Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 559 -

*Tallon*

I watched Natalia walk toward the back door of the house and my heart sank.

It had been a long time since I'd seen her so upset. I didn't mean to be dismissive of her fears, but I had a hard time believing that Bianca was really trying to sabotage our wedding. But after seeing how upset Natalia was, I couldn't help but wonder if I was missing something.

Could she have been right about this? I didn't want to believe it, but I wouldn't put it past Bianca to stalk my soon-to-be wife. I just didn't see how she could possibly know so much about our wedding plans. How would she have known to show up at the bridal shop today?

Natalia hadn't even picked out this bridal shop until after the bridal show where she met Bianca. She wouldn't have mentioned it to her there, and she didn't talk to her at all at the bakery. How could Bianca have known about it? It didn't make any sense.

But I did truly believe what I had told Natalia.

Bianca was a social chameleon. She had no real personality of her own, and she did her best to mirror the tastes and beliefs of those she was trying to impress. She believed that if she could just copy the rich and powerful well enough, then she would be able to break through into their world. Copying Natalia's wedding plans was exactly the kind of desperate, pathetic stunt she would pull.

Natalia seemed to believe that whatever Bianca was after was far more devious than that.

Anger flooded through me at the thought of anyone intentionally hurting Natalia and trying to drive a wedge between us. We had already proven that we would defy anyone to stay together. Bianca would be a fool if she thought she could gain anything from this.

But again, I just didn't see how it was possible. Going in circles over it wasn't getting me anywhere.

Regardless, Natalia was very upset, and I had only made it worse.

I walked toward the back door, determined to apologize and try to get to the bottom of this, but I was halted by my phone ringing.

I would have ignored it, but I recognized the ring tone.

I answered the phone in irritation. "What is it, Vinny?"

"We've got a problem," he said seriously. I waited a moment, expecting him to explain. "Grade A problems," he added meaningfully.

I cursed under my breath. Whatever it was, we couldn't discuss it over the phone.

"I'm on my way," I replied. I shoved my phone in my pocket and looked at the back door. There was no time to talk to Natalia now. I didn't want this conversation to be rushed.

I walked to the front door and grabbed a pen and paper from the small table beside it. I jotted down a note for Natalia, then I grabbed my keys and left.

Vinny texted me his location and when I saw where he was, I was even more concerned. He was in one of our main warehouses in the city. Something big must have been going down for him to choose a location that was fully secured, yet inconspicuous.

Vinny was in the supervisor's office waiting for me when I arrived. I made sure to lock up behind myself before I headed upstairs to talk to him. The odds of someone following me inside were low, but I could never be too careful. The warehouse was outfitted with a state-of-the-art security system, and the offices upstairs contained devices that would jam any listening devices, so this was the best place to have a conversation about something we didn't want anyone to overhear.

Vinny was pacing around the office when I walked in. It was a large room with an old oak desk at one end and a window that overlooked the work floor on the other. The space was cluttered with boxes of documents and a large industrial printer.

I frowned at the mess and made a note to reach out to the manager at this location and tell him to get his paperwork in order. A bad audit was the last thing we needed.

Vinny looked at me and tried to force a smile, but all he managed was a grimace.

"What's going on?" I asked. I could tell that it was bad, but I didn't know how bad.

Vinny leaned against the desk at the far end of the room and looked at me. I could see in his expression that he was choosing his words carefully.

"I'll start by saying we don't know who's behind this," he said finally. "There's no clear responsible party, and no witnesses that are willing to come forward."

I frowned. "That doesn't exactly fill me with joy, Vinny," I said. "Tell me what exactly is going on."

"Hits," he said. "The best we can tell, they're hits. Several Russians have been killed recently. The deaths are decidedly not accidents."

I felt my heart rate double at the news. Nothing good could come of this, especially if we had no idea who was behind it. That meant that the Russians likely had no idea who was behind it either, which meant that they would be on high alert. And it meant that they would blame us.

I cursed loudly and slammed the palm of my hand into the nearest wall.

