Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
***
I’d decided on a long, hot shower in hopes of working out some of the stress my muscles held since the morning. As much as I tried to forget about the whole encounter with Elio, I couldn’t.
I tried to think through several different possibilities as to why he saw the need to leave me out this time. It was then that I remembered about the strange phone call Elio had received in the middle of the night. I couldn’t tell who exactly was on the other end of the line, but what I did notice was how tense Elio became afterward.
The thought then occurred to me… not only did he not include me, but intentionally didn’t tell me about the meeting until it was too late for me to be a part of it. What the hell kind of shit was that?
Once I was put together, I reached for my phone to call Anna. If anyone could help me see logic in my anger, it was her.
Two rings went by before I heard her voice come through the other side of the line.
“Hey, Cat.”
“Hey, Anna.”
Apparently, the trepidation in my voice was easily picked up.
“Is everything okay?” Anna asked. “You normally don’t reach out to me this early unless something has happened.”
I paused. “Well….”
“Cat. Did something happen?” she asked sternly.
I let out a long sigh of frustration. “It’s Elio,” I muttered.
I knew I couldn’t very well fill Anna in on ‘all’ the details of the issue, so I made it a point to alter the truth just slightly for everyone’s sake.
“Elio told me that he wanted to include me in on a meeting at work to help me gain some experience,” I told her.
“That sounds great,” she said.
“Exactly. I really thought that he was finally taking me seriously in wanting to be involved in his work and was willing to bring me in on the important parts.”
The anger that I’d managed to tamper down from earlier was beginning to flare up again by the second.
“So, what happened?”
Another huff of irritation slipped from my mouth.
“Well, it’s just that… for a while now, Elio’s been on board about including me when it counts at his work, yet he proceeded to completely disregard me this morning when he blatantly refused to let me go with him,” I explained. “I thought we were finally past the whole keeping me at a distance phase, and now he decided to pull this.”
“Cat, it sounds like you and Elio really need to sit down and talk about this,” Anna suggested. “I think it’s great that he wants to include you in his work, but if he’s persistently keeping you away then you need to know why.”
As usual, Anna was right. There was little to no point in skulking over Elio’s actions, though he had left me feeling angry and upset with little to no explanation.
“Maybe something came up in his schedule, and it just wasn’t the right time to bring you into his work,” she said.
My brows raised while my thoughts immediately took me back to the mysterious call that I’d overheard last night. Something obviously happened that required Elio’s immediate attention. Maybe it wasn’t necessary for me to be physically brought in, but the least that he could have done was just tell me about it.
Nonetheless, I felt much better having spoken with Anna. She’d asked about Italy and told her a few bits and pieces from my trip before I came to the startling realization that I had yet to inform my mom about my return home. I quickly ended the call and grabbed my bag.
Key in hand, I hastily made my way down to my mother’s apartment and lightly knocked on the door. Just as I was about to turn the key into the lock, I saw the doorknob twist open. My heart jumped into my throat when I came to see that it was my mom who answered the door.
“Oh, my God!” I gasped in shock.
My mom’s face lit up with both surprise and happiness. “Cat! You’re home! Oh, dear, how was the trip?”
I nearly shrugged off her question as though it held little consequence.
My mother was walking again. Granted, she was relying heavily on her walker, but she was walking. It was almost enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes, seeing her regaining her life back one step at a time.
I led us back into the living room. “Florence was beautiful and every bit of how I once remembered it,” I said. “It was incredible to go back.”
Her features softened with blissful ease as I told her all about the art galleries and museums we went to. My mom’s smile widened further with every new detail. I could tell that she missed the place deeply. When it finally came to reaching her full recovery, I made a mental promise to myself that she and I would go back to Florence again.
For the remainder of the afternoon, we spent most of our time catching up until I heard the sudden noise of my phone buzzing on the coffee table.
I quickly glanced down at the screen to see that it was Elio’s name being displayed. For some strange reason, I felt a twinge of uneasiness.
I pushed my slighted feelings to the side and answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Al just called me,” Elio said. “He has an update on Antonio.”
*Elio*
“What happened?” Caterina’s voice perked up, sounding eager as she asked questions I couldn’t answer. “Did they find him? What about Junior? Are they tracing them right now so we don’t lose them? Did they get away, or—”
“Calm down.”
I smirked, shaking my head at how obviously excited she was about catching the bastard, even though most people would be scared out of their minds to face down such a hardened criminal.
Her fearlessness was one of the things I loved the most about her.
“I don’t want to discuss anything over the phone,” I explained. “We’re finishing up the meeting here, and I’ll be home soon to fill you in on everything, alright?”
“Okay,” she said softly.
I wanted to apologize for the way I’d stormed out and kept her in the dark about what was going on… again, but now wasn’t the time for that, either.
“I’ll see you soon,” I said.
“Bye,” she replied.
I watched the call dissolve on the phone screen and paused for a moment before turning back to the men.
“That’s all we’ve got right now from Al’s side, so it’s up to us to finish this,” I said calmly to the room.
Leo and Francesco still had serious looks on their faces as they digested the news from Italy and the new plan we were putting into place.
“It’s risky.” Francesco frowned.
“It always is,” I pointed out. “This is the best plan we’ve got for the time being.”