Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 946 : Full Alert

*Leo*

I was so pissed when I found out what Bianca had been keeping from me, what she had lied to me about. The storm was still raging outside, and it was a complete white out. I needed to stay away from Bianca for a few minutes. I think she needed the distance as well.

I was frustrated, and I knew a part of me was terrified of the idea of bringing our child into the world with all that was going on around us. When Bianca came into the room, I glanced at her and looked away. I stared out the window, mesmerized by the thick snowfall. I didn’t see or hear anything out there. Who could?

When Taylor ran into the room with worry etching the chiseled features of his face, I felt everything in me go on full alert. Then, he said the words I had been dreading all day. He shouted that Michael’s men had surrounded the house.

A majority of the people in the house had no clue what was going on and why they needed to be concerned.

Part of me wanted to keep it that way. But I knew that would only cripple them. I had to get them up to speed.

“Grab a weapon, anything you can fight with,” I ordered. “Better yet, if you have a gun, go get it,” I said, and ran to my room.

I grabbed my favorite six hour and Bianca’s Smith and Weston 38 from my grab bag. I loaded them both and ran back into the living room. I handed Bianca her peace.

“I know you don’t like them, but you might need it.” I said, handing it to her.

“I will use it if I have to,” she assured me, staring me in the eyes. Her gaze was filled with words and phrases. She was trying to tell me something with the glance She was giving me. As usual, I couldn’t take the time to have conversations, silent or otherwise.

“Just shoot first and ask questions later, okay?” I said and walked away, trying to get everybody ready for what I knew was about to come.

Then, the lights went out. People gassed and children began to cry.

“Moms, try to quiet the babies. It’s all right. We will be fine.” I tried to reassure them, and for the most part, my voice, deliberately deep and tranquil, seemed to help things calm down a bit. “We shouldn’t stay in here by the windows. I think we need to move towards the dining room and kitchen where we should be safer."

“I think he’s right,” Mia said, helping as best she could to guide people from one room to the other and Taylor and I set up chairs in the kitchen and dining room to fit everybody in there. It was the most central part of the house, and it had the least windows.

Everybody seemed to be especially concerned about the lights being out, but I knew that was the least of our problems. We had children who were restless, moving from lap to lap. Many of the men were balking at taking orders from Taylor, Mia, and me.

Before anyone could stop him, Cedro opened one of the outside doors, and Michael’s men opened fire. Taylor grabbed Cedro and pulled him back into the house. I slammed the door and locked it.

The panic from before took hold again, and everybody started yelling and crying out. I wanted to ask Cedro what the hell he was thinking? I wanted to scream at him, but I couldn’t. I had to keep a cool head, so that I could keep everyone from panicking and running around the house and becoming targets.

“Please, whatever you do, don’t open the doors or stand close to the windows. They have guns just like we have guns, and I believe they have the advantage over us. There are probably more of them than there are of us.”

This was why I wish I had my men with me at times like this. I was dealing with rank amateurs with the exception of Mia and Taylor. Taylor probably wouldn’t spit on me if I was on fire, but Mia might throw me a glass of water or two. Either way, both of them would protect Bianca and her family to the death, and that is what I was counting on.

The lucky thing was that no one in the house was harmed when the men outside opened fire. Visibility was for shit, and I couldn’t get a bead on any of the men in the snow, but apparently they could see us and see the house pretty well.

I felt like shit because I knew they were here because of me. I was the dumbass that brought them right to Bianca’s family’s door. What had I been thinking? Okay, I knew what I was thinking.

It had been all I could think about for days when she left me. All I wanted in life was Bianca. Sometimes, nothing else seemed to matter to me anymore. Life had become quite meaningless without her. Working, drinking, and going to the clubs just wasn’t enough for me anymore.

She was everything to me, and I had made the mistake of coming to her when she had fled the states to get away from exactly what I had brought to her family’s door.

This had to be what Frankie had been calling about all night the night before. I had known I was taking a risk when I pushed the decline. I just hadn’t known the risk I was taking would involve so many people I had come to care for.

Taylor was right. Maybe he could protect her better than I could. Maybe I wasn’t good for her, but I couldn’t live without her. So, maybe I would have to die to keep her safe.

As soon as I had that thought, it was as if I had conjured Michael up. The phone in my pocket actually vibrated against my chest.

The damn thing hadn’t worked all day, but now all of a sudden it was ringing. What, did he have a deal with the devil?

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I asked without preamble. I knew who it was.

“Good evening, Leo,” a smooth baritone hissed and crackled in my ear. “Is that anyway to talk to an old friend?”

“Michael, we’ve never been friends, so cut the bullshit,” I said, waiting for his demands.

“Yes, Leo, that’s what I’ve always liked about you, straight to business. Fine, no pleasant trees for you. So, I’ll cut straight to the chase. Bring yo dumb ass out here and will spare your girlfriend and her family otherwise, we will shoot into the house every half hour and trust me you won’t be as lucky as the last time.”

The phone clicked and he was gone.

“Leo, you can’t do this. It’s a trap,” Mia said, staring at me as if I were stupid.

“Yeah, I know that. But what else am I supposed to do? Let them shoot into the house every 30 minutes and possibly kill half the family while I save myself?” I asked, pulling on my heaviest coat and slipping into snowshoes.

Mia was furious. Her face flushed a modeled red and her eyes blazed with anger. “Idiot!”

“Yeah, maybe I am, but you know there’s no other choice. We won’t be that lucky every time.”

Mia stiffly nodded her head in agreement, her stony eyes still cutting into me like blades.

Bianca walks up to me and helps me into my hat and gloves like she did the day we went for our walk together.

“Leo,” her voice trembled when she said my name. “You can’t do this. You can’t leave us. Not now!” she said even as she helped me with the buttons of my coat.

I probably would have laughed if I hadn’t wanted so desperately to start weeping with her. She was trembling and afraid for me, completely horrified by the idea that I would give myself up to these men to keep her and her family safe, and yet she was helping me dress for the weather, as if she wasn’t begging me to stay with her and our baby.

“Sweetheart, I’m so damn sorry I freaked out on you. I’m happy about our baby. I want you to know that I love you both. I want nothing more than to be with you and our baby. I swear I will do everything I can to come back to you.” I promised, holding her close and kissing her hard on the lips, wishing I could stay with her and protect her from indoors.

But I knew I had to lead these men away from her and her family, so they would remain safe. All of them were safer without me here. I should have realized that before I even came here.

When I let her go, Taylor grabbed her from behind and nodded at me to let me know that he would forcibly keep her inside when I left. As I walked away to sneak out the back door, I could hear her calling my name.

My heart ached to go back to her, but I had to leave. I slipped out the back door and tried to blend into the side of the house. That’s when I saw a dark coat and hair almost as platinum as the snow.

I gazed down the barrel of the gun and took a shot at Michael, but. One of Michael’s men jumped in front of him just as the bullet exited my gun and fell to the ground dead, blood from his throat staining the pristine snow crimson.

I wanted to scream in utter frustration. But I had to blend in again or Michael would get a shot off at me.

I began jogging towards the woods where I knew it would lead them away from the house and possibly lead them into town.

Some of Michael’s men would get lost in the snow and maybe even fall down into drifts. But primarily jogging towards the lake, I remembered from the day Bianca and I headed out of the house for our romantic stroll, I knew it would get them to follow me and keep them away from the woman I loved and her family.

I was ecstatic to hear them on my heels. I jogged and crouched and retraced my steps, leading them on in circles. It was frosty outside and terrifying, but if they didn’t see me, they couldn’t shoot at me, and if they were following me, they weren’t shooting at the house.