Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 514 -

*Tallon*

"This is bad, Boss," Alessandro said as he and several of my most trusted men gathered in the safe room in our compound.

We were surrounded by maps and documents outlining recent Russian movements. The air was thick with tension; everyone was concerned about the increased violence we had been experiencing from the Russians. "Someone is leaking intelligence. It's obvious that the Russians aren't just getting lucky."

"I agree," Vincenzo added. "This last raid was so precise, it was obvious that they knew exactly where to go and what to grab. They also seemed to know that you were elsewhere. I just can't figure out who the leak could be. I've been going over everyone for days and I can't imagine any of them betraying us."

"Whoever the leak is, we'll figure it out. They're going to regret ever deciding to turn their back on us," I said through gritted teeth. My jaw flexed with anger. I couldn't fucking believe that one of my men would stoop so low as to become a Russian informant.

Most of my guys had been with me since they were teenagers. If they weren't directly related to me, they were usually someone I had helped get out of a shitty situation. Every single one of them had been treated like family ever since being put on my payroll. I believed in taking care of my own, but apparently, I had let that cloud my judgment.

"Alright, we're going to have to tighten up our intel. Anybody not standing in this room is no longer given information that doesn't directly pertain to them. Alessandro and Vinny, I need you to back me up on this. I'm going to rely on you to keep your ears to the ground and try to figure out who the leak could be. Frank and Eddie, I need you both to place wiretaps around the compound. I hate to spy on our own people, but at this point, it's a necessity. The rest of you, tighten up security in all areas of the compound and around the city. It's no longer acceptable for anyone to be totally alone as long as they're outside the walls of the compound, and we're going to double up guard duty. I know nobody wants to hear that, but it's better to be overworked than dead. Of course, I'll make sure that everyone who has to pull more guard shifts will be well paid for the trouble."

The men nodded, everyone serious as we considered what it would mean if we discovered who the leak was. I could tell that they were all hoping we were somehow wrong; the idea of having to take care of someone we had known for decades left a bad taste in all of our mouths. Although it angered me beyond belief to know that someone was betraying me, I was still a human being, and I had no desire to have to kill someone I knew well.

My phone buzzed and I glanced down at the screen quickly, happy to see that Natalia had texted me. I couldn't wait to call her after this meeting was over. Things had been going exponentially better between us ever since we'd finally made love a few days before. It seemed that she was one of those rare women who actually needed sex to feel a deeper connection to someone.

thought of being with someone who needed a physical connection with me in order to be able to process her emotional connections sounded fucking phenomenal. I'd have sex with her every day for the rest of my life if that's what she needed, preferably multiple times a day.

I looked back up from my phone, forcing myself to focus on the task at hand. It was extremely concerning to me just how successful the Russians had become lately. They had barely even been on my radar in my entire time as the Don, but now they were coming back with a vengeance, and it was clear that they were thirsty for Italian blood.

Although Natalia was a welcome distraction, I couldn't afford to let myself get totally lost with her until we neutralized the threat. It terrified me to think about how the Russians could use her against me if they found out about our relationship. I made a mental note to tell her to avoid being alone after dark.

"I cannot emphasize enough just how much I need everyone to be on their A-game right now. This is the kind of shit that could destroy our entire operation. Alright, men, you're dismissed," I said, letting them go about their days. I motioned to Alessandro and Vincenzo to stay back.

"What's up?" Alessandro asked quietly once everyone else had filed out.

"Keep this quiet, but out of everyone here, you two are the only ones who I know I can trust absolutely. This leak is definitely coming from someone close to me. The last raid happened while I was-" I coughed awkwardly, wanting to be honest with them without being crude. "Well, it was while I was meeting with Natalia, the night I spent with her. Very few people knew that I wasn't at the compound that night. I didn't exactly make it common knowledge."

Vinny waggled his eyebrows suggestively at me while Alessandro looked horrified to be talking about anything remotely close to my sex life. The horror was mutual. The last thing I wanted to discuss with my brother was my latest fling. "You seriously think one of those guys in here just now could be the leak?" Alessandro asked, quick to change the subject.

