Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 863 : A Role to Play

*Leo*

I thought about the way Bianca pulled me aside to confront me when Amara was busy. It was almost like she didn’t want Amara to hear our conversation, as if she had suspicions, and she didn’t want her friend to know about them.

I knew when I told her that I knew people that would help me that didn’t like violent men she didn’t believe me. What the hell was I going to do with that? It wasn’t like it was my place to tell her exactly who and what I was.

A part of me wanted to do just that, but knowing could put her in danger. I didn’t want to put Bianca at risk just because she knew who I really was. So, I did what was best for both of us and avoided it.

I figured she’d get over it eventually, but I had to be a lot more careful with the things I did and said around her in the future. I hadn’t really wanted her to get wind of the details of what Matteo was arrested for.

I knew with the drugs and shit he had on him the other night, he’d go down for a while, especially in the States where the war on drugs was real and he was a foreigner. Him being from Italy would make life even harder on him.

He was an immigrant, possibly here illegally, so life wasn’t going to be too easy for him from here on out. The cops had charged him with possession with intent to distribute and charges of assault and battery and stalking were added just for fun.

Yeah, me and Franky had fudged on the assault and battery thing, but the fucker deserved it. I was glad Matteo, the weak, was going down for a while. He’d better hope he stayed in the States because if they sent him back across the pond, the gangs over there would have him killed for getting arrested regardless of where he’d been taken.

It was a better plan than I could have devised myself, and Matteo had practically tossed it in my lap by having illegal substances on him, bruises from fighting, and we had the evidence in his and Bianca’s phones for the stalking. He really was a dumb ass, and I was damn glad he was out of Bianca’s life.

After I made sure Bianca was occupied with Amara, I left them alone in each other’s company. I had a few calls to make and business to take care of. I left and went to the study. I made sure to close the heavy double doors and checked the panel on the wall to make sure they were locked, so I wouldn’t be interrupted.

I could talk freely in here because the room had been securely insulated for sound. My conversations and other information wouldn’t leak from this room. The family had been upgrading the specs on this room forever.

Every time technology changed, we updated our signal jammers, checked the room’s insulation and regardless of it being what we thought of as a well secured compound, I checked for bugs and reset passwords every few days. Before I could forget I changed the code on the door and checked for bugs before I sat at my desk and called Al.

“What’s up,” Al answered, sounding preoccupied.

“We found your man here in the States.”

“Give me a minute, I need to get to a more secure place.”

“You home?” I asked.

“Yeah, but not in the office. How’s my girl?”

“She’s fine,” I said, thinking of the other night. I saw her sumptuous body in my mind and had to stand up and walk around the room to find things to distract myself from that line of thinking. Being hard with her uncle on the phone just made me feel a little uncomfortable.

“Okay, what’s going on.”

“Your boy’s in the States.”

“Really?” Al asked.

“Me and Franky got the little fucker the other night. He had the courtesy to have enough drugs on him to be arrested for possession with intent to distribute. He’ll be put in the big house for at least twenty years. If he’s extradited back to Italy, the gangs will handle him. Either way, he’s done.”

“Good, good. I like this better than having to explain a body.”

“No bodies here,” I said.

Al chuckled. “I love the solution you ran with. Elio was a wise man in choosing his successor.”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know if anything else pop’s off, but I don’t see anything further coming from this.”

“You’d made sure of it. You done good, kid. Call if you need anything.”

“Sure thing,” I agreed, and we ended the call.

I looked out the bullet proof glass of the window at the land of the compound Elio had trusted me with. At first, I couldn’t believe that I’d been made Don of the LA holdings. Nobody was surprised by Elio’s choice but me.

I figured he’d choose Franky. He was more experienced than me. He’d been in the family for years. He’d been a part of the business for years. I figured I’d be taking orders from Franky. Instead, I was giving them and getting reports from Franky.

At first, I thought he would resent it, but he was glad to be second in command and was good with sending in reports, gathering the dirt and handing it over for me to shovel.

I realized that Franky and I had fallen into the role of Don and second as easily as if we’d been doing it for years. 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

I wondered if Bianca would be better at dinner, but then the phone rang, and I saw Franky’s name and code.

Yeah, thinking of Franky must have drummed him up.

