Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I asked you if something happened,” she repeated. “You looked a little upset just now.”
“Oh.” I shook my head. As usual, nothing ever got past that woman. “It’s just… how often did Dad ever shut you out of his life? You know, when he was still working with Elio’s family?”
My mom let out a long sigh and briefly stopped her movements. She slowly glanced up at Lauren and smiled. “Perhaps we can take a short break?”
Lauren gently nodded her head. “Of course.”
And with that, she left the room to give us a bit of privacy. My mom easily adjusted herself in her chair and allowed her shoulders to sag back. She possessed this look on her face that told me she knew exactly what was going on. My blunt question about her and my dad was a dead giveaway to the relationship troubles that Elio and I were currently facing.
“Cat, of course you know that your father and I loved each other very much. I’ve told you before about the different sides he had. He always knew when to separate his work life from his family life. It was his way of protecting us from possible threats,” she explained.
She tilted her head while a small smile touched her lips. “I think your dad always kept secrets, even when he was working. He never told me much about a lot of things and I never really considered it as lying.”
I let my head fall back. “And that never bothered you?”
Good God, just the thoughts of Elio purposely keeping information from me made my hands want to curl into fists and my jaw clench. If anyone knew how I felt about secrets, it would be her and Elio. My mom at least has been more forthcoming about certain information ever since I found out the truth about my dad and Elio’s family. But it was evident that Elio still wanted to keep certain things hidden from me.
And I was not okay with it.
“Not really,” she admitted softly.
My brows drew together in disbelief. Right as I was about to open my mouth and speak, she quickly cut me off with a raise of her hand.
“Hold on. You’re familiar with the phrase ‘ignorance is bliss.’ I know it sounds like your father was purposely keeping things from me, but believe it or not, I wanted it that way. I had a faintly decent idea of what was happening whenever your father was called in, and I purposely chose never to ask. I was happy not knowing the full truth of the situation. Should there have ever been a time back then where I was questioned about this sort of information, I knew that I wouldn’t be a viable source of intel for people to use.”
I felt my heart skip a beat within my chest. I’d never thought about it like that.
‘There does come a price with knowing certain things,’ I thought silently to myself.
“Not to mention that bearing this kind of information in your mind isn’t always the easiest thing to deal with,” she added.
I nodded my head. “I understand that,” I said. “But I feel like I’ve had enough of secrets and being kept in the dark about things. Whether it’s good or bad, I want to know.”
My mother’s expression grew resolute. “I take it that this conversation has a bit more to do than just my relationship with your father,” she pointed out.
I folded my arms over my chest. “Elio and I were supposed to go out to dinner tonight. While we were in the car, he got a call from Leo telling him that he needed to meet up and deal with work. It sounded like they were speaking in some kind of code, but I already knew otherwise. Elio’s immediate thought was to send me back here. But I told him that I wanted to stay with him. Whatever is going on is just as much my business as it is his.”
I shook my head in exhaustion.
“But he completely disregarded me and refused to even tell me what was going on. He promised me that he wouldn’t keep things from me anymore and yet—”
My mouth twisted into an irritated scowl. “He keeps shutting me out. You say that you were okay not knowing about Dad’s work life. But that’s not me. I can’t keep living my life wondering what is going on all the time.”
She offered me a gentle smile.
“You’ll just have to tell Elio then,” she advised. “Make him understand how important this is to you.”
All I could do was nod my head as I left the living room to allow my mom to get back to her physical therapy. I headed in the direction of my room to do what I’d initially intended.
I wandered into the bathroom and went straight for the large tub to turn on the facets. Once it was properly filled up, I put my clothes into a small pile on the floor and carefully lowered myself in. I happily let the steaming water ease the strain in my muscles.
I closed my eyes and let the stress of the day melt away.
*Caterina*
A lot of thoughts rushed through my mind when I closed my eyes and allowed the hot water from the bath to seep into my muscles.
The room was slightly steamy and smelled heavily of floral and vanilla. I wished I had lit a few candles just to enhance the soothing ambiance around me, but I was satisfied enough as it was.
I tried to find and center my focus. I was tired of feeling upset and angry—and over the same nonsense, nonetheless. I was done with all the secret-keeping and being pushed aside whenever the opportunity arrived.
Elio’s reasoning was based on my protection. I was sure he meant for his actions to make me feel secure and protected. But then why did they end up making me feel the exact opposite?
My mom’s words bounced around my head like a broken record player.
“Ignorance is bliss.”
‘But where among all the ignorance am I supposed to feel safe?’ I asked myself.
I lightly shook my head and I let out a long breath of bitter indifference. What use was letting this issue eat away at me when I knew that I needed to talk to Elio?
I know that my last few words to him weren’t exactly the nicest. But a part of me strongly believed that they weren’t enough to truly keep someone as persistent as him away. After speaking with my mom, I couldn’t say that I felt any better. I’d openly expressed my disdain for being purposely kept out of the loop, whereas she welcomed it.
It still kind of baffled me how someone in her case was always willing to accept as little information as possible when it came to my dad’s work life. Then again, it was not as though she was ever directly involved in any of it… well, not until quite recently, that is.
But since I was once with Junior, I felt as though I’d always been involved with the unspoken, shadowed life that Elio once came from.
An ugly sensation wavered within my stomach just thinking about my bastard ex-boyfriend. Maybe if I had known the truth sooner about my dad and the world he worked for, I would have been more skeptical of the man I then knew as Paul. Maybe it would have toughened my exterior if I’d been more exposed to it all. Maybe then I wouldn’t have tolerated and endured all the cruelty and pain he’d put me through.
‘Oh, who the hell are you kidding, Cat?’ I hissed. ‘You couldn’t handle one night in Elio’s world.’
And that was because it ended in a sea of flying bullets and gunshots.
But, as usual, I felt as though my inner voice was right. Whether or not I could handle the gruesome pressure that came with the untold dangers of the mafia, I wanted nothing to do with any of it in the long run.
But because of the personal attacks made on my family, I wasn’t about to sit back and let it happen again. I wanted Junior and his father found. They needed to face the consequences of their actions. Regardless of how frightening it was, I needed to be a part of seeing it happen. For the sake of my dad’s life and the attempt made on my mother, I was not going to tolerate being left in the dark.
My mom was right. I needed to talk to Elio about everything that I was feeling.
‘Goddamnit. Well, so much for trying to relax.’
I sank lower into the tub, letting the steaming water work its magic into my shoulders and neck. I found my eyes drifting open from the sound of someone coming into the bathroom. The airy, flowery scent of the bath soap was suddenly accompanied by a deeper, masculine musk.
Elio’s voice echoed off the walls, sending chills down my spine. “Caterina.”
My heart jumped into my throat and I almost turned my head to look, but I refrained from moving even a single muscle.
I kept my head facing forward and heard Elio move around the bathtub to sit beside it.
“I’m glad you’re home,” I said firmly. “We need to talk.”
I didn’t have to look at him to know that he was staring at me with heavy intensity. Just from his mere presence, I could also tell that man had gone completely tense as well.
I knew that nothing good ever came from a conversation that started out with the phrase ‘we need to talk.’ But between my sharp tone and the loud sigh I heard Elio release, it was obvious that this issue between us needed to be dealt with.