Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 343 -

*Giovani*

Smoke was quickly swallowing up the oxygen within the warehouse, all air being sucked into a vacuum that only helped to spread the flames faster. I could barely see through all black, and my breath was coming in shallower as every inhale filled my lungs with ash.

My chest burned from how much I had already swallowed, and I could taste the cinders on my tongue as it burned dangerously close to me.

Chaos only continued to spread around me with flashes of guns firing and bodies dropping to the floor. I couldn't tell who was an enemy or ally at this point. I shut my eyes as they burned and watered from the smoke.

I had to rely on my sense of touch as I struggled to pull my hands from the ropes binding them. As I reached out as much as I could, I felt something cold and metal on the tip of my fingers. I pulled it into my hands, wincing as a sudden sharpness sliced into my palm.

I maneuvered the blade into the rope, slicing through them with ease. The ropes loosened, and I felt around for the rope at my legs, cutting through them just as easily.

I coughed into my jacket, removing it from my body to tie it around my head as I searched for a way out.

I forced my eyes open, despite how much they burned, as I moved away from the flames and toward what I thought was the doorway.

But the fire was spreading too quickly, and I'd inhaled too much smoke. I burst into coughs, trying to gain a breath as I fell to one knee, my strength leaving me. My vision blurred around me, and for one horrible second, I thought I was going to die.

Olivia's pretty smile flashed across my mind, and I struggled to my feet, pushing my body past all the abuse it had taken in the last hour and forcing myself to continue.

I wouldn't leave her behind... not with our future so close.

"Giovani!" I heard a voice call.

Relief poured over me as I moved the jacket to scream out, "Here!"

I coughed, grabbing onto the nearest wall as I tried to remain upright. The smoke parted as a figure pushed through and something hard was shoved onto my face. I breathed in deeply at the sudden rush of air while the person beside me shoved something cold and metal into my hands.

I knew instinctively it was a handgun, one of my own. I wrapped my hands around it comfortably. With the mask on, I could breathe much better, but I was still feeling the effects of the smoke. With one hand on my shoulder, I allowed myself to be led out of the burning warehouse. Once we were out, I tore the mask off my face, breathing in the fresh air before coughing once more.

"Here." Gabriele in full combat gear glared at me as he forced the mask back on my face and led me further away to where our staff doctor was set up just off to the side. I heard the sirens of the firefighters already, heading straight this way. "I'm fine." I shoved the mask away from me, turning around to stare at the warehouse, ignoring our doctor. My men were working overtime to put out the fire, hoses of water being poured straight into the flames to extinguish them.

Luckily, the building wasn't completely destroyed, but I knew instinctively that Dmitri had gotten away. I clenched my jaw, furious that he'd slipped out of our fingers once more.

"Search for survivors!" I demanded once the fire had died down to cinders. "Anyone who is alive, bring them here."

"Yes, sir!" A few of my men nodded, charging guns up into the warehouse.

"You should rest," Gabriele warned me, crossing his arms unhappily.

There was a look of concern on his face that I didn't want to see. I knew how I looked. Bloody and dirtied, my whole face was a mess and not to mention, now I had to explain to the police and fire department what had gone on and send them on their way.

What a fucking day.

"Let's just finish this," I said determinedly, heading straight back into the warehouse.

The fire was still smoldering, but it wasn't likely to spread again. I checked the pulse of every man I came across, but none were breathing. Blood and ash had spread over the floor, coating it in puddles.

Our footsteps tracked prints the further in we got, and I stepped over so many bodies, I wasn't even sure if there was a survivor.

There were more casualties on their side than ours, which was a relief. We only lost two men, though several more were injured. Of the men Dmitri had left behind, three were still alive and each had been dragged out with various life- threatening injuries.

It was questionable whether they would survive much less talk about what they knew.

Those who hadn't been killed or severey injured had already fled by the looks of it. My annoyance grew as my men came out of other areas of the warehouse one by one, each returning empty-handed.

All we had captured were lowly grunts who knew nothing but orders. We'd dealt them a blow, but this was far from over. Our plan hadn't worked.

Like a snake, he'd slipped away, and now we were back to square one. Everything we'd gone through was for nothing.

