Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 758 : Ego

*Elio*

I knew Cat was still pissed at me and she would be for a while, but I really hadn’t expected her to sneak into my car to go to work with me. If I hadn’t stopped to kiss her on the forehead before leaving and found an empty pile of blankets where my fiance should’ve been and her shoes missing, then she would’ve gotten away with it.

Dropping her at Anna’s was the best I could do for the time being, even though I knew having her guarded would make her even more pissed.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair in stress as the sights of the city faded away and the warehouse we had been using as the mafia’s office came into sight. Unfortunately, it was not a good day for the warehouse.

Just like Leo had warned me about, the warehouse was a mess. The whole front exterior was covered with a tent of plastic black sheeting and a swarm of cars from our guys blocked the whole road. I stopped the car and two of our younger members came running over, one with a panicked look and the other looked quite nauseous.

“Leo managed to buy the police off to look the other way, but it looked really bad. A lot of people noticed early this morning, some pedestrians in a tour group or I don’t know, saw. It’s real bad,” the kid, about nineteen or twenty, said anxiously. “What do we do, boss?”

“Keep calm for starters,” I snapped. “Get you and any other newbies on patrol. Make sure this road is blocked off for the next couple of hours at least. Disguise yourselves as road maintenance if you have to. I’m sure we’ve got their outfits somewhere.”

“Right, as long as I don’t have to clean that up,” the other kid, a little bit older said, swallowing uncomfortably. “I’ve got a weak stomach.”

“Then you chose the wrong line of work,” I said coldly, ignoring them as I strode right into the tent of black sheeting. Inside were no less than a dozen guys in white gear to protect their clothes, and I accepted the guy who passed another outfit to me.

It didn’t take long to slip into the white bodysuit, paper-ish, and if we had brought these out, I could tell it was going to be messy.

“Where’s Leo?” I demanded through the crowd and a loud, “Here!” called out in response. I made my way to where the front exterior would usually be, and with the faint lights put up under the tent, I could see exactly what had caused so much fuss.

I grimaced as I saw the body pinned to the front warehouse door, big railroad spikes through his hands and feet to keep him up there. The dripping blood had flooded below him, dying the sandy terrain a vibrant red.

The worst of it was that his head was fully missing. There was just a stump of bloody mess where it should’ve been. Across the warehouse walls was a message written in what I presumed was the man’s blood.

“Leave the city or lose your heir.”

“Not subtle, are they?” Leo sent me a tired look.

“One of ours?” I said without looking away from the gruesome sight.

“Probably,” Leo sighed, approaching me. “We’re still missing three guys who were on guard duty, so could be any one of them, though I don’t think they would care about using a civilian just to make a point.”

“They’re getting bolder,” I said, shutting my eyes as I tried to think about what to do.

This wasn’t like Katz. This wasn’t some flimsy creature hiding in the night and taking shots where he could. They were aiming to make this public.

And clearly, brutality was one of their strengths.

“How did a tour bus get sent down this road? We always keep it clear,” I demanded, glancing at Leo.

Leo shrugged. “My guess is it was their work. We interviewed them and the driver claimed his route got changed at the last minute this morning. I doubt he’s lying but we’re looking into it. We deleted the photos they took but some got leaked onto social media already. We’ve got people taking them down, but we’re not gonna get out of this one scott-free.”

“The cops bury it?” I asked firmly.

“Of course. A lot of hush money for this one though.” Leo shook his head frustratedly.

“We’ve identified the victim,” a new voice called out, and both of us glanced at the entrance where Franky came in with a look full of anger. “It was John Caruso.”

He held out the file to us but I didn’t need it. Neither did Leo. We glanced at one another with equally grief-stricken looks.

“Not fucking John,” Leo turned his back, his body trembling in anger and he kicked the warehouse wall in frustration.

I took the file and opened it up. John was one of ours, an older member who had worked with Alessandro, Tallon, and even Giovanni before him. He’d been in this game for longer than either me or Leo and had been one of our most highly trusted members.

It was hard to believe he was dead.

“His wife, Teresa,” I said grimly. “I’ll notify her myself. Send her double the standard compensation. It’ll serve as her retirement.”

“Damn,” Leo sighed. “He was just about to retire, too.”

“Which is why we need to keep this quiet,” Franky said, crossing his arms.

