Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 957 : Extinguishing Nightmares

*Leo*

Ever since that bastard, Michael, shot me, I hadn’t really known which way was up. At first, I swear I was floating on cloud nine. Then, I saw the pale and drawn face of my woman and felt like shit for scaring her that bad.

Opening my eyes to see Bianca’s lovely pale face with dark circles beneath her eyes and her face so sad and forlorn had made my chest ache more than the bullet to the arm and the cold that had taken my breath away.

Seeing her there, though, had meant the world to me. It meant she was still alive. She was going to be fine, and the visit from Alessandro after I got back to Bianca’s family home from the hospital did even more to make me feel more confident about the situation. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

A lot of the major concerns I had were assuaged since I’d come back to the house. Bianca still wanted me. I could almost believe she still loved me, but all I could think about most of the time was that she hadn’t left me for the bullshit Michael and his crew pulled.

Still, it had done damage to the way most of the members of her family saw me. Several of her family members blamed me for Michael coming to the house to find me.

Shit, they weren’t blaming me for anything I hadn’t already blamed myself for. But they were her family and I needed them to at least accept me.

I wanted them to like me and accept our marriage. I hoped that if we decided to have a wedding they would be in attendance. I knew how much Bianca loved and respected her family. I figured life would be easier if they accepted me than if there was always tension between us at every family function.

Well, Lucia still treated me as if I were one of her children. She loved me and cared for me just as much as she would for any of the other members of her family.

She and I had bonded nearly from the first moment I’d stepped through the door looking like something out of the wilderness. . She understood that I was nowhere near perfect and still thought I was good enough for Bianca.

I knew I’d never be good enough for Bianca, but I’d charm the devil to keep her in my arms. But that was all meant for another day. I’d have to tackle one thing at a time.

Sometimes when I looked at her, I couldn’t believe she was mine. Every morning I woke up next to her felt like a gift I didn’t deserve. The shooting had made that even clearer - life could end in an instant. Maybe that’s why the nightmares wouldn’t let go. They were reminding me what I had to lose.

Right now, there was another demon I had to wrestle off my back. Ever since I watched Michael peer down the barrel of his weapon at me, aiming it in my direction, and I had just known I was finished for good, a part of me still felt helpless and unmoored.

I was like a ship without an anchor, just drifting out to sea, stuck in limbo and traveling either at the speed of light or more sluggish than pond water traveling up a mountain backwards.

It made me feel weak and fucked with my head. I woke in a cold sweat and breathed like I’d run a four-minute mile.

I’d look around wildly for at least a minute, trying to orient myself and figure out where the hell I was. Nothing was familiar to me when I woke from the nightmares, and I felt as if my heart was going to race right out of my chest just as I had that night when I prayed I could dodge Michael’s fucking bullet.

Not to sound all New Agey and shit, but maybe I needed closure? Hell, to be honest, I had no idea what the hell I needed. All I knew was that I was still having nightmares about the shit.

I was waking up nearly every day in a cold sweat, watching my fucking life flash before my eyes like some hero in a romance novel or a character in a movie everybody’s ready to give up on.

While designing and commissioning Bianca’s ring made me feel all gooey and shit, I knew I had to work on the nightmares and startled Bianca awake.

I didn’t want her worrying about me. I didn’t want her thinking I couldn’t handle my shit. Usually, I could. I don’t know what happened This time. Maybe, it was watching my life seem to slip away before my eyes.

Being on the wrong side of the barrel was nothing new, not really. There was something different about this time, though.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was that made this time seem surreal. What was it that made this time make me feel like being on the wrong side of the barrel had to stop being my normal for good?

As Taylor and I neared Alesandro’s place, I wasn’t quite sure I was doing the right thing. Bianca and I had talked about this.

I didn’t know what I would do, but I wanted to look that bastard in the eyes again. I wanted to see if he had any remorse for the shit that went down in the woods.

I knew better, but I wanted to look into those arrogant, narcissistic, vengeful eyes again for some reason. I wanted to see something in them that would explain it all to me since Michael’s delusions wouldn’t.

