Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
I sent Giovani one last glare, one last conveyance of how much I hated every fiber of his being for taking everything away from me, and then I turned my back on the fucking so-called family and stormed off.
I could hear my mother’s scolding tone in my head as I walked out of the dining room, saying how “rude it was to make a scene and leave a party without congratulating your brother,” but if anyone in that goddamn room wanted me to actually congratulate Tallon, they were only kidding themselves.
I wasn’t going to sit there and pretend like I was happy for him because I wasn’t. I wasn’t going to smile like I didn’t want to trash that entire room and leave nothing standing in its place.
I fled to the backyard, pushing open the back door and stepping out into the quiet night. It was cold, colder than I’d expected but luckily, I had my fury to keep me warm. I traveled deeper into the maze of a garden, my fists clenched by my side as I struggled not to put holes through every single bush I saw.
Eventually, though, I hit a dead end. Just like every aspect of my life, there was nowhere to go any longer, no path forward–I could only go back and try again. I thrust my hands into my hair, pulling at the roots until it hurt, and let out a harsh scream of frustration.
Why?
Why was it always like this? Why couldn’t I ever catch a break?
Why wasn’t I good enough?
I fell to my knees and thrust my fist into the dirt, hoping to relieve the tension, anger, and worthlessness that dragged me down but of course, it didn’t work. It never worked.
All it proved was that they had made the right choice, yet again.
I sighed heavily, shifting to sit so my back was the random tree I’d found. I shut my eyes and thrust my head into the bark, ignoring the slight pain as I wished with all of my might for me to wake up and realize all of this was just a bad dream.
But things never worked the way I wanted them to.
Something I should have known yet again.
“Alessandro.”
My jaw snapped shut, my teeth biting down and slowly I opened my eyes to see Giovani standing before me, a calm look on his face.
Don’t show your weakness, I thought to myself, trying to remember everything I’d learned about holding in my temper.
Don’t let him have the satisfaction of seeing me break, I thought.
“What?” I bit out, the anger seeping out anyway, just as it always did. “What could you possibly want from me now?”
Giovani tilted his head with no sign of anything on his face, and God, I hated him for that. It was the part of him that I resented the most, to so easily be able to lock away his emotions, so logical like a goddamn robot.
Well, I was done. There was nothing else he could take from me.
I snapped.
“What?” I screamed, jumping to my feet as I got in his face, a snarl on my lips. “What more do you want to take from me, you fucking asshole? You’ve fucked me over for the last time, Giovani, because I’ve got nothing else! You got the girl I loved, the position that should’ve been mine. Even my fucking parents loved you more than me! What the fuck could you possibly want with me now?”
“Alessandro–” he called out.
But I wasn’t fucking done yet.
“Are you here to gloat?” I shot at him, my body shaking with fury as I finally laid out all of my grievances on him. “Here to show off how you won? How you finally manage to destroy me and everything I’ve worked for? How you had me running around like a goddamn rat for you, doing whatever you wanted while you never even intended to give me the Don position in the first place! You said you trusted me, gave me my own team, and let me handle things! Was that all just a fucking lie to placate me? Just a way to wield your holier-than-thou attitude against me? Were all of you just fucking laughing at me behind my back this whole time?”
“Ales–”
“Cause I’m done!” I threw my hands in the hair, stepping back from Giovani with a snarl. “I’m fucking done with you and all of this. You can all go back to your perfect lives and I’ll go fuck off like you all want me to!”
The only sound that came after was my heavy breathing as I fought to catch my breath, the tension between the two of us thick in the cold night air, so thick it felt like trying to breathe through molasses. I could almost reach out and grab it with my hands, but the exhaustion followed after the anger faded away.
Disappointment lodged in my throat, the misery squeezing my heart for every last drop of grief I had left yet. It was agony, standing there in the silence between us, waiting for him to give his last judgment, to finally kick me out of the family like they should’ve done long ago.
I should have known from the beginning that this was never my place to begin with, that I didn’t belong here.
I was too broken.
“Alessandro,” Giovani called out, stepping forward and laying a hand on my shoulder. I wanted to shrug him off but I was too exhausted. “You are not broken.”
I flinched, glancing up at him with wide eyes. Did I say that out loud? How the fuck did he–
He gave me a sad smile, a knowing one, and I felt like he could see straight through me, past all of the anger I hid behind. It was uncomfortable like I was naked in front of an audience.
“You have your own strengths and your own flaws, Alessandro,” Giovani continued softly. “You were honestly one of my top choices, but ultimately, you are an emotional person, and that’s not a bad thing. But one of the hardest decisions to make as a Don is when to think with your brain and not your heart.”
He tapped me right over the organ and I swallowed uncomfortably.
“Being the Don isn’t everything and I doubt it would actually make you happy, Alessandro,” Giovani told me plainly, “So take that big heart of yours and all of those strengths that make you a better man than me, and use them to carve out your own path.”
And suddenly, I wasn’t angry anymore.
I shrugged off his touch, stepping back again as I grabbed my wrist and thought deeply about what he said.
“I get what you’re saying, I do,” I told him quietly. “And I know that Tallon is the better choice, that he can… lead better. But It’s still hard to accept. I’ve worked for this for my entire life and you want me to just give it up? I need… time.”
Giovani nodded, giving me a reassuring smile as he said, “Take your time, then, Alessandro. We’ll always be here, happy to have you.”
I nodded, still feeling low but better than I had. I didn’t feel like I was about to explode, and that was progress, I supposed. I made my way out of the garden, but a nagging voice in my head stopped me.
I sighed, glancing at Giovani one last time as I said, “Tell Tallon congrats for me. That’s the best I can do for now.”
“Will do.” Giovani nodded in agreement.
And I left. There was nobody there to stop me, and I could hear the party still going from the dining room when I stepped into the house once more. I caught a glimpse through the open door of Tallon, laughing as he was surrounded by our family, grins and happy wishes thrown his way. I turned away with a heavy heart.
I was never the life of the party anymore, not like Tallon.
I should have known that.
*Tallon*
Fifteen years later
If there was one place you never wanted to spend your thirty-third birthday, it was inside a local bar at midnight drinking a cold beer in a virtually empty city, especially since said bar was the most sketchy-looking place in all of Tuscany.
But here I was, sitting on the stool at the bar and not even daring to put my hands on the filthy counter, as the bartender stared me and my companion down with a sour look as if we were ruining his night, which we might have since the last call was two hours ago.
But did said companion care?
“Happy birthday to you!”
