Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 975 : Shadows Through the Fog

*Leo*

“Thanks for doing this, Franky,” I said to my friend as we started out of the warehouse.

The sun was just about to go down. This was the earliest I would have been going home in a long while. The guilt of leaving my pregnant fiancee at home alone so late into the night was eating away at me and thankfully, it didn’t go unnoticed by Franky.

My friend just rolled his eyes. “I’ll just be glad to have you more focused again,” he said but then grinned and slapped me on the back teasingly.

It was my turn to roll my eyes. He and I both knew very well that I never lost focus when I was in work mode. I might have been very slightly slower due to the lack of sleep and going full speed for the past several weeks but it was nowhere near enough of a hindrance to make a huge difference in my quality of work.

“I’ll call once I’ve picked him up from school,” Franky said.

I nodded and thanked him again before we parted ways. Franky was going to grab Darion at UCLA and then the two of them were going to cover the night shift together. Normally, I would have been called to do so but Franky offered to cover for me.

I owed him one.

I slipped into my car, deciding to call Bianca to tell her the news. My body ached since it had been a while since the two of us have even had a full conversation. I would probably be going insane right now if it wasn’t for the nights we had sleeping together.

There had been times where I was tempted to wake her up and enter her slowly but I was sensitive to the fact that she was exhausted since she insisted on continuing to go to school even though she was fighting fatigue due to the pregnancy.

Bianca’s cellphone rang a couple of times before she answered. I could hear the shock in her voice. “Leo? What’s wrong?”

I felt my chest constrict with my affection toward her. I chuckled. “Am I not allowed to call my fiancee whenever I feel like it?” I teased lightly.

I could almost see her coy smile in my mind. “No,” she countered immediately but her voice was teasing. “Forgive me for being worried to receive a phone call from you before sunset. Lately, I can’t even stay awake late enough to greet you when you come home.”

“And you are to continue going to bed long before I get home,” I told her sternly. “You need your rest.”

“Yes, Dad,” she said with mock seriousness.

“Good,” I said and my heart soared at the gentle way we were bantering.

“So, if nothing’s wrong then why are you calling?” she asked, genuinely curious now.

I couldn’t keep the smile from my face. “Franky was kind enough to cover for me tonight,” I said. “Which means I have the night off and I thought I would use it to take my girl out on a painfully overdue date.”

Bianca was quiet for a moment and then I had to pull the phone away from my ear when she squealed excitedly.

“I can’t believe we’re actually going to be able to go on a date!” she shrieked. “How did you manage to get out early? I thought you’ve been extra busy since you’re essentially babysitting Darion.”

“Franky decided to step up and cover for me,” I told her. “He’s on his way to pick up Darion now and as soon as he has him, I can head over so think about where you’d like to eat tonight.”

I was already set on spoiling her rotten tonight, especially after her obvious elation at the news of me coming home early.

Instead of being excited like I thought she would be, Bianca was clearly confused. “But Anna told me that she and Darion are going to a college party tonight.”

I belt my eyebrows furrow. I opened my mouth to answer when my phone buzzed, alerting me of another call. I had a sinking feeling when I saw Franky’s name flash onto the screen.

“Let me call you right back,” I told Bianca.

“Okay,” Bianca said and I could hear the worry in her voice, which twisted my gut even further.

“Please tell me you have the bastard,” I said as soon as I switched the call to Franky’s.

“He’s not here,” Franky said, his tone clipped.

I could feel my temper rising as I stepped out of my car. I could track him from inside the warehouse.

One of my guys stopped me as soon as I stepped inside. “Boss, thank goodness you’re still here,” he said. “One of our big shipments for tonight is missing.”

Great, just fucking great. I nodded curtly before shoving past him to storm into my office. We needed to get this figured out or there would be hell to pay. I was just looking through forms to figure out what was missing and who was responsible for overseeing the shipment.

Liam, one of my other guys, burst into the room.

There was far too much going on now for me to hold onto any tiny piece of patience. I slammed my hand down on the desk. “What, Liam?” I practically roared. “Can’t you see that we are in the middle of a crisis here. This had better be good.”

