Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she replied quickly as a soft tinge of pink filled her cheeks. “I’m just not used to having men from America here in the building. It’s very unusual to meet foreigners that want to stay with normal society, especially someone like you. You don’t come across as somebody who would live in these kinds of accommodations.”
“What kind of person do I look like then?” I chuckled with amusement, trying to determine exactly where her mind was going.
Taking a moment, she shrugged her shoulders as the small smile lit up her face once again. “I don’t know, but I suppose eventually we will all find out.”
“You know, your English is very good for somebody that lives with these kinds of people,” I replied, putting emphasis on the same frame of words that she had used only moments ago.
“It’s because I am a teaching assistant at the university. I took many years of English, and even though my accent is still there, I read, write, and speak English as if it was a first language.”
She had confidence in her abilities when she spoke about her accomplishments. I wasn’t quite sure what it was about her that intrigued me. It wasn’t anything of a sexual nature. It was more so something of a fatherly nature. She reminded me of Tally in some ways, but she was definitely more reserved than my daughter had been.
“It’s remarkable that you were able to accomplish all of that,” I replied, showing my genuine interest in what she had been able to do. “So you live here with your mother?”
“Yes, of course. I will live here with her until I get married.”
“Is that part of your culture, too, to live with your parents until you get married?” I questioned wanting to know a little bit more about my neighbors who are so kind as to bring me food.
“No,” she laughed. “However, I chose to because my father died over two years ago, and my mother can’t do everything on her own.”
The pit of guilt at the bottom of my stomach slowly grew, the longing for the child I had lost blossoming. I was sad hearing what she had to say, and it made me wonder if my unborn child would feel the same. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s okay, it was his time to go, and the ancestors welcomed him back with open arms. Do you have any family, children or a wife?”
Taking a moment, I exhaled slowly, trying to calm myself, my nerves on edge as I thought about what she had asked me. “I’m divorced, and my daughter passed away recently, so it’s just me here.”
She seemed a little taken aback by what I’d said, and most people were when they heard about it. “I’m sorry about your daughter. She was taken too young.”
“It’s okay. As you said, the ancestors have received her, or at least that’s how it’s seen in your culture, correct?”
“That’s correct. She will look upon you and protect you and anyone else in your family that needs protecting. She will help to guide you all. Her spirit will always be with you.” She didn’t bother to stay around any longer as she slowly made her way towards the door.
I appreciated everything she’d said and the food her mother had made for me that she’d brought over. But I couldn’t help but wonder if there was something else that she was hoping to find.
Deciding not to press her for any issues, I allowed her to walk through the door and leave my sight. The last thing that I wanted was for her to get the wrong idea, and to top it off, I hadn’t even gotten her name.
As my mind reeled from the conversation I’d had with the mystery woman who had suddenly brought me food, I slowly turned back and took notice of the electronics once more in the living room. Everything that the woman had said played over and over in my mind.
There was something in what she did say that made sense.
Perhaps what I would have to do is slowly get over things. Or not really get over them, but accept that what happened happened, and I’d have to try and look for the bright side. That Tally was in a place now where she could watch over us all.
Still, contemplating even that didn’t make me happy. It made me angry, knowing that she died because of me, because of this stupid feud. And now, to top it off, Sergie’s son was out there trying to take over the enterprise that his father had built.
I worried every day that he might find something out or even go after Becca with me being dead just to settle scores and make sure that my lineage didn’t continue. It was now widely known that Becca was carrying my child, and oftentimes, in situations like that, they liked to try and kill off at a line entirely.
Striding towards the sofa, I picked up the satellite phone that I had stashed behind the cushions and stared at it. Should I try to reach out to Neal again and make him see the reason behind what I wanted to do? Or, instead of simply trying to work my way back into her life, I could help her in other ways without her knowing that I was still alive.
The only thing that I wanted was confirmation that she was okay.
Which Neal did give me. Even if the conversation was less than pleasing.
I needed something to do. I had only been here a few hours, and already, I was going stir crazy trying to imagine how I was going to live a life like this, how I was going to possibly make living here work.
I had spent almost my entire life working as hard as I could. Blood, sweat, and tears went into everything that I made, but my decision to have Becca completely get rid of my business was my own. It had nothing to do with her or to benefit her in the future.
I wanted the company gone because, even though I’d worked hard to create it, it had done nothing but bring destruction.
Perhaps I could create a business here, or at least a company that might be beneficial, under the name Lester Johnson. I still couldn’t get over the fact that he had f*cking picked that name for me. It had to be something humorous in his mind that decided that one.
Thinking about it, I tried to decide what it was that I could do that would keep me out of the major eye of the public or anything international but that would still be beneficial to the community.
Perhaps in order to find out what was good for the community, I needed to get out into it, to participate in it. It would help me to heal and possibly help others around me.
Not to mention, it might be something that Becca could be proud of me for.
Becca.
I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Or better yet, what Neal and Allegra were up to. Their whispered conversations behind closed doors over the past few days while we were on vacation were confusing. It wasn’t like them to hide things from me.
It wasn’t like them to act this way in general.
“Sorry about that. I had to take a phone call.” Allegra laughed as she walked over with her very alcoholic mixed drink and a strawberry virgin daiquiri for me.
“No problem, you and Neal seem to have a lot going on the last few days.”
She gave me a quizzical look with a small confused smile as she took her seat on the lounge chair next to me on the back deck. “What are you talking about? I haven’t been any different than I always am.”
“Is that so? Then what’s up with all the secretive conversations with your brother behind closed doors?” As if she had been found out. Her lips parted, and she looked around, slightly worried.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“For someone who is rather good at lying, you were doing a very horrible job right now, just so that you know,” I replied with a scoff as laughter left my lips.
Allegra, however, didn’t seem to find my comment very funny. Instead, she sat back in the chair, slowly sipping on her drink as she used her finger to fiddle with the straw, making it go round and round in circles as she looked off into the distance.
“I’m sorry if we’ve seemed a little off. It has nothing to do with you. There’s just some stuff back home that’s kind of blowing our mind right now.”
If it didn’t have anything to do with me, and things were going on back home, part of me wondered if it had something to do with how she and he had busted into the Valentino mansion trying to save me when Sergei held me captive.
“There has been something on my mind that I wouldn’t mind asking you.”
Turning her head, her gaze fell upon me. “Oh yeah, what would that be?”
“Well, you and Neal never explained to me what it was that you were doing there that day. You rescued me. I saw a side of you, Allegra, that I have never seen before. You were completely different, and with everything that happened, I didn’t bother asking you then, but I’m asking you now.”
With her mouth wide open, she seemed deep in thought. “It isn’t that easy to explain.”
“What isn’t easy to explain?” Neal said cheerfully as he walked over, completely shirtless, his rippled abs on display for anybody in the house to see in nothing but his swimsuit, with a beer in hand.
He was definitely a depiction of being on vacation, and with those large playboy sunglasses on his face, I couldn’t help but chuckle, admiring the view I had.
“She was just about to go into detail about why it is that you two busted into the Valentino mansion as you did. I mean, I’ve never seen two people use skills and precision the way that you did, and I was half in and out of it.”
It was obvious that the conversation I was attempting to have with them was not exactly the conversation that they were hoping for today. However, I was never one to actually do things as they should.