Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 694 -

*Caterina*

"Are you alright?" Elio asked softly.

"Yeah." I gave a slight nod and pried my eyes from Antonio to look at Elio. Part of me knew that deep down I was lying through my teeth. Of course, I wasn't okay, but I wasn't exactly going to ask to leave at this point. "Do you remember the room on the second floor of that warehouse, the place where we had lunch that one time?"

"Yes," I answered.

Suddenly, his voice grew somber. "This warehouse has the same room. I need you to wait up there, understand?"

I knew better than to think he was asking me to do this rather than ordering me. Elio wanted me to be clear out of sight and as far away from the pending danger as possible. And I was in no mood to try to argue with him. "Alright," I agreed.

He gave me a small smile and called over for Leo. "You're going to be sticking to her the entire time, got it?"

Leo nodded without so much as a word.

I snapped my attention back to him instantly. I struggled to hide the spike of panic in my voice as I spoke. "What about you?"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to be out in the open either," he told me.

Elio leaned down to press a chaste kiss to the side of my head before gently pushing me to follow Leo. I felt the warmth of his hands vanish. And thus, my anxiety returned with a vengeance.

I trailed behind Leo until we were both tucked away, and I continuously tried to assure myself that this would soon be over.

A plan was in motion.

When Elio and I had been making our way over to the warehouse, I had to admit I was a bit anxious. How could I not be? This wasn't just your typical meeting with his team and Francesco. They already had Antonio in custody.

If anything, I should've been feeling a sense of relief. This whole chaotic mess was soon going to be over. But I'd been quivering at the thought of facing Antonio again. The last time I'd seen him was the night I almost lost my mother. I wanted to think that I was stronger now than I was all those months back. Yet the unnerving sensation that continued to coil in my stomach, told me that I was wrong.

At first, it had been strange seeing Antonio bound to that chair. He'd certainly proved himself to be sneaky and resourceful when it came to tracking him down. But it was obvious that his luck had officially run out. This image of him being some elusive, untouchable ghost had finally come to an end.

Leo directed me to the corner of the room, the farthest one away from what we knew would happen downstairs. They kept the building as dark as possible while everyone got into their respective positions. It wasn't long until we all caught sight of glowing headlights slowly approaching outside.

Leo had me crouch down, and the reality of our situation was once again becoming far too real, and I was desperate to keep myself mentally grounded. Elio was downstairs with everyone else, waiting for Junior to step through the doors. My stomach churned with worry for his safety as well as my own.

I knew well enough that casualties were inevitable when it came to moments like these. And I didn't think of myself as someone who openly wished pain and violence on other people.

Then again, Antonio was a man who deserved to pay for the harm he caused. All the pain and chaos he and his son had inflicted was finally going to come back and bite them both in the ass.

And I truly couldn't say that I felt sorry for either one of them.

A few minutes passed before I heard the main doors of the warehouse slam open. I could see through the corner of the glass window that Junior had entered the place along with four other men around him. They gave the area a thorough search while gingerly drawing their guns up for a suspecting attack.

Junior began calling out for his father but was only greeted with silence.

Elio must have moved Antonio to another room, I thought. Junior and his men looked utterly lost and confused. God only knew what Elio had sent in that message to Junior earlier, but clearly it was enough to make the guy continue his search around the place.

"I ain't seeing anything, boss," one of Junior's men muttered out loud.

"Yeah, me neither."

"You sure you got the right address?"

Junior let out a familiar sound of frustration that made my skin crawl with disgust. It brought me back to the times when the two of us were still together. Anytime I tried to do something my way or argued with 'Paul,' he'd always respond with the same disgruntled sound like a child throwing a pitiful tantrum.

"Would you all shut the fuck up?!" Junior shouted furiously. "You two, go check those rooms on the side there."

I would have given anything to steal a quick peek at Junior's annoyed expression, but there was no way I would have run the risk of blowing our cover by being spotted. I was sure it was like when he realized that someone had placed a tracker on his car, knowing that, at least for a decent amount of time, someone had gotten the better of him for once.

If Junior was known for anything, it was for being a major sore loser.

