Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Caterina was the strongest person I’d ever met, and I knew that she was more than capable of handling herself, but that didn’t change the fact that I worried about her. It was quickly becoming clear to me that worrying about Cat was just going to be a permanent state for me. I had spent such a large portion of my life keeping her safe, and I didn’t think that feeling would ever go away.
“Do you have any idea how much you amaze me?” I asked her, taking a moment to lean forward and give her a lingering kiss.
When I pulled away, she was smiling at me. I silently felt triumphant at my ability to wipe that stressed frown off her face.
“Hm, maybe you can show me later,” she flirted.
I chuckled, quickly regretting the fact that we had to rush to the meeting at the warehouse and wishing instead that I could take her to our penthouse.
Unfortunately for me, we made it to the warehouse in no time. Leo was outside waiting for us. I wondered if he wanted to speak to me privately before we met with Franky.
I got out of the car and rushed around to the other side to open Caterina’s door before she had the chance to open it for herself. She might be strong, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t be chivalrous.
As I opened Cat’s door, Leo caught my eye. Yep, he definitely wanted to speak with me. After I helped Caterina out, I walked over to him. She stayed back, waiting to see what would happen.
“Just so you know, Franky was complaining to me again about her involvement.” He motioned with his chin in Cat’s direction.
She was standing by the car, her arms crossed over her chest. She had gotten the hint that Leo wanted to speak with me in private. As usual, her ability to read the situation impressed the hell out of me.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“He’s old-school. He still doesn’t get why you want her to be a part of all this.”
“Well, that’s bullshit,” I said. “I thought we put this to rest already.”
Leo shrugged.
“She gets to be a part of this because she wants to be a part of this,” I continued. “Who the fuck am I to tell a grown adult what she can and can’t do?”
Leo shrugged again, obviously not wanting me to shoot the messenger.
“Sorry, man,” I said. “It just pisses me off. She has as much a right as anyone.”
“I know, trust me. I just wanted to give you a heads-up before we went in. He might not be respectful of her, even though she hasn’t done anything wrong. I know how much of an asset she can be,” Leo said.
“Everything all right?” Caterina asked, raising her voice to be heard from where she was standing so that she didn’t interrupt our conversation.
“Yeah, come on,” I told her, unwilling to continue the conversation with Leo.
He didn’t believe the same bullshit that Franky did, so it was stupid to even keep talking to him about it, although I could rant for days about how unfair it was to expect Cat to stay out of this when it was her own father who had been killed by Antonio.
She had more of a right than any of us to want revenge.
The three of us waltzed into the warehouse, where Franky was already waiting for us. I had my arm wrapped around Caterina’s waist, intent on showing a united front. Franky didn’t bother to hide his irritation at Cat’s presence. His eyes slid over to her and narrowed as he turned back to me. I felt my jaw clench at his open disrespect. It was one thing to not want her there, it was another thing entirely to be an asshole.
“Hey, Franky,” I said, deciding to head off the conversation before he had the chance to criticize Cat. “We’ve got a lot to fill you in on.”
Franky nodded, his arms over his chest. He sent another sideways glance toward Cat but waited for me to start talking before he said anything. I felt Caterina shifting on her feet next to me. I knew Franky wasn’t making her nervous. He was pissing her off. It would only be a matter of time before she exploded at him.
“For a short time, we had an informant working for us. His name was Alexi. He primarily communicated via Caterina, but we think he tried to switch sides back. His body was found in one of our properties. He’d been beat to hell, shot in the chest, and brought there. He wasn’t shot in the building, so I don’t know where they killed him, but the fact that they wanted to leave him where we would find him makes it obvious that it’s a message directly from Antonio and Junior.”
Franky nodded. “Yeah, those fucks–excuse me.” He interrupted himself with a glance toward Caterina. “Those jerks couldn’t make it any clearer that they want to come after us.”
Cat muffled a laugh with her hand when she realized that Franky was trying to avoid cursing in her presence. Franky scowled at her.
“We need to go on the offensive,” Franky added. “No more of this wait and see bullshi– bullcrap.”
