Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 522 -

*Tallon*

"Tell me everything, in exact detail," I said to Vinny.

I turned to Natalia and mouthed, "Work bullshit."

Her eyes were huge and serious. I knew that she could tell by my quick change in demeanor that this wasn't good. I turned away from her so that I could focus, and try to keep her from figuring out what I was talking about.

"Alright, so there's been a few things, we didn't realize how bad it was until just now. The men and I were trying hard to keep from needing to involve you, but at this point, I don't know how we could move forward without your guidance." "Start at the beginning. Just tell me everything that's happened since I left."

"Alright, so starting on Friday night there was a hit on two supply warehouses at once, the one at the docks and the one over by the old mill."

"Were either of those locations that you or Alessandro had been telling people about according to our plan?" I asked, trying to keep my words vague so Natalia wouldn't overhear.

I still wasn't ready for her to know about this aspect of my life. I knew it would be overwhelming, and I intended to fully convince her that it was worth it to be with me before revealing that I was in the mafia-or rather, that I was the mafia Don. "That's what's killing us. Before Alessandro left to visit your parents, he left me a ledger explaining what he had told everyone. Neither attack happened in a place we had talked about to anyone because both of them actually do have weak points. The security wasn't bulked up enough because we had placed guys over at the two locations that we had been saying were weak in preparation for when the mole revealed themselves. And here's the bad part. Since none of the hits were related to the lies that Alessandro and I have been spreading, the mole isn't one of our inner circle guys-unless you think it's me or Alessandro, which I can promise you it isn't me."

"Yeah, and I don't think it would be Alessandro either," I said. "Has he been informed of the hits?"

"Not yet," Vinny said.

"Keep it that way, for now."

I just couldn't imagine my brother betraying me like that. But if it wasn't one of the inner circle and it wasn't Vinny... Alessandro was the only one who would have such detailed information. I shoved the thought out of my head. I couldn't let myself start doubting my family now.

"Anyway, there were the two warehouse hits on Friday night. They took three of our guys from the docks and two from the old mill. I know they're alive because one of my guys escaped and told me that the Russians had tied them up and thrown them in a van. I don't know what they want with them, maybe some sort of hostage negotiation."

I decided to go into the bathroom and shut the door so I could speak more freely. Natalia would know I was hiding something from her, but I could just tell her that it was some confidential business shit. I hoped this wouldn't cause another rift between us; I felt like I had just begun to break down some of her barriers. But if she thought I was actively hiding stuff from her, that might be enough to make her put them right back up. I closed my eyes and forced myself to stop worrying about her. My family needed me, and I couldn't afford to be selfishly thinking about my relationship.

"That's really fucking bad. Make sure we know exactly which of our guys they took. I want a rundown of all their backgrounds and medical information. Send that to me on my cell as soon as you get it compiled."

"Yeah, let me get my second on that real quick." He paused, and I could hear him discussing it with his second. "Unfortunately... that's not all. This morning there were three hits on some of our business fronts. Luckily nobody was hurt, but they stole some seriously confidential files."

"What was in the files?"

"It was years' worth of financial information, not only background stuff like how people are getting paid but also the paperwork from our arms deals and our paper trail of money laundering. It's the kind of stuff the feds would love to get their hands on. It would implicate all of us for the crimes we've committed, going all the way back to when your father was in charge. I don't know why we didn't burn some of that shit, to be honest."

"Fuck," I muttered, trying to think this through. "Alright, I need all that sent to me as well, a list of exactly what was in that paperwork. And I need you and the men to start scrubbing all evidence. They might be able to replace a paper trail, but we need to make sure it ends there. If there's no physical evidence and no other paperwork, then they wouldn't have much of a case. We're going to have to change the locations of all of the businesses they hit and hide our shit a helluva lot better. We've gotten complacent since I've been in charge, but that ends now."

"I'll be honest, Boss. I hate that they took our guys along with the paperwork. They're looking for something and I'm afraid they just might replace it. The idea of those fucking bastards torturing my men for intel makes me sick." I could hear the pure rage in his voice. "I hate to say this, but I think you need to come home. I thought we had a handle on this, but obviously we don't. It was like they knew you'd be gone and decided to wait until the exact moment you left." "Yeah," I sighed, running my hand through my hair.

