Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 902 : Internal Tug-of-War

*Leo*

As I walked out the door, I couldn’t help but feel a pit in my stomach. The image of leaving Bianca sitting there all by herself haunted my thoughts. It made me feel guilty for having to bail on her. Again.

She said she had something important to tell me. Her appearance worried me and she hesitated to say what she wanted to tell me. And I just fucking left her. Sitting there looking like that, all alone, knowing whatever she had to tell me must have been important as hell.

That was the thing about being the Don in the mafia. When your right-hand man called you, requiring an audience from you, you had to leave. You were expected and required to drop everything and rush to the warehouse. No matter what.

I could tell Bianca didn’t love that. I often questioned whether that would be something she could ever accept about me. About my life.

I hoped that her love for me would be enough for her to eventually accept it. Unfortunately, as the Don, there were some sacrifices I would never be able to make. Not even for her. Regardless of how much I loved her, I had a family to lead and protect. I had a role that I absolutely could not fail in.

I admit, being torn between the two had weighed heavy on my shoulders every now and then. Ever since she finally found out about the mafia and my role in it all, attempts had been made on my part to try and balance it out.

Sometimes, balance seemed an impossible endeavor.

She was worth it; I’d remind myself every time I felt the urge to expel my frustrated emotions by punching something. Anything. A wall if it was next to me or Michael’s face if it happened to magically appear in front of me. Fuck, sometimes I’d play with the idea of hunting him down just to relieve the stress within me. Kill two birds with one stone, one could say.

If I really thought about it, being happy with Bianca was all I really wanted. However, as the Don, fantasies were not a luxury I could afford to keep inside my head. I needed to keep my mind clear in order to see logic without blurred edges. To always be present in reality so I could be prepared for any disaster that could fall upon us at any moment.

I wasn’t sure if that was something Bianca could ever understand. The mental wear and tear I endured on a daily basis.

In no way would I ever belittle Bianca, but she had never stood in the shoes of someone like me before. Her mind couldn’t possibly understand the pressure and the demands I felt every single day.

I couldn’t lie, when I’d think of any problems I’d be having with Bianca back at home, I would think they seemed small in comparison to the real problems within the mafia world.

So, yeah, I felt guilty for having to have left her all alone without having whatever important conversation with her first. However, when it came to the mafia, my default world, there could be a matter of life and death. And that was something that needed my immediate attention. It always would.

Before I could drive away, I stared at the estate one last time. The battle of tug-a-war present inside me. My head twitched to the side, and I inhaled an abundance of oxygen before clearing my mind of anything that didn’t have to do with the task at hand.

I hightailed it out of the driveway and sped down the private road, leading out to the highway. It only took me seventeen minutes to arrive at my destination. I parked my car right next to Franky’s and killed the engine quickly.

My body ejected itself from the car, full of adrenaline. If there was a fight to be had, I was ready to go in, fists swinging.

I swung open the door to the warehouse and immediately spotted a frantic Franky.

“Finally,” he growled. “What the hell took you so long?”

“Never mind that,” I ignored his unnecessary question. “What’s going on?”

“What the fuck do you think is going on, Leo?” He scoffed, throwing papers down on the table. “It’s Michael. He’s made his move.”

“What fucking move, Franky?” I started to become irritated rather quickly. “Why are you talking to me in bits and fucking pieces? Just spit the whole goddamn thing out in one sentence.”

I ignored the glances we were getting from the other guys in the room. It wasn’t exactly like me to snap so quickly, but tonight I wasn’t in the mood to play the laid back character I was known for.

Franky stared at me and then nodded his head as he sucked the front of his teeth. An awful wet “tsk” sound came from the act and I wasn’t sure why that made me want to punch something.

“Michael did a hit on one of our supply areas. We just received word,” he spoke gruffly. “You know what we’re going to have to do, don’t you?”

I nodded my head. “First, we’re going to have to shut down that entire area for the time being until we can repair any damage he’s done. How bad is the damage?”

“It’s pretty fucked,” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“That’s just fucking great, isn’t it?” I scoffed, shaking my head angrily.

“We’ll get a crew out there first thing in the morning to begin the repairs,” Franky replied.

I nodded my head. “Well, it’s a goddamn start, isn’t it?”

I sat down in one of the black metal chairs angrily. Alessandro would want to hear about this. I knew he’d be just as pissed as I was, if not more.

