Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I shut the door firmly behind me, then walked off into the garden.
I paced around for a while, huffing out angry breaths and cursing quietly to myself. I gestured wildly as I imagined confronting Bianca back at the bridal shop.
I should have told her to leave me the hell alone. I should have demanded that she explain herself. I didn’t, though. I’d hurried off and didn’t look back.
I just wanted her out of my life.
After a while, I stopped and sat down heavily on a stone bench in the garden.
I was angry that Tallon didn’t believe me. That’s what it boiled down to.
It wasn’t all about the wedding. I knew that the wedding itself was just a ritual and a celebration, and that it didn’t change the strength of our relationship. At least, it wouldn’t change our relationship unless we let it.
I ran my fingers through my hair and groaned. Was this what Bianca wanted? Was she winding me up in the hopes that it would drive a wedge between Tallon and me?
I wouldn’t let Bianca or anyone else take Tallon from me. I would fight anyone to stay by his side, but it seemed like the only one I had to fight right now was myself. I was being irrational.
Tallon might just be right, I thought. He did know her better than I did, after all. Maybe she was jealous that she had lost out on marrying Tallon, and she was trying to copy our wedding as some kind of twisted revenge. Stranger things had happened.
I just wanted the wedding to be perfect. I wanted it to be a memorable event that would show everyone how much care and thought that Tallon and I put into the celebration of our love.
My life had been such a mess and so very lonely. This was my chance to have something beautiful and loving in my life. It was my chance to be the focus for once, in a positive way. I wanted that. It might be silly and a little selfish, but I wanted it.
I wanted to stand at the altar with Tallon in front of our friends and family and finally know that I belong somewhere… and that I was really not alone anymore.
No one was going to take that from me.
*Tallon*
I watched Natalia walk toward the back door of the house and my heart sank.
It had been a long time since I’d seen her so upset. I didn’t mean to be dismissive of her fears, but I had a hard time believing that Bianca was really trying to sabotage our wedding. But after seeing how upset Natalia was, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was missing something.
Could she have been right about this? I didn’t want to believe it, but I wouldn’t put it past Bianca to stalk my soon-to-be wife. I just didn’t see how she could possibly know so much about our wedding plans. How would she have known to show up at the bridal shop today?
Natalia hadn’t even picked out this bridal shop until after the bridal show where she met Bianca. She wouldn’t have mentioned it to her there, and she didn’t talk to her at all at the bakery. How could Bianca have known about it?
It didn’t make any sense.
But I did truly believe what I had told Natalia.
Bianca was a social chameleon. She had no real personality of her own, and she did her best to mirror the tastes and beliefs of those she was trying to impress. She believed that if she could just copy the rich and powerful well enough, then she would be able to break through into their world. Copying Natalia’s wedding plans was exactly the kind of desperate, pathetic stunt she would pull.
Natalia seemed to believe that whatever Bianca was after was far more devious than that.
Anger flooded through me at the thought of anyone intentionally hurting Natalia and trying to drive a wedge between us. We had already proven that we would defy anyone to stay together. Bianca would be a fool if she thought she could gain anything from this.
But again, I just didn’t see how it was possible. Going in circles over it wasn’t getting me anywhere.
Regardless, Natalia was very upset, and I had only made it worse.
I walked toward the back door, determined to apologize and try to get to the bottom of this, but I was halted by my phone ringing.
I would have ignored it, but I recognized the ring tone.
I answered the phone in irritation. “What is it, Vinny?”
“We’ve got a problem,” he said seriously. I waited a moment, expecting him to explain. “Grade A problems,” he added meaningfully.
I cursed under my breath. Whatever it was, we couldn’t discuss it over the phone.
“I’m on my way,” I replied. I shoved my phone in my pocket and looked at the back door. There was no time to talk to Natalia now. I didn’t want this conversation to be rushed.
I walked to the front door and grabbed a pen and paper from the small table beside it. I jotted down a note for Natalia, then I grabbed my keys and left.
Vinny texted me his location and when I saw where he was, I was even more concerned. He was in one of our main warehouses in the city. Something big must have been going down for him to choose a location that was fully secured, yet inconspicuous.
Vinny was in the supervisor’s office waiting for me when I arrived. I made sure to lock up behind myself before I headed upstairs to talk to him. The odds of someone following me inside were low, but I could never be too careful.
The warehouse was outfitted with a state-of-the-art security system, and the offices upstairs contained devices that would jam any listening devices, so this was the best place to have a conversation about something we didn’t want anyone to overhear.
Vinny was pacing around the office when I walked in. It was a large room with an old oak desk at one end and a window that overlooked the work floor on the other. The space was cluttered with boxes of documents and a large industrial printer.
I frowned at the mess and made a note to reach out to the manager at this location and tell him to get his paperwork in order. A bad audit was the last thing we needed.
Vinny looked at me and tried to force a smile, but all he managed was a grimace.
“What’s going on?” I asked. I could tell that it was bad, but I didn’t know how bad.
Vinny leaned against the desk at the far end of the room and looked at me. I could see in his expression that he was choosing his words carefully.
“I’ll start by saying we don’t know who’s behind this,” he said finally. “There’s no clear responsible party, and no witnesses that are willing to come forward.”
I frowned. “That doesn’t exactly fill me with joy, Vinny,” I said. “Tell me what exactly is going on.”
“Hits,” he said. “The best we can tell, they’re hits. Several Russians have been killed recently. The deaths are decidedly not accidents.”
I felt my heart rate double at the news. Nothing good could come of this, especially if we had no idea who was behind it. That meant that the Russians likely had no idea who was behind it either, which meant that they would be on high alert.
And it meant that they would blame us.
I cursed loudly and slammed the palm of my hand into the nearest wall.
Vinny kept his expression neutral. “The best we can tell, someone is trying to kick start another war. We don’t know why.”
“Why is this the first I’m hearing of it?” I demanded.
“It wasn’t clear at first that there was a pattern,” he explained. “We wanted to make sure this was actually something before we interrupted your time with Natalia to bring it to your attention.”
I shook my head. “No,” I said angrily. “Don’t feed me that shit. You don’t keep things from me, understand? I need to know these things immediately.”
Vinny looked down guiltily and nodded. “We should have told you right away,” he agreed.
“I need to be able to act swiftly to keep everyone safe,” I said firmly. “I can’t do that if you’re keeping information from me.”
