Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 142 -

Neal.

The moment that I came home and saw that Becca wasn't there, I freaked out. A million and one things ran through my mind, and the one thing that stuck out the most was the fact that she was out there having left the house, even though

Allegra and I both told her not to, and now she was in danger.

I should have known that she wouldn't have sat home willingly. Two days was all that she allowed, and I had stupidly agreed to it as if that was going to be enough time to do what needed to be done.

Looking at her right now in front of me alive was a relief I hadn't expected to feel. However, knowing that she came close to death because of people I had pissed off killed me. I had never thought my past would come back to replace me, but I should have. The moment that my sister, and I came out of hiding and killed Sergei I should have known.

Yet, I was foolish.

"Look, it's complicated...." My comment wasn't one that she wanted, and as I tried to replace the words to explain to her the situation I came up empty-handed.

Shaking her head, she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at me. "You need to figure out how to uncomplicate your explanation."

That was easier said than done. "Becca, telling you everything implicates you-"

"Implicates me?!" she yelled in frustration, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm already f*cking implicated, Neal. They just tried to kidnap me by using an extremely attractive single dad vibe guy."

Single dad vibe did she just say attractive? "A what?"

Rolling her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. "Just f*cking answer me."

"Fine. Since you really want to know.."

Walking towards the barstool, I took my place on it and looked everywhere around the room but at her. It wasn't that I couldn't tell her. I honestly just didn't want to. I didn't want her to have more information about my past than I had already told her before.

"Do you remember when I told you who my family was?"

"Yeah?" she nodded, shrugging her shoulders. "They were assassins or something."

"Essentially, yes," I replied softly as my gaze fell on my hands that rested upon the countertop. Never in my life had I found it so hard to explain something as I did at that moment. "There was a group of people that my family had issues with. My father had actually killed the head of the family years ago, and his sons never forgave my family."

I could see the confused look on her face as I explained to her what my father had done. Her brows knitted together, and her face scrunched up as if she was trying to understand what I was explaining to her.

"Why would they take out on you and your sister for what your father did?"

Shrugging my shoulders, I sighed. "That's just the way that our family is. That's how our lifestyle was."

"Well, that's ridiculous. I can't believe that they would do something like that."

Becca was still naive to the way that the world really worked when it came to being part of an underground crime family. You didn't have a choice in what was done. You didn't have a choice in what was said. You simply just did it because that was what you were told to do.

The family that I had been part of was now just down to my sister and I, but at the same time, we still had to bear the burdens of our father. The burdens of things that he had done were unbelievable.

"At the end of the day, in our world, we are responsible for our fathers and mistakes. The sin of the father is the son of the child. They had long thought that both my sister and I were both gone, and when we did what we did, saving you and trying to save Tally from Sergie, of course, word got back that we were not as gone as they had thought."

"If that's the case, then what do they want with me?" she asked as if them wanting her was an unreasonable thing to want. They knew very well that if they had gotten back that they would have gotten both me and my sister, and that wasn't something that I was able to give up. Not Becca, not Allegra. Neither of them were replaceable in my life, and I couldn't imagine if anything had happened to either of them.

"Unfortunately, they would have used you as bait. If they had taken you, I would have come straight to them, offered myself up, and ensured your safety. To ensure the children's safety. Hell, I would do it if it was Allegra as well. Both of you mean the world to me. Even if you don't see that."

She was quiet for a moment, her eyes staring at me with such intent before softening. What I had said seemed to get to her, and I didn't mean to upset her by it, but I did want her to stop with all of the bullshit between us and realize that I cared about her more than she wanted to admit to herself.

I had done a lot of things that were unforgivable over time. I acted selfishly and immature. I didn't listen. I took things for granted, and all of it led to me realizing that the one thing I wanted most was for her to love me, and no matter what I did, the love that I would receive from her would never be the same love she had for James.

"You can't do this on your own, Neal," she said softly as she stared at me, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. "If we need to be prepared, then we all need to be prepared. You have to stop thinking that you can just take care of everything on your own. You have to let Allegra and I help you."

