Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Pausing for a moment, he let the corner of his lips turn up slightly and then bent down, picking up the bags before walking out with them. I wasn’t sure why he didn’t let one of his men do it, but I let it roll off my shoulders as I moved to finish the rest of what I had to do.
Something deep down inside me felt off about all of this.
A metaphorical storm was brewing, and I just hoped we would make it out unscathed.
******
James.
The moment Neal called me and let me know what exactly he was planning to do, I forbade him from doing it. I was already planning to proceed to New Zealand to get Becca and the kids before he called me, and hearing what he had to say was enough to make my blood boil.
I didn’t need him taking them to an island. I needed him to keep them safe until I got there. But Neal, per usual, thought he was doing what was best, and that irritated me more than anything.
Becca and the children needed to be here in Italy with me where they would be safe. Where high security and constant protection was available. Danger wouldn’t dare come to my uncle’s property—even my cousin wasn’t stupid enough to start shit here.
The one thing about my uncle I actually respected more than anything was he had taken the initiative to highly protect his home. Before anyone could get anywhere near the actual house, barbed wire fences surrounded the property which connected to guard towers that were manned at all times.
All of which connected to the large iron gate at the front of his very long driveway nearly half a mile long. Normal people may not have taken note of everything, but considering my cousin had disappeared and befriended people he shouldn’t, my uncle increased security on this property even more. He even hired the local police force to come in and help protect what he owned.
Part of it reminded me of what it was like when I went down to Mexico. The cartels did very similar things. They would use the local military and the local police officers to help with patrolling things.
But here in Italy, things were run a little differently. Thankfully, my uncle’s connections ran deep, and those were connections he was passing to me.
I had been nothing but kind since I got here. I had been respectful, which was unusual considering I was not known to be a man who did things like that, but I was trying to give respect where it belonged. My uncle had helped me through a tough time when I’d hit rock bottom and became somebody that I didn’t even recognize any more.
I hated that it had taken me losing everything to realize I’d let my pride be the reason why my life had been completely turned upside down. But now, I had found my balance again, and my uncle had put me into a position worth having, I wasn’t going to let him down, or anybody else.
Sitting in his meeting room with six other men that he did business with—all of various sizes, ages, and descriptions—I contemplated what it would be like when I was the one who took over. When they’re cowering, eyes looking at me with the same fear they showed my uncle.
“As I told you, James will be taking over everything from here. Do you understand?”
They all nodded their heads in agreement before their eyes cast to me. I wasn’t exactly taking over everything for right now, but when it came to running the operation from New Zealand, my uncle did the common sense thing.
Had me lead it since it was my business.
“Thank you, Uncle,” I replied as I let my eyes cast around the table, taking in every single man. “As my Uncle said, we have a problem in New Zealand that needs taking care of. It seems the Michelson brothers have decided they’re going to move in on shit that belongs to me, and I need men who can go with me to retrieve what is mine.”
“Can we ask what it is that we’re retrieving?” a short, fat, plump man with graying hair my uncle called Dotson asked, as if he had higher seniority than anyone else. I didn’t appreciate his smug look and the way he clasped his hands over his rolling fat belly, but keeping my calm, I raised a questioning brow.
Men like him did nothing but make me sick. They laid on the backs of others, and when it came down to getting their hands dirty, they didn’t f*cking know how to.
“It doesn’t matter what the f*ck we’re going to get. I need your men to do it, and you’re going to f*cking help me.”
Dotson chuckled at my comment as if it was the most amusing thing he had heard all day. It was a sign of disrespect I wasn’t going to tolerate. “Look, James. I respect your uncle, but I won’t tolerate you speaking to me like that.”
Before my uncle could say anything, I leaned forward on the table, my eyes narrowed as I stared at him with a wicked grin upon my face. “You’ll do what the f*ck I want you to do, or I’ll serve you up to the f*cking pigs out back. They’re always looking for their next meal, and we starve them on a regular basis.”
My comment was unexpected, and even my uncle turned his gaze to me, a little wide-eyed. As a grin grew across his face, I couldn’t help but smirk.