At that, Caterina laughed out loud. “I won’t break at the sound of a curse word, you know,” she said.
“Does she really need to be here?” Franky asked me, completely ignoring her.
Apparently, despite his supposed unwillingness to curse in front of a woman, he had no problem with treating her like she wasn’t even there. His rudeness pissed me off. I could understand him wanting to keep her out of things for her own protection, but to treat her like dirt was unacceptable.
Cat opened her mouth, and I knew whatever she was about to say wouldn’t be kind and would definitely be filled with curse words, but I held up my hand to stop her. She’d done enough to defend herself and her right to be here.
It was time for me to step up.
“She is equal to me. If you can’t work with her, then you can’t work with me. Are you really going to call up Alessandro and tell him that you’re incapable of doing the job he sent you to do?”
Franky rolled his eyes. “It will take a lot more than a little threat like that to get me to back down. But fine, I’ll stop bringing it up. I was just worried about her safety. In case you were unaware, the people who come after us don’t tend to be kind to women. And I don’t like seeing women be put in danger. Call me old fashioned, but that’s how I was raised.”
Caterina rolled her eyes, calling his bullshit just as well as I did. He might claim that he was just worried about her safety, but if that was the case, he would’ve been kinder to her. No, he just didn’t like the idea of a woman being there at all.
But now wasn’t the time to start challenging Franky’s sexist beliefs. We needed his help with what I was planning to do. I would worry about correcting his bullshit beliefs later.
“I plan on a total ambush, multiple angles,” I said, ignoring Franky’s misogynistic problem. “Leo’s been working on coordinating so that we can take them completely by surprise.”
“They won’t expect us to attack multiple locations,” Cat added. “It’s the perfect way to end this once and for all. We could even get Italy involved.”
Franky nodded. Even he had to admit it was a good plan.
“Are your men ready to make a move?” I asked Franky. “It’s time to take out Antonio.”
*Caterina*
“She is equal to me,” Elio was saying.
I tried to look away so Franky couldn’t see the smug smile take over my face as he said it. I loved seeing Elio put Franky in his place. I was sick and tired of these old-school guys treating me like I was a delicate flower who would easily be crushed. Or worse, they treated me like I was genuinely too stupid to be a part of things.
I didn’t know how it was possible that these men had been raised by women and yet still have such archaic beliefs about our capabilities. I understood the protective desire to keep me safe, but Franky wasn’t just worried about my safety. He clearly had some other issues with me being here, and it was infuriating.
I managed to wipe the smile off my face before turning back, but my heart was soaring. I couldn’t lie; it did something to me to see Elio basically tell Franky to shut the hell up when it came to me. I would’ve had no problem standing up for myself and telling Franky to stick it where the sun doesn’t shine, but having Elio do it for me made me feel even better.
It showed me that he really meant it when he said he wanted me there. After fighting for so long to get Elio to stop trying to shelter me from the mafia life, it was refreshing to see him stand up for me.
It was obvious that Franky was still uncomfortable with my presence, no matter what Elio said, but that was too damn bad. I’d fought far too hard to get to this point to allow an old cranky Italian to push me back out.
With one final irritated glance my way, Franky finally dropped it and stopped pushing Elio on it. Discussion about logistics was more important than about whether I deserved to be there, although I suspected that this wouldn’t be the last time Franky felt the need to voice his sexist opinions. I wondered if all of Alessandro’s men felt the same way.
“My men are ready when you are,” Franky told Elio. “They’ve been instructed to stay conflict-ready at all times, so it shouldn’t take them long to mobilize.”
“Alright, we need them poised and ready to strike at the safe house. We don’t know where Junior is, but if we can get Antonio, I know it’ll draw Junior out,” Elio said. “He doesn’t do anything of his own accord. He’s just the puppet, and his dad is the one pulling the strings.”
“I know Junior stayed close. A few of my men have managed to catch glimpses of his car. He just always throws us off,” Leo added, “which makes me think that Antonio told him to stick around for some reason.”