Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 790 : A New Plan

*Elio*

I woke with Cat wrapped around me like kudzu. I loved it when she cuddled throughout the night, but I hated having to wake her in the mornings. This morning, I woke up especially early because I was going into the office at our real estate development firm.

I slid from beneath her, trying my best not to wake her. She mumbled and moaned. I froze. She turned to her other side. Her breathing smoothed out and was rhythmic again.

I sighed in relief. She needed her sleep. She’d been under a lot of stress lately. Some of that stress came from me lying to her or keeping shit from her. I knew she hated it, and I was slowly learning to let her in on what was going on. We did better as partners than we did as adversaries. At least, it seemed that way to me.

I liked her being in the loop. It made her a part of every aspect of my life. She knew me well enough to know when I was lying anyway. It didn’t make sense to keep trying to keep her out of my world. she was smart and a lot harder than I thought she was. She could deal with my shit and the organization’s too. I just wished I would have gotten the picture before I made her so angry she stopped talking to me.

But we were good now.

When I finished dressing in my business suit and trying to make some semblance of neatness out of the curls that were intent on going in every direction but the one I wanted them to go, I walked over to the bed and gave Cat’s lips a brief kiss before I grabbed my keys, wallet, and phone off the bedside table. I stopped by the nursery, kissed my baby girl’s cheek, and left the house whistling.

When I was Elio the real-estate mogul, I drove myself. I used the silver Jag convertible. It wasn’t too flashy, but sporty and ritzy enough to pull off the high-end mogul persona without making too many waves.

On the way in, I got a call from Franky.

I pressed the answer button on the steering wheel, and answered with, “This better not be bad news, Franky.”

I was ready to maim the messenger at this point. Every time Franky called nowadays, he had bad news. I gritted my teeth for what was coming. I swore I’d brain Franky the next time I saw him if he had bad news again this soon.

“Naw, E, it’s not bad news.” Franky gave a grunt. I figured it was his version of a chuckle. “I called you to tell you that the plan with Mark is in motion.”

I didn’t respond. Franky’s tone sounded like I wouldn’t like this plan. He’d paused as if seeking approval. I didn’t have any to give to him yet.

“Mark and I arranged for the boys inside to be jumped.”

“What the fuck!” I shouted, slamming my fist against the steering wheel. “Why in hell would you arrange for our guys to be jumped? Haven’t they been through enough in there?”

“E, calm the fuck down,” Franky said in his calm, hard tone.

I didn’t think I’d ever seen the man lose his cool. He never raised his voice when he could talk, and his eyes could freeze the balls off an opponent from miles away, but Franky didn’t scare me.

I was his Don, and he did what the fuck I said. I was pissed. I wanted my men out of prison and on their way back home with their women and children, then all of them sent to Italy as soon as we could get them there without tipping off the wrong people as to where our men were.

But this was insane, and I swore to god if Franky thought this shit would fly with me, he had another think coming.

“You’d better have a damn good reason for causing more harm to my men, Franky,” I snarled.

“If you’d shut the fuck up and listen, you wouldn’t have such a hard on right now.”

“Trust me, Franky, my dick ain’t hard, but the trigger finger of my gun hand sure feels mighty itchy right now,” I snarled. “Don’t let that Fed get your ass killed.”

“Don’t threaten me, E,” he said calmly. “I’m not one of your street boys. I’ll defend myself, and one of us won’t be standing at the end to talk about it.”

“You’re threatening me, when you’re the one who came to me with some dumb ass idea the Fed probably came up with?” I asked, exasperated.

“Damn man, didn’t I tell you to listen?”

I took a breath. “What’s the idea? And it better be good.”

I could tell that Franky was rolling his eyes at me. “We’re going to get them jumped just bad enough to have them transferred to a local hospital. The men would need a few days to heal before we can attempt to get them out. They wouldn’t be in the prison anymore, and there would be less security around them.”

“Well, damn, that’s brilliant,” I said, feeling like shit for doubting him. “Shit, I apologize for going off like a rocket. Thank you for thinking of this plan and setting everything up.”

I hated the idea of our guys being hurt, but Franky was right. It was necessary to get their men out alive and mostly well.

“Sure, it’s all good. you know that.”