Our family hadn’t done anything to warrant all-out war with the LA family on the scale Michael had attacked us with. We had done what any rational team would have done.

We protected ourselves and retaliated in turn, and from there, Michael’s empire had fallen. As I told him in the woods, losing everything was his fault.

So, what I needed to do was to confront Michael one more time. When Taylor and I arrived at Alessandro‘s place and I demanded to see Michael, Alessandra took me down the stairs to what looked to be a real-life dungeon. I looked over at Al for a second.

“Al, you and I really need to have a talk,“ I said, looking around me at the cobblestone walls and dungeon-like floors. There were actual gel sales down here. I shook my head and followed Al through the maze of corridors. He took me through to get me to where he held Michael.

“Want an audience?” Al asked.

I shook my head at Al’s question. He waved a hand at the guards and they left without a word. I stood , staring at Michael’s form.

His eyes were sunken. He looked to have lost weight in just a few days. His skin was pale and sallow, almost gray in places.

It was evident to me that he’d been tortured. There were slices of unhealed cuts, and bruises all over him. The only part of him that was covered was his genitals by the boxers they left him in.

It was cold down here, and there were patches of blue all over his body, and some of them weren’t from Bruises. It was from the cold.

Nothing inside me felt sorry for him. There was no reason to feel sorry for Michael. He had done this to himself. I thought of all the deaths on his side and mine. And for what?

He had created war out of what he thought of as a slight. I didn’t even know Michael, really. We had never really had many dealings or interactions even when Elio was the Don.

The family hadn’t sold any of our real estate to his people or his family. I don’t know for sure, but I didn’t think Frankie had very much to do with him either.

It was obvious no one had cleaned the wound that was left by Bianca’s gunshot. Michael was in pretty bad shape. And all I could think was, good!

“Look who has come to darken my illustrious accommodations, “Michael said, smirking at me.

a few of his teeth were broken and others missing. His eyes were feverish and mad.

“Leo, you have not won yet. Even if you kill me, my friend, it will do nothing. There will always be another enemy coming for your heads. You will never ever be rid of me,“ Michael said, laughing at his own poor attempt at beating me.

“I only came here to look into your eyes one last time and to let you know that everything you’ve built is gone and the influence you’re so proud of has ended.“

I watched his eyes as what I said filtered through the madness and pain . He looked skeptical, as if he didn’t believe me, but at least, that God awful smirk had left his fucking face.

There’s a part of me that hates this man to my core, but there’s a part of me that understands Him, wanting there to be a legacy left in his wake.

“Let’s see, I have news for you, Michael. Frankie called just this morning to give me his latest report on your safe houses. They have all been rated. Your men are either dead or in prison, where they’ll rot for the rest of their lives. So, you see, you’re done, finished, Kaputt!”

I gave him one of my own charming smirks. His face turned murderous. Those feverish eyes brightened even more.

“The LA mafia. Might as well not have existed at all. And, it’s all thanks to you not being able to resist following me to Italy. You can thank yourself for killing your men and getting the other half of them arrested.”

Michael struggled against his restraints, pulling at them, cutting his wrist, and making more blood pour to the floor. He screamed to the top of his lungs.

“I am not finished with you! This is not over! I have one more trick up my sleeve, and it’s coming straight for you, Leo!“

Alessandro shook his head at Michael and smiled.

“Don’t be so sure about that, Michael. We’ve already taken care of your hidden son. Your lineage ends here and today.”

Alessandro‘s voice sounded final. It’s as if it’s the last nail that he hammered into Michael’s coffin. Michael stopped struggling against the restraints, and he stared at us both in defeat. His hatred was still evident, but the fight had left him.

“Goodbye Michael,“ I say and begin to walk away.

“What do you want me to do with them,“ Alessandra asked.

“Kill him,“ I order, leaving the way we’d come.

As I neared the top of the stairs and a gunshot rang out, I thought about when would be the perfect time to ask Bianca to marry me.