Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“I always knew the guy who killed Vinny had something to do with the life, but I had no idea he was so prolific,” I said.
“Yup, and that’s another thing. He killed Vinny purely to make a point. It was senseless and it shows exactly the kind of piece of shit that Antonio is. He doesn’t respect human life at all. I’m a brutal son of a bitch when it’s necessary, but Antonio’s brutal just for the sake of brutality.”
His words filled me with rage as I thought about the people I loved being targeted. The first person I thought about was Cat. Antonio was the man who had killed her father in cold blood. I was sure he would love the chance to take her out as well.
“Alright, thanks for telling me everything,” I said. “I’ve got to get going. I’ll be in touch.”
I sped back to my house as quickly as possible, praying Caterina would still be there. I knew it had pissed her off when I left without explanation, but I hoped she had at least waited around so I could apologize again.
I was desperate to see her after hearing from Alessandro that she could be in serious danger. In my head I knew there was no way that she had gotten into any trouble in the short time I’d been talking with Alessandro, but my heart would be in my throat until I laid eyes on her and could confirm for myself that she was safe and sound.
I walked into my house and felt my whole body go slack with relief to see her sitting at my dining room table eating a bowl of oatmeal. I walked over and knelt beside her, pulling her hand into both of mine. She looked at me with surprise, her mouth full of oatmeal.
“I’m so sorry for rushing out like that,” I said, worried that she was still angry.
“It’s okay,” she managed to say around her food, looking confused. She swallowed her bite and said, “What’s wrong? You look so stressed out. Is it because of the fire?”
I hated that I was about to lie to her, but it felt like she’d be safer if she didn’t know anything.
“Yeah, I’m really worried about it. I just feel like someone did it on purpose to try to threaten me.”
As I spoke, an idea came to me that I knew could alleviate my stress.
“Is there any chance you and your mom would move in with me? Not permanently, of course, but just for now so I can make sure you’re safe.”
She looked even more confused. “Why would we do that? I don’t really want to move in here with my mom.”
“Please, Cat, I’m just worried about your safety. If someone’s targeting me, it’s only a matter of time before they figure out how important you are to me. The idea of you being in danger terrifies me. I couldn’t think straight the whole drive here because I was so stressed about it.”
Her brow furrowed as she looked down at me. I could tell she wanted to argue, but she seemed conflicted about it. I wondered what was stopping her, normally she didn’t hesitate to lay into me.
“I don’t want to do that, Elio,” she said quietly before turning away from me and back to her oatmeal.
I stood up and turned around, trying to hide my frustration. The last thing I wanted to do was take my anger at Antonio out on Caterina. It wasn’t her fault that she didn’t understand the danger here, considering I was the one avoiding telling her the whole truth.
I took a deep breath and turned back around, sitting in the chair across from Cat but reaching out to take her hand again. I was working hard to keep this conversation calm.
“I know it sounds crazy, but I’m just asking you to trust me right now. I’m begging you to trust me, Cat. I need to ensure that you’re going to be safe.”
She kept her eyes down, refusing to look up at me. I reached out and tucked my finger under her chin, gently lifting it so that she met my eye.
“Hey, sweetheart, what’s wrong?” I asked softly.
Normally I’d have expected her to be yelling at me indignantly if I kept insisting on something after she’d said no. I didn’t want her to think that being my girlfriend meant she couldn’t argue with me anymore. Her feisty attitude was a pain in my ass, but it was also part of what I loved about her. She was passionate about her beliefs, and that was a good thing. I would never want to stifle that.
“I feel like if I argue with you, you’ll just see me as the stupid kid I used to be,” she finally said, biting her lip anxiously.
“Caterina, how could you ever think that? You’re seriously afraid that I don’t see you for the woman that you are? After what we did last night? I promise you, nothing you do will ever make me think of you as a kid. I respect you too much for that.”
I moved my hand from her chin to cup her cheek. She turned and kissed the palm of my hand, the sad look in her eyes finally starting to go away.
She turned back to me with a sassy smile. “Well in that case, no, absolutely not. We’re not moving in here.”
I rolled my eyes; I didn’t know why I had expected anything different.
“Alright, fine, but I’m moving in with you two until I know things are safe.”
“Come on, Elio. What does a warehouse fire have to do with my safety? You’re being ridiculous,” she said in exasperation.
“I’m just being cautious. I care about you too much to risk your safety.” I knew it was a flimsy excuse, but I had no idea what else to say to her.
She sighed, frustrated that I was obviously keeping something from her. I had no idea how I was going to be able to keep her safe without telling her the truth about everything, but I was determined to try.
*Caterina*
I finished my oatmeal while Elio made a few phone calls. I noticed the fact that he had walked into his bedroom and shut the door so that I couldn’t listen in.
In spite of my best efforts to keep my temper in check, the fact that he was continuing to keep things from me was starting to seriously infuriate me.
I brought my bowl over to the kitchen and slammed it roughly in the sink, not bothering to clean it off. I knew I was being petty, but I didn’t care. I had let myself be so vulnerable in front of him. I had told him that I was trying so hard to be different, and all he did was push me away and tell me what to do. It was a slap in the face, and it made me feel incredibly disrespected.
It was exactly like how he used to treat me, just making demands and expecting me to follow along. But there was no way in hell I was going to let him think that his age meant he had the right to tell me what to do.
I shoved into his bedroom, not caring that the door banged open and interrupted his phone call. He asked the person on the phone to hold on and pressed the mute button so he could talk to me.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked, obviously noting the way I was angrily gathering my things.
“You’re hiding shit from me, and I don’t like it. I’m going to see Anna,” I said tersely.
“Please, will you just head to your house? I’ll follow you and then we can talk more about this.”
I hated the way he sounded so appeasing, like he was just trying to calm me down but didn’t really care how I felt. I wanted him to fight back and stop treating me like I just needed to follow whatever he wanted.
“I’ll get home later,” I said vaguely, unwilling to clarify any more than that.
I turned on my heel before he could say another word and hurried out of his house. I had parked a block away so that I could surprise him the night before, a decision that I was quickly coming to regret. How could it be that the same man who had held me so sweetly all night was also the one who turned around and acted like a fucking dictator?
I got to Anna’s apartment and knocked on the door, hoping she wasn’t out. Thankfully, she answered wearing sweatpants. Her TV was blaring old reruns of her favorite show, making it obvious that she had planned on spending the next few hours at home. I felt guilty for interrupting her relaxation time, but I needed her.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, reading my emotions all over my face.
“Everything.” I sighed, walking past her to flop down on her couch.
My phone went off and I pulled it out of my pocket, seeing a text from Elio flash across the screen.
“When are you coming back?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes and ignored it. If he thought he could keep tabs on me, he had another thing coming. I might be happy to call him my boyfriend, but that did not give him the right to know where I was and what I was doing all the time.
Anna sat next to me on the couch. With our feet curled up together, I explained to her everything that had happened since Elio and I had woken up that morning, including our discussion of our relationship, which made her squeal and clap her hands excitedly. I loved that she was so happy for me, but I had to immediately burst her bubble by going on to explain everything that Elio had done to piss me off the rest of the day.
She sat and thought for a minute, mulling over what I’d told her. “I definitely agree that something weird is going on,” she finally said. “But is it possible that the whole Paul fiasco is what’s making him extra cautious? Maybe he’s not hiding anything from you. Maybe he’s just worried like he said.”
“I don’t know,” I said, feeling like there was a lot more to it than that. “You didn’t see the way he was acting when he was talking to Alessandro. It was so weird.”