pulled away from the wall, a determined look as he faced me. "Well, looks like I'll be sticking around for a while then."

"What do you mean?" I frowned, glancing at him with a questioning look.

"I already informed my parents, but I'm not going home until the bastards who did this to Dahlia are dead. And since this is a bigger problem than I first thought, I just have to stick around until we kill them all," Alessandro said arrogantly. He crossed his arms stubbornly, and I knew he wasn't going to let this go.

I groaned, feeling a headache coming on as I rubbed my temples.

"Alessandro-" I started, but he was quick to cut me off.

"I want in," he said seriously. "And you should know by now that I'm not going to take no for an answer. Dahlia has to recover, but my family is still in danger. As long as those bastards are out there, I'm not leaving."

"We've been over this," Gabriele snapped. "You have no right to come in here and demand to be-"

"I'm not saying to make me the Don," Alessandro growled back at him, then he turned to me forcefully. "Even just letting me help is enough for now, until the threat is gone at least."

I locked eyes with him, hoping he would back down under my glare, but he didn't. He stood strong-tall and proud just like James. They could be twins if there wasn't a forty-year difference in age. James was actually his biological grandfather, after all.

"You owe me that much," Alessandro hit the finishing blow.

I swallowed uncomfortably and then nodded in consent. Gabriele groaned in dismay, but Alessandro only smirked triumphantly.

The kid always got what he wanted, but this time, I could use his help to track down Dimitri Zaytsev.

Alessandro wasn't just a rich kid; he had connections that we might need and a will to kill without hesitation. He was more like James in that way.

He'd kill anyone who touched his family.

Just like James was going to kill me the second he saw me. Or Becca-my charm never worked on her, unfortunately.

Before the three of us could talk any longer, the doors to the hospital opened up and out stepped Tallon. He had his arm around Olivia's shoulders, and I was relieved to see the two looked much lighter in spirit.

But then I remembered something else Alessandro needed to know.

"Alessandro," I started, giving him a meaningful glance.

He turned to me with a frown, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Keep an eye on Tallon," I told him seriously.

Alessandro glanced at his brother warily and then back at me. "Why?"

"When we went in to get Dahlia, only three of the four kidnappers were taken alive," I told him, hoping he'd pick up my meaning.

Alessandro frowned in confusion, and I saw the cogs churning in his brain before his eyes lit up with realization. He swerved to watch Tallon with wide eyes.

"There's no way," he breathed, guilt creeping up his face as he understood now. He turned to me with a burst of anger I was used to by now. "Why did you let him go in by himself?"

"I didn't," I told him in defense. "We heard the gunshot from outside the complex, and he rushed in on his own. By the time I got to the apartment, he'd already taken the shot." "Messy?" Alessandro asked, quietly.

I shook my head. "Clean shot to the skull, instant. It hasn't hit him yet, but it will. Make sure he isn't left alone."

Alessandro sighed as he glanced worriedly at his younger brother. Tallon was laughing at something Olivia said as they headed straight for us.

"What have you gotten yourself into, little brother?" Alessandro whispered from beside me.

I couldn't help but agree.

The first kill was always the hardest.