Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 347 -

*Giovani*

In a darkened room, a man sat strapped to a metal chair. His arms and legs were tied to the metal contraption and a cloth blindfold over his eyes. Despite the grainy visual, it was easy to see the bruises and blood dripping down the man's ripped clothing.

There was nothing in the room but the man and the chair, completely void of anything that might give him comfort or peace of mind. It was what he deserved.

I stared at the camera feed on the monitor, watching Enzo as his labored breathing was heard through the screen.

I leaned back in my chair, sighing deeply as Gabriele watched me from the other side of the large mahogany desk. I crossed my arms over my chest, unhappy with the new developments-or should I say, no new developments. "He still isn't talking?" I asked, already knowing the answer. But I needed confirmation that only Gabriele could give me.

"No," Gabriele sighed. "He's proving to be more difficult to crack than expected. But he'll talk. I'll make sure of it."

Seeing how broken and rundown the man in the video looked, it was impressive he hadn't opened his mouth and started singing for us yet. He was more loyal than I'd thought. But then again, it could be the sheer stubbornness after what he'd said in the warehouse.

Alessandro's taunts might've just given him more incentive to keep quiet than make him speak.

"Who's on duty?" I demanded as I rounded the desk and headed straight for the liquor cabinet. I grabbed one of the open bottles of whiskey, pouring myself a drink.

"Right now it's Bosco," Gabriele answered. "He's been putting him through hell. I had to warn him not to kill him a few times already. The bastard certainly knows how to piss everybody off."

"It's not enough," I said, frustratedly, "We have to make sure we found out everything about the organization."

I rounded my desk, two glasses in my hand. I put one in front of Gabriele and sipped my own as I settled back into my desk chair.

"We will," Gabriele said. "It'll just take time-"

"We don't have time!" I snapped, getting to my feet as I slammed my hands on the mahogany desk. The silence rang awkwardly in the air, and I regretted my outburst as soon as it came out of my mouth.

I sighed, pushing my hair from my face with my hand as I settled back into my chair.

"Dmitri is still loose, and as long as he is, he won't quit. He's bent on destroying us, and the longer he's out there, the more of a threat he is. We have to replace out where he is and what he's doing."

"I know," Gabriele said, crossing his arms unhappily. "Would you like to do it yourself? We're working as fast as we can. If you think you can make him talk any faster then by all means, have at it." I rolled my eyes, shutting the laptop with Enzo's face on it.

"I get it, alright?" I said. "I know everybody's doing their best, but we can't let that psychopath run free. Do whatever you have to to make him talk."

Even if it meant bringing him to the edge of death.

"I doubt he'll give up the location of his boss that easily," Gabriele said doubtfully. "That might take too long for the results you want. It would be easier if he had any family to threaten or take hostage, but as far as we know, there's no one. He only cares about Dmitri and destroying us."

"Keep on trying with him, but send a team out to replace out everything about the organization we can. Track the men we know who are working with him and every resource they have. Find out where they like to stay, how they make their money, and who they like to sleep with. No detail is too small."

"Understood," Gabriele sighed. "but you know this is going to be a lot of work for me, right?"

"James left behind a few of his investigators to help with the case," I told him. "Give them the case and give them whatever they need."

"Alright, but we have another problem," Gabriele grimaced, "Apparently, one of our safehouses has been compromised."

I stiffened, whirling my glare on the only target in the room with me, and Gabriele sighed from the look of anger on my face.

"Compromised how?" I demanded slowly.

"We found a bug in one of the safehouses, A-4. That's probably where they've been getting their information from. We removed it and searched the rest of the buildings, but that was the only one," Gabriele said dismally. Dammit. A-4 was on the other side of town, one of our most frequent spots. It was a simple apartment building. If it was compromised, that would explain everything.

That was how they'd managed to time their attack on the warehouse so perfectly. They'd bugged us. And the responsibility for that fell upon my head.

All of those we had lost during the attack, during the raid to rescue Alessandro and Dahlia-it was my fault. But then, the buck always stopped with me.

I clenched my fists together, somewhere between rage and exhaustion.

"Search the rest of the safehouses again. Tear them apart to the studs if you have to. Make sure no information is being shared between the men until they are searched," I demanded. "And replace out how the hell they got into the safehouse." "Already looked into that," Gabriele frowned. "Apparently, a few months ago, the cameras went dead. We thought it was due to a storm, but apparently, they used that as an excuse to get a man in. As for the rest of them, there wasn't anything suspicious. But if they made it into one, it's possible they compromised all of them."

