Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 815 : Bad Blood

*Cat*

I didn’t sleep that night.

With the clock endlessly ticking the hours in my ear and how I felt both too cold and too hot, I shifted between Elio’s embrace and the edge of the bed in an attempt to get comfortable, but none of it worked.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw Junior, his sadistic grin from my memories merging with the one I’d seen today. I kept imagining I was hearing a gunshot, with blood on my palms as my Mom bled out in front of me and his back as he ran like he hadn’t barged in to shatter my world.

It was maddening to know that he was now back and able to reach me anytime. But what bothered me the most was what would have happened if Emilia had been with me. If Junior had seen the family I had made, well, I kept remembering the promise he’d made back when I was trapped under his thumb.

‘You’re nothing without me,’ he’d sneered. ‘I will make it my mission to destroy anything that brings you happiness if you leave me, then I’ll drag you back to my side to be miserable together.’

His words still burned, especially now that I had something I wanted so desperately to protect.

Elio slept soundly, much to my ire and relief, completely unaware of my struggles as he dreamed. Eventually, I started tracing the freckles on his back, trying to count sheep in my mind to fall asleep.

It worked, but the restless sleep had me waking before the sun had even risen. I finally gave up on sleep for the night, gently climbing out of bed so I wouldn’t wake Elio. He had work early this morning and I had to take care of the last few plans for the wedding.

I pulled on my fluffy robe, the stone floors cold on my bare feet as I left the bedroom. I stopped in to check on Emilia but much like her father, she was fast asleep, completely unaware of the rest of the world.

I headed downstairs and to the kitchen. The cooks weren’t even here yet, so I fumbled in the semi-dark to make myself some coffee. The smell of the brew in the early morning helped greatly with refreshing my mind, and I sat down at the table with my favorite mug filled with a darker-than-I-normally-drank coffee.

I took a sip, wincing at the bitterness, but it certainly helped to keep me awake.

God knew I needed it.

But the longer I sat there in the empty space, up way too early with bleary eyes, the more I realized that Junior wasn’t leaving my mind. Like a virus that had invaded and taken up every corner of my thoughts, I grew more anxious by the minute.

What was Junior’s plan? Why did he threaten me in broad daylight just to drive away, leaving me and Anna unharmed? Why even come at all? Just to make a statement?

There was something deeply wrong about the whole situation, but I didn’t think like a psychopath so once my head started to hurt, I decided to give up. But my thoughts took a new turn this time, toward Elio’s family.

Giovani and Olivia had told us why they had left the business, handing it down to Tallon, who left once he got married to his wife and they had a child. And even before them, Elio’s grandparents had left too.

It was a pattern that I was beginning to understand.

The kidnapping of their son had deeply traumatized Olivia, and though Elio didn’t remember it because he was so young, I was starting to understand why his parents had decided to leave the family, and why Tallon and Natalia had left before the birth of their own child.

Fear.

Being a mother to a beautiful baby girl myself, the constant threats one after another had taken their toll on me, and though I had Elio by my side, I was growing weary.

Antonio, Katz, Ignacio, and now Junior–it felt never-ending, like they were all the same enemy who always came back to terrorize us, just changing his face and name each time.

Elio kept telling me it was over after they caught the bad guy, that we would be safe, but then someone else showed up to take that place and we had to worry and stress out about him.

We always came back victorious, but was the damage that happened along the way really worth it?

I was so tired now, sitting at the kitchen table all alone, missing hours of sleep because I was worrying about people who were after my family. I was envious of Elio, who was confident in his ability to overcome this new threat, jealous of Emilia’s innocence as she had no idea someone else was after her life... but most of all, I was scared.

I was terrified that this would always be our life, chasing after some new threat and me losing sleep over and over again until I finally cracked and went insane. Or worse, that a new threat would finally get too big for us, that the gamble we played would finally come up with our loss.

I tightened my hold on my mug, breathing shakily.

I didn’t even know what I wanted at the moment. I loved our little life and loved being involved with the family. The danger, as much as it was terrifying, was also exciting as I never knew what would happen next.

Monotony had never been my strong suit, but....