"But I don't want you to get hurt."

Small laughter escaped her before she sighed. "I've been hurt enough over the past year to know that if there's something worth fighting for, you fight for it, you protect it, and you cherish it at all costs."

Her words were wise, and they were correct. You did those things and so much more. However, she wasn't fighting for Allegra's ride. She was fighting to protect her children, and I knew that more than anybody.

The day she became a mother, she changed into a more mature and better person than I could have ever imagined her being. The way that she was with Dahlia and Alessandro was remarkable, and I knew without a doubt that both James and Tally would be proud of the person Becca had become, even though she had never expected it for herself.

I just didn't want her to have to go through the things that were going to be coming. I wasn't sure what these men's next move would be, but I did know one thing.. Or give up until they got what they wanted. "Becca, this isn't some normal thing that you can just handle. This is a battle that you don't want to get yourself into."

Just when I thought things were getting good between us, she narrowed her gaze at me once more, clenching her fist upon the counter. "I'm aware of this, but I'm already in it because of you and your sister, even though you guys only did what you did to protect me. There are consequences for the actions you took to ensure my safety, and therefore, I can't stand aside and let you handle this on your own."

Her comment, though wise and correct, was a jab to my heart. Yes, I had protected her, and I knew that she was grateful for it. However, she was right when she said that there were consequences to our actions. There were things that we were going to have to take care of, whether I wanted her part of it or not.

"I suppose at least having you prepared for whatever is to come is better than not having you prepared." Sagging my shoulders, I slowly gave in to what she was saying. There was no point in arguing with her. She was very adamant that she was going to be a part of this, so I would have to allow her to be a part of it without knowing that James was alive.

Eventually, though, I was coming to terms with the fact that I was going to have to tell her. She had a right to know, but the problem was I didn't know how she was going to handle that information.

"What do we need to do first? What information do you already know that you haven't told me?" she asked as she picked the bottle up on the counter once more, taking a swig before turning to the fridge and grabbing a beer from it, cracking the top and sliding it across to me.

It seemed like our sentimental moment of conversation was over, and she was ready to get down to the nitty-gritty of the details I was withholding from her.

"The man in question who tried to take you. His name is Xavier. He is, actually. The youngest son to the family to which my father had betrayed. Xavier spent most of his life in America, even though he was Russian, working for the family business there. Though their father had been killed by a mine and their family dismembered, they seemed to have joined forces underneath Sergei with one common goal."

"What was that common goal?" she asked me with slight confusion.

Telling her. But of course, I couldn't withhold anything. I was past that point, and it was absolutely ridiculous that I kept thinking that I could. I needed to just be honest with her and get to the bottom of things and stop procrastinating it because, honestly, it was more than annoying.

With a heavy sigh, I lifted my beer to my lips and downed half of the container in one go.

"They were trying to rebuild their father's legacy to a certain extent, helping Sergei with business aspects while, of course, searching for whatever they could replace to get revenge for their father. They stopped looking from what I can see a couple of years back, until of course, most recently."

"So Xavier and his brother, they're looking to get revenge for what your father did, even though you had nothing to do with it." I was impressed by the way she took interest in this whole situation, and even though I knew it was business related I was slightly turned on by how she wanted to know.

I would have thought Becca would have run for the hills, gone to her daddy, and tried to move somewhere else with the children, but instead, she was standing her ground. She was showing a fierceness to her that I had never thought I would have seen.

"Yes, that's correct," I said, taking a moment to ponder over the next part of my statement once I explained this to her, I wasn't sure she was going to be fully on board with helping.

Nor did I wonder if she would actually look at me the same way again.

"I take it that they're out for blood for what your father did," she said quite calmly as she stared at me.

"Yes, but not just for what my father did. But also for what I did to their middle brother."

Well, my comment seemed to sink in, and her eyes slowly grew wider.

"Oh, my God! The boy you killed when you were younger! That was their brother."