Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 273 -

*Olivia*

I didn't know how long we stood there in the quiet foyer. The only sound was my muffled sobs into the fabric of his shirt. Giovani held me close, letting me lean on him as I cried.

I could feel his fingers trailing through my half-dried hair. I hadn't bothered to use a hair dryer because I had been too worried for Dahlia and him. I shivered, driving myself closer into his arms as the temperature continued to drop through the night.

Only in a hoodie, I stepped between Giovani's legs, shielding my bare skin from the sudden chill.

It could have been minutes or hours, but eventually, I pulled out of his grasp. His gentle fingers landed under my chin, tilting my head up to meet his.

His brown eyes were filled with sorrow and guilt, but the same kindness and compassion I always saw.

"You okay?" he murmured.

I reached up to wipe my tears away with the sleeves of my hoodie, sniffling. I probably looked terrible, and my face would be swollen from how much I had been crying.

"I know this is a lot to take in," Giovani sighed. "I shouldn't have said anything-"

I shook my head. "No, I'm glad you told me. Not knowing would be so much worse. I'm just emotional right now."

I stepped back from him, my socked feet slipping a bit on the wooden floors. I grasped his arm, stabilizing myself to keep from falling.

"Are you okay to stand now?" Giovani asked, sending me a concerned look as I pulled away.

I gave him a strained smile, grasping my hands back under the long sleeves of my hoodie as I pulled them behind my back.

"I'm okay," I assured him. "I'm just tired."

Giovani gave me an unconvinced look but didn't question me anymore. I was thankful for that tiny mercy as I didn't think I could put my feelings into words at the moment.

It was like every emotion I had ever experienced had been thrown into a blender, and I couldn't tell which was which anymore. I just had this blob mess of emotion in my chest, bleeding out through my eyes.

I rubbed the corners of my eyes as Giovani wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling me to his side.

"Let's get you to bed," he said quietly.

I let him lead me up the stairs, and I clung to the ends of his shirt, feeling foolish like a child, but the comfort was something I needed right now.

He felt like a furnace as he walked beside me, close enough that I could lean on him if I needed to. I felt like I was developing into a popsicle, and his heat was just what I needed to keep me from freezing.

For a moment, I wished this was all a horrible nightmare. Maybe I had just fallen asleep in his bed, and we were still cuddling close together under his covers.

Wishful thinking wouldn't help Dahlia, though. Reality was a hard pill to swallow, and I felt like it was choking me.

We stopped in front of my door, and I glanced up at Giovani as he let go of me and stepped back. He ran a hand through his salt and pepper hair, pulling it back away from his face.

"I'm really sorry, but I have to make some phone calls to handle some things. Will you be alright on your own?" he asked, a gentle and worried look in his eyes.

From the way he was treating me, I felt like I was glass, one movement away from cracking and shattering on the floor.

I swallowed uncomfortably and nodded to him. "I'm alright, but do I have to answer any questions?"

He turned to look at me with a weird expression. "Questions?"

I frowned. "Don't the police want to ask me anything? I saw her last, besides Lorenzo and Adrian."

Even their names left a bad taste in my mouth. What if they had been involved? It was hard to imagine, but not any more difficult than Dahlia getting kidnapped.

I didn't know what anyone would want with her. Money? Her parents were pretty rich, but I hadn't heard anything about a ransom. The only thing I could imagine was that Lorenzo or Adrian had to be involved. Or they were dead.

I shivered, crossing my arms over my middle as I stared up at Giovani determinedly.

"I can give them good descriptions of the two or something. I could be of some use-"

Giovani shook his head, firmly, grasping my arms. "No, It's okay. We have everything we need. Just focus on getting some sleep, okay?"

I frowned. They got what they needed?

"But I can-" I protested.

But Giovani only stepped back, a weird look in his eye as he cut me off. "I'll check on you as soon as I finish. Get some sleep, Olivia. Leave this to me. Don't worry, I'll replace her," he said very firmly. There was almost a warning look in his eyes, screaming for me to go to bed and not get involved.

Was he worried about me?

Or was something else going on?

Still, I swallowed and gently nodded. I was too tired to do anything. Besides, I would probably just get in the way anyway.

I could trust Giovani. Right?

He smiled softly and kissed me on the forehead lightly before he turned and walked down the hallway. I saw him put his phone to his ear as he entered his study.

