Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 525 -

*Tallon*

"This is Natalia. Leave your name and number after the beep, and I'll get back to you." A loud beep followed soon after, ringing out of my phone's speaker into the empty room. "Natalia, call me back please," I muttered into the speaker, probably too close to my mouth, but I didn't care at this point. "I... there's something I have to tell you."

I ended the call, feeling the exact same way as I did yesterday when I left a voicemail on her phone... and the day before... and the day before.

I heaved a sigh, planting my face straight onto the smooth wood of my desk and not even caring as it smooshed my features into the mahogany. Hunched over in an uncomfortable way, I didn't even have the energy to lift my goddamn face. How did everything go so wrong so quickly?

The hit on the warehouses had been bad enough, but it didn't stop at just a few hits. With at least five of our men having been taken instead of killed, we were on high alert trying to replace them. In the meantime, though, we were being attacked from all sides, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

Attempts to track down the Russians and our kidnapped men all hit dead ends. They'd used common and disposable weapons and old tricks that were virtually untraceable.

All the old leads had been cut off since before Giovani left the position to me, and according to everyone they formerly worked with, the Zaytsevs were ghosts.

It was like trying to chase your own shadow on a cloudy day. I knew they were close, just one step behind us and lurking in the shadows, but I couldn't grasp any sign of them.

And though we were being more careful now, it wasn't enough. I could see how angry and impatient my men had become, wanting revenge on the people who had killed so many of us in one fell swoop, not to mention that the idea of a mole had swept through the family.

Paranoia had settled in. And as if the threat outside wasn't enough, now we had our own men turning on one another. We would destroy ourselves from the inside soon enough before the Russians even had a chance to get to us. And just to make it better, the woman I was in love with had been avoiding me.

And I had no clue why.

After the trip, she'd been distant, and I expected that. After all the fuss I'd made in rushing back here, I expected her to have questions and be a little upset, after all, but she wasn't. The first thing she did was assure me that she was okay when we talked.

But after that, it was like she was keeping me at arm's length again. Every time I told her I wanted to see her or I suggested a date or just to visit, she kept pushing it off. She'd answer me with, "I have a project at school," or, "I'm hanging out with my friends."

There was always something else going on. At first, I thought perhaps she was just busy, until she stopped accepting my calls. She'd text me still, but every call I made went straight to voicemail, not even ringing as if she kept purposefully denying the call.

I wasn't going to lie. It stung, a lot.

But I wasn't angry. I just wanted to know what I'd done wrong. Why did she keep avoiding me when I thought everything between us was going so well? Or at least I thought it was.

I sighed, running my hands through my hair again until it was unruly. I pulled a few mats on the way, not having cared about brushing it as much lately. I'd been so distracted with Natalia and the Russians and my men.

It felt like everything was falling apart around me, and all I could do was sit here and watch.

"Fuck," I muttered to myself, slamming my head against the desk and muttering a low, "Ow," from the pain. No doubt I'd have a bruise in the morning but right then, I didn't care.

Unfortunately for me, even though I only wanted to sulk in the darkness of my unlit study, life had other plans.

The door to the study opened and I heard a loud, boisterous call of, "Tallon!" before he cut himself off. I didn't move from my place, but I did flinch when I heard the sound of the light switch, and the sudden brightness descended upon me. I hissed into the desk, curling my arms over my head like I could block out the light from my view.

"Jesus man," Vinny exclaimed, the shock and disgust in his voice justified, probably. "What the fuck happened to you?"

I moaned incoherently into the desk, wishing he would go away and leave me to my scheduled moping.

"Seriously? Is he still doing this?"

I perked up, glancing at the doorway in a whirlwind. There, leaning against the door stood my older brother, Alessandro, with a scowl on his face.

"Alessandro?" I asked, confused. "When did you get back? I thought you went home to visit Mom and Dad?"

"I did," he scoffed, kicking off the door and grabbing the nearest leather chair, lounging in it like he owned the damn place. "But despite your best attempts to keep me from hearing what happened, I still have a loyal few who know when you're in over your head."

I glared at Vinny, who only shrugged, taking the other chair.

"You didn't have to rush back here," I sighed, scratching at my unshaven face. The hair growing there was patchy as it always was. "I have everything under control."

"Right," he said with a completely disbelieving look on his face as he glanced at my unkempt clothes and unshaved patchy beard.

"I'm fine," I tried to grin, absolutely in denial and I knew it.

"Sure." He rolled his eyes. "Your ass is lucky I kept Dad from coming down here. Mom and I had to stop him from flying here the second he heard the Zaytsevs were back. He says sorry, by the way." "Sorry?" I repeated, baffled.