"Unfortunately, I think they are the only people it could be. Nobody else would know my schedule that well, and that raid couldn't have been a coincidence. And that's not the only thing; I know for a fact that I was being followed the other day as soon as I left the compound. How would they have known exactly when I was going to leave if it wasn't someone in my inner circle?"

"Wait, what the hell? You were followed and you didn't say anything?" Alessandro was pissed. I knew he wouldn't like that I had kept that from him, but at the time I had wanted to keep the information to myself. It made more sense to gather all the facts that I could and then present them to my men, rather than come running every time there was a threat.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, but I'm telling you now. It's clear to me that somebody who was in this office with us is working with the Russians."

"Then why the fuck did you just tell them your entire plan?" Vinny interjected.

"Because that isn't my real plan. Only the two of you are going to know the real plan."

Alessandro rubbed his hands together, forgetting his irritation at me and eager to hear what I had to say. He loved this kind of shit; secrets were like currency to him. It had taken me a while to trust him again after how he had reacted to me becoming the Don, but at the end of the day, he was my brother and I knew he would die before he would ever betray me.

Our relationship had a complicated past, but he had more than proven himself during my time as the head of the family. Now that we were facing the Russian threat once again, I was grateful to have him by my side. He had been heavily involved in our last conflict with the Russians and would have more intel than most of my other guys.

The younger crowd had mostly come around after we had managed to crush the Russians, so this was all new to them, and besides, if my suspicions were correct, then I couldn't rely on any of them until I figured out which one was betraying me. Alessandro might not have always respected me as his Don, but he would always look out for me as his brother.

"You two are going to help me figure out who the traitor is," I explained, "by putting out bad information. This will work twofold. One, it'll confuse the intel that the Russians are receiving so they stop catching us by surprise, and two, it'll help us catch the fucking rat." "How do you figure?" Vinny asked.

"Every guy who was in this room is a suspect, which means I want you two to divide them up amongst yourselves and keep track of who you talk to. That gives you both five to talk to. What you're going to do is come up with a different lie for each person that you talk to. The lie needs to be extremely specific. I want you to write down who you talk to and exactly what you tell them, things like, 'Tallon will be in Florence on Thursday' or, 'The Venice warehouse won't be manned on Friday.' Then we'll wait to see what the Russians do. If they show up somewhere based on one of the lies you tell, that will tell us right then and there who our informant is."

"Damn, little brother, you're pretty fucking smart when you want to be," Alessandro said.

I chuckled at his words. It didn't matter how successful I had grown our family to be, I would always be his goofy kid brother. But I didn't mind; it was nice to remember my roots. Sometimes it felt like being the Don was more a character that I took on rather than who I actually was. People expect the boss to be gruff and hard, even cruel at times. In order to be respected, I had to be able to take on that persona no matter how much it differed from who I actually was. In the beginning, I had been able to uphold a clear line of demarcation between me as the Don and me as myself, but after a decade and a half of playing the same character, it was easy to forget where the character ended and I began. Over the years, the side of myself who loved teasing my family and making everyone laugh had been mostly tucked away out of necessity, but it was a loss that I mourned greatly. So when Alessandro reminded me of who I really was, underneath all the mafia bullshit, I appreciated it. I wondered if I had done a good enough job of showing Natalia the real me as well.

"Alright, stay safe, you two. Don't trust anyone," I said, dismissing both of them.

They nodded and let themselves out of the safe room. I stayed for a bit longer, examining the maps I had out and wishing that I was in a hotel with Natalia instead. If only I could figure out how to neutralize the Russians once and for all, I could focus solely on my relationship with her. I took my phone out to see what she had texted me during my meeting.

"What are you up to today?"

It was sappy as fuck, but I couldn't help but grin. It hadn't been that long ago that I'd had to practically stalk her to get her to talk to me, so it made me ridiculously happy to have her be the one contacting me just to chat. "Just some work. You?" I sent back, hoping she would be able to see me later.

"Same. What kind of work?"

I settled into the chair and decided to just call her. I would talk to her for hours if she wanted me to. I was putty in her hands.