Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Cut the bullshit, Bianca,” I said pointedly. “How have you been getting information about my wedding plans?”
She sighed and hung her head, finally giving up the innocent act. I stood up and walked closer to her again. “Tell me who has been feeding you information,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.
I knew I was being over the top, but I was pissed. I had never done anything to this woman, but she had inserted herself into my life in the worst way. I was sick of acting like it didn’t bother me.
“It’s just a friend of mine who works at the venue. Her name is Liza. Please, don’t get her fired. She was just trying to help me out; we’ve been close for a long time. She has no idea who you are. I told her that you were someone I knew from an old job who had been horrible to me. She thought that’s why I was trying to get in your way.”
“I’ll be honest. It’s going to be pretty tough for me to feel comfortable working with Liza after this. How do I know she won’t try to sabotage things in her own way?” Knowing that Bianca had been spreading lies about me only made me angrier.
“No, please, don’t tell her boss. I promise I’ll come clean to her. I’ll tell her that I was being petty and jealous. I never really got over Tallon and when I found out that he was getting married… I don’t know, it’s like something just snapped. I guess I always thought that maybe we’d find our way back to each other someday, and it shocked me to find out he was marrying someone else.”
Tears began to well up in her eyes, and I turned my face so I wouldn’t have to see her cry. I wanted to intimidate her, but that didn’t mean I was heartless. It was obvious that she had some unresolved issues.
“I will be calling the venue and asking to speak to Liza tomorrow to ensure that you aren’t lying right now. You have until the rest of the evening to come clean with her. And if I even get so much as a hint that you are messing with my wedding again, you will seriously regret it. I know a lot more about you than you know about me. Don’t ever forget that.”
I turned and walked out the door without looking back. My anger was spent, and I found that in its place I felt an uncomfortable sadness. Although I didn’t regret what I had done, I did feel a kind of pity for Bianca. Knowing how wonderful Tallon was, I couldn’t imagine losing him.
On the car ride home, I grew excited to see Tallon that evening. I knew that he would be home waiting for me, and now that I had finally put an end to Bianca’s shit, I couldn’t wait to be able to truly start wedding planning without feeling like I needed to be watching my back. I also hoped this meant that Tallon and I would never have to talk about her again; I had no desire for her name to ever be on his lips.
Once home, I walked into the kitchen to pour a cup of tea. After the interaction I’d just had, I needed something to calm my adrenaline a bit. Tallon was seated at the table, his back turned to me.
I walked over and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, loving the feeling of his embrace. To my surprise, I felt him tense under my touch instead of relaxing into it. I stood up, ready to ask him what was wrong, but before I could even get a word out, he got out of his chair and turned to face me, his eyes cold and angry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked quietly, hating the way that my voice came out meek.
He looked over my shoulder, his jaw tight and eyes unfocused, as if he was trying to think of what to say. I wanted nothing more than to cross the distance between us and wrap my arms around him, but he might as well have put up a wall of ice between us for how closed-off he seemed. I was terrified that he would just push me away if I tried to hug him.
“You went after Bianca?” he finally asked, focusing his eyes directly on me.
At that, it was like a lightning bolt had struck my spine, and all meekness I had been feeling in the face of his anger burned away. My whole body went rigid with disbelief.
“Yes, I did. And I was right!” I stopped myself just short of shouting.
He shook his head, his disappointment obvious. I waited for what he was going to say, knowing that whatever came next would be a defining moment in our relationship.
*Tallon*
“What do you think, Vin? Should we put a few of Alessandro’s men here, just to beef up the security for a few weeks?” I turned around to see Vinny shuffling nervously from one foot to the other.
“Um, what was that?” he asked, refusing to meet my gaze.
We were examining one of our warehouses by the docks, but it was obvious that his head was not in the right space to be making important decisions. I waved my fingers in front of him.
“Come on, man, pay attention,” I snapped.
I tried hard not to pull rank with Vinny, but our life was too important to let anyone start slacking. If he couldn’t pay attention, he needed to tell me. In our line of work, our heads always had to be in the game.
“I’m sorry, I just have a lot on my mind,” he muttered. “What were you saying?”
“I’m worried that the new ferry they’ve got is going to bring a few too many tourists into the area. Should we beef up security for a few weeks and go from there? I don’t want anybody accidentally wandering in here and seeing something they shouldn’t see.”
