Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi

*Elio*

Cat sat across from me on the couch, looking at me expectantly, her beautiful eyes wide with anticipation. I could tell her brain was working overtime as she thought through every possibility. I was so lucky to have her to bounce ideas off of. I trusted Leo's intuition, but Cat provided a perspective that none of us could imitate. She was able to see things from a different angle from the rest of us, and it made her more valuable than I think I realized a lot of the time. I vowed to stop letting myself forget that as I thought through everything that I wanted to tell her.

"I met up with Leo, and we finally got a chance to look through Teo's car," I said.

Caterina nodded and uncrossed her legs so she could lean forward, hanging onto my every word. "Did you find anything that they had missed?" she asked.

I shook my head. "Not really. Like they said, everything was there. His wallet and phone were just sitting in the glovebox. It was really strange. It looked like he had just parked it and walked away. There wasn't even a sign of a struggle. No blood, no scratches or dents on the car, not even a broken door handle. Not a damn thing was out of place."

"What about his gun?" she asked. She had such a mind for details. "Surely he always kept a gun on him?"

"You're right, he did. But even his gun was left behind, tucked in the center console. It's so fucking confusing. We just can't even imagine what could've happened to him. And I've confirmed with Franky that he's a guy who knows his shit. It wouldn't be easy for him to just be taken, and he definitely wouldn't have ever defected. He owed his life to Alessandro and would rather die than betray our family."

Caterina nodded, chewing her lip as she got lost in thought. I waited expectantly for her next questions. I hoped desperately that she would think of something that hadn't yet occurred to me, but I was afraid there just wouldn't be any answers when it came to this case.

"What neighborhood was it in again?" she asked.

"Near the corner of 10th and Delfino," I told her, "It's really not somewhere you'd ever want to find yourself. It's full of bullet holes and people down on their luck. But still, Teo knew how to handle himself. He grew up in rougher neighborhoods himself, so we know it's not like he just fell victim to some random thief or something."

She nodded. "That makes sense. And what about cameras? Surely if it's a bad neighborhood, there are security cameras damn near everywhere. Are there any local businesses that might have security footage that we could ask for?" "We thought about that too. There is actually a security camera pointing directly at where his car was parked, but it's been spray painted over. We have no way of knowing if that's random or if it was purposeful. There were a few other cameras on that block, but they were all owned by the same guy, who forgot to replace the tapes. The one last camera we thought seemed promising turned out to have been turned off. It's all been a fucking dead end." I picked up one of our couch pillows and threw it across the room, tired and frustrated with not being able to find answers.

Cat reached over and patted my arm comfortingly, then rested her hand on top of mine. She knew I was reaching my limit. I just hated when we didn't know what to do next. It made me feel useless and powerless, the worst feeling in the entire fucking world. I was terrified that if they could make Teo disappear, that Caterina could be next. I would lose my mind if she disappeared without a trace like that. I didn't think I could survive it.

"Franky has nearly all his men out searching, but they have to go in pairs, so it could take a while to find anything." I flipped my hand over so that I could hold hers in mine.

She scooted closer to me on the couch, and I breathed in the scent of her perfume that I had begun to associate with our home. I loved that being with her made me feel so at home. "Any news on Junior at all?"

"No," I groaned, "He's just as fucking elusive as ever. I don't get it. The guy is not that damn smart. How can he continue to evade us?"

"You'll find him," she said soothingly. "I know it in my bones. He's out there somewhere. It's only a matter of time."

I sighed and leaned back, pulling her into my arms so that she was laying on top of me. I loved using her as a human weighted blanket. She leaned her arms on my chest and propped her chin up with her hands, looking down at me. I wrapped my arms around her back and held her close. I couldn't live with myself if anything ever happened to her.

"You aren't going to want to hear this," I said, "but please just do what I want, for once."

She rolled her eyes. "Just tell me what you want, and I'll decide if I want to do it or not."

Even knowing we were probably about to argue, I couldn't help but chuckle at her sass. "I need to give you an escort for the next few days of school."

