Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Yes, but listen, hear me out! Like I said, th-they lied, okay? They told me it was because Becca stole from them. I misunderstood. Do you understand? I-I just thought, and, and… I should have known better. I’m sorry, okay? Really! I’m sorry. Please understand Allegra, I–”
She was stammering, tripping over every word, and I couldn’t handle it any longer. I hung up on her, my jaw clenched. Then, I threw the phone aside and buried my face into my hands, shaking with sobs.
Memories of what happened to me when I was captured flashed through my mind. I’d not been sure what they were going to do to me. Even if no physical harm came my way, I heard what they wanted to do to my brother.
I didn’t want to lose him, and yet I was bait for them to get to him. Being away from family and friends had been nerve-wracking. At any point in time, they could do something horrible, if they got tired of waiting. They came across as very impatient, after all.
Thank goodness I came out of that alive and unharmed, but other things could have happened if they were far more malicious with regard to me and getting what they wanted. I swallowed, chasing those thoughts away. Nothing like that happened, I was safe now.
I needed to compose myself. After pacing in my living room for what was probably a half hour, completely drowning in my thoughts, memories, and miseries, I reached over to grab my phone. There were no cracks on it, at least, so what I did hadn’t caused damage.
Sitting there, I stared at my phone, noting several missed texts and calls from Layla. I didn’t read a single one of them, and I damn well wasn’t about to call back. I felt numb, surely having cried out every single drop that I could.
My mind was in a fierce debate with itself. Should I call Becca and inform her about this? She was going through a lot, what with recovering from the trial, no doubt. I closed my eyes and rubbed at my temples, trying to keep it together to think clearly.
Becca had the right to know, she was probably in danger from those goons now. I dialed her number and put my phone to my ear, only to be answered by the very stressed woman, who had a strain to her voice.
“Hello?” Becca asked, the sound of shuffling on the other end accompanying her voice as if she was busy. I couldn’t hide the pain dripping from my tone when I replied.
“Becca? I need to tell you something important, I–”
“I don’t want to talk right now, Allegra,” Becca said, sounding exasperated. “To either you or Neal. This is too much, I told him that, and I didn’t want him calling me. Now, here you are, I don’t want to talk.”
“What? This isn’t about Neal, it’s–” I started, but she hung up on me. I wrinkled my nose, shaking my head. Whatever went down between her and Neal had nothing to do with me, and I hadn’t heard from my brother about it.
At this point, I was at a loss for what to do. I began to pace again, spending about a minute or so on that before letting out a sigh. Maybe I could just send a long text to Becca, but I had a feeling, based on her tone, she would just delete it.
I decided to think about it for a few hours so that I could calm down after realizing the love of my life was not who I thought she was. All of this, I was hoping to give to her. We were meant to have a life together, yet here I was, with a theoretical knife sticking out of my back.
Drowning myself in ice cream sounded like a great plan right now, but I’d need to work out even harder later to burn off those extra calories since I’d be on the runway soon. Oh, right. The runway.
That was one good thing that happened today. I needed to think of the bright side before I fell into the abyss of sadness after this news. But, honestly, how could she? No, no, I needed to refocus before I went back on what I just said I wanted to do.
I took in a deep breath, making my way to the kitchen and placing a pot on the stove. My stomach clenched, the pain from the stress of it all rather intense. I found myself looking for any distraction, such as what Becca could have meant about Neal.
I had too much on my own plate to deal with the issue Neal was facing, aside from whether or not he’d done the job. Had he gone after Becca again? Maybe that was why she was so upset. I didn’t want to press, at this point, either.
He needed to leave Becca alone because he really hadn’t been treating her well either. Was he hounding her? That was probably it. I groaned softly, shaking my head at how much of an imbecile he could be sometimes. I loved him dearly, but he had problems.
This instance of said problems made things very inconvenient because the kids could be in a lot of danger right now. Layla had sounded regretful, but who knew if that was genuine? Maybe she only spilled because she was guilty, but it didn’t lessen the danger.
My mind switched back to the modeling job I now had, something that thankfully was going to start right away and be good in my life. Even if it was the only thing, well, it was something. Tears continued to crawl down my cheeks as I grabbed some chicken stock.
The runway would take me away, be a home for my mind, something positive. The interview had been wonderful, and the people I was working with were turning out to come across as genuine and kind, a rare thing in this industry.
Granted, I just met them, and my impression of Layla had been that she deserved to be treated like a princess, was wonderful, gorgeous, and lovely in every way. Clearly, I’d been completely wrong, given this horrible betrayal.