"For, in his words, 'making you deal with the generational trauma of my mistakes that somehow just won't die."" Alessandro snorted, crossing his arms. "At least he's aware of it. When I told Gio what happened, he said, and I quote, "It's not my problem." So don't expect any sage advice from that asshole. But he did send cookies."

I hadn't. If there was one thing I learned from taking over after Giovani, it was that the second he left Italy, he had completely turned to mush. All he did nowadays was take his wife on fancy vacations and show up to every single one of his son's events at school.

You wouldn't think it of the six-foot Italian man, but after moving to Florida, he'd become a stay-at-home dad, and he was fucking proud of it.

I just sighed, rubbing my face to wake myself up as I turned to Vinny with an expectant look. "Did you replace anything?" I asked, seriously. "Because I'm about to jump out of the window."

"That window?" Vinny raised an eye good-naturedly, pointing to the only window in the damn room. "Please, you'd barely break a bone. I suggest going up to the top if you really want to jump." "Vinny," I snapped.

"No, I haven't," Vinny responded with an irritated look. "I don't know who keeps spreading the rumors of the mole either. I had to disconnect my phone because I kept getting false reports. Practically everyone in the family's been turned in for being the mole, and we don't even have any evidence there is one yet. I'm particularly pissed at Benny, by the way. He turned me in. Me! The nerve of that jerk."

"Vinny." I snapped my fingers to get him back on topic.

"If there is a mole," Alessandro said crossly, "then it's not going to be anyone who's been with us for a while. I have a team looking into everyone and checking if there were any sudden new relationships that developed." He glanced at me pointedly.

I grit my teeth, clenching my fists on the table as I try not to explode at his accusation.

"Of course, you don't mean Natalia." I called him out, a bit more bite to my voice than I intended. "Because I'm not afraid to punch you again."

"Of course, I mean your little girlfriend," Alessandro said fearlessly, staring me straight in the eyes. "Not only is she new, but her timing fits perfectly. Besides, Natalia is a Russian name, and she was the only one who reported a suspicious background."

"We already vetted her! There was nothing suspicious in her report!" I snapped.

"Except for the fact that for fifteen years we haven't had a single problem, but the moment she shows up, we suddenly have a leak? It's too coincidental for me." Alessandro said cooly.

"Shut up, Alessandro," I growled. "Don't bring her into this. She's not a spy. She would never-"

"You have no clue what she would or would not do," Alessandro snapped back, the tension between us rising like a flame. "You just met her, what, a month ago. You just don't want to think about the possibility that she's using you!" "You-"

"Shut the fuck up, both of you," Vinny interrupted with an irritated look. "We do not need any more bickering between us, alright? Tallon, Alessandro has a point. It's worth looking into, and if nothing comes of it, then you can rub it in his face, alright?"

There was a tense moment of silence as Alessandro and I glared at one another, neither willing to back down, but Vinny wasn't either. He stared us down until we both looked away, huffing as calmed down.

"Fine," I bit out. "But when she comes out as clean, I expect an apology."

"Fine," Alessandro shrugged. "And if she doesn't, I reserve the right to say I told you so."

"You basta-" I growled but before I could go any further as the sound of my ringtone split through the air. I jumped at the sudden intrusion, grabbing my phone in a hurry.

Thinking it could be Natalia, my heart raced in response, a grin lifting the corners of my mouth before it quickly faded away.

The name that stared back at me over the caller ID sent chills down my spine.

"Isn't Silvo-" I swallowed, glancing up at Alessandro and Vinny. "Wasn't he one of the ones kidnapped?"

"Yeah, why?" Vinny asked, confused, until his phone began to ring as well, and soon after, Alessandro's tone rang out in disharmony. Three phones rang different tones and my face hardened as Vinny and Alessandro turned to stone. I answered the call, preparing myself for anything with a cold, "Hello?"

"Privet, Don Tallon," a low, heavily accented voice answered. "I trust things are well with you?"

"Just peachy," I shot back in a dark tone. "And may I know who is calling?"

"Oh, just a delivery man." The man chuckled. "Speaking of-ding-dong, you have a present outside."

Before I could say another word, the click of the end call met my ears. I gripped the phone tightly in my ears, glancing at my brother and best friend as they too had their calls ended. We stared at one another with dark looks. This wasn't good.

This was a direct challenge to us and I grabbed my gun from the desk, flicking off the safety as I got to my feet. Vinny and Alessandro did similar actions, none of us saying a word as prepared ourselves for whatever these bastards had done. We were ready to meet our enemies.