Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 490 -

*Giovani*

I stared after Olivia as she stormed away. I'd married a strong woman, but being betrayed by a parent would crack anyone. That left me to handle clean-up.

I stood, cracking my knuckles, and made eye contact with Tallon. Olivia had gotten some good information, but we needed details if we were going to get Elio back, and details usually came harder.

Sal began struggling to his feet, but I put my hand on his shoulder and shoved him back down.

"Stay," I snapped. "I think my wife had the right idea."

Sal swallowed visibly.

"I'm sorry," he babbled. "I never meant any of this to happen, I just—"

I laughed, loud and long. "Any of this? What about killing me?"

He leaned forward. "I wasn't sure they were gonna kill you, just take you out of play, and-"

If there was one thing I couldn't stand in this business, it was men who'd give up anyone and anything for the right price. The man in front of me gave up his daughter, his grandson, and now the precious boss he'd given everyone else up to. I let my fist fly.

It connected with his jaw, good and solid, and Sal sprawled back with a brief burst of blood into the coffee table. The table skidded across the rug, food flying, and his head hit the ground with a soft grunt.

I stalked forward and placed my foot on his prone chest.

"Let me be very clear," I said. "Olivia was the good cop here. If you can't help me replace my son, you are useless to me. Tallon, what do we do with useless people?"

Sal's eyes rolled almost into his head as he tried to see the blue-suited man behind him. Tallon merely smiled and unholstered his gun. The click of the safety rang loud in the silence.

"I can help you!" Sal yelped. "I can, I promise I can, and then you'll never see me again."

I leaned a little more weight on my foot, and the breath gasped out of his chest.

"I think we're never going to see you again regardless of what you know."

He nodded.

Alessandro stepped back into the room and waggled his phone at me. I pulled mine out and checked his text slowly, like I had nothing better in the world to do.

Alessandro's text read, 'Address leads to a warehouse on the east side of town. Sent a team to look around the outside. Misha's too common of a name to pull up anything specific yet.'

I turned back to Sal. "Let's talk about Lorenz's warehouse. You've got an address. What else?"

He looked up and away, like he was trying to remember something. "Decent description of the inside. I've always had a good eye. It's not his usual place. I think it's a squat, so security has to be pretty low-key."

I leaned a little more weight on his chest. "Not good enough."

He wheezed. "I didn't see cameras, but I'd bet on them. Street light out at the front. The only place you could put guards on a place like that would be the exterior, like the roof and other buildings, to maintain cover. Helluva lock." "Better." I lessened the weight a little. "Where does Lorenz think you are right now?"

"Home!" he gasped. "I'm not supposed to check in until the morning. But your goons did frog-march me out my front door, so he might know something's up."

"Goons?" I snarled. "You don't get to talk like that here, not anymore. Apologize."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." He scrambled to put his hands up on the floor. "I'll fix this, all of this, I promise."

I stared down at him, so desperate, so scared. I believed, at least, that he was a low man on the totem pole. He lacked any spine. He might've lacked anything but a self-protective instinct.

I should've known the second Olivia said her father left that we couldn't trust him as far as Elio could throw him. Any man who abandoned his kid just because things got a little difficult was not a man you could rely on.

I glanced at Alessandro and Tallon. Alessandro's eyes burned with a savage glee, but Tallon remained carefully disinterested despite the gun outstretched in front of him.

"Well?" I asked conversationally. "Do you think we cut him loose, or buy a new rug tomorrow?"

"I've told you everything I know!" Sal protested.

I leaned on his chest again, and he fell abruptly silent.

"I've always hated this rug." Alessandro grinned. "May as well tie a string while we have it."

Tallon hummed thoughtfully. "I say send him home. He's not smart enough to lie this well, and he's not dumb enough to double-cross us."

Sal wriggled under my boot, desperation painted on all his features. I wanted to kill him here and now. I wanted to get down on the rug and wring the life from his neck, watch his eyes grow cold and distant. I wanted to cut off his head and hand it from the front door as a warning to the next person who tried to win Olivia's heart and fuck us.

But Tallon was right. If Lorenz expected him home, he needed to be home. And as furious as Olivia was right now, I couldn't help thinking she might someday regret letting her father die.

"How do you contact Lorenz?" I barked.

Sal rattled off a number. "And I have the burner I use, if you'd let me get it out of my pocket."

I nodded at Alessandro. He stalked forward and pried the phone out of the man's pocket, a cheap, plastic piece of shit I'd seen him use more than once in my house.

