Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut as I buried my head into Elio’s arms and he laughed, his whole chest shaking with the movement.
“Make it go away,” I complained. “I’m cozy.”
“Sorry, sweetheart,” Elio kissed the top of my head. “But duty calls. If I know Leo, and I do, he’ll just keep calling until I pick up. Better to get it over with.”
“Ugh, fine,” I rolled off Elio, curling the blankets around my nude body and letting Elio get to his feet.
I watched him with a smirk, appreciating his naked body as he pulled pants and a shirt from the closet, dressing in clean clothes while stepping over the discarded ones on the floor.
The phone fell quiet again and we both glanced at the living room where it lay. For a moment, we held our breaths, and I hoped that Elio was wrong and they would just let it be, but in the next second, the same blaring tone rang out.
I pouted, stuffing a pillow over my head at the intrusive noise as Elio made his way into the living room. He left the door open, but the call cut off before he could answer it. Elio headed back, his white button-up hanging off his shoulders and revealing his muscled body underneath.
He took a seat on the edge of the bed, phone to his ear as he listened intently to the message the caller had left.
He frowned and turned to me with a wary look.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Something’s wrong,” he told me, quickly dialing Leo’s number back. “The first few messages were only about how the meeting went well and they wanted to move forward with the development, and then he said something about another deal he hooked, but the last one….”
I sat up, crawling across the bed until I was right beside him. Elio glanced at me before putting the phone onto the speaker, the dialing ringing out loudly.
“Hey,” Leo finally answered, sounding very unlike himself… downtrodden almost.
“What’s happened? You said you found Alexi?” Elio demanded.
I jolted, wide-eyed. I hadn’t heard or seen from Alexi in a while, and Elio had told me they had found no trace of him since he had rejoined Junior.
“Yeah,” Leo acknowledged hesitantly. “I did. We found him in one of our new commercial buildings and it… it wasn’t pretty, Elio.”
My heart dropped to the floor, the hair on my arms raising as I caught on to what he was implying.
“He’s dead,” Leo continued. “Alexi was killed and dumped for us to find. They left us a message, Elio, and I don’t think any of us like what it’s saying.”
*Caterina*
“I’ll be there soon,” Elio said hurriedly, ending the call with Leo.
An uncomfortable silence fell between us as we both stared at his phone, unsure of what to make of this.
“Alexi is dead,” I repeated blankly.
Maybe I was getting indifferent to death, or maybe I was just heartless, but I didn’t really feel anything at the moment. Normally, a person would be sad if someone they had known died but….
Alexi had helped us, and then betrayed us.
He’d been playing a dangerous game for longer than we’d known him. Maybe this was his retribution.
Elio glanced at me with a serious look. “I have to go take care of this, but you don’t have to come. From what it sounded like, it’ll be pretty… gruesome. I don’t want you seeing that, so you can stay here and I’ll let you know—”
“Yeah, right,” I huffed, already having rolled off the bed and onto my feet.
I grabbed my clothes from the closet and the dresser, already shoving on my underwear and bra. I flipped my hair over my shoulder, going for a light dress so we could get out faster.
“Cat, seriously, you don’t want to see this.” Elio got to his feet, approaching me grimly. “I can handle it alone—”
“Maybe.” I shrugged, giving him a stubborn look as I crossed my arms over my chest. “But I’m not letting you go alone anyway. It won’t look strange to have your significant other with you, especially since this was your property, right? I want to be there for you, and nothing you say is going to stop me.”
“Cat—”
He gave me a helpless look, his fingers twitching like he wanted to grab me into his embrace or shove me into the closet to stop me from following him, but he knew I’d kick his ass if he tried that shit.
“Nope,” I said simply, turning my back on him as I shoved on my shoes, heading into the living room to grab my bag.
“Cat, I’m serious. You’ve never—I don’t want you to see something like this, especially since you… knew him.” Elio trailed off, his face darkening as he paused in the doorway, hands clenched into fists.
I knew how much he didn’t like Alexi, especially after Alexi had essentially stalked me and then went straight to Junior to report our movements. I was grateful that he seemed to be thinking of me, but it wasn’t necessary, not in this case.
I wasn’t sure whether Alexi had been a traitor from the beginning or if he just decided which side could be more beneficial to him. But he’d chosen the wrong side. He had put me and my loved ones in danger.
I didn’t feel an ounce of sadness or guilt for his death.
I stepped closer to Elio, gently grabbing his balled-up fists in my hands and unfolding them to intertwine with mine. “It’s okay. Thank you for thinking of me, but I’ve seen death before. I can handle this. I love you and I want to be by your side, even if it means seeing some things I’d rather not.”
He gazed into my eyes, searching for something, but when he didn’t find it, he sighed in defeat.
“Fine, but stay by my side at all times, okay?” he warned me, a worried glint in his eyes.
I stepped closer until I could feel his chest rising and falling between us, his breath hot as I gazed up at him. I tilted my head, giving him a sweet smile.
“Where else would I go?”
We rushed from the penthouse, and I left a message for my mom saying we were going out as we headed for the car. Elio probably broke a few speed limits on the way, but I didn’t say a word. I only hoped my presence was a comfort to him as he headed to the property.
I tried to prepare myself mentally for what I might see. A dead body was one thing, but from what Leo had said, it wasn’t just him being shot and left. He’d said there had been a message, and worse, that the scene was bad.
I had no clue what he could possibly mean by that, but I steeled my nerves as best as I could. I’d never had a weak stomach, and my heart had slowly gotten stronger over the time spent with Elio, so I wasn’t too worried about it.
I glanced at Elio, who drove with his knuckles white on the steering wheel, his jaw set and eyes blazing with fury.
I just hoped I could support Elio properly as I’d promised.
On the way, Elio called Leo back, asking him to send someone named John, who I remembered from seeing a few times—his lawyer. He’d been a pretty easy-going guy, though a bit pretentious at times.
I supposed that if you find a dead body on your property, it helped to have legal representation. I didn’t know much about it, but I trusted that Elio was doing the right thing.
“Is it an expensive property?” I asked, just to fill the silence once he hung up and Elio shook his head.
“It’s remote, outside the main city. It’s more a warehouse than anything, so I’m surprised they would choose this location to leave a message. It’s more of their style to do things more publicly,” Elio frowned. “Their tactics are changing.”
“Is that a problem?”
“Possibly,” he answered with a grimace.