Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 336 -

*Olivia*

Giovani's hand grabbed the door, blocking me from seeing Gabriele as he gently bumped me away from the entryway. He took over so easily that I didn't even realize I had let go of the door and left it to him until I had backed away. "We'll talk outside," Giovani said firmly, but I grasped his arm, shaking my head at the very idea.

"No, I need to hear this too," I set my jaw, staring at him determinedly. I was not going to let him keep anything from me anymore. "No more secrets."

He frowned, his eyes flickering to my bare legs and just the T-shirt I was wearing-no bra, no underwear. I rolled my eyes.

"I'll cover up under the blankets," I scoffed, heading for the bed.

Giovani watched as I crawled under the covers and pulled them up to my chest so I was completely safe from anything Gabriele might see.

"There," I said, smugly. "Now, you can let him in."

He sighed, opening the door and stepping to the side as he said, "Come in."

Gabriele stepped inside, a stressed look about him with how his hair was tousled and clothes were ruffled. It looked like he had been grabbed and shaken by someone, but I had no clue who would even do that to him. "Now, what's so important that you had to burst into our room at five in the morning?" Giovani started, his arms crossed as he stared at Gabriele demandingly.

My heart fluttered as he called it 'our room.' I smiled to myself at the thought. Maybe one day, we could have our own room to ourselves.

But all those thoughts faded as Gabriele glanced at me with an apologetic look like he didn't want me to hear the next part of what he had to say, and my heart dropped to my feet. "Alessandro was taken," Gabriele said bluntly.

Oh. I stared blankly at Gabriele, my whole body frozen as I tried to comprehend what he was telling me. Alessandro was taken?

It didn't make any sense to me.

"What happened?" Giovani demanded, buttoning up his shirt in a hurry. He grabbed his jacket, getting dressed quicker than I had ever seen before.

I could only stare at the two of them, unable to say or do anything. It was like I had been frozen in time as the world around me kept turning, only I was left behind.

Gabriele ran a hand through his hair, sighing as he replied, "After we all left the meeting, Alessandro went to the bar downtown. He had a bodyguard with him, so I thought he'd be fine. He thought he'd be fine." "Dammit," Giovani cursed, his hands gripped together. "How'd you replace out he was taken?"

"I got a call from the phone of the guy he took with him," Gabriele sighed. "I thought it was the bodyguard, but it was actually a man called Enzo, Russian accent. He works for Dmitri and was quite proud of sharing that fact." "Of course he was," Giovani spat. "No doubt he had some kind of message for me?"

Gabriele nodded. "He said to tell you that he had Alessandro in his custody but that he'd give him back if...." Gabriele hesitated, glancing at me with uncertainity and then at Giovani like he didn't want to say the last part. "Just say it, Gabe," Giovani demanded.

He sighed, clearly reluctant to share this part. But he'd always been loyal to Giovani. Even I knew that.

"I think it's a huge mistake, and you'd be an idiot to listen to it," Gabriele warned him firmly, then said, "But he said he'd release Alessandro if you gave yourself up as a replacement."

"No!"

A scream tore from out of my throat before I could stop it, and the fear grew to a full-blown terror, infecting me until there wasn't a part of me that wasn't shaking, not from the cold but from the sheer thought of losing more of my loved ones. Tears rushed down my cheeks like a never-ending river, and all my words bubbled up in my throat, choking me until I couldn't breathe.

"Not again," I whimpered, my voice hoarse and wet with tears as I gripped the comforter tightly in my hands.

First Dahlia and now Alessandro?

Were we going to have to keep going through this, with someone new taken each time until they killed all my friends? Would they take my entire family?

Last time, Dahlia had come back with a bullet in her stomach and years of trauma to overcome, but now with Alessandro, what if it was worse? What if they learned from Dahlia and just killed him now to be done with him?

Silence reigned around me, and though my vision was blurry through the tears, I could tell by his clenched fists that Giovani was one second from burying me in his arms.

A sudden terrible fear struck me. What if next time it wasn't Alessandro, but Giovani, who was taken? Or what if he went through with this trade?

I buried my face in my palms, sobbing relentlessly, and it was Gabriele who cut through the chaos that was my mind.

"If you can't handle it, cry somewhere else."

His cold voice was hard and unrelenting, with not an ounce of pity or sympathy. I could feel his eyes on me, his annoyance.

"Gabriele!" Giovani barked angrily.

"She asked to hear this," Gabriele said sharply. "She asked to be here and listen to what had happened, to be a part of this life. If she can't even handle hearing about a kidnapping, what do you think will happen when it's worse news? She's frozen up once already. She's a liability waiting to happen."

I raised my head, glancing at Gabriele with wide eyes.

"Shut your fucking mouth right now, Gabriele!" Giovani demanded, storming forward to grab the front of Gabriele's already messy jacket and slam him against the wall.