I could be ruthless when I wanted to be, but I was trying to turn over a new leaf.
A new leaf that obviously wasn’t working. If these men didn’t want to respect the nice side of me, then I had no problem with showing them what kind of man I could be. A man who would destroy everything until I had my daughter, grandson, and future wife safe behind guarded walls.
Guarded walls mine to control.
Becca.
I don’t know what it was I was expecting when Neal said he had an island home, but it definitely wasn’t a small remote island just off the coast of New Zealand, cut off completely from the outside world.
Though that would have been the common sense thing.
The moment we’d arrived here, I found myself a little taken aback by exactly how remote this place was. Crystal-clear blue water surrounded the island, and with all the lush greenery around, it added a calming atmosphere.
“This is beautiful,” I muttered softly before turning my gaze to Neal, who stood behind me. “How the hell did you find this place?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he glanced around at the small wooden home with large windows overlooking the ocean only a hundred feet away. It wasn’t the biggest of homes, and in fact, it reminded me of the small apartment I shared with Tally once upon a time.
“It was for sale, and I bought it,” he muttered before turning and walking back outside.
His behavior was weirder than usual, and before I could say anything, Layla came prancing around the corner with a smile on her face. “Hey, I managed to get the kids’ rooms set up.”
“Oh, that’s great. Thanks.” The girl had been overly excited about coming here, and honestly, I found it quite odd considering normal people would be freaking out right now. Yet, here she was, just as happy as could be about being in this house on this damn island.
Overwhelmed and unsure of what to do, I made my way out the front door where Neal and Allegra stood talking to the multiple guards on the island with us.
Allegra’s soft blue eyes were the first to meet mine, and as they did, I could tell she was upset. Her long blonde hair was pulled up into a bun on her head, and with a chunky sweater wrapped around her to take the cool breeze chill off her skin, she sighed before walking over to me.
“What’s wrong? I know that look, and I don’t like it.” I groaned not wanting to hear any more bad news from her.
“It’s nothing, just some things that were left at the house that I needed. Neal doesn’t want to let me go back, but Sam, the head of security, said he had no problem taking me.” I wasn’t sure what she forgot, but I didn’t really like the idea of her going back either.
“That doesn’t sound safe. I mean, wasn’t the whole idea of coming here to lay low? If people are seen constantly going back and forth, isn’t that going to draw a lot of attention?”
The men all turned to look at me after my comment as if what I said surprised them. I was only pointing out the obvious, and as Neal looked to Allegra, the glance he gave was almost to say I had a point.
“Look, I won’t take long, and I’ll just stay overnight there and come back in the morning. It’s important that I get this.” Allegra was adamant, and I could see whatever it was she wanted to get was extremely important to her.
Deciding not to pry, I gave Neal a motherly look to say let her go. He must have realized what I was doing, and with a heavy sigh, he nodded. “Fine. You leave in twenty minutes, Allegra.”
I was pleased he was willing to allow her to go, and the joy in her eyes made me smile more. Brushing past me, she quickly made her way into the house, and as she did, I was left alone with Neal while the other men went back to what they had been doing.
“That was kind of you to let her go,” I breathed out as he stared at me.
“Well, it seemed like it was important to her. So, who was I to honestly tell her no?”
I knew damn well the only reason why he agreed was because I had basically told him to do it. He had been trying so hard to stay on my good side the last two days, I could have told him to buy me another island, and he probably would have.
“It was kind of you. I’m sure everything will be fine, and honestly, she can grab something for me while she is there as well. I left my knitting kit there, and I figured since I’m going to be here for a while, I could finish the blanket I started knitting for Dahlia I never finished.”
Laughter escaped us both, thinking back to when I had started the damn thing. I had been so adamant I was going to knit all her blankets and make all of her clothes, but the dream quickly died when I realized it was a lot harder than I’d expected.
In fact, it was so hard, after watching multiple online videos and tutorials, I ended up in tears in a pile of yarn on my bedroom floor no closer to completing it than when I had started it.
“Yeah, let’s not have another meltdown over it.”