Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 392 -

*Giovani*

No matter how many times I went on missions like this, it always felt like the first. My heart was pounding and my senses were on high alert as adrenaline pumped through my body. I reached over and squeezed Gabriele's shoulder, knowing that he was in the same boat as me. This shit never got easier, no matter how good we were.

We were riding in a little silver Fiat, one of the most common cars in the entire country of Italy. The Russians didn't know it, but this was the car we kept for our most important missions. We only used it when we needed to be as discreet as possible.

Gabriele and I sat side by side in the back seat. The silence in the car felt oppressive, but nobody had anything to say. We all knew the plan: wait for Dmitri at his warehouse, then hold him for the Interpol officers we were already partnering with. He would never expect us to utilize Interpol, which was why it was the perfect plan. If everything went off as we hoped, nobody would even end up dead.

Of course, that was if the Russians were willing to admit defeat. If they gave me a reason, I would have no problem with putting a bullet in any one of them after the harm they had caused to my family.

I was just thankful that Olivia was in a safe location. Knowing that she'd be safe no matter what happened helped to keep my anxiety in check. Thinking about her made me even more determined to ensure that tonight would be successful. I had to get home to her. It wasn't optional.

"We're here," Gabriele said quietly as we pulled into the parking lot by the warehouse. There were a few other cars there and our driver smartly parked between two larger vehicles so that we would remain hidden even when we got out of the

car.

Alessandro and Tallon were at a second location. Our two-pronged attack would help ensure our success. The Russians would be overwhelmed and unsure where to focus the fight. My phone buzzed; Alessandro was calling me.

"Hello?" I picked up, knowing he wouldn't call if it wasn't of the utmost importance.

"We got some of them," he said somberly.

"Excellent work. Who all was there?"

"Lorenz and a few grunts. Two of them are dead, but Lorenz and the other guy got away."

He didn't have to elaborate. I knew he'd be beating himself up over this. Lorenz was the one who had been responsible for the death of Alessandro's friend. I knew that Alessandro had hoped to end Lorenz's miserable life on this mission. I was disappointed that he hadn't succeeded, but I couldn't let it distract me. The main goal of today was to take Dmitri down once and for all. Once we got that done, we could focus on Lorenz.

"Fuck. Any of our guys hurt?" I asked, not wanting to dwell on Lorenz's escape for too long.

"Just some minor injuries. Tallon might have a concussion, nothing too serious."

I was relieved to hear that. As a Don, it was always incredibly stressful to send my guys anywhere without me. I was constantly bracing myself to replace out that I had sent someone to their death. The fact that everyone with Tallon and Alessandro was still alive was a major success in my book. If Gabriele and I could pull off our end of the plan, this entire thing would go down as one of our most successful missions.

"Thanks for the update, Alessandro. Send Tallon to get some medical attention and gather up everyone who is uninjured, then come our way. We need as much backup as you can provide." "Good luck, Giovani. We'll be there soon," he said sincerely before ending the call.

Once again, I was grateful that we were finally on the same side. Alessandro was a major asset for the family business. He and Tallon together were damn near unstoppable. I looked at Gabriele and hoped we could continue what the brothers had started.

I took the safety off of my gun and tucked it into the back of my waistband. With any luck, I wouldn't need it, but it was always better to be prepared in these situations. The goal was to get Interpol involved before any bodies dropped, but if Dmitri did something crazy, I wouldn't hesitate to kill him. He was responsible for so many deaths of people I cared for, it wouldn't even bother me to see the life leave his eyes.

We stayed inside the car, just waiting for word from our spy. The important thing was for the second part of our plan to go quickly, before Dmitri got word that Lorenz's team had been compromised. We wanted him to be confused as to why he couldn't get ahold of Lorenz for backup. We didn't want Dmitri to have time to go into hiding if he found out we were on his tail.

Gabriele's phone buzzed with a text notification. He showed me the screen so I could read the text. It simply said, "Follow black car."

I nudged our driver and relayed the text to him. All of us looked out the windows of our own car intently, just waiting. This was the hardest part of any operation, waiting in silence for the action to get started. I breathed in slowly through my nose and out through my mouth, forcing my body to be calm.

Gabriele pressed his elbow against my arm, indicating that I should look out his window. Sure enough, there was a black sedan making its way through the parking lot. I recognized it from pictures that our spy had sent me previously. The black car drove through the lot and behind the warehouse. Our driver waited until it had almost gotten out of sight, then pulled out of our parking spot so that we could follow. It was tough work to follow closely enough that we wouldn't lose them, but far enough away that they wouldn't notice us. Luckily our driver was one of the best. I trusted his maneuvering with my life.

The black car had pulled to a stop near a nondescript shed. This piqued my interest. We had done a shitload of intel on Dmitri's guys, but I hadn't seen a single picture of this shed, which led me to believe that it must be extremely important. Our driver parked us about 200 feet away. We stayed in the car, waiting to see who got out of the black vehicle.