Or so I thought, until I heard the shout of "Over here!" and the bang of a gunshot from deeper in the warehouse. I rushed in, jumping over the deceased bodies lying everywhere before I spotted Alessandro standing over a lump of black. I heard groaning from the figure as Alessandro had his foot on the person's leg, which was quickly turning red, his gun trained right between the person's eyes. With how focused he was, I was impressed.

"Who is it?" I asked as I joined his side.

"See for yourself," Alessandro nodded, not moving his eyes away from the man for a second. I kneeled next to the man and grabbed him by the hair as I raised his head to meet mine.

I stiffened in surprise before a smirk slowly spread across my face.

"Well, well," I taunted the bastard. "Looks like you weren't quick enough to escape, were you, Enzo?"

Enzo glared deeply at me, his mouth sealed shut. I smirked at how helpless he was in front of me now. All that big talk when we'd made the exchange and now, look where he was. This wasn't a waste after all.

There was a bullet wound in his leg, leaving him crippled. If he tried to run on that, he wouldn't have gotten far, which must have been why he was left behind.

"Your boss really doesn't care about you, does he?" I wondered, tilting my head. Then I caught sight of the handgun lying on the floor just out of his reach, a bullet hole in the middle of the floor between him and the gun. "He was reaching for the gun when I found him," Alessandro said coldly, "but I didn't shoot him."

"I see," I smirked. "I bet your boss told you to do something stupid like kill yourself before you were taken. Unfortunately for you, you were a little slow, Enzo."

His face twisted in anger, and I saw his eyes flicker to the gun in my hand. I knew the stupid idea in his head before he even moved.

"Da zdravstvuyut Zaytsevy!" Enzo shouted as a last hurrah before he grabbed the barrel of my gun, intending to pull it away from my hand.

But I was smarter and faster than that. I spun the gun, forcing the barrel away from Enzo as I raised it and smacked the blunt end across his face.

He grunted, falling onto his back from the blow, and I got to my feet, glaring down at him.

"Cheap trick," I said, crossing my arms. "But it won't work on me. You aren't going to die yet, Enzo. There are a lot of things you have to tell us about your boss."

Enzo spat out a glob of blood, glaring at me menacingly as he said, "You might as well shoot me, I won't talk. I am a loyal soldier, not like you dagos!"

"You bastard!" Gabriele snapped, stepping forward as he slammed his boot into the Russian's middle, hard enough that I heard a snap of the man's ribs.

But Enzo only laughed, blood pouring from his lips as he rolled into a ball from the blow.

"Gabriele, stop," I said firmly, raising my hand to calm him. He glared at me, his calm broken by the offense Enzo had thrown at us.

Dago-it was a slur, a nasty one at that-and one that Gabriele in particular was sensitive to.

"He wants us to kill him so we can't get him to talk," I crossed my arms, "Don't fall for it. The best revenge is getting him to spill his guts and bring down his whole organization. Then you can kill him."

Gabriele gritted his teeth, clearly unhappy, but I saw him take a deep breath and back away from the Russian, regaining control of himself.

"I won't talk!" Enzo shouted again, swearing at us in Russian.

I didn't speak Russian, but I knew just by the way he was saying things, he was insulting us. He just kept repeating, "I won't talk," in between swears and finally, Alessandro had had enough.

He bent down, grabbing Enzo by his hair as he raised his face to his own. Mere inches from each other, the dark look on Alessandro's face would be enough to make a grown man run screaming, but Enzo only glared back. "You will talk," Alessandro said determinedly. "I can promise you that."

Enzo finally fell silent as Alessandro dropped him, wiping his hands like he'd touched something disgusting. He sneered down at the injured man, not a single hint of pity in his expression.

Good. Sympathy was only a weakness in this line of work. It'd only get you killed.

"Take Enzo to the compound. I'll be having a conversation with him personally," I told the nearest man. He nodded, grabbing both of his arms and hauling him over his shoulder.

"No need to be gentle, either," Gabriele said fiercely. "Treat his wounds only as much as you have to, just so he won't die."

I nodded in agreement, knowing this would make Gabriele feel a tiny bit better. We all needed our little concessions.

Alessandro flicked the safety on his gun as I watched Enzo get pulled away, his feet dragging on the ground behind him.

I sighed, the exhaustion and pain hitting me all at once.

"Let's go home," I said, feeling like I needed a long hot bath and Olivia's sweet touch as she patched me up. And a lot of painkillers.