Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“Hop in, I’ll drive. We can check her favorite places first, then call in backup if we still don’t find her,” he said.
I got into the passenger seat and nodded my thanks to him. I really was lucky to have him in my life.
“Alright, where should we go first?” Vinny asked. “Where do you think she would go to try to cool down?”
“Maybe that cafe she likes downtown,” I suggested, not feeling particularly hopeful that we would find her. I couldn’t understand why she wouldn’t at least text me back and tell me she was okay. My heart squeezed with anxiety.
We drove to the same cafe that I had once found her in a long time ago. I walked in, my heart hopeful as I looked around the room. My eyes passed over a small brunette sitting in the corner and I did a double take, my heart stuttering, but she glanced around the room and it wasn’t Natalia.
I turned to Vinny and shook my head, leaving the cafe before the people behind the counter could ask us if we needed anything.
We got back in the car and Vinny waited for me to direct him where to go next. I pulled my phone out just in case Natalia had finally reached out to me, but of course, she hadn’t.
“You know what? Let’s go look on foot. I think the walk would do you some good,” Vinny said gently when he saw the distress on my face.
He drove to a parking garage and parked in a discrete corner of the third story. Luckily all of our vehicles were nearly unidentifiable, so we didn’t need to worry about our enemies trying to break in.
I sighed and got out of the car, deciding to wander in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio. I remembered that Natalia had said she liked to walk across it to clear her mind sometimes. It was a few blocks to the east of the parking garage.
I kept my head on a swivel, looking back and forth and desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of her in the crowds of people on the street. There was some sort of festival going on in the block just before the bridge. Live music blared out of large speakers that had been placed every few feet and a large crowd danced in front of a small stage that held a band playing an eclectic mix of pop and folk music.
This was exactly the sort of thing that would have Natalia stopping and deciding to bob along to the music, but looking in the crowd, I didn’t see anyone who even remotely looked like her.
I snuck around the stage and continued on my way toward the Ponte Vecchio. The old shops that led up to it were very active, but I didn’t think Natalia would be in any of them. Being a big tourist attraction, they weren’t exactly the best place to go if she wanted to clear her head.
Of course, if her goal was simply to elude me, then it would make sense to hide in a place that I wouldn’t even think to look. My thoughts were in an endless circle and I stopped in front of one of the little shops, hand on the door, indecision paralyzing me.
I stopped myself from going inside. No, I knew Natalia. She wasn’t just running away from me. She had to have gone somewhere where she could think over our argument and get herself in the right headspace to see me again.
I just hoped I could find her in time to apologize before she could twist herself into knots wondering what I had meant by saying our wedding wasn’t important. I needed to be able to tell her that I had misspoken.
Vinny and I walked in silence and I could feel his disapproval.
“What? Clearly, you want to say something,” I said, tired of his judging silence.
“Nothing, Tallon,” he sighed, disappointment evident in his tone of voice. “I just really wish we didn’t have to be doing this right now.”
“Me fucking too,” I responded tersely. “Trust me, nobody is angrier with myself than I am right now.”
He nodded. “Alright, let’s get my men on this. With just the two of us, we’re never going to find her.”
He pulled his phone out and shot off a few quick texts. I desperately hoped that the help of his men would be enough.
Would I be able to find her in time to ensure that she forgave me?
*Natalia*
“It’s just a wedding. It’s not that important… just a wedding… not important… not important….”
Tallon’s cruel words persistently replayed in my head as I paced the perimeter of our bedroom. It went on like a broken record in my head because I still couldn’t wrap my mind around any of it.
‘How could he not care about our wedding?’ I asked myself.
I was glad I’d walked out of the room when I had because God only knew what I would have said back to him. Part of me was faintly aware that Tallon was speaking out of anger for what I had done. And, yes, I knew I should have told him what my plan was when it came to finally dealing with Bianca.
He’d tried for weeks to make me think differently about her, to make me assume that all of it was in my head–the constant appearances in public, booking the same venue, picking the same dress.
It all became just too damn much.
And instead of supporting me, or hell—just believing me—Tallon kept playing it off. So I needed to take matters into my own hands, and I had absolutely zero regrets. Because now, I at least knew the truth. I wasn’t crazy, nor was I imagining any of it.
But Tallon didn’t seem to care about that. He was more upset at the fact that I went behind his back and tried to deal with this problem on my own. I wanted to understand his side of things and, for a brief moment, I did.
But then he’d gone ahead and threw out his true feelings about our wedding.
‘Maybe he really doesn’t care about us getting married at all,’ I thought bitterly to myself. ‘I should have realized that from the beginning.’
I stopped my pacing and hissed under my breath. “Fine. If this is how he truly feels, then I really don’t need to be here right now.”
I reached into my pocket for my phone, quickly pulled up Mia’s number, and waited for her answer. Thankfully, it only took two rings before I heard her calm voice come through the speaker.
“Hey, Nat. What’s going on?” she asked.
I glanced around the empty room and felt myself shrinking more and more by the second. My stomach continued to twist in knots as my head filled with awful doubt. Was all of this just a mistake–all the planning, the need to try and make everything perfect and special?
“Natalia?” Mia’s voice was laced with concern, which snapped me out of my mental train of thought.
I cleared my throat. “Sorry, Mia. Everything’s… well… alright. To be honest, I feel like everything’s pretty much fallen to shit,” I admitted.
“What the hell happened?”
I shook my head and ran my hand through my hair in frustration. “It’s a long story,” I told her.
“Well, you’re not allowed to leave me in this kind of suspense,” she remarked flatly. “Why don’t you come over to my place and tell me everything?”
My nerves happily loosened up at the sound of her invitation. Even though it felt like I’d just got back home, I was finding myself reaching for my bag again.
“Sounds perfect,” I confirmed. “I’ll be over there as soon as I can.”
I ended the call and decided that I was going to drive myself over to Mia’s. Deep down, I knew Tallon would have preferred that someone else drove me there, but I desperately needed a break… from him, his men, and his world.
I tossed my bag over my shoulder and headed toward my car. I earned one or two suspecting looks from the men stationed around the main doors, but I hastily brushed them off. What was more surprising was that Tallon was nowhere to be found.
A sad part of me would have thought that he’d at least try and speak to me again.
But I guess I was wrong again.
***
I sent Mia a text the moment I got to the apartment complex, letting her know I’d arrived. I gave myself one last glance in the rearview mirror of my car to check out how swollen and red my eyes were. The second I’d gotten behind the wheel, I’d felt my whole body begin to crumble to pieces.
Quickly fixing any makeup that may have rolled off my face, I locked my car and dropped my keys into my bag. I kept my head ducked low as I walked through the main doors of the building and headed up to Mia’s floor.
I lifted the back of my hand to knock on the door.