Gabriele held his hand out for a silent fist bump when we saw Dmitri himself step out of the car. It looked like it was just him and one other guy. I couldn't believe how lucky we were. It would be ridiculously easy to take control of the situation. So far, everything had gone exactly as we had planned, other than Lorenz managing to escape.

We watched Dmitri and his driver walk to the shed and waited until the both of them had gone inside. That was our sign to move, and move fast. Gabriele and I hopped out of the car and got into formation with our driver and one of my best bodyguards. Alessandro and his team would arrive in about ten minutes, which gave us the perfect amount of time to secure the shed and whatever was in it.

Staying in formation, the four of us sprinted to the shed, then I took point and slammed open the door. I wanted the element of surprise to stay on our side. The sound of the door slam echoed throughout the little building as I looked around to get my bearings. I grinned when I realized that it really was only Dmitri and his driver. He was a fucking idiot to travel without guards.

Behind me, Gabriel held up his gun and pointed it directly at Dmitri.

"Stand down!" Gabriel yelled as Dmitri started to reach for a holster on his hip. "I will not hesitate. You are outnumbered, and you will die."

Dmitri put his hands up, then looked at the man with him and gestured for him to do the same.

"Better obey your boss," I told him. "He knows we don't fuck around."

Both men had their hands up, but I felt uneasy about approaching them. It all seemed too easy. As much as I wanted to believe Dmitri was just too stupid to know that he should travel with more than one guard, I had a sinking feeling that we were missing something.

I looked back and forth between the two men, examining their faces for any kind of tell.

"Keep your fucking hands up and don't move," I told them before approaching slowly, keeping my gun pointed directly at Dmitri's face.

Both men kept their hands up, but Dmitri had a smirk on his face that made my skin crawl. He knew something we didn't, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was. I grabbed his gun out of the holster and threw it behind me for Gabriel to catch, then yanked the other guy's gun away from him as well. Keeping my gun trained on Dmitri's face, I motioned to my guard to move forward and pat them both down. Neither of them had any other weapons.

'Too fucking easy,' I thought, anxiety filling my stomach. Something was wrong. We were missing something.

"How's Olivia doing, Giovani?" Dmitri asked in a slimy voice.

I knew he was trying to get a rise out of me, but it didn't stop me from backhanding him with my gun. He laughed at my reaction, spitting blood all over the floor. "Don't fucking say her name," I gritted out.

"And your little cousin, Dahlia, right? I think I met her once before... pretty young thing."

His taunting words made me sick, but I refused to let him see me react to it anymore. He was trying to set me off balance, which meant he must be grasping at straws.

"Gio," Gabriele said quietly, reminding me to keep my mind on the mission.

I shook my head slightly, forcing myself to remain calm and focused. It was time to execute the last part of our plan. All I had to do was get Dmitri tied up, then I could call Interpol and wash my hands of the whole mess. I roughly grabbed Dmitri's hands and zip-tied his wrists tightly behind his back, then shoved him to the floor and zip-tied his feet. I turned to his minion and did the same. To ensure they couldn't get away, I put black cloth bags over both of their heads and zip- tied them in place on their necks. They could breathe, but that was about it. Interpol would have to cut them loose. "You're going to regret this, Giovani," Dmitri said from underneath the bag.

"I highly doubt that," I responded, standing back to look at my handiwork and make sure that they were secured.

"I don't think I ever told you how much my guy Lorenz likes American girls. You think you've got Olivia and your little cousin somewhere safe? There's nowhere safe for them in this country. I have "

His disgusting little speech was interrupted by Alessandro's team busting through the door. I turned to see that Alessandro was dragging a guy he had firmly in a chokehold.

"We found him outside with a fucking grenade," Alessandro said through ragged breaths. "He wasn't expecting us. I threw the grenade into the warehouse."

As if on cue, the sound of an explosion in the distance punctuated his words.

"What the fuck, Dario?!" Dmitri screamed, muffled slightly by the bag over his head. "You were the fucking backup!"

"You were going to have him kill us?" Dmitri's guy asked quietly. It was the first time I'd heard him speak, and he sounded completely dumbfounded to hear that his boss would have sacrificed his life without a second thought.

I smiled as I realized that this was the trick Dmitri had up his sleeve. All his bullshit about the girls had been just talk as he tried to distract us from the fact that someone was prepared to throw a fucking bomb in here. It interested me to know that Dmitri would rather die than be in our hands.

"Well, good news for you, Dmitri," I said, finally ready to reveal our plan. "I've got Interpol on their way to arrest you, so you don't have to worry about what we had planned to do to you in our compound."

"What the fuck?! Interpol?! No! Please, kill me. Just kill me! I'm better off dead. I can't be put in a cage. Don't put me in a cage!"

His begging was pathetic. I couldn't believe this was the piece of shit that had been terrorizing us for months. I made the call to Interpol while standing in the shed. I wanted to ensure that Dmitri heard every word. His screams of rage became wordless as he realized that he was completely done for.

We walked out of the shed and headed back to our car, sirens wailing in the background as they headed our way.

Once we were all safely headed back home, there was only one person I wanted to call.