Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
Neal hadn’t been pleased with my choice to stay at the beach house, but in the end, he respected my choice. As long as I took security with me.
“Of course, Dad,” I muttered into the phone. My father had been trying to convince me to come home, and of course, I wasn’t budging.
“Becca, you and the baby can just come here. You need time to heal.”
“I appreciate the offer, I do,” I sighed. “But honestly, I think I need to get out of town and go somewhere… tropical maybe.”
My father’s low groan was all I needed to hear to know that he wasn’t pleased with my choice. “I don’t know if I like the idea of you going abroad alone, Becca. You’re pregnant, and you shouldn’t be traveling like that.”
“I’m not even that far along. I’m only in my second trimester.” Laughing, I shook my head as I walked around the kitchen island to grab my wallet. I had to go meet Neal at James’ company to sign the paperwork, even though that was the last thing I wanted to do.
“Okay, okay,” he replied with a lighter sound to his voice. “So, what are you doing today?”
Letting a heavy breath escape me, I looked towards the security guard waiting patiently by the front door. “I’m about to head to James’ company to sign the paperwork. Neal was able to find a buyer, and James made it clear that he wanted his company gone.”
“It’s honestly for the best.”
He wasn’t wrong there. The company had done nothing but caused issues over the years, from what I was told, and even though other people told me I was foolish to sell it because of the money I would lose—I didn’t care.
I didn’t care about the money, and even though I inherited a lot… I had no idea what to do with it. “Hey, I have to get going. I have to let Sara know what’s going on, and last I checked, she was bathing the baby.”
“Okay, sweetie. Call me later this week, okay?”
“I will.” I smiled. “I promise.”
Hanging up the phone, I took a second to collect my thoughts before making my way up the stairs towards one of the rooms where Sara was currently with the baby. “Hey.”
“Oh, Becca. I was just getting the little guy dressed. Is everything okay?” she replied, with a smile as she glanced over her shoulder at me and then back towards the baby lying on the bed.
“I have to go to sign some paperwork…. Are you going to be okay?” I asked softly, feeling guilty about how she was taking care of the baby all the time, and I wasn’t helping as much.
“Of course, this is what I do,” she smiled. “I have told you before that you don’t need to worry or feel bad. This is my job, and you have so much to take care of right now. So let me help you by caring for the child.”
Nodding my head, I turned from the room and returned downstairs. No matter what I thought, Sara was right. I did need her right now, and as much as I didn’t want to admit it to others…. I needed their help too.
Becca.
When I arrived at James’ company, I was on the verge of having an anxiety attack. Neal had been waiting for me outside the building, and as much as I wanted to find that happy moment, I didn’t.
Simply because I knew what was coming.
“So the guy is willing to buy it from you without issues. He is an investor from Italy and actually knew James personally. He has importing and exporting businesses all over the world,” Neal informed me as I stood in the elevator with him, watching the floors tick by.
“Okay.” My shallow reply seemed to cause him to stop in his words as he gently grabbed my shoulders, forcing me to look at him.
“Hey, if you’re not ready for this—”
“It’s okay,” I quickly said, cutting him off. “It needs to be done, and I have to get through this. Afterward, I want to talk to you and Allegra about going somewhere.”
“Oh?” He smiled. “Where might that be?”
Rolling my eyes with a soft smile, I shook my head at the same moment the doors of the elevator opened. “You will have to wait until later. Right now, we need to handle business.”
Taking a deep breath in, I squared my shoulders and pushed forward onto the floor, headed straight for James’ office. The moment that I stepped in, I felt myself shudder. All of his things were still exactly where he had left them, and my lip trembled as I remembered the times he had taken me in here.
Yet, when the man staring at the window turned to face me, I was taken aback. With dark hair and deep charcoal-colored eyes, I felt like I was almost looking at James but just a much older version of him. “You must be Rebecca.”
“I am…” I said softly as he stepped forward and shook my hand. “I’m sorry, you just look so much like—”
“Like James?” he replied with a chuckle finishing my sentence. “Yes, we are actually cousins.”
Neal seemed a little taken aback by the man’s admission, but paying no attention to it, I moved forward towards the desk with them both, prepared to sign whatever paperwork needed to be signed.
“You definitely do.” My soft reply was met with hesitation as I stared at the man in front of me. He was definitely older than James had been, but the resemblance was chilling.
Proof that their bloodline was strong. “I’m sorry that we had to meet under these circumstances.”
“So am I, but you never know what can happen. In the end, we simply have to take things one day at a time and relish every moment of life we have. It is wonderful to finally meet somebody from James’s family, though.”
“I couldn’t agree with you more on that. My name’s Ronaldo, by the way,” he replied, giving me a bright smile that almost reminded me of the same smile James used to give me.
“Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Ronaldo. Shall we get down to business?” I was simply ready to get this all done and over with. The faster that we got this thing signed and sorted, the faster I could start looking towards the future.
I knew that it sounded a little bad, at least inside my head, it did. As if I was ungrateful and uncaring about everything. But honestly, I just wanted to be able to move on. Not so much moving on past losing James and Tally, but being able to move forward with my future.
No matter how much I missed them, it wouldn’t bring them back.
The only thing I could do was hold onto the memories that I had with them, memories that I would be able to share with the children as they grew older, and hope and pray that one day they would understand.
“So Neal informed me of everything that is going on, and I’m willing to pay you a hefty amount of money for this property,” Ronaldo replied as I took a seat in James’ chair.
The dark black leather seating was cool to the touch, and as I ran my fingertips over it. I started falling back on the memories I shared with him in it, memories that I honestly just couldn’t bring myself to go through right now.
Shaking my head of the thoughts that were currently clouding my judgment, I looked up at Ronaldo and smiled. “I’m not honestly worried about money.”
“Rebecca, that’s not how this works,” Neal interjected as he smiled at Ronaldo and turned back to me. “There has to be payment made for the business. What you choose to do with the money after that is up to you.”
I knew I wasn’t familiar with the business world, but I wasn’t sure that was true. Ronaldo didn’t say anything, though. Instead, he gave me a kind smile that made me wonder if he could see right through me, through the facade that I was putting on, trying to hold myself together.
Taking a moment, I looked down at the papers in front of me.
The words seemed to jumble together as I tried to concentrate.
“Neal, I trust that you looked through everything, looked through every single document, and that it was accurate?” I asked him as my eyes glanced from the paper up to him. I was hoping that with him being the man that he was, he had taken care of everything.
Chuckling, he nodded his head. “Of course, I took care of everything.”
With Neal’s words, I picked up the pen and quickly signed my name across the line. I hadn’t bothered to see how much money they would be offering. As I finished and slid the paper back across to Ronaldo, it was clear that he was surprised by my actions.
“I know that you said that you didn’t care about how much money you would be getting because money wasn’t an object, but aren’t you curious to know exactly how much I’m buying it for?”
I shook my head. “Not really, but if you would like to tell me, then, by all means, you’re more than welcome to.”
I wasn’t trying to be rude. I simply didn’t want to discuss selling James’s company. I didn’t want to have a conversation about any of that kind of stuff.