Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 128 -

Neal.

I wasn't what Becca was looking for, but I should have expected her to no longer feel the way she had. For months, I'd put her ahead of everything in my life, and when I finally thought things were going well, it was ripped away from me. There was no end to the pain I felt in my life, and I thought it may have been a punishment from fate I was willing to accept.

Stepping out the front door, I made my way towards my two seater sports car and climbed in. The moment that the door closed, I slammed my hands against the steering wheel repeatedly out of anger. "F*ck!"

All I wanted to do was to allow James to know his kid, and in the process of all this bullshit, I had lost her. Lost her in more ways than one, and even though every part of me wanted to storm in there and remind her who she belonged to, I couldn't.

She didn't want me.

Realizing that I had forgotten my keys, I groaned in frustration and climbed back out of the car to fetch them. Thank god that my head was attached to my shoulders otherwise I would have lost that as well with the way things had been going lately.

The moment I opened the door, I came face to face with Layla, who yelped in shock as we collided. "Oh, my god. I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed with a smile. "It's okay. I wasn't paying attention."

Her dark eyes looked up at me with curiosity as she furrowed her brow slightly, and then nodded. There wasn't much to say to her, and honestly I hadn't spoken much to her since Becca hired her months ago. Something about the girl was sweet, but at the same time, familiar.

"Are you okay, Neal? You seem a little flushed." Her slow hesitant response as I stepped aside to let her pass made me stop in my tracks. She was genuinely asking about me when she had never taken an interest before. "Yeah, I just forgot my keys." I replied in a very nonchalant way.

Her eyes darted out the front door towards my car before gazing back at me. "You're not going to come with us then?"

"Come where?" I had no idea what she was talking about, and as her mouth formed an "O" shape before biting her bottom lip I had a feeling it had something to do with Becca. "Where are you both going with the kids?" "How did you "

Holding my hand up, I stopped her in her tracks. "Layla... where are you guys going?"

With a sigh and her hands on her hips she shrugged. "Down to the beach. Becca is already waiting out in the garden for me. I was just coming out here to grab something from her car."

Staring at her for a moment, I finally nodded my head and watched her go. She didn't miss a beat to escape out the front door towards the car, and as she did, I thought of the argument I had earlier with Becca. She was checking on me, and in the process, I'd acted like an asshole again.

Running my hand through my hair, I sighed before moving down the hallway towards the living room. There, through the window, I watched Becca swaying the baby in her arms while standing in the middle of the garden.

She may have been rocking Dahlia, but she was talking to Tally's son with a smile on her face. There was something about that smile that I would never get tired of seeing, but she made it clear that there was no way she wanted a relationship right now.

That was just something I was going to have to respect.

James.

"So you're telling me that you have messed up the last three shipments? How the f*ck did you even manage that?" I couldn't believe that my uncle had Ronaldo running the import company. I knew that when he came to purchase it, it was because of his father's wishes, but looking at everything Ronaldo had done since getting it... I was shocked.

Ronaldo leaned back in the large leather recliner and smiled. "Hey, I'm good at a lot of things, but I know nothing about this kind of business. My father just expects me to know everything. Why do you think I asked you to move here a year ago?"

A groan of frustration left my throat as I pinched the bridge of my nose. The conversation I'd had with him over a year ago played in my mind, and that was before everything with Becca had happened. "Look, we have to sort this." "Ya think?" He scoffed with laughter causing me to send a glare his way. "So how long till it's sorted?"

"This isn't something that just happens over night, Ron. It's going to take weeks to sort out this mess, and you have only had it a few months."

Ron expected me to complete a miracle, and that wasn't something I had expected to do. While I should have been looking at a way to get to Becca and my daughter, I was sitting here staring at shipment papers trying to figure out what Ron had been thinking.

My uncle had made it clear that if I helped him he would ensure that I was able to get Becca and my daughter back. The problem was, I wasn't sure if my uncle was going to be the man he came across as. Shaking my head, I leaned back in my chair and turned my gaze out the window. "Have you heard anything else in the last two days?"

"About what?" he replied as he pulled a silver case from his black jacket pocket.

About what.... Was he being serious right now?

"Sergie's son, Ron. Your dad said he is going to take care of him."

"Oh-" Laughter escaped as he nodded, lighting the end of the cigar. "Yeah, he will take care of it. Don't worry, just do as he asked, and there won't be an issue."

The more and more I stayed here, the more I contemplated if this was a good fit for me. Yes, I had come here because Ron offered me the chance to have my life fixed. He offered me a way back into Becca's arms, but I should have known that it was going to come at a cost.

A cost I didn't know if I wanted to make.

"Your father offered a lot of things, Ron. However, I want you to be honest with me. What is going on, and what is he planning to do?"

My question seemed to throw him off for a moment, and with a sigh, he set his cigar down in the ashtray next to him and leaned forward. "That's a loaded question, James."

Lost in confusion by his response, a sudden drop in my stomach made me realize how uneasy the situation really was. "Just answer it."

"My father isn't the patient man you think he may be, James. He has waited for far to long to be able to take over your type of industry, and being able to do so has allowed his business to flourish... except for this set back."

It wasn't hard to realize that my uncle was a man who loved money. He had worked very hard to get the family to be as it was now, and now that he had it this way, he wouldn't miss out on a way to improve it and make it even better. I didn't blame him honestly. I'd do the same damn thing.

"What's he going to do about the Russian?"

Shrugging his shoulders, he paused. "The Russian's have always been a problem. You know as well as anyone that they like to take over areas of business they aren't welcome too. Over the last few years, they have been a problem to our family trade. Therefore, solving that issue solves your issue... understand?"

"Yeah... but it concerns me the repercussions of some of this-"

Laughter escaped him that cut me off mid-sentence. I wasn't sure what it was that he found funny, but as the laughter died down, he sighed. "You're worried about that now? After all of the shit you pulled, don't you think it's a bit late to worry about that?"

"Excuse me?" Narrowing my gaze, I laid the paper down I had been holding and stared at him. "What do you mean it's a bit late?"

"James, seriously? You got mixed up with them, and they went after you. I already told you that if I knew where you were they did too, and that goes for the girl. We have been watching them, and for right now, she's safe." For right now.... Everything was always for right now.

"Neal will protect her," I muttered to myself, snatching the paper from the desk again as I rolled my eyes. As much as I didn't want him with her, even though I wanted her happy, I was glad that he was the one to take care of her. "You're not serious, are you James?" I hadn't realized I had muttered as loud as I did until he spoke.

Glancing up from behind the paper, I stared at him with confusion. "What?"

"You think that Neal, the former Russian assassin, is going to protect her? How the hell do you know he and his sister haven't been playing you from the beginning?" Ronaldo stunned me, and it wasn't easy to stun a man like me. God knows that I hadn't had that happen in a long time.

"No, that isn't possible." With a firm tone, I refused to believe that something like that was possible. I had willingly allowed Neal to take charge of my family, and if he was working with the Russians, why would he have killed Sergie? None of it made sense, and even though Ronaldo had his reservations, it didn't mean that I had to believe him. All of these years that I had known Allegra, she had never given me a reason to believe something like that, and I doubted she was some kind of sleeper agent undercover.

All of this shit that happened with Sergie was just a coincidence.

It didn't mean anything, and even though a little voice in my head said he may have had a point, I had to stay focused. Losing focus was how Tally had gotten killed.

I couldn't let that happen to Becca. I'd rather die myself....

And this time for real.