The last thing I wanted was to cut my weekend with Natalia short, especially when I couldn't even explain to her exactly why we needed to leave, but if the Russians thought that I was going to be out of town all weekend, it was likely that they had more attacks planned. I needed to get home and prepare for the inevitable war that the Russians seemed intent on waging against us.

"Alright, Vinny, we'll leave right now. I should be home in a few hours. Get everyone ready for a meeting in the safe room. And tell everyone that nobody leaves the compound until then. I want a total recall on everyone except for those who are guarding our warehouses."

"You got it, Boss. See you soon."

He hung up and I looked at myself in the mirror. Just a few minutes ago I had been carefree, getting ready to take the love of my life to dinner. Now I looked bedraggled; my hair was a rumpled mess and my suit had gotten wrinkled as I had leaned against the bathroom sink. And I had to break the news to Natalia that we were going to have to leave early.

I opened the bathroom door to replace Natalia sitting on the bed, chewing on her thumbnail. Her shoulders were hunched over, the tension in her body obvious. I walked to her and sat down next to her, wrapping my arm around her waist. I had hoped that she would relax against me as she had begun to do on this trip, but her body remained rigid. Fuck, this was definitely going to set us back. Just as I had suspected, she must have felt insulted when I had gone into the bathroom to hide my work from her.

"Natalia, I'm so sorry, but we have to leave tonight. Something came up with my business and I have to be there in person to oversee it."

She turned to me and for a moment, she looked absolutely terrified. It puzzled me. I understood why she felt upset, but I had no idea why she would be scared. I wondered if there was some reason why she wouldn't want to head back early. Maybe somebody was bothering her at home. I tightened my arm around her, determined to let her know she was safe no matter what. "What's going on?" she asked, "with your business, I mean."

I sighed, hating to lie to her but knowing it was for her own good. "I can't really tell you. A lot of the shit I deal with is pretty confidential for our clients and our employees. I swear I would tell you if I could, and I hope you know that there's nothing more that I would like than to ask you for your opinion on some of this stuff, but for right now, I have to keep it under wraps."

She nodded, seemingly lost in thought. Not for the first time, I wished that I could read her mind. There were so many times when it was obvious what emotion she was feeling, but I never had any clue why she was feeling it. It was clear that something was bothering her, but it seemed to go a lot deeper than just having to leave our weekend trip early. I wanted nothing more than to pull her onto my lap and beg her to tell me exactly what she was thinking, but I had a feeling that wouldn't go well. She was the type of woman who needed space. I hadn't figured out why, but I hoped that if I kept showing her that she could trust me, then eventually she would let me in. My patience was rewarded when she finally laid her head on my shoulder and settled into my embrace a little bit. "I am sad to miss dinner. It sounded like it was going to be lovely," she said. "We'll come back," I promised, and I turned to kiss the top of her head. "Even though we only got about twenty-four hours, this has been the perfect trip. I hope you'll come on more with me."

She sat silently for a moment and I wondered if she was considering whether or not that was something she would want to do. I was furious with the Russians for using this trip to hurt my organization. This had been my opportunity to prove to Natalia that she was safe with me, and instead, it made me seem like I would prioritize my work over her. Someday I would be able to explain to her that actual lives were on the line when I talked about my job, but for right now I just had to hope that she would forgive me.

"I'll come on more with you," she said quietly, then looked up to meet my eyes. "This has been the best twenty-four hours of my life."

I was overwhelmed by her quiet declaration. It was the first time that she had ever said something so open and positive about our relationship. I once again was struck with the feeling that this was the woman I was meant to be with. Making her happy was more rewarding than anything else I had ever done in my entire life.

Throwing caution to the wind, I wrapped my arms around her and rolled so that I was on my back on the bed with her on top of me. She yelled in surprise and then giggled once she was settled on top of me. She was so close our noses were practically touching. I tangled my hands in her hair and pulled her in for a kiss, trying to remain mindful of the time but unwilling to ruin this moment between us.

We were both breathless and her cheeks had turned my favorite shade of pink by the time she pulled away. "Don't we need to go?" she asked.

"Yeah, I just wanted to do that one more time before we left," I grinned.

We both hopped up and began to pack, all the lightness that I had felt with Natalia in my arms quickly leaving my body as I thought about the days ahead. Like the old saying went, it was going to get a helluva lot darker before the dawn.