“Yeah?” I asked, thinking of all the times Elio used to want to shoot Franky for calling him with bad news. I remembered having to tell him that Franky wasn’t an old-time messenger. He’d give me one of his withering looks and I’d just shrug and say something funny to make him laugh and get over himself.

“I need you to come to the warehouse.”

“Well, good evening to you too, sunshine.”

“How many times am I going to have to tell you to fuck yourself before you just go on and do it,” Franky deadpanned.

I cracked up. “Yeah, like I’d tell you I did or didn’t take your crass advice.”

“Just shut up and get your ass down here,” Franky groused.

“Yeah, I’ll be there in about twenty.”

“It shouldn’t take you that long to get here. You don’t have to get pretty on my behalf.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, dick, I have to keep up appearances.”

“Shit, I forgot about that. I’ll see you in twenty, then.”

We hung up and I jogged up the stairs where the women couldn’t see me. I went to my room and changed into a tank and basketball shorts with my cross trainers on.

“Ladies,” I greeted when I got back down stairs. I had my phone and keys in my hand, as these shorts didn’t sport pockets.

“Hello,” Bianca said, looking at me.

“I just wanted to tell you to enjoy dinner. I’m going to the gym for a while.”

“Okay, have fun,” Amara said with a smirk.

I wondered what her smile was about as Bianca stayed quiet and just nodded at me. She was giving me an odd look, but I didn’t have time to figure out her facial expression.

A part of me wanted to go over to her and pull her close, kiss those sexy lips and clear the expression of doubt and suspicion out of her eyes, but I not only didn’t have the time for that, but I didn’t think she’d welcome it in front of her friend.

Things had been a little distant between us since we had sex, but I was hoping that would change. Once wasn’t going to be enough for me. Regardless of the lies and subterfuge, I still wanted her.

I had to get her out of my mind. It was time for business, now. I parked outside the warehouse around the back. No one was going to fuck with my ride, but the cops would be a bit suspicious of it if they drove by the front of the warehouse and saw it. So I usually drove in one of the SUVs, but again, I had a role to play.

“Hey pretty boy, it took you longer than twenty minutes,” Franky said as I entered the warehouse.

“I’m not pretty. I resent that sentiment. If you have to comment on my good looks, at least have the courtesy of calling me sexy.”

“Fuck that,” Franky said with a grunt, his version of a chuckle.

“On a more serious note, what’s happening with the shit you told me was going down earlier this week?”

“Our guy, Manuel, gave one of our locations away to the LA Mafia.”

I shook my head at the identity of our guy. I couldn’t believe it was Manny, though it didn’t completely surprise me that someone was going rogue as soon as Elio let go of the reins. I wondered if this was Manny’s way of testing how far he could go without being reigned back in. but he was an idiot if he thought I’d ever trust him again. I’d sooner trust a rattler not to strike. No, Manny wasn’t going to live through this betrayal and I was sad of that.

“Let it go for now. let Manny hit that location with the crew from the LA boys.”

“What the fuck?” Franky asked, his anger glaring through his eyes and tone.

“No, hear me out on this. Just get the valuable stuff out of that location. Let them think they’ve gotten one over on us. Let them think they’re getting a hold on some of our territory, so they’ll keep going bigger and bigger.”

“You want to let them get a foothold in our territory? Why?”

“We need to know what they’re after. We can’t just walk up to Manny and ask him, now, can we?” I asked, patting Leo’s cheek.

“I guess you have a bit of a point,” Franky said, looking off into the distance with his usual scowl on his face.

“I just don’t want to jump the gun and kill Manny before we find out what the LA gang is after. If they think we don’t know what’s going on, they’ll eventually tip their hand and we’ll be all the wiser for it. Then, we can kill the mother fucker.”

Franky nodded. “Sounds good to me,” he said, looking me over. “What’s on your mind?” Franky asked as if I had a question mark printed on my forehead.

“Do you have a lady you have to keep this life a secret from?” I asked, rubbing my hand over my face. I hadn’t meant to ask, but it just popped out.

“No, I don’t have anyone because I didn’t want to keep secrets. Why? Bianca, the fine, giving you wet dreams?” Franky asked.

I shot him the bird. “None of your business,” I said walking to the back doors of the warehouse to get to my car faster. I couldn’t believe it, but I think I heard Franky actually laughing at me. the sadistic asshole. He would find my plight funny.

I had no clue how to handle Bianca, and thoughts of her and what I wanted to do with her plagued me all the way back home.