Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Gio’s eyes narrowed, and I put a hand on his chest. Suddenly, I couldn’t stand the thought of them fighting here.
“Sal,” I said haltingly. “Do you have a phone number? This is all really sudden.”
He rattled off a string of digits, then wrote them down on a napkin nearby.
He labeled the number “Dad,” and my stomach flipped again.
“Great, thanks,” I choked out before fleeing into the sunlight once more.
Gio started escorting him out, but I didn’t wait. I bolted inside. I had to talk to my mom.
She was sitting in the living room with Ben next to the pile of presents, talking quietly. When she saw me, she kissed Ben on the cheek and shooed him away.
“How’d it go, hon?”
My hands shook. “Was his name Salvatore Montgomery?” I demanded.
She looked up at me, startled. “So it was him outside.”
“You said you had things you couldn’t tell me when I was younger. Dad things? Can I know them now?”
“That’s only fair.” She swallowed and sat up. “Your dad was… special, a charmer, some would say.” She smiled softly. “We used to absolutely run the bar on the corner until the owner kicked us out for making the patrons like us better.” She sighed. “He always had money, but I never asked where it came from. Silly, I know, but it seemed reasonable then.”
I huffed a laugh.
“A couple of years in, I found out he worked for this… crime family in town. He said he had a big job, and then we’d be set for life.” She stared up at me, tears in her eyes. “You have to understand, I was a different woman then. I thought I was living in a fairytale.”
I shook my head, unable to interrupt her.
“He disappeared that night. A few people came looking for him, but I didn’t know anything. I always sort of assumed they found him someday and–” She swallowed heavily. “I’m sorry, Livi. I thought it didn’t matter.”
“Do you know the family?” I found myself asking through the roar of blood in my ears.
“What? No, that was too long ago. I never got involved in his work.”
I nodded mutely.
She stood and pressed a hand to my arm. “I’m sorry he ruined Elio’s birthday. Dahlia has him. I’ll go check on the baby.”
And she walked out of the room, leaving me alone with my thoughts.
I stared down at the crumpled napkin in my hand, a few numbers and a name I’d never used. Somewhere in this city was a man who’d given me half my DNA, connected to some crime family somewhere in the world, and he wanted a relationship.
I didn’t even know if I wanted to talk to him again.
*Olivia*
Everyone deserves second chances.
That had been my policy growing up, one of the core beliefs that had framed my relationship with others. When Alessandro blackmailed me and Gio, we gave him a second chance because he learned from his mistake.
I remembered Becca telling me that she thought she would never be able to forgive James when he’d faked his death to go on the run, leaving her with two kids to raise by herself. But eventually, she said, it just happened.
Forgiveness wouldn’t come easy and perhaps, it never would.
This stranger had just stepped foot in the aftermath of my son’s first birthday party to absolute dead silence, and I owed it to both myself and this stranger the opportunity to prove he was worth that second chance.
“Hey there,” Salvatore chuckled, switching feet a bit nervously as everyone in the room turned to stare at him.
Gio’s grip on my waist tightened, clearly not liking this situation, but this was my decision and I had made it.
There was no going back now.
“Da—er, Sal.” I gave him an awkward smile.
No matter what he was supposed to be to me, I couldn’t call him Dad. I didn’t even call my stepfather ‘Dad,’ and I’d known him longer than the man who shared half of my DNA.
Though a lot of the guests had gone home already and the party had died down considerably as kids began to fall asleep, a few guests had lingered and now, they were staring at this random guy who looked like he belonged out in the sticks of Florida and not in Florence, Italy.
There was an uncomfortable and heavy tension in the air, and though most of the guests who remained had no idea what was happening or who this strange man was, they could probably feel that he wasn’t very welcome.
“Livi–” Sal tried for a smile, looking just as uneasy as I was and he stepped forward, opening his arms like he was going for a hug “I—”
“Olivia.” I cut him off firmly, reeling out of his reach before he could touch me.
My childhood nickname falling from his lips was anything but endearing, and the fact that he thought he could just hug me like he wasn’t a stranger did not bode well. I could give him a chance to make this up to me, but trust and forgiveness would not come easy from me.
He’d missed twenty years of my life, after all.
“Olivia.” He swallowed, a hurt look crossing his features. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt. I–” His eyes widened, landing on the baby in my arms and then glancing up at Gio and me.
Elio had fallen asleep in the middle of the party and decided my arms were the comfiest place to take a nap.
I tensed, unsure of what was going to happen. “Is that…. Do I have a grandson?”
He took a step forward, clumsily, reaching out for Elio with a hand and I flinched, stepping back into my husband’s arms and clutching Elio tightly to my chest.
“How dare you?”
Before he could take another step, My mother stepped between us and if I could have seen her face, I would have known exactly what I would’ve seen. That tone of voice only came out when she had lost her patience–whenever one of us kids had done something stupid and she had to step in to save us from ourselves.
I felt myself shrinking already, despite not being on the other side of her fierce glare.
“Amanda.” He tried for a nervous grin, folding back in on himself. “You look good.”
“Don’t you dare try that on me, you bas–”
“Mom!” I interrupted, giving her an incredulous look as I gestured to the baby in my arms and the various other toddlers peppering the room. Despite how young they were, it only took one word and then we’d have a bunch of two-year-olds running around calling people bastards.
Not gonna happen, not on my watch.
She huffed, crossing her arms but changed her word to, “Jerk. What the hell do you think you’re doing showing up like this after leaving for twenty years? You should’ve stayed dead to us, you son of a….” She paused, glancing at me and then reluctantly biting out, “Dog.”
“Look, Amanda,” Sal said pleadingly. “I know I messed up–”