I began to make myself some homemade chicken soup, something not too complicated and that wouldn’t be too hard on my stomach. This all was too much. The same words Becca had said, really, after she mentioned my brother.
Maybe I should call Neal and ask him what happened so I could get some clarification. Or maybe not. Did Becca deserve to be kept in the dark?
I didn’t think so, even if she hung up on me like that and didn’t want to talk.
There was one way I could get the news to her, but I didn’t like it one bit. Narrowing my eyes, I thought of James, someone who I definitely didn’t get along with. I’d been avoiding the possibility that I may need to speak with him for a while now.
His treatment of Becca wasn’t tolerable, but of course, he continued that cold, standoffish behavior. Stubborn in the worst of ways, which was damaging. I wasn’t sure how happy I was that he got to see the kids, but it was what it was.
I sighed, pouring myself a bowl of soup and going to sit down at the table. After a few bites, I stared at my cell phone, not wanting to make that call and deal with that asshole right now. With what Layla said to me, though, it would be wrong to keep my silence.
Several bites later, I was still at a loss for what to do, and just shook my head. My depression washed over me in waves. I couldn’t believe I had to deal with this, here and now, right after I finally made some progress in my life.
The illusion that Layla was perfect, that we could have a life together, that things would work out, was completely shattered, and I was devastated. I shook with more sobs into my soup, sniffling and trying to get it together. Why did heartbreak have to be so painful?
Finally, I put my spoon down and reached over, dialing James’s number. It’d be a miracle if he even picked up, but who knew, maybe I could make progress with him over Becca. I placed my phone against my ear, listening to it ring.
Eventually, James picked up with an irritated, “What do you want, Allegra?”
James.
Dealing with Allegra getting into my business right now wasn’t ideal, and I almost didn’t bother to answer the phone. However, with Becca up in arms about going back to Italy, I assumed this would be something I needed to handle, whatever it was.
Allegra said, “Look. Becca wouldn’t listen to me, but you should know. Layla isn’t who she says she is. She worked with the people who captured me and thought Becca owed them money. She said she was lied to, but either way, she may be a danger to your kids.”
I snorted, wondering if they got into some sort of argument, and now she was trying to drag it to me. “You really expect me to believe that?” I snapped, then let out an annoyed sigh. “I’ll look into it,” I said finally, wanting to get her off of my back.
“Good,” she said. With that, she bid me a short farewell, her tone none too kind, and mine hadn’t been either. She wasn’t exactly the person I was ecstatic to talk to by any means. I reached up and placed a hand on my forehead, frustrated that yet another thing came up.
Allegra couldn’t be serious, could she?
It was too absurd to be reality. Why she came up with something like that, I didn’t know.
Though, after a while, I sent out a few texts to those in my circle, wanting to find out more.
The situation with Becca hadn’t returned to being pleasant. I was sure she just said she’d think about it to get me off of her back about going to Italy.
We’d be safe there, and I was sick of running around. I didn’t want to run to someplace else that was likely temporary.
After all, before I ‘died,’ I’d had a successful business, and the opportunity there was immense. I wanted the power I had before back, and I couldn’t do that with any sort of ‘fresh start.’ I wanted this family to be successful, with as many opportunities as I’d had before.
I wasn’t sure why Becca didn’t understand that. She kept saying it wouldn’t be safe, with the mafia issue, but I would make sure it was. I had so many strings I could pull and intended on expressing that in Italy.
While I waited for people to get back to me on the Layla issue, I got on the computer myself to do some research and check in. Tony said things were fine back in Italy so far, without much issue to report. At least there was that.
It was drilled into my head, over and over, that my past would follow me, something bothersome. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized even if it were true, I could handle it, and Becca needed to understand that.
Things wouldn’t end up like they had in Miami. I winced, thinking of Tally but reminding myself that no matter what happened, we wouldn’t end up in a situation like that again. My daughter would be remembered, and we would play things as safe as we could.
It didn’t mean we should keep running and hiding, though. I shook my head, typing things out and setting up meetings that would get things going. I intended on returning to Italy, and Becca would eventually just have to get over her problems and come along.
To get my mind off of things, I went into the other room to make dinner. I set up the oven so that I could bake some chicken spaghetti for the whole family.
I heard the door open nearby and turned to see Becca walking into the living room, heading over to the fridge to get something to drink. I studied her as she came closer, noting the focused gleam to her eye. What was she thinking about?
When her eyes met mine, she scowled a bit, turning up her nose. Oh, she was having an attitude again. Wonderful. I returned that expression, asking in a cold tone, “I assume you’ve thought more about going to Italy?”
