Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 770 : Rescuing Leo

*Elio*

Franky drove so that I could text my men as needed. We had codenames for everything just in case our texts were being monitored. The plan was constantly changing and evolving as my spies kept me updated on where Ignacio’s men were, but we had a solid enough plan that we were going to go for it.

Leo was more than my friend. He was family. He was the closest thing I ever had to a brother, and there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to get him back safely. Ignacio wouldn’t get away with this.

“I really think you should hang back once we get there, boss,” Franky said once we were about a block away. “With the new baby and everything, I don’t want you risking your life.”

It was the first time Franky had ever told me something like that. I was shocked to hear him suggest it, and I immediately shook my head. “No, Leo needs me. I’m going to help bring these guys down.”

Franky nodded. He looked like he had more he wanted to say, but he wisely kept it to himself. He knew better than to try and argue this point with me.

I knew that if he was in my position, he would feel the same way. I wasn’t the only one of our people who had a family. Holding back because of Emelia wouldn’t be fair to my men who didn’t have that option. Just because I was the Don didn’t mean that I gave myself special privileges. And I knew that if the worst was to happen, at least I would’ve gone down protecting my family.

We pulled up to an old battery factory by the ocean. Most of the windows were busted out, but according to our intel, this was where they were keeping Leo. It made sense for them to keep him somewhere like this. Random old buildings were a dime a dozen in LA. Nobody would even look twice at this one.

The side of the building had been tagged with MS13 graffiti, marking it as theirs. That would help ensure that people wanted to stay away. Once again, I was intrigued by the way Ignacio’s men worked. Instead of staying in the shadows like my family, they made it clear who they were and what they were willing to do. I understood the desire to ensure that everyone knew you were not a man to be fucked with, but I just couldn’t imagine not being able to live a normal life. Being able to hold a regular job and meet with normal people helped me stay sane.

Franky and I got out of the car slowly, looking around for any signs of ambush. As far as we knew, Ignacio didn’t have a lot of men holding Leo. He had never thought we’d be able to track his phone call so easily. Three black SUVs pulled up behind us, and my men hopped out. I had called upon every single one who had military experience. We even had a few former SEALs running the show. I turned to them for guidance. They were far more experienced with infiltrating a building than I was.

One of the SEALs signaled to me to go around the side of the building while they ambushed the front. Me, Franky, and a few more guys would sneak in while Ignacio’s men were distracted by the primary attack. Our goal was to get Ignacio and bring him to one of the SUVs, which would then be driven to a safe house far outside the city. From there, we would use him to negotiate with MS13 as a whole.

As soon as Franky and I rounded the building, we heard shots fired.

“Fuck,” Franky muttered.

It was too early. There shouldn’t have been any gunshots yet, but we didn’t have time to worry about it. We needed to stay focused on the mission at hand.

We busted out one of the few unbroken windows on the ground level and made our way inside.

“What the fuck?” a man with MS13 tattooed over his left eyebrow yelled the second he saw us.

Franky yanked him into a headlock before he had the chance to alert anyone else. We stole his gun and left him lying unconscious in the hallway.

Gunshots were firing regularly from the front of the building. It was echoing so loudly that we could hardly hear each other. I was terrified my ear drums were going to burst.

“We have to get Leo and get the fuck out of here!” Franky shouted over the noise. “This didn’t go to plan. It’s too loud! The cops are going to be here any minute!”

“Ignacio’s not here!” One of my men yelled. “We saw him flee the second he heard gunshots!”

“Shit!” I ran to the back room that one of my spies had informed me would hold Leo. At the very least, I was going to get him out of there.

Bullets sprayed over my head as I ran. I ducked down but kept moving. I knew the best way to dodge a bullet was to just keep running. Most people were terribly inaccurate with their shooting. They just shot at random and if they hit anything, it was out of sheer luck.

Thankfully for me, I had Franky covering my back. He wasn’t just shooting randomly. He was shooting with the skill of an experienced mafia hitman. Before long, there were only a few of Ignacio’s men remaining. They had all developed the good sense to hide once they realized that Franky was a great shot.

