Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 138 -

James.

By the time Neal got back to me on what needed to be done, it was already 24 hours later. I had been nothing, but a panicked mess through all of it, and when he informed me that he didn't replace anything on the car, but they had had a conversation with Becca about some of the stuff that was going on, I knew without a doubt that she was more than likely losing her mind.

Or at least that was what I was assuming.

She wasn't built for the life that we lived. She wasn't built to go through this chaos, and time and time again, she was brought into it because of me, because of the choices that I made when I was younger.

Neal had gone into town and looked around at different shops to pull footage, and while he was able to see the man, neither he nor I recognized him. He looked like a local, but yet, some of the local people who had been there for years had never seen the man before.

I was worried. Worried this could potentially be someone that could cause damage to her to me and my family. A family that I had had to give up when everything happened. A family that thought that I was long dead.

I was no longer supposed to be James Valentino. I was Lester Johnson, a man without a family, without a cause, without any purpose in the world other than to simply exist.

Scrolling through the multitude of photos that had been taken and including the CCTV video, I tried to piece together who it could have been that had taken part in replaceing Becca. However, no matter how hard I tried to replace the information I sought, I was unable to do so and therefore came up empty-handed at every corner.

The deal was to go to my uncle. He specifically said that he was going to have people look into it, and the thought at one point did cross my mind that he was the one who had sent that man, but as far as I was aware, that wasn't the case. My uncle told me that he would have kept me informed. He would have made sure I was aware of every move he made in regard to my family, and as far as I knew, he hadn't been able to get around to doing anything.

In fact, the thing that he was preoccupied with the most right now were the issues he had with the Russians trying to move on his businesses that were near the Russian borders. He wasn't pleased with how things had been handled, and while he had businesses everywhere, so did they.

It was a long, drawn-out turf war that had been going on for years.

I could only hope that, eventually, they would come to a resolution because nobody liked war, especially me. And though I had been shady, once upon a time, I wasn't that man anymore. I had grown out of those habits, and I wanted to be able to live the rest of my life peacefully, not having to look over my shoulder.

A knock at my office door drew my attention, and as the door opened, I looked at my uncle's secretary, her eyes narrowing at me with her blonde hair pulled tight into a bun at the back of her head. She was an older woman and very unpleasant at that, but she kept my uncle's schedule very tight, so her being here only led me to one conclusion.

He had a meeting that he needed handled right away.

"Your uncle would like to see you immediately," she said, and a very librarian-styled voice. It was soft yet demanding, and if I had spoken up any louder, I was quite sure she would have yelled at me.

Nodding my head, I stood and quickly made my way behind her out of my office and towards my uncle's office. I had told my cousin Ronaldo that I wouldn't go to visit my uncle privately unless I first informed him, but this wasn't a business meeting. Obviously, it was something else, so in a way, I didn't quite break my commitment to him as far as keeping him involved.

When we appeared at my uncle's office, she quickly opened the door and stepped aside so that I could pass through. He was sitting in front of me behind his wooden desk, not in the usual three-piece suit that he was accustomed to wearing, but instead a polo short-sleeve shirt and slacks, the slacks rising up on his ankles as he had leaned back in his chair with his legs crossed over one another.

"James, I'm glad that you were able to come. I have something very important that I need to discuss with you." The tone that he was taking was very unpleasant. In fact, he seemed almost angry that I was before him. But then again, I couldn't be so certain that it was me and not something else.

Stepping forward, I listened to the door close behind me as I made my way to the leather seat that sat across from his desk once again. "Of course, Uncle. What is it that I can do for you?"

"I've discovered that my own son has been doing things behind my back, and I'm not very pleased with it, and I'm curious as to why you're encouraging the behavior."

Completely lost as to what he could be possibly talking about, I furrowed my brow in confusion and shook my head. "Uncle, I'm not sure what you're referring to."

After my comment, he further narrowed his gaze at me before picking up his cigar from the ashtray where it had sat unlit, putting it to his lips, and lighting it. "Do you think I don't know that you've been informing him of everything that we discuss? That he then has been taking that information and using it for his own personal gains."

Shock ran through me. That wasn't at all what I was doing. I was keeping him informed because he was secondary to this company, and he wanted to be informed and had been since the beginning. I was shocked to also replace out that he had been using this for his own gains and in what way he had been doing so.

"Uncle, that is not at all what I've been doing. Yes, I did keep him informed. He was rather upset the last time that I met with you. And because he had been involved with our meetings from the beginning, I didn't see that there was an issue. You hadn't informed me that I should not tell Ronaldo what was going on."

My uncle stared at me for a moment, nodding his head as he smoked upon his cigar, his narrowed gaze slowly lightening little by little. "You really didn't know what he was doing with that information you were giving him, did you?" "No, I have no clue what you're talking about, what he's been doing," I replied honestly because I really didn't know. There was nothing about the conversations he and I had that would make me assume he was going to use that information for himself.

"Ronaldo has been going behind my back talking with clients that I currently work with. He is promising them deals once he takes over the company and the family from me, and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't try to have me killed in order to do so sooner." What my uncle had to say actually didn't surprise me.

I wasn't very close with my cousin, but since he had come back into my life, I could tell that he would be the kind of person to do something like that. "How do you plan to correct this action?"

A sigh left my uncle's mouth as he stared at me with a smile that slowly started to grow just a little bit wider. "Well, actually, I plan to make a public announcement soon about the air of our family's fortune, and I have a feeling that it's going to change his tune."

The way that my uncle spoke did not sit well with me. I couldn't help but wonder what it was that he had planned. Knowing my uncle, it was going to be something that was going to cause mass chaos in the family, and if that was the case, the last thing I wanted was to be part of it.

"May I ask what that is going to be?" My question seemed to perk his attention even more, and shaking his head. No, he refused to tell me.

"In time, things will be clear, but for now, I want you to tell me what it is that's going on with you. You've been rather preoccupied the last two days."

With a heavy sigh, I nodded my head. "The contact that I have over in New Zealand informed me that people are lurking around Becca and the children. It's got me rather preoccupied because I still have many enemies out there. You wouldn't happen to have somebody over there, would you?"

The smile that once had been on my uncle's face quickly turned into a frown once more as he shook his head no. "I had actually come up with a plan with that, and I was going to speak to you today about it to ensure that you were on board with everything I wanted to do. But now, hearing this, it seems like there may be bigger issues at hand."

"What do you expect me to do? Part of me wants to go and be there to help protect her, with the other part of me knowing that I can't." I was asking for his help because I honestly didn't know how to proceed with all of this when she was possibly in danger, and Neal was absolutely f*cking useless, no matter how much he thought he was trying to help.

Tapping his fingers on the desk, my uncle sat and thought for a moment. "You can't use the resources that I want to use just yet. I need to adjust a few things. However, we're going to have a massive family gathering tomorrow around 3:00 PM. Dress nice and make sure you're there. I have a feeling that there will be some people there who can help us."

It was clear that my uncle was done with the conversation because the moment I nodded my head in agreement, he gestured with his fingers for me to leave, and I was quickly on my feet and out the door without wasting another moment. This time, I was lucky not to have run into Ronaldo, and it made me wonder if Ronaldo had eyes lurking everywhere as well, which is why he knew that I had been at a meeting with his father beforehand.

With multiple things running through my mind, from who was looking for Becca and also what my uncle was planning for the takeover of his family, I just couldn't help but wonder if Italy was the wrong move, if perhaps I shouldn't have just gotten on a plane and went and saw Becca when I had the chance before.