I flinched at the loud noise, but Gabriele only stared into Giovani's eyes impassively, not an ounce of emotion visible.

"You can't let your relationship with a little girl affect business," Gabriele said coldly.

"Gabriel-" Giovani snarled, but a new voice cut him off.

"He's right."

Gabriele and Giovani both blinked in surprise, turning to look at me with bewilderment. I sniffed, wiping the rolling tears away from my face, and I turned to face both of them with my head held high.

I was always the emotional one, the one most likely to burst into tears at any little thing. Dahlia had been kidnapped, shot, and been on bed rest for weeks, and I had been the most inconsolable one.

I wasn't made of stone. I had emotions I couldn't suppress, but I couldn't let those control me. Every time something bad happened, I burst into tears. Now, I was dragging them down.

Gabriele was right. I had asked to be here, to listen to what had happened even if I knew it wasn't good. I wanted to be with Giovani, and that meant accepting that this was part of this life. Every moment I spent here crying was a moment that Alessandro spent tied up who knew where and under the control of those bastard Russians.

I couldn't be a hindrance. I wouldn't be a liability.

I took a deep breath, stuffing my emotions down deep where they couldn't affect me right now. I could deal with it all later. Right now, I needed to be clear headed and listen to what was going to happen now.

"Let him go," I said to Giovani, trying to remain calm despite the tremble in my hands. That part of me wasn't so easily deceived, but it was good enough for now.

Giovani turned to look at me, wide eyed, but I sent him a confident look, and he relented, releasing Gabriele.

Gabriele stared at me for a moment and then nodded like I had passed some sort of test.

"What do we do about Alessandro?" I asked, determined to remain focused.

Giovani fell silent, staring at me for a moment. But then he sighed, turning to Gabriele with a resolute look.

"Where are we to do the exchange?" he asked determinedly.

I knew from the look in his eyes that he'd made a decision and he wasn't going to change his mind.

"The shipping yard where the attack happened," Gabriele replied easily. "Tomorrow night at ten o'clock PM. He said to come alone."

"Good. Prepare the team. I'll be doing the exchange tomorrow night." Giovani nodded to his right-hand man.

I clenched my teeth together to prevent any words from spilling out. I couldn't make another scene, even if I felt like I was going to implode from keeping it inside. Gabriele glanced at me then Giovani before nodding and heading for the door. The two of us stayed in silence until the door shut behind him, leaving us alone. "No," I said, my voice disturbing the uneasy atmosphere around us. "You're not really going to exchange yourself, are you?"

Giovani clenched his jaw and didn't answer. But that was enough for me.

"You can't!" I yelled, getting to my feet. I wobbled after everything that had happened, and grasped onto the nightstand to keep my balance. "There has to be another way!"

A sob escaped my throat, and I struggled to hold my emotions in check.

"Olivia," Giovani said gently, coming to my side immediately as he laid his hand on my cheek. "I have a plan."

"A plan that doesn't involve you handing yourself over to Russians who want to kill you?" I snapped.

The guilt in his eyes made the last straw of my self-control snap. I sobbed fully, burying my head in his chest.

He lifted me into his arms, taking me back to bed as he laid me down and then got in next to me. He guided me to his chest where I clutched onto his shirt, letting his scent calm me down.

"Don't worry, carino," he hushed me, softly brushing his hands through my hair. "I will be okay, I swear to you. You just have to trust me, okay? Can you do that?"

"I-" I stammered as I ran out of any more tears to cry. "I don't know."

"We're going to get Alessandro back, and I'm going to make sure no one else gets kidnapped or tortured or hurt. But to do that, I need to be taken first. I'll have everyone watching my back, Olivia, so just wait for me to come home to you." Giovani attempted to persuade me, his voice gentle and sweet as he talked to me.

I sniffled for several moments. As time passed, my tears dried up, and I finally calmed down. But I still wasn't convinced, and I doubted anything he said would make me think this was a good idea. The fear was visceral.

It was a black hole, and it kept dragging me back into its gravity with no escape, nothing to do but wait until it devoured me.

I could only hold him close for this moment and pray to the universe that his promises were true.

Just as my eyes began to close and I snuggled into him, exhausted after everything that had happened, I heard something pounding down the hallway. Shoes... no, they were too sharp.

Heels.

My eyes snapped wide open in panic as I realized exactly who was heading straight for us, and I didn't have any time to hide before the door swung open. "Alessandro was kidnapped!"

Dahlia stopped in the middle of the doorway, her eyes wider than dinner plates as she stared at me and Giovani tucked in an embrace, both of us wearing fewer clothes than we should have on if this was just my friend's cousin comforting me. Her mouth dropped open as she exclaimed one final thing.

"Oh."