Most of the locals vaguely knew to stay away from the docks for this exact reason, but we couldn’t expect tourists to extend us the same courtesy. I was terrified that some brash Americans would stumble their way into our warehouse and blow up our whole operation.
“Yeah, sure, that sounds good,” Vinny responded, already sounding as if he had tuned me out.
I stopped walking and stared him down, my arms crossed over my chest. I loved Vinny like a brother, but he was seriously starting to piss me off. The last thing I wanted was to have to be here for twice as long just because he couldn’t seem to keep his thoughts straight.
“Seriously, what’s going on with you?” I asked, making it clear that I wouldn’t accept anything less than the truth.
To my surprise, he sighed and hung his head. My irritation quickly turned into worry as I waited for him to tell me what was bothering him.
“It’s Natalia,” he said, his eyes on the floor.
My heart was in my throat. What about Natalia could possibly have him so distracted? As far as I knew, they barely even interacted outside of family dinners.
“What about her? Am I seriously going to have to drag this out of you like I’m pulling teeth? Come on, Vinny.”
It was childish and stupid, but I felt a flash of jealousy that he knew something about my fiance that I didn’t know. I didn’t like being left in the dark, especially when it came to the woman I loved.
“She told me she wanted Bianca’s address and I gave it to her. I think Natalia went over there to confront her. I know it was fucking idiotic of me to give Natalia the address, but I thought maybe it would help her realize that she had nothing to worry about. I didn’t know that she was going to confront Bianca, or at least, I didn’t think she would actually go through with it. I just thought if I showed her that she had my loyalty, then it might help settle her down a bit.”
His words came out in a rush. I saw red as I realized what he had done.
“So you’re telling me that Natalia went behind my back? And you helped her do this?” I asked, my voice dangerously quiet. I was embarrassed that Vinny was involved in this; it was a petty argument between Natalia and me that never should have involved him.
“I’m sorry, man. I really thought it would help. It wasn’t until after that I realized I should have just told her to talk to you about it.”
Vinny looked miserable, but I didn’t have it in me to reassure him. I was pissed that my supposed best friend would allow my fiance to go behind my back.
“I need to leave,” I said tersely, then I walked out without another word. I needed to get home to Natalia and assess the damage that she had done.
I was fuming the entire ride home, my mind circling what had happened over and over again. I vowed to try to approach the situation calmly with Natalia, but it was difficult to calm myself down enough to know that we would have a productive conversation. I just hoped that she would somehow have a valid reason for what she had done, beyond simple jealousy.
I got home before she did and went to sit at the kitchen table, waiting for her. I didn’t have to wait long. She waltzed into the kitchen, acting as if nothing had happened. I wondered if she had even planned on telling me what she had done, or if she was going to try and keep it a secret. I kept my back turned to her and tried to take a deep breath, reminding myself to at least give her a chance to come clean.
Instead of saying anything, she came up behind me and wrapped her arms around me. Although I normally would find immense comfort in her touch, I couldn’t relax into her embrace. Instead, I took it as proof that she was already planning on lying to me about what she had done that day. I stood up to face her, trying to collect my thoughts.
“What’s wrong?” she asked in a small voice.
The fact that she had the audacity to act like she didn’t know what I was pissed off about only made me angrier. Her innocent act would not get her far with me. I knew exactly how smart she was, and thanks to how we’d met, I knew how sneaky she could be. I just didn’t think she would ever try to trick me again after everything we’d been through.
“You went after Bianca?” I finally just came out and said it. I didn’t want to give her the opportunity to lie to me. I wanted it to be clear that I knew exactly what she had done.
She straightened slightly and I could tell by the set of her jaw that she was done with the innocent act.
“Yes I did. And I was right!” She damn near yelled in my face.
I shook my head and brought my hand up to smooth my forehead, trying with all my might to keep this from turning into a full blown argument but knowing it was a losing battle.
“It doesn’t matter if you were right, Natalia,” I said tersely.
“So you don’t care at all that your ex-girlfriend has been trying to sabotage our wedding?” she demanded, her eyes stormy.
“I never thought you would stoop so low, to be honest. I thought you were better than this. Surely you know that I chose you! Nothing Bianca does even matters. Don’t you get that?” My words came out pleading. I was desperate to keep this from turning into something worse, but I could tell that she had settled in and wouldn’t budge on her thinking.