“I have to call Alessandro to let him know what happened,” I said, taking my turn to pinch the bridge of my nose.

Franky nodded his agreement.

I sighed rather loudly and pulled out my cell phone from out of the front pocket of my jeans. However, before I could pull up Alessandro’s contact information, the first thing I took note of was that Bianca’s name was missing from the brightly lit screen.

I wasn’t sure why I had expected to hear from her. The absence of a text from her must mean she was angry with me. Great, I scoffed internally. Just the thing I needed on my fucking plate right now. Like it wasn’t full enough already.

I shook my head, freeing my mind of the thoughts of that had creeped in. Once Alessandro’s name was staring back at me, I tapped the call button rather hard and shoved the phone up to my ear.

“Alessandro, we got a problem,” I said frankly.

“What now?” he asked, already sounding pissed and annoyed.

“Micheal hit one of our supply areas and fucked it up pretty good. We’re going to have to shut everything down for a while,” I told him.

“He’s getting too bold,” Alessandro growled. “This needs to be handled immediately before he can do any further damage to our shit. He needs to be handled. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes. I will handle this,” I assured him, firmly.

“Good. Call me when it’s done,” he replied before hanging up.

Franky and I made eye contact and we both knew what needed to be done before a word was exchanged between us.

“You know Michael is just pissed about his boy, Elijah, getting locked up,” Franky sneered.

“Yeah,” I scowled. “I thought the same fucking thing.”

“Alessandro pissed?” Franky asked, sensing my anger growing more lethal by the minute.

I nodded my head once. “Michael needs to be handled as soon as possible.”

Franky sat back in his chair. “What do you propose?”

“We need to come up with a plan to lure Michael into a trap,” I suggested.

“Let’s make it happen,” he said, showing his support.

Some of the other guys joined Franky and I as we sat brainstorming ideas. We needed a foolproof plan. Whatever it was that we came up with, we needed to make sure it wouldn’t fail.

Michael’s rain of pitiful terror needed to come to an end. By my hand.

“Michael’s mine,” I growled.

“Did Alessandro put out a hit on him?” Franky asked, eyeing me up.

“Does it matter?” I countered, challenging him.

Franky raised his eyebrows and tilted his head to the side. He placed his hands up slightly in a surrendering type of fashion.

“Let’s just be calculated about this, yeah?” Franky stared at me.

“It will be,” I assured him with a devious smile.

After about a good two hours of talking shop, we finally decided on a plan. Franky and I waited until everyone leaves before we head out the door ourselves, locking everything up.

Franky and I made our way outside. When we reached our cars, he opened his door, but stopped before climbing inside. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“If you have something to say, just say it, Franky,” I sighed, knowing when he wants to open his mouth but doesn’t know if he should.

He chuckled a little and shook his head. “Is everything alright with you at home? With Bianca, I mean?”

“It’s not of concern right now,” I told him, staring at him warningly.

“Alright.” He seemed to let it go easier than usual. “This isn’t my first rodeo with this type of shit. I was right there next to Elio when he was going through woman problems.”

I take that back. He wasn’t letting it go just yet.

“Look, all I’m saying is that you can confide in me if you ever need to let all those bottled-up feelings out,” he said before finally climbing into his car.

I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’ll keep that in mind if I need a therapist.”

Franky laughed and closed his door. I followed suit and climbed into my own car. I exhaled heavily and leaned my head back against the headrest.

One solution was set in motion. A solution that could be calculated. What fucking calculated solution could I come up with for my problem at home?

I pulled out my cell phone and suddenly felt relieved that Bianca still hadn’t tried reaching out. If I had to be honest with myself, I wasn’t in the mood to have whatever conversation she wanted to have tonight.

The engine roared to life and I sped away quickly. It didn’t take me long to get home. I walked in with only dancing shadows to greet me. Good, I had thought to myself.

As exhausted as I felt, I decided to go up to one of the guest bedrooms and crash. I didn’t want Bianca to wake up to me getting into bed and want to talk. All I wanted was sleep right now and the only way I could guarantee I’d get it, was if I slept alone.

I knew she’d be pissed in the morning when she woke up and found my side of the bed empty. However, that was something I was willing to handle tomorrow. For tonight, I needed a stress free slumber.