Junior was swiftly rejoined by the two men he'd sent out. They complained that once more they had found nothing.

"He wouldn't have sent me the address if there wasn't something here," he stated.

I found myself smirking coyly.

'Oh, believe me, Junior, there is, in fact, something here. And it's going to blow your world to pieces,' I thought bitterly.

I heard his group move further into the room. My stomach flipped when I heard Junior mutter something about checking upstairs. My head turned to see Leo, who appeared just as alert as me.

He drew his gun up vertically while holding his forefinger up to his mouth, telling me to be as quiet as humanly possible.

I was terrified that the men would replace me.

But that fear didn't last long.

My heart lodged itself in my throat as a series of loud, violent gunshots broke through the silence. Even though my positioning was rather awkward in way of hiding, I was able to see the madness that was taking place. As soon as Junior and his men made their way toward the staircase, they were chaotically ambushed by Francesco's men.

Junior began shooting without a moment's hesitation. Part of him probably knew that this entire ordeal was a trap from the very second he'd arrived. The ongoing suspicion in his tone from earlier was evidence enough of that.

Yet he was firing away with his gun as if he really believed he was going to make it out of this place alive.

The room swarmed with loud voices, shouting curses and several more gunshots.

I quickly clamped my hands over my ears in hopes of muffling as much of the ear-piercing sounds as I could. My eyes, on the other hand, remained open and fixated on the merciless insanity on the floor below.

Out of the corner of my eye, I finally spotted Elio. He had purposely remained hidden for much of the fight until it seemed opportune for him to join in. He acted with confidence and firm authority, which made me feel somewhat at ease. Unfortunately, with every gun fight came the bloody casualties. Of the four men that Junior had brought along with him, three of them had fallen to the ground, as well as a few of Francesco's men. No doubt, the wounds were fatal. My heart ached in my chest for the tragedy, regardless of whose side they were fighting on.

At some point, the gunshots stopped and all I heard was the sound of thundering footsteps. Junior and the one man who remained with him ran out of the warehouse. Francesco and his men chased after them in wild pursuit. I turned my head to see Leo nodding his head, assuring me that it was safe to leave the room. My hands slowly fell away from my ears while I cautiously slipped down the staircase. I needed to replace Elio and see that he was okay. "Elio!" I called out.

I glanced around until I saw the back of him walking through the room with Antonio. He turned around to face me and smiled. "Cat!"

I felt breathless and utterly elated. I rushed to his side and threw my arms around him. It was then I realized that Antonio was among the injured.

"Oh, my God," I muttered.

"One of the rogue bullets must have hit during the shootout," Elio explained.

The bullet had struck Antonio directly in the chest, likely killing him instantly. I was genuinely surprised, but no more surprised than when I glanced up to see two of Francesco's men walking back into the warehouse. Both men looked purely exhausted and were short of breath as they spoke.

"Sir, we've captured the one man Junior had with him, but Junior has escaped."

My eyes widened in disbelief while Elio let out a snarling noise of frustration.

"Fuck!" he shouted angrily. "Have Franky and the rest of you scope out the entire city. He couldn't have gotten that far. No matter what it takes, replace him!"

Once the men left us, my gaze fell back to a lifeless Antonio. Was it wrong of me for not feeling happy that the man was dead? After all the damage and destruction that he'd caused, he certainly didn't deserve an ounce of my sympathy... but I felt emotionless, though somewhat safer.

Elio placed Antonio's body beside the others and hastily returned back to my side. He cupped my face in his warm hands and checked me over for any possible injuries.

"Elio, really, I'm fine," I assured him.

He pulled me into a searing kiss and spoke against my lips.

"I swear I will never let you get this close to something so dangerous ever again," he promised.

I could have argued against such a fruitless statement, considering life had proven to be nothing short of unpredictable.

What about Junior? Were Francesco's men capable of replaceing him?

I wanted so desperately to believe that they would. With Antonio gone, we were more than halfway there. But in the meantime, I simply allowed him to comfort me and ease the tension in my muscles... until Elio took away that comfort with

one sentence.

"I'm sending you home," he said.