Finally, I found Leo. He was tied to a chair and looked like he’d had the shit kicked out of him, but he was conscious.

“Thank fuck it’s you,” he said through bloodied lips. “I was afraid it was the feds.”

I laughed and ran to my friend, untying him so I could pull him into a hug. “Fuck, you scared me! I thought you were dead.”

He shook his head. “Nah, not yet. I gave ‘em hell, too.”

Sirens went off in the background. “Shit,” Franky interrupted us, “We’ve gotta go! They’re close!”

We spread the word that everyone needed to leave immediately. Franky and I helped Leo out to our car. His ankle and shoulder were both fucked up, but he could still walk with support.

We helped him into the backseat and took off, driving in the opposite direction from the sirens. They couldn’t have been more than a block away, and we knew some of our men would get caught. There was no way they could all get out fast enough with Ignacio’s guys still shooting at them.

At least they were all smart enough to stop shooting the second the cops got there. Getting a dead cop on your record was like a death sentence for anyone in organized crime.

I couldn’t bother worrying about that when I had my best friend back. Franky drove us to my house where Caterina was waiting for us.

I helped Leo into the front door and Cat jumped up from the couch to come help me. “Hey, you aren’t supposed to be lifting anything,” I chastised her.

“Oh, hush, I’m hardly taking on any of his weight,” she responded, sassy as she had ever been.

We managed to get Leo to the couch and settled him down. “I’m sorry, I’m fucking filthy right now,” he said. He was covered in dirt and blood, but I didn’t care. The couch could be cleaned.

“That’s alright,” Cat told him. “While the family doctor is on the way, do you want to meet our baby?”

“I thought you’d never ask.” He smiled at her in spite of the tremendous pain I knew he was in.

“I will get her, Caterina. You sit down and rest.”

She rolled her eyes at me but ultimately went and sat in the giant armchair that she enjoyed nursing Emelia in. I washed my hands and wandered to our makeshift downstairs bedroom to find Emelia settled into her bassinet. Seeing her sleeping so peacefully after I had just witnessed so much violence was jarring, but it helped bring my focus back to what was important in life. This was my purpose.

I gathered up Emelia carefully to try to avoid waking her, then brought her back to Leo and Cat.

“Leo, meet our daughter, Emelia.” I turned her slightly so he could see her face.

“Thank God she looks like Cat and not you,” he teased.

As I was about to tell him that she definitely had my eyes, my phone rang. I handed Emelia to Cat so I could answer.

“They have six of our men,” Franky said without preamble. “My guy on the inside told me that nobody has talked so far, but it won’t take them long to find the connections between us and them. We’re going to have to mind our P’s and Q’s for a while. They’ll be watching us like hawks from now on.”

“Shit,” I said. “The ones they have, what are they charging them with?”

“I don’t know yet, but they won’t be getting out for a long time. We’re going to have to figure out how to take care of them on the inside. It’s dangerous here. Ignacio has a lot more men in prison than we do. They won’t be safe without a lot of help.”

I felt a headache forming as I considered the implications of what Franky was saying. The logistics of trying to keep our men safe while also ensuring the feds stayed off our backs was going to be tough. We would have to create a ton of fake paper trails so that the real ones couldn’t be followed.

I glanced over at Caterina and Emelia, thinking about what would happen if I got locked up. “Do any of them have families?”

“Yeah,” Franky said sadly. “About half have spouses and kids.”

“Alright, we’ll start by taking care of them and making sure they’re safe. We can at least ensure they don’t need money. And then we need to get lawyers for all of them. Separate lawyers who are unconnected to the Valentino family. It’s all going to have to be as covered up as possible.”

“I agree. We have to do this carefully. Any sign of misconduct is going to get the cops up our asses. Make sure your family is as protected as possible, and keep all your assets from your legitimate business separated. If they decide to start investigating, the first thing they’ll do is seize any assets that they think come from illegal operations.”

“Got it. Thank you, Franky.” I hung up and went back to Caterina and Leo. They had both been listening intently to the conversation.

“We’re going to have to be very careful from now on.”