"What, Elio? No!" she protested. "That would be a ridiculous overreaction."

"It's not an overreaction, Cat," I said seriously. "When men are going missing without a trace, it's not an overreaction for you to have a bodyguard. In fact, it's an underreaction. If I wanted to overreact, I would lock you away in a safe house."

"This is just ridiculous. Normal people do not have bodyguards."

"Good thing you aren't a normal person then," I said irritably. I was so exhausted from the way she was always trying to put herself in harm's way. "You are the love of my life, and I am a mafia Don. That makes you pretty fucking abnormal. I'm sorry. I'm not going to let you risk your life just because you want to maintain some semblance of normalcy."

Seeing how worked up I was getting, she leaned down and dropped a kiss on my cheek. I appreciated the fact that she wasn't going to let this escalate into a genuine fight. I was too exhausted to try to hold onto patience.

"I don't want to argue about this. I want to be safe too. But how am I going to explain this to Anna?" She laid her head on my chest and my heart melted at the sweet gesture.

"The guys will try to be discreet. But I'll be honest. I wouldn't hate it if you just took a break from school until things finally calmed down," I said.

She lifted her head up so that she could look down on me again. "You know that if I just wait until things are calm that I'll be waiting for the rest of my life," she said. "I can't just give up my life outside of the mafia because of the mafia. That makes no sense. I feel like if I change everything about my life, that's just letting Junior and the rest of our enemies win."

I nodded. She had a good point. "I know you're right. And I'm sorry that all of this has disrupted your life once again. I really wish I could keep it all away from you."

She kissed me and settled back against my chest. "I know you do."

"I promise the guys will be discreet. They'll stay back. They'll dress like students. They'll look like they belong, and you won't even notice that they're there."

"Hm, I find that hard to believe," she said.

I laughed, just grateful that she seemed to be softening to the idea. I tightened my hold on her, allowing the comfort of her lying safe in my arms to relax my stress. "And I'll make sure to give you lots of love every evening just because you're putting up with something so annoying," I teased.

"Like back rubs?" she asked hopefully.

"Back rubs, foot rubs, maybe other kinds of rubs...." I let my voice go husky and moved my hands to go up under her shirt and rub against her bare skin.

"Mm, I like the sound of that," she murmured, pressing a few kisses along my jaw.

"You do? Should I tell you all the other things I want to do to you?" I whispered in her ear, my body quickly responding to the way she was moving against me.

"Yes, let's finish what we started on that plane." She moved against me, increasing the perfect friction between us. She pressed her mouth onto mine, laying hot kisses on me that made me hard with need.

I moved my hands up under her shirt until I had access to her bra. I unclasped it quickly while continuing to kiss her, then moved my hands around so that I could cup her breasts gently, enjoying the fullness of them and the way they perfectly filled my hands.

She was more than I had ever dreamed of, and it still blew my mind that I got to call her mine. She sat up so that I could lift her shirt over her head, and before long I had her fully topless. I gazed affectionately at her body, my favorite thing to look at.

She leaned back down once again, her hair forming wavy curtains on either side of my face so that I was enveloped in her as she continued to kiss me and grind her hips against mine.

"Let's take this to the bedroom," I panted between passionate kisses.

She nodded and quickly got off of me before reaching out to grab my hand and lead me upstairs to our suite. Watching her walk up the stairs ahead of me gave me the perfect view of the curve of her ass.

My mouth watered as I imagined myself pulling her jeans off of her in just a few short moments.

She opened the door to our bedroom and turned to look at me expectantly, knowing that whatever I was about to do to her would fill her with unspeakable pleasure. I smiled down at her and jerked my chin toward the bed, indicating that she should go and lay down.

She obeyed me quickly, laying back on the bed so that her beautiful breasts and peaked nipples were on display. I walked over and ran my hands along her hips and thighs, bending over to give a teasing lick to one of her nipples. "I can't wait to show you just how much I love you," I murmured.