The door shut behind him just as I heard him say, "What's happening-"

I sighed, brushing a few strands of loose hair from my face before I turned to head into my room. My shoulders slumped as soon as I shut the door behind me, any attempt at being strong fading like it had never existed.

All the energy I had drained away like a plug being pulled in a bathtub.

I didn't bother doing anything else as I slipped into bed, wrapping myself in the blanket and comforter. I pulled my pillow under my head and held the other one to my chest as I settled into bed.

But my eyes refused to close.

The only thought in my mind was Dahlia. While I was laying there in bed, she was... God knew where. I groaned, clasping my hands over my face. There was no telling what was happening to her, and while I knew there was nothing I could do, my thoughts continued to race.

I had to be the worst best friend in the world. Where was she right now? Was she tied up on a cold floor of some abandoned room? Was she being watched by whoever took her?

Was she starving and cold and terrified? What if they had done worse things to her? Were they really kidnappers or had they sold her to some human trafficker? Were they hurting her?

Torturing her? Just the thought of her going through the kinds of torture I'd seen in movies was horrifying enough, but what if she had been raped as well?

I shut my eyes tightly, burying my head into the mattress as I tried to forget for a moment, to do what Giovani had told me and fall asleep.

He'd replace her. Won't he?

"Olive!"

I jumped up in bed, my eyes widening as I looked around for the sudden voice that called my name. I whirled around to face the doorway, and there she was-Dahlia, wearing the dress I'd last seen her in, covered in mud and dirt but smiling brightly. Right behind her was Giovani with a grin on his face.

"Dolly," I whimpered, my eyes flooding with tears.

I jumped to my feet, racing over to her and clasping her into a massive hug. "I thought you were "

"Don't be silly, Olive," Dahlia laughed. "You really think I let those bastards take me?"

"How are you here?" I asked, in wonder, gazing up at her. I glanced at Giovani with a bewildered but overjoyed expression.

"She managed to crawl her way back all on her own," Giovani smirked. "That's Dahlia for you."

"Oh, thank goodness!" I cried tearfully as I buried my face into her shoulder. She was cold to the touch, but I was so happy to see her I didn't care one bit. "I was so worried for you. I thought something terrible was happening to you, and I tried to go out to search for you, but I didn't want to get in the way!"

Dahlia laughed, wrapping arms around me. It felt like I was being embraced by ice. "I'm fine, Olive. I made you worry, didn't I?"

"Never leave me again!" I sniffed, clinging to her. "Swear to me, okay?"

"But I didn't leave you," she said warmly, and a puff of cold air brushed against my shoulder from her breath. "You left me."

I flinched, guilt shootiing through my stomach as I stepped back.

"I am so, so-"

My apologies fell silent, however, as I glanced up at the smile on her face.

She looked like Dahlia. But she wasn't. There was something very, very wrong. She grabbed my wrists, her grip tightening and I flinched in pain.

"That hurts, Dolly," I protested, glancing up at her eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You left me there, Olive," she said accusingly, that same empty smile on her lips. "You left me there, and I had to suffer for it. We promised to stay together, Olive. So why did you leave me?" "I..." I stumbled over my words, my whole body trembling as I gazed over her shoulder to look at Giovani.

He was smiling like nothing was wrong, his handsome, kind eyes on Dahlia and not me.

"Did you have fun?" she asked, tilting her head innocently. "With him?"

I stepped back, trying to rip my arm from her grip, but she was too strong, and she stepped forward, her smile fading away as her skin began to darken to a deep purple.

"Did you have fun fucking my cousin while I was out there dying?"

Bruises developed along her face, her eyes folding back into black holes as she began to decay in front of my very eyes.

"They killed me, Olive. They killed me because you weren't there... because you left me."

"No. Please, no. I didn't..." I sobbed, even as her skin began to peel away, dropping onto the floor with a slimy flop.

Blood poured down her face like tears as she murmured, "This is all your fault, Olive."

"No!"

I screamed, ripping my arms from her grip.

I sat up, my eyes opening wide.

I was staring at the bathroom light I had left on. My hand shook as the comforter surrounded me tightly, wrapped around me suffocatingly.

I pulled my arms from the blanket, shaking with a cold sweat as I realized it was all a dