Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 538 -

*Tallon*

'It's time,' I thought coldly.

It was the wee hours of the morning when I found myself getting ready to face off against Ivan. I slid into my best suit and checked my appearance in the wall-length mirror. I wasn't going to lie; I looked sharp. But I needed to appear lethal. Ivan needed to know just from looking at me that he royally fucked up by thinking his family could ever step foot back into Venice.

With little to no sleep under my belt, I was both wired and ready for this whole mess to be over. I couldn't wait to see the look on the asshole's face when he'd discovered his mistake. But now was not the time to be getting cocky. Even if I had full confidence in the plan that was set in place, I forced myself to stay realistic.

Because in reality, when it finally came down to facing any enemy-anything could truly happen.

Just knowing that she was still under Ivan's control made my chest tighten with burning anticipation. Part of me wanted to act out and drive straight to her apartment building and shoot my way through however many men Ivan had placed around. I would get Natalia and the two of us would make it out with both our lives safe and intact.

I almost made a move to grab my leather holster and my gun, but I remembered what Ivan said during our little chat. He was ready and willing to kill Natalia if he suspected any foul play. Although it went against every lesson I was taught to be armed and protected, I knew I couldn't bring them with me.

I wouldn't take the risk.

I made it toward the main doors of the house where I caught a quick glimpse of Vinny and my brother.

"Everyone is in place and waiting for the signal," Vinny said.

I gave him a curt nod and took a quick glance at the time on my watch. It read a little after five.

"It's time," I told them.

My eyes wandered over to Alessandro, who remained silent and stiff as always. But I knew that behind that icy exterior, the man was worried sick. I wanted to assure him that everything was going to be okay. I couldn't.

But I wasn't about to leave Natalia to die at the hands of Ivan either.

***

I pulled up to the front of Natalia's apartment. The sun looked as though it was just about to hit the horizon. I swiftly turned off the ignition and stepped out of the car, heading directly toward the entrance. The place looked abandoned at first glance, but I knew better than to think that Ivan would be there alone.

Hidden within the shadows of the room we were in were his mindless cronies. There were at least ten from what I could manage to see from my angle. Yet my real attention fell on the slender figure that was slumped over across the room. My heart sank heavily inside of my chest.

No further than ten feet away was Natalia. Her arms were tied restrictively behind her back. Her face looked red and puffy. Did someone hit her? Or was it from crying? I couldn't tell from the shitty lighting that surrounded us.

But I knew well enough that it was her that Ivan was keeping close to his side. She was his bargaining chip, after all. It wouldn't have been wise for him to leave her unattended. Of course, that only made my plan to get us both out of here alive a bit more troublesome.

Natalia's strained voice sliced through the silence. "Tallon!"

My gut twisted inside of me as I watched two trails of tears fall from her eyes. Seeing Natalia like this-so emotionally beaten down, so shattered from bearing the weight of trying to live two different lives, was enough to bring me to my knees. But no, I wouldn't let an ounce of suggestive weakness show through.

My feet instinctively pulled me closer, and her name slipped right past my lips before I could stop it.

"Natalia."

"Get out of here!" she shouted. Tears continued to stream down her face, tearing my heart in two. "We made a deal," I muttered darkly.

She tried to blink back the emotion in her eyes and tried to fight against the ropes behind her back.

"Screw the deal!" Natalia fired back. "What makes you think that he's going to let me go once you're dead?"

My gaze lingered on her anguished expression for far too long. Fuck. She made a good point. This whole exchange was meant to ensure her safety. But, Natalia was right. What would stop Ivan from turning the head of his gun on her once I was out of the way?

In their eyes, at the end of the day, she was still a traitor. None of these people, her so-called cousins, gave a shit about her. Half of them probably wanted her gone as much as they wanted me dead.

My stomach was in knots, but I still refused to let my true emotions show. Ivan, on the other hand, looked positively smug that he got me here in the first place. I suppose a part of him believed that I wasn't going to show up, leaving Natalia to face a horrible death regardless.

"I'm not going anywhere," I stated firmly. "I'm going to get you out of here."

Ivan let out a disgruntled snort and practically rolled his eyes. "Not fucking likely."

Some of his men broke out into childish snickers, whispering offensive comments and slurs under their breath. None of it mattered to me. The only person who stayed at the center of my attention was Natalia.

"Please," she whimpered. "Please, don't do this. Just leave me!"

I kept my stance solid and unmoving as though I was rooted to the ground. I shook my head.

Her brows drew together and she shook her head in anger. "Think of your family-everyone who's counting on you-who depends on you. Do not give in to his sick game! Ahh!"

Ivan grabbed Natalia by her hair and yanked her head back. I took another step forward and gnashed my teeth.

"Zaytsev!"

He halted his actions long enough to turn his head in my direction. I couldn't reach for my gun, which was my first instinct. If I had brought it, pulling a weapon would have meant that everything I planned would go up in flames. But that didn't stop me from glaring every ounce of venom I held toward the bastard and his little minions.

A dangerous, heartless smile curved the corners of my mouth.

"This is between you and me," I said to him.

An unpleasant, rodent-like grin spread across his face. It made my skin crawl and Natalia tense up even further. Her wide eyes bounced between me and her uncle, not having a single clue what he would do next.

Her chest was heaving as if the man had stolen the very air from her lungs. Ivan glowered down at her and rambled something off in Russian before nearly tossing her away like a rag doll.

I should have been thankful that he didn't decide to pull a knife on her and go for her throat. But just seeing how horrible they were openly treating her, only confirmed my suspicions that the likelihood of Ivan letting Natalia go was not viable.

I watched as she tried to carefully collect herself, having just been shoved to the ground. Her arms proceeded to work behind her back while everyone else brought their attention back to Ivan and me.

"I held up my end of the deal, Ivan," I uttered coldly. "Now it's your turn."

Ivan's bitter disposition from earlier melted away to something along the lines of passive and bored. Yet underneath that bullshit demeanor was a man that was just dying to get his hands on his own gun and pull the trigger. The man was itching for it. I could tell.

Another taunting smile pulled at his mouth. "Of course," he started. "I have every intention of keeping my end of the bargain," he slithered darkly.

"Prove it," I said. I held out my hands, gesturing toward Natalia's struggling form. "Remove her from this room."

If I really was about to die, then I didn't want it to be in front of her.

Ivan scoffed. "How sweet. Even in your last moments, you're still trying to play the hero, Valentino."

I said nothing. Not a comment nor a defensive sound fell from my mouth as I watched him cross the room to Natalia. I kept a close eye on his hands, wanting to make sure that there wasn't any foul play in the making.

Her breathing was still harsh and broken while Ivan roughly tugged her to her feet. His hand gripped around her small bicep and violently pulled her to the center of the room. He brushed her hair out of her face and leaned over her shoulder to speak.

"Any last words to your toy before I finally finish him off?" Ivan asked her menacingly.

My hands clenched tightly at my sides. Oh, how tempting it was to want to swing my arm back and punch the bastard square in the jaw. He looked so smug as if he'd already won the war between us. Slowly my eyes drifted to Nalatia. I never thought it would hurt me to see her this close-up.

'My beautiful flower is wilted from all the tears she'd been crying,' I thought painfully to myself.

I wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch her, comfort her, to promise that nothing like this would ever happen again and that no one from her family would ever try to hurt her.

The look in Natalia's eyes, although distant, held so much love and devotion. I couldn't believe that there was a time when I once doubted her feelings.

Deep down, we both knew that nothing needed to be said. Still, she parted her lips and turned her head slightly to glance at Ivan.

Her lips pulled back into a sneer I didn't know she was capable of.

"Vaffanculo," she hissed. "Fuck you."

My chest swelled with the overbearing feeling of pride and honor as I heard the sweet sound of my native language roll off her perfect tongue. All the air was stolen from my lungs. My mind begged her to speak more in Italian and it left my body buzzing.

Of course, I was quickly snapped from my thoughts when Ivan dragged her away and practically manhandled her toward one of the side doors. My heart sank into my stomach while my every instinct told me to go after them. However, Natalia's actions appeared almost willing. But little did I, or anyone else, realize that the ropes around her hands were no longer constricting her.

She lowered her chin down and quickly snapped her head back, hitting Ivan directly in the face. The man cursed and hastily stumbled back as a thick stream of blood fell from his broken nose. "What the fuck?!" he barked.

Natalia whipped around, revealing her freed hands, and dove straight at Ivan. The force of her attack caused them both to hit the floor. She scrambled to keep the upper hand in the coiled situation, but it didn't last long. Because of Ivan's strength, the man overpowered her in less than two minutes. He towered over her, reached into his jacket, and aimed his gun right between her eyes.

My mind went blank as my vision saw nothing but red.

I tore myself from my position and lunged at Ivan with all my weight, knocking him back to the ground. "Tallon!"

Natalia cried out my name, but I could barely hear her over the blaring sound of a dozen guns firing.