He would have looked rather heartless to anyone else, but I’d worked with him long enough to tell that he was just as angry as us. John was one of Franky’s hires who had transferred here because he had been the one to train Franky himself.

“We’ll arrange for a private funeral. Send Teresa and his body back to Florence. He’ll be buried in Eterna,” I said then glanced back at the body with a scowl. “Closed-casket.”

“I’ve alerted Alessandro to the problems happening with MS13, but he’s decided to leave it up to us for the time being. He’ll have men on standby if we need it though.” Franky explained. “I’m hopeful we won’t, but these bastards are proving to be a pain in the ass.”

“But we have a bigger problem right now,” Leo turned to me with an expectant look. “You’ve gotta figure out what to tell Cat.”

I stiffened, glaring at him, but Leo wasn’t backing down.

“We’ve gotten multiple threats on her and the baby’s life and with her being pregnant, she needs to be extra careful,” Leo insisted, seeing how reluctant I was.

“I have to agree,” Franky said, both of them turning on me in agreement for once. I only wished it didn’t have to be against me. “She’ll be the next target.”

“The more Cat knows, the more stressed she’ll be,” I retorted. “I have guards on her and extra security at our house along with Anna’s as well. She can miscarry or have the baby too early if she’s under too much stress.”

“Bullshit,” Leo growled. “Cat’s much stronger than that. Just admit the real reason you’re doing this is because you don’t want to admit that you can’t protect your woman and child by yourself.”

I snapped, red filling the edges of my vision as I stormed forward, grabbing Leo’s collar and slamming him against the warehouse wall.

“Shut the fuck up!” I yelled, while Leo just glared at me silently. “Cat doesn’t need to know any of this, understand? I can protect her and the baby just fine, and as long as you two do your fucking jobs and put an end to these guys before they can go through with their fucking threats, then it’ll all be fine.”

“Denial isn’t a good look on you, Elio,” Leo sneered. “You know I’m right. Cat has a right to know.”

“You tell Cat and it’ll be the last thing you fucking do.” I narrowed my eyes on him coldly.

“I’d take that bet,” Leo snapped back.

“Enough, both of you!” Franky stepped between us, breaking my hold on Leo and pushing us away from each other. “This isn’t the time.”

I clenched my fists at my side, knowing that he was right–they both were–but I was not willing to admit that I was wrong. Leo’s words hurt but he was only saying what he believed.

My adamance not to tell Cat wasn’t based on my pride. I knew how strong she was, that she could weather any kind of storm with me and come out no worse for wear. She’d proven it time and time again.

But Leo didn’t know what I knew.

He didn’t have to witness the nightmares she suffered while Katz was aiming for our lives, the guilt she carries to this day for allowing her mother to be kidnapped and tortured at the hands of her ex-boyfriend... the self-loathing that I had tried so desperately to love out of her that I could tell still had a piece of her heart.

Cat was strong, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be damage.

Leo was right. Cat deserved to know, but this wasn’t just about Cat anymore.

This was about our baby.

That sweet little life growing inside her deserved a world better than this, one where her mother wasn’t constantly under threats while her no-good father was unable to stop it.

“I will handle my fiance myself,” I told the both of them coldly. “Do not interfere. Focus on finding these bastards before anyone else gets hurt.”

“Whatever.” Leo glowered at me. “You’ll regret putting your fucking ego above the safety of your family, Elio. I swear to god you will.”

I didn’t answer him, just watched as he walked away. He usually went to meet his wife at this time of day for her lunch break.

Franky heaved a sigh, giving me a look like I was a toddler he was having to reason with. “You know, I would rather rip my own fingernails off before I agree with that idiot, but I have to say–”

“Don’t,” I said sharply.

He raised an eyebrow then pursed his lips with a solemn nod. “Very well.”

I stayed long enough for our men to lower the body from the wall, zipping it into a black body bag and carrying it out. I still couldn’t quite think of the body as John’s, but I supposed this was reality.

A few men stayed to clean off the bloody message, washing away the evidence until it was spotless. I stayed even after the tent was taken down and everything went back to normal... or as normal as it could be seeing as everywhere here knew that John’s body had been hung up as a message just this morning.

I stayed until the last of the men departed, some heading inside to patrol and do what they needed to, leaving me standing out under the sun, completely and utterly alone.

And despite Leo’s advice and Cat’s anger and the guilt of losing someone who had been so close to us, the only thought that ran through my head was that I needed to hit them back.

Fast and hard.