I pulled my foot off and kicked him onto his stomach before I could lose my grip on my convictions. We had to play this smart. I was tired of cleaning up the same messes, and I couldn't endanger Elio for petty revenge. "Take him home. He has to play his part." I plucked the phone out of Alessandro's hand.

"My part?" Sal asked.

"I'm going to see if your spineless ass can pull off something simple with a lot of help," I replied.

Alessandro raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to reach out to Lorenz, set up a meet. Whenever that is, the three of you-and whoever the hell else you need to get it done-are going to sneak in and take back my son." I glared at Sal. "If you want to fix this, fucking fix it." He nodded and grinned at me through the growing bruise on his cheek. "You can count on me. I don't want him in Lorenz's hands any more than you do.

I grimaced. "Know this, Salvatore." I crouched next to the man's head. "If you fuck me on this, I'm going to hunt you down personally. And there will not be a place on this Earth you can hide where I won't replace you."

I straightened. Tallon and Alessandro hauled Sal to his feet, though Alessandro frowned as he did so.

"I'll text you."

Tallon nodded, and both of them marched him out.

I sat in the chair Olivia so recently occupied and spun the burner in my hand. As much as I wanted to call Lorenz directly from it, to show him all his stupid tricks didn't impress me, there would be no point in returning Sal to his house if I did. I sighed, pulled my own phone out, and dialed the number.

"Well, well," a low, Russian-accented voice purred. "Giovani. I don't believe we've had the pleasure of speaking before."

It took all my willpower not to crush the phone in my hand. "Cut the shit, Lorenz. This isn't a fucking movie."

He chuckled, sibilant and pleased. "What do you want, then?"

"My fucking son," I snarled.

I had planned to lure him in, to seem at the end of my rope and like I had no choice but to turn to him and do whatever he wanted. All of that fell away in the face of his glib calm, his fucking laughter. This Russian shitstain had my son, and I needed him to know that wasn't the sort of slight he survived dealing me.

"A bit impatient, are we?" I could hear his smile across the line. "Rest assured, I have plans in place to restore him to you in due time."

"I'm done with your fucking games." I stood and began pacing around the living room. "No lieutenants. No hoops. Just you and me. Let's settle this like men instead of cartoon fucking villains."

He sighed. "Dmitri always said you lost your cool when someone touched something you loved, but I didn't expect you to lose your business sense as well."

A low, furious sound tore out of my throat. I hate Sal for his spinelessness, his weakness, but I hated Lorenz at this moment for his strength. He'd put me on the back foot. He held all the cards. I had nothing to bargain with, and he knew it.

"Alright, alright, if you're going to get your panties in a twist." Lorenz hummed thoughtfully. "How do you feel about two days from now?"

I slammed my fist into the wall, cracking through the plaster and sending up a shower of dust. "Sooner."

"Unfortunately, I'm all booked up until then." His smug condescension leaked through the phone, coating my ears and driving my rage to even higher heights. "I can squeeze you in in the morning, if that helps?"

I pulled my hand out of the walls. Plaster clung to the bloodied spots on my knuckles. It ached dully, and I anchored myself to the pain.

Through gritted teeth, I spit, "That sounds great."

"Wonderful!" he chirped with so much indifferent pleasure that I almost punched the wall again. "I'm so glad we could come to this agreement."

He recited an address, the same one Sal had given us earlier.

I exhaled slowly. Sal might be a worm, but he was a worm on our side for the time being. Tallon and Alessandro would get what he knew of the floorplan on the way to his house, and we would be as ready as we could be. "Oh, and Giovani?" Lorenz said.

"What?" I ground out.

"I don't need to tell you to come alone, do I? Because I'm afraid any outside interference will result in some rather... unfortunate things happening to your son." He hummed. "I might even regret it if you forced my hand. He's rather cute, your little heir."

Distantly, across the phone line, I heard the distinctive sound of Elio fussing like he always did right before he woke up. It was as though an arrow pierced my heart. All my rage fell away, instantly consumed by a father's panic.

He had my son there with him. He could do anything he wanted, and I couldn't stop him. I wasn't just a mob boss avenging a hit. I was saving my son's life.

"Of course," I said quickly. "No outside eyes."

"I'll see you in a few days, Giovani," Lorenz said. "Don't worry, I'll take good care of him until then."

The line went dead before I could respond.

My fingers flew automatically, updating Alessandro, Tallon, and Gabriele. I canceled the team Alessandro sent to the location.

Then, I sat back and stared blankly around the living room... the hole in the wall, the table scattered out of place, the blood and pasta sauce on the carpet.

I couldn't fix that tonight. I couldn't fix anything tonight. But I owed Olivia an update.

I had to take care of my wife in all the ways I couldn't take care of my son right now.