"Fuck," I cursed, slumping into my chair.

Just when things were finally looking up, finally settling down, this happened.

"Search all of them again," I groaned, knowing how much work this was going to be.

Gabriele shrugged. "More work for me, lovely. Would this be a good time to remind you that you owe me a raise?"

I sent him a nasty glare, and he nodded.

"Not the time then," he said, turning on his heel to walk away. Before he did, though, he stiffened and turned back to me with a cold look.

"I forgot to mention one thing," he said carefully.

"What now?" I snapped, rubbing my forehead from the headache I could feel growing. My migraines were getting more frequent with all the stress that had been happening lately.

"We managed to get one thing out of that bastard," Gabriele said casually. "Alessandro didn't shoot him at the warehouse; he confirmed that. But we know who did now."

I frowned, looking up at Gabriele's impassive expression. I couldn't tell where this was going by the look on his face. I had assumed he got caught in the crossfire or had been shot by one of our men before they died.

Otherwise, why would Dmitri leave his own right-hand man behind?

"Who?" I asked, quietly, my thoughts running wild with guesses.

"Guess," Gabriele snorted, crossing his arms with a resentful look in his eyes.

I knew immediately.

"Dmitri," I growled. "He shot his own man?"

"Apparently, his leg got stuck," Gabriele shrugged. "Dmitri realized he couldn't save him, so he intended to kill him before he could be caught. Luckily, one of our men intervened, so the shot only hit his leg. But Enzo had been ready to die that night. "

"That bastard," I snarled, disgusted with the psychopath's attitude. Killing his own man? Who the fuck did that?

I did whatever I could to save my men, no matter how low or high of a position in my company they were. That dedication meant that my men were ready to lay down their lives for me. It was only natural that I did the same. "And he's still protecting that asshole?" I asked in sheer disbelief. "After his own boss tried to kill him?"

"That's the fucked up part," Gabriele smirked, darkly. "Enzo told us this with great pride. He wanted to die by Dmitri's hand like it was some honor."

"Fucking hell," I shook my head.

There was nothing more terrifying than a man with nothing to lose, and Dmitri had gathered a whole organization of them-brainwashed to die for him by the sound of it.

"I don't know if it speaks to their dedication to their mission or how little they value their own lives." Gabriele sighed. "Either way, we know there's no limit to what they're willing to do to destroy us."

"Change of plans," I said, thinking deeply about this more. "Leave Enzo to Alessandro and James' team, at least for however long they are here. Put the rest of our resources on the safehouses and locating Dmitri."

Gabriele raised an eyebrow, skeptically, "Are you sure? That would leave our defenses vulnerable."

"It's even more important that we replace him now," I said determinedly. "Not just him, but every member loyal to him. Dead or alive, we need them to be found and captured as soon as we can."

"We know their endgame," Gabriele argued, "If we just let them come to us first-"

"No," I shook my head firmly, staring down my oldest friend as I tried to get him to realize the same conclusion I had come to. "With that kind of suicidal mentality, none of them can survive, or this will never end, Gabriele. If we cut off one head, it will only grow three more, just like a Hydra. We have to destroy them all."

"And how exactly do you suppose we do that?" Gabriele scoffed. "We can't exactly put up missing posters or billboards with their faces on them."

"No," I said, a smirk growing on my lips. "But we know at least one company where they're getting their resources from."

"Russo," Gabriele's eyes brightened, smirking now.

"I'll handle Russo from the business end. I will make them regret choosing to support Dmitri with every asset I have. Once they realize they're going to be ruined because of that asshole, they'll give him up." "Bold plan," Gabriele remarked casually.

"Let everyone know our new targets," I told him. "I'll start setting up for Russo's fall."

"Got it," Gabriele said, lazily turning on his heel to head out for real this time.

"And I'll get on that pay raise in a week or two," I called after him, smirking as he raised a middle finger behind him. Once the door shut after him, any humor fell away, and I slid into my chair silently.

Dmitri was walking a thin line. If he was Damocles, there would be a sword hanging above his head. And no matter how much he tried to get it to fall upon my own, it was his burden to bear.

The sword wouldn't dangle there forever, waiting for the loose ends to be tied with a pretty bow. No-one day, it would fall.

I just had to make sure it was Dmitri who was under it when it did.