I felt like a little stability and fewer surprises might be better for our family, especially Emilia. I felt guilty even thinking about it, after how hard we’d found it to involve ourselves in the family, how hard Elio had worked to take the position of Don here.

But I couldn’t help the one anxious thought that surrounded me like a bitter icy wind.

if Junior found out about our daughter, about this little bit of happiness I’d made for myself, he’d do anything in his power to crush it.

And I wasn’t sure there would be anything I could do about it.

I’d made myself busy by the time Eli woke up, deciding to make breakfast on my own to keep my thoughts from drifting back to the dark ones. I knew Elio had noticed my quietness but didn’t question me, which I was thankful for.

After breakfast, Elio had to head off to work and he wrapped me in a hug from behind, kissing my cheek.

“You sure you’re okay?” he whispered worriedly. “You’ve been quiet all morning.”

“I’m just tired. I got up a little earlier than I planned,” I put on a fake smile, reassuring him with a lie so I didn’t worry him too much. I didn’t want to tell anybody how I was feeling right now, especially not Elio, at least until I figured out what I was feeling and why, and what I wanted to do about it.

Elio didn’t believe me. It was clear by the look on his face. But he sighed, not pushing for answers as he gave me a quick kiss. “I’ll meet you later at the wedding planner’s office. You’re meeting the band at noon, right? For the setlist?” 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

“Yes, don’t be late.” I gave him a playful grin.

“I won’t, I promise.” He laughed, stepping away to pull Emilia out of her now messy high chair.

He washed her face, changing her clothes and once he came back, they were both ready, Elio in his nice suit, looking confident and handsome, and Emilia in a cute little onesie with a tutu skirt, her hair pulled into ponytails that her daddy did for her every day.

Ever since her hair had gotten long enough to actually bunch them up, he’d been learning from me and my mom about how to do her hair up, taking those extra special minutes in the morning to fix her hair.

Normally, it would melt my heart and I’d shower them both with compliments. But I only smiled, taking Emilia from him as he kissed her forehead, kissed me once last time, and then was off. It was only when I heard the door shut that my smile fell and I slumped over.

It was going to be a long day.

I focused on spending time with Emilia all morning, watching her favorite cartoon with her and even getting on the floor to play pretend. I even helped practice walking with her, which was more of encouraging her to stand on her feet and then helping her up when she fell on her bottom again.

But she seemed to enjoy it, so that was all that mattered.

When it was about eleven o’clock, I grabbed Emilia, helping Tony and the other guard set up the car seat before we rolled off to our wedding planner’s office. Once we arrived, Tony went inside with me to ensure we were safe, which luckily our wedding planner didn’t mind.

She was certainly getting paid enough to overlook the few oddities of our case. Mostly, I think she just assumed we were a high-class family or celebrities keeping it on the down low. But she didn’t pry, which was why we had chosen her.

I met the band and we went over some of the songs Elio and I had chosen, though it was a bit awkward seeing as Elio still hadn’t arrived. Despite his promise to be on time, he was late. Again.

It was fifteen minutes past when Elio strolled in, apologizing frantically. It turned out he didn’t really need to be there either as it was mostly me and the wedding planner choosing the setlist. Elio threw in a few suggestions, but I could tell he was distracted and mostly didn’t care too much.

The seating charts, however, were where Elio shined. Seeing as it was mostly his family, he wasted no time in dividing up the tables, though I was a bit concerned by a few of the tables he said were just reserved for ‘Cousin Capone’s.’

Still, our wedding planner’s discretion was top of the field, only giving a wide smile and nodding along, though I could tell she had her suspicions brewing in the back of her mind.

By the time we left, Emilia had started getting fussy, clearly not happy to sit still, and Elio decided to drive us home himself.

He told me all about his meeting with Franky, giving me the details, which very quickly soured my mood. Going from wedding planning to hearing about the efforts to catch Junior was like night and day.

There was just too much bad blood between us.

But I did feel a little better hearing that he was being tracked, and that he wouldn’t be able to get near us again.

But the nagging feeling in the back of my mind, the small desire that was blooming into an insistent need, wouldn’t leave my mind.

It was the one that screamed that we needed to get out of this life.

But I didn’t say a word to Elio, keeping my tongue tied and my mouth shut. Because saying those words aloud felt like betraying him.