Vinny kept his expression neutral. "The best we can tell, someone is trying to kick start another war. We don't know why."

"Why is this the first I'm hearing of it?" I demanded.

"It wasn't clear at first that there was a pattern," he explained. "We wanted to make sure this was actually something before we interrupted your time with Natalia to bring it to your attention."

I shook my head. "No," I said angrily. "Don't feed me that shit. You don't keep things from me, understand? I need to know these things immediately."

Vinny looked down guiltily and nodded. "We should have told you right away," he agreed.

"I need to be able to act swiftly to keep everyone safe," I said firmly. "I can't do that if you're keeping information from me."

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Don't let it happen again," I ordered. I sighed and rubbed my temples. "I want everyone on this, but I'm sure you already know that."

He nodded. "We're already monitoring all channels. If there are any developments, we'll know right away."

"Let me know the second we know more," I said.

Vinny nodded his understanding.

"Does Alessandro know about this?" I asked.

I knew the answer already. There was no way that my brother wouldn't have told me about this if he knew. Vinny shook his head, confirming that Alessandro hadn't been told about these killings either. "I'll call him," I said. "Whoever is already monitoring this, tell them I want answers yesterday."

"Yes, sir," Vinny said.

I turned and walked out the door. Ripping into Vinny wasn't going to help the situation, so I did my best to let my anger out with a long, deep exhale. I had to keep my wits about me.

I got into my car and started the engine, then called Alessandro.

He picked up almost immediately.

"Hey," he said. There was a tension in his voice that I recognized as concern.

"We need to talk," I said. "Right now."

"I was afraid you'd say that," he muttered. "Hang on a second." I could hear the soft sound of him doing something on his phone, then his voice returned. "Should I come to you?" "No," I said. "I'm already on my way."

"Anything you can tell me now?" he asked.

"Not much," I said. "It's going to be a long night. We may have problems with our oldest friends."

I could tell by his sharp inhale that he understood what I was saying.

"Well, that'll kill your buzz," he said. "I'll be waiting for you."

"I'll be there in about fifteen minutes," I replied.

Alessandro hung up.

I drove straight toward his house. I wasn't even sure what I was going to say to him when I got there. This was a mess and there was no clear path for us to take in dealing with it. Was this an inside job? Maybe the Russians were thinning their ranks or dealing with some rats? That would explain why they hadn't made any moves to deal with the situation yet.

Or it could be that they knew who was behind the killings. It was possible that this was retaliation for something the Russians had done, and they were already aware of the culprits identity and were dealing with it quietly.

Then there was the possibility that someone in our orbit had gone rogue. Not everyone was happy to see the feud with the Russians end. I couldn't think of a single person who would go behind my back to do something so reckless, but that didn't mean it wasn't happening.

Or it could be a completely unknown party that had decided to make their debut by gunning for one of the oldest players in the game.

I didn't know, and that's what made this so dangerous. There was no way to mitigate the potential risk to my family because I didn't know who that risk could be coming from.

Alessandro needed to be appraised of the situation, even though I wasn't confident that he would have any insight that would help me understand the situation. I had to make sure that all of my trusted men knew that something was brewing, and we needed to keep our ears open and our heads on straight.

We couldn't let ourselves be distracted and risk missing something.

The Russians hadn't made a move in response to the killings yet. That meant that something was on the horizon. Knowing the Russians, it wouldn't be long before they did something major in response.

My head spun when I tried to think of what that response could be.

I didn't have enough information to come up with a plan yet, and it was maddening.

I thought of Natalia, who was so hard at work planning our big day, and I felt sick. This could derail everything. She would be devastated if we had to postpone the wedding.

She would understand, of course, but it would hurt her all the same. I couldn't stand the thought of her being so disappointed.

Then there was the potential human cost to this. If the war started again, there would be no telling who might get caught in the crosshairs. It was my responsibility to keep everyone alive and thriving. I couldn't let this happen. I had to make the right call, and I had no idea what that call was right now.

The only thing I knew for sure, was that we couldn't let the war resume.

This had to be stopped.