Liam reeled but didn’t back down. He was a broad, stern-looking guy who didn’t show fear often. I must have looked especially livid. “Sorry to interrupt you, Boss but we just received word that the LA Angels are demanding that we meet with them immediately or things will get ugly.”

I cursed under my breath. The LA Angels were a murderous bunch. Over the years, we managed to form a tentative alliance with them but things were often tense whenever we did business together. It was clear each group was trying to maintain dominance over the other.

After Liam left, I breathed in deeply through my nose before picking up my phone to call Bianca.

“You’re not coming home early after all, are you?” Bianca said knowingly.

I hated every bit of this situation but I knew I had no choice but to go deal with it. “Sorry, love,” I said, hearing the regret in my voice. “Something came up. I might even be a little later than normal.”

“Is everything alright?” she asked seriously, the resignation in her voice turning into worry.

I debated how much to tell her, knowing that this situation could be dangerous. I didn’t want her to worry even more than she already was but I also couldn’t bring myself to lie to her. She deserved so much better than that.

“A situation rose up that is calling me out of town,” I told her. “We’re meeting with another group but please don’t worry. I’ll be just fine.”

Bianca paused, then her voice came out strained. “The fact that you’re telling me not to worry makes me feel like I should worry,” she said.

“It’ll be okay,” I said soothingly. “We’re just going to talk some things out. I’ll do my best to be there when you wake up in the morning.”

“You better be,” she said and then sighed. “And here I was looking forward to a night to just be a normal couple.”

I was sorely disappointed too. I wanted nothing more than to sit across from my fiancee with candlelight illuminating her angelic face. “We are far from normal,” I reminded her. “But I wouldn’t change that for anything.”

I could almost hear the small smile in her voice. “I love you,” she said seriously. “Please be safe.”

“Always,” I promised. “I love you too.”

I hung up the phone before clenching it hard in my palm. It was no use getting angry. I had to put my emotions aside if I wanted to be able to handle this quickly and painlessly. I got ready before pushing through my office doors. My men gave me a wary look as I marched past them and out of the building.

Franky pulled in as soon as I stepped outside and in another less serious circumstance, I would have praised him for getting here so quickly.

No one deserved praise right now. This was going to cost us.

Wordlessly, we jumped into my car and hurried to the meeting site, beneath an old bridge just outside of town. As we neared the rendezvous point, it got foggier and foggier, making it difficult to see ten feet past my windshield.

The old bridge looked haunted, especially now that it was dark and the fog floated around it in an ominous way. I pulled the car in right under the bridge before Franky and I stepped out. It looked like we made it before the Angels.

“Looks like they are planning to make us sweat a bit,” Franky said to me in a low voice.

I clenched my jaw before yanking my phone out of my pocket and scrolling to Darion’s name. I tried not to break my phone in half as I brought it to my ear, doubting that the little asshole was going to pick up anyway.

To my shock, he did pick up and base-heavy music immediately blasted my ear. “What’s up, Leo?” Darion yelled over the noise.

A growl grew in my throat. “What the fuck do you mean ‘what’s up’?” I demanded heatedly through my teeth. “You know very well that you had a shift with Franky tonight. I can’t believe of all the bullheaded-”

“Sorry, Leo!” Darion yelled, his voice cheerful. “I honestly cannot here a single word you’re saying. I’ll call you back later.” And with that, he hung up on me.

I could feel a vein throbbing in my head now as I pocketed my phone roughly. Franky was shaking his head since he clearly could hear the sounds of the rowdy college party while I “spoke” to Darion.

“I’m going to pummel that kid,” I muttered under my breath, wondering if I really meant it this time.

I had a hunch that I knew where the missing shipment had gone but until I gathered some proof, there was nothing I could do about it.

I was just beginning to think the vein in my forehead was going to burst when Franky suddenly stiffened, straightening as he stood next to me. I clenched my jaw and steeled myself before turning to face them.

The Angels couldn’t be a more contradictory name for this group. In terms of looks, they were much closer to what I imagined might dwell in the underworld with their dark shadow-like movements. Their frightening silhouettes burst through the mist. I was regretting not bringing other guys with us as I realized there were about a half dozen of them.

They all had matching looks of menace as they approached us, stopping just a few yards away before they stopped and their leader stepped forward.

“You’d best have a good explanation for not having the goods.”