Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I looked up to see a man only a few years older than me who had a calm but cold demeanor to him.
“Your father helped me greatly when he was the Don,” the icy man said coolly, ignoring my outstretched hand. “I expect you will disappoint his legacy.”
I grabbed Cat’s hand, reading the anger on her face and smiling at Francesco like I was unbothered.
“I will try not to, Francesco,” I told him with a faux-friendly look. “But then again, I am not my father. I do things… differently.”
Francesco’s eyes narrowed before he actually looked at Cat, a sneer on his face. “I see you have your father’s tastes. But I warn you. This is no place to bring your silly little toys. They have no business getting involved.”
“Excuse—”
Cat stepped forward but I quickly pulled her behind him, cutting her off. I knew it would piss her off, but now wasn’t the time to make enemies, even though he deserved it.
“Caterina has every right to be here. She is family to me,” I said with narrowed eyes.
“We shall see how long that lasts.” Francesco snorted, pivoting on his heel as he walked away. I grit my teeth, my mood souring by the minute, as was Cat’s.
As the night grew on, Cat grew more annoyed as they ignored her every time, speaking only to me, talking over her, and treating her more like an ornament than a person. When I glanced at Alessandro, he just shrugged his shoulders.
Mia was sympathetic, patting Cat’s hand as she tried to chat with her to take her mind off it, but by dessert, Cat looked ready to flip the table on its side and scream.
Luckily, Alessandro called for the meeting to start. Some of the members left with Mia as she chatted to them, leaving less than half. I relaxed at the smaller numbers, hoping it would put Cat more at ease.
“Thank you for coming,” Alessandro announced, projecting his voice across the room.
He immediately gained the attention of everyone in the room, a dozen eyes staring straight at him, but he didn’t seem to mind in the slightest.
“Today, we are discussing our expansion in the US and our exhaustive efforts to catch the traitor, Antonio.”
Growls went around the room, a few muttering insults under their breath.
“Thanks to Elio and Cat here,” Alessandro said, nodding at us, “we have gained important information about how he is functioning over there, including several of the important safe houses and assets they use. We have located a few key members of his group but unfortunately, our manpower is running out. The danger of the job and lack of trust and resources overseas means we are seeing a rise in defectors. Any ideas on how to handle this would be welcome.”
Alessandro then crossed his arms, nodding to the group as he allowed the group to take over the discussion.
“Those American bastards have no sense of loyalty! We beat it into them then!” said Six-Fingers. He slammed his hand on the table with a snarl on his face.
“Idiot! That’ll never work. I say we recruit younger members first and raise them up,’ Sweet-Cakes declared loudly. “Loyalty can be cultivated, like we do here.”
A dozen other suggestions went up, voices raising with each one until there was so much arguing I could barely hear myself think, until one cold voice cut through it all.
“It’s simple really.” It was Francesco, and I knew I would hate whatever came out of his mouth, “We catch the defectors and make an… example out of them. Show them what it means to abandon your family.”
Silence reigned after his statement, but the meaning behind his suggestion was not lost on anyone. Francesco had a look as cold as ice like it wasn’t people’s lives he was discussing.
But as Alessandro actually appeared to be considering it, Cat had finally had enough.
“That won’t solve anything,” she said, making her voice as loud as she could.
The guests glanced at her once before dismissing her once more, discussing among themselves whether Francesco’s idea would work.
“Caterina is talking—”
I tried to step in, but Cat cut me off as her patience finally snapped. She slammed her hands on the table, the sound reverbing through the room as she got to her feet, making her presence known.
The room fell into silence as every eye looked at her. She took a deep breath to control her raging emotions and then coldly glanced around the room at every person, especially Francesco.
“Whether you like it or not, I am a part of this operation, and I am staying here not because I am fucking the former Don’s son.”
I flinched at this, mouth dropping.
She continued. “But because I have valuable input that this group needs. I had thought that considering the nature of your work, this group would have better evaluation skills, especially with potential assets, but apparently, I greatly underestimated you all.”
The look of outrage directed at her was exactly what I didn’t want, but Cat only stared back with a steely demeanor, not the least bit intimidated.
“America isn’t like Italy,” she said. “The reason you’re losing money and people is that you’re using too many hired hands. They are outsourced. Of course, they’re going to leave. Contract work is temporary to them. If you really want to establish operations, you need to hire people from over here, within the family. It would be costly in the beginning but would save more money over time.”
She waited patiently as her words sunk in and the looks of anger and outrage melted away in shock and awe, grins and smiles heading straight toward her. I breathed a sigh of relief and stared up at her in sheer adoration.
“Ah, genius.” Six-Fingers slapped the table with a huge grin.
“It could work,” another admitted reluctantly.
The others chattered excitedly, and she sat down by my side. I was so turned on I couldn’t control myself. My hands snuck around her waist, pulling her closer.
“That was amazing,” I whispered in her ear, hands slipping lower.
She flushed, giving me a glare.
I nuzzled my face into her neck, pressing kisses there, but even as distracted as I was, I couldn’t help but spy a pair of old eyes staring at us across the table. My possessive instincts lit up as Francesco leveled a freezing glare at me.
He would have to be dealt with, one way or another.
*Caterina*
We walked to our room quickly, Elio’s hands never leaving my body. I could tell by the grin that he couldn’t seem to keep off his face that he was proud of how I’d handled myself in the meeting.
I was proud, too. I’d been so afraid when I came to Italy that all the trauma of losing my father would paralyze me and prevent me from being an asset to the family, but it turned out I was stronger than I ever realized.
The second the door to our room closed behind us, Elio pressed me against it, one hand under my chin and the other up against the wall next to my head. I was caged in the best way.
“Do you have any idea how fucking amazing you are?” He murmured as he pressed his forehead to mine.
I smiled up at him. “Hm… I don’t know…” I hedged.
“You are a miracle, Cat, a goddamn miracle.” He took my mouth in his, keeping his fingers on my chin to hold me in place.
His kiss could only be described as worshipful. I was the altar at which he came to give his offering. He lavished me with kisses, moving from my lips to the curve of my throat and back again.
“You have no idea how proud I was to have you at my side today. Every man at that table was sitting up straight and listening to you, not because I brought you, but because you demanded their respect.” He moved his hand from my chin to the dip in my waist, his fingers dug in slightly, as though he wanted to remind himself that I was real, that we were here together.
“I’ve always thought of you as my princess, but today you were a queen.”
His words were as intoxicating as fine wine, and I was quickly getting drunk off them. What I loved the most was that I found myself agreeing with him. I knew that my father would’ve been proud to see me take on his legacy as an equal part of the family. I was nobody’s little girlfriend. I was the daughter of Vinny Leone, here to carry on what my father started.