Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 570 -

*Antonio*

I sat back in my chair and looked with satisfaction at the stack of magazines on my desk. They were the physical proof that everything I had worked so hard for over the past year had paid off.

Each one had a blurry photo of Tallon and a headline about his arrest.

I was finally getting everything that I wanted, everything that I deserved.

The family had done a good job of covering it up, so only seedy gossip magazines were running the story right now, but word of Tallon's arrest was spreading quickly.

Soon, the trial would begin, and the family wouldn't be able to hide the truth anymore. The public reputation Tallon had worked so hard to build was damaged for good. Now the world knew that he was nothing but a low life. I smiled bitterly.

I didn't want things to come to this, but he'd made his bed with that damned Russian, so there was no way around it. He had to pay for turning his back on his family, all for some woman.

The Russians had obviously concocted some kind of long con and Tallon had walked right into it. Marrying that woman was only part of their scheme. It had to be. There was no way the Russians would abide by any peace agreement. We couldn't trust them.

I had spent a lot of time thinking about my start with the family. It was decades ago now. Back then, I was just a stupid kid, barely in my twenties. I had bought into the family mission entirely.

Back then, the Don was a real man. He was not someone who suffered fools, and he didn't compromise when it came to his vision for the family. If you wanted to get on his good side, you had to be willing to do anything he asked. That kind of leadership was exactly what I needed.

It wasn't easy, but I had remained loyal through the loss of family and friends. It was a bloody business, but I trusted the Don and I believed that we were doing what was best for the family. I never doubted that I was on the side of righteousness.

I worked my way up until I became a trusted enforcer. I learned the trade from the best, and it wasn't long before the Don started coming to me when he needed someone eliminated.

It was a hard thing to do, but I learned to do it well. I never got caught. Even as technology improved, I learned ways to stay two steps ahead of the police. I couldn't be tied to a single death, no matter how personally involved I had been. When I became a leader and was put in charge of my own team of guys, I was determined to be successful and prove that I deserved the trust the family had put in me. They were elites by the time they completed their training with me. We were a fearful force that the Don could turn to with any task, no matter how difficult.

I was in my sixties now, and I'd put in the hard work to earn this rank. It was the recognition of my dedication to the family that I had wanted, and I was thrilled.

At first, things were great. I grew to love my guys like they were my own sons.

Then we fell afoul of the Russians.

One by one my men were killed by those bloodthirsty monsters.

My heart was shattered, but I still believed that we were doing the right things. The Russians had to be driven from Italy. It was clear by what they did to my boys that they were beyond redemption. I was able to maintain my belief in the family through it all-that is, until Tallon.

Thinking about the way he fawned over that Russian woman made me sick. He was nothing but a traitor. He spat on the memory of all the men we'd lost to them when he chose her as his wife. I couldn't forgive such a blatant betrayal of our trust.

It was like the lives that we had lost meant nothing to him.

He was nothing but a spoiled brat. What did he know about being Don? He'd been born into wealth and power. He'd never had to work for a thing in his life, not like I did, and not like so many of the men we had lost. We were pawns to him, and it wouldn't stand.

I looked at the magazine cover with a photo of Tallon and his pretty, young Russian woman. Every time I thought about it, I felt sick. All it took to turn him against us was a beautiful woman. It was pathetic.

When I learned about the peace agreement with the Russians and the reason for it, I knew that Tallon had to be removed from power. If he wasn't, it would only be a matter of time before the family was destroyed. We had worked too hard to let that happen.

Tallon was the problem. His mind was too easily swayed. His judgment simply couldn't be trusted.

The lives and wellbeing of so many people depended on him, but it was clear that all he cared about was himself.

I swept the pile of magazines into the trash and stood.

I was glad that my plan had worked, as much as I wished it wasn't necessary.

Tallon was going away for the rest of his life. I made sure of it.

Killing the Russians who had killed my men was gratifying, but it wasn't enough. After the first few, I started to draw it out. I wanted them to suffer.

The full plan developed as I worked my way through the list. The deaths of these Russians could be put to good use. All I had to do was lay the breadcrumbs for the police. They would have to be idiots not to see that these killings were a result of the old feud starting back up.

Unfortunately, they were idiots. My contacts in the police department would have told me if suspicion had fallen on the family, and I hadn't heard a thing. Was I covering my tracks too well? My decades of experience had made me too efficient of a killer.

I would have to be more deliberate about leaving evidence behind.

That's when the idea struck me. I would frame Tallon for the killings.

I needed to break this ridiculous peace. It wouldn't last anyway. It was obvious to me, after all my years of experience with the Russians, that they were going to betray us.

So, I needed to beat them to the punch. I needed to kick start the war so that we were on guard. We couldn't be caught unaware by their inevitable betrayal.

It would save our reputation if I made it look like this peace had been a ploy to lower the Russians' defenses. It would show that the Valentinos weren't easily swayed by a pretty face. As a bonus, I could get that sorry excuse for a Don out of power.

I had talented hackers that I could rely on. I was able to get around all Tallon's security with their help. They even managed to remotely hack into Vinny's phone so that I could send a message through his number. Tallon wouldn't suspect that his right hand would lead him astray. No matter how off the message seemed, I knew that he would follow whatever instructions I sent if they seemed to come from Vinny.

The fact that it worked just proved me right about Tallon. He didn't have the shrewd intellect needed to be the Don.

He walked right into my trap. It was almost too easy.

I was able to watch the entire thing go down through the remote access my hacker had given me to the security cameras. I watched as Tallon examined the body with obvious confusion. If he had half a brain, he would have left the second he saw it. It wouldn't have saved him if he had, of course. I would have sent a copy of the security footage to the police, and they would have arrested him.

Part of me was disappointed to see him surrender peacefully. If he had drawn his weapon or tried to resist, the police would have killed him, and he would have spared the family the public scandal of a trial.

Not everything could go my way, though. I was more than content to see him rot in jail for the rest of his miserable life.

The rest of the family would see him for the traitor he really is eventually.

And outside of the family, the other organizations would believe that Tallon had been fooling the Russians all along. It would seem like he had lulled them into complacency, then picked off their men.

It was a win-win, really.

I was happy to know that Tallon was behind bars.

I knew that no one would be able to trace any of this back to me. I had been careful to cover my tracks. There was no one clever enough to figure out who got access to Vinny's phone or the security cameras. Even the police hadn't been able to tie me to any of the deaths, and I had taken pains to set up the last crime scene to make it look like Tallon had done it.

I put the body in a location that only Tallon and a handful of others had access to. I left one of his chosen weapons at the scene, and I planted a tarp and poncho that had Tallon's fingerprints on them. That hadn't been easy to accomplish, but I'd managed.

It was an airtight case, and no matter how smart his pretty lawyer was, she wouldn't be able to get him out of this one.

It was for the best. The family needed a strong, capable leader. We deserved to be led by someone who wouldn't turn his back on the values the family stood for just for a pretty woman.

With Tallon out of the way, a new Don would be chosen. Just about anyone would be better than him. I doubted that Alessandro would want the job, but I knew that we could trust him if he took it. He was always more observant and intelligent. He was more ruthless, too.

This wasn't a role for someone soft-hearted. You had to be vicious to survive in this world.

We would finally have a Don who was capable of restoring the family to its full glory. We would be feared again, and no one would dare to cross us.

The deaths of my men would be avenged in full.

I looked down at the trash can and grinned. I could still see the blurry photo of Tallon on the cover. He got what he deserved.

A new era would start for the Valentinos, without him.