“And Franky?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank the Fed too.”

This time I actually heard Franky huff with laughter before he hung up the phone.

I grinned to myself as I ended the call. I didn’t think Franky would give the Fed my thanks, but I meant it nonetheless. I was grateful and couldn’t wait to put our men on the jet bound for Italy, where they’d be safe from the US cops and Feds. They could do a little business overseas for the organization there.

Maybe the family would send me another batch of men to take their place, not that they were interchangeable. I knew every one of my men. I knew what their likes and dislikes were. I gave them presents for their birthdays and holidays. I gave them advice about their women. We talked and hung out from time to time. I took care of them and their families, and it was my responsibility to keep them safe and healthy.

A leader didn’t harm his men until he had to. I rarely had to because I knew how to run my family in a way that even though the men didn’t fear me half as much as they’d feared the different Dons they’d worked for before, they respected me and knew I had their backs.

They wanted to please me. They didn’t want to disappoint me. They did their best and I rewarded them for it. If they didn’t do what they were supposed to do or betrayed the organization, I did what I had to do, but to senselessly harm my men... no, I didn’t do that.

At first, that was how I’d felt about Franky’s plan, but if we could get them out without gunfire and bloodshed, I was all for it, and Franky and the Fed’s plan did exactly that.

As I ended the call with Franky, I realized I was going in to a job I absolutely hated. I didn’t want to be at the legit business’s office anymore. It was boring as hell to me. It was monotonous and filled with paperwork I didn’t care to continue to complete day in and day out.

I stayed at the office for the day to see how much I was really needed. There were a few things I had to sign off on and a couple deals a few of my people there wanted to run by me from time to time, but for the most part, I was superfluous. There were other things I could be doing throughout the day in my home office to further the other side of the business. This only bored me to tears and I hated being here. It took me away from my family and the family business.

I went into Leo’s office to speak with him and see what he thought about taking over.

“What’s up, Elio?” Leo asked as I sat in his guest chair as he filed papers, typed in more paperwork, and printed out files and set them aside.

I always marveled at Leo’s workspace. It was neat and efficient. I remembered when he first asked me to let him help with the firm and how I thought he’d be a mess, but he thrived in the environment. He made more deals than anyone on the team.

Leo had always had a charismatic personality. He smiled and joked around. He asked pertinent questions of those he helped and usually had great ideas for whatever project he was working with. It was as if he was made for this kind of work.

While Leo was an awesome businessman when it came to the firm, he was a really good second to the Don as well. He was tougher than he appeared. Most people thought he was a pushover until he broke a knee cap or held a gun to their heads. He was just as ruthless as Franky. He just didn’t have to show it in every move he made.

He was an asset on either end.

“I don’t think I want to come in anymore,” I said, testing the waters.

“That’s up to you. You know that. No one has to know what you’re doing when you’re not here. You set up a remote office for a reason.” 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“How do you feel about taking over my duties here?”

“I’m good with it,” he said. “You know I like being here.”

I nodded. “Yeah, you’ll thrive in any environment, but are you good with it. I don’t want to ask you to take over when you’d rather be out in the streets.”

“Elio, you know I’m good either way, but I like working at the firm. I’m good at it, and I’d love to help you out here if that’s what you need.”

“Good man,” I said, walking over and clapping him on the shoulder.

“Thanks, Elio,” Leo said, looking up at me with a smile.

“For what?” I asked. “You’re the one doing me a favor.”

“For trusting me with the business.”

“You’re the only one I can trust not to turn it into some weird ass illegal enterprise that would bring the heat down on us like a pile of hell fire.”

Leo laughed.

He was laughing, but I was right. Most of the men in the organization only knew how to be gangsters. They didn’t know how to do anything with their talents other than what they already did, but Leo was subtle and knew his way around the legit business, and I was glad of it. It would let me have more time with Cat and our child as well as give me time to make the family business even better.

After talking with Leo, I called one of our favorite Italian restaurants and rented the whole place out.

“Hey baby,” I told Cat on the phone before she could even say hi. “Get ready to do the town.”

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“Just look beautiful. I’ll be there to pick you up in about an hour.”

She sighed and laughed at me. “One of these days, I’m going to find a way to surprise you,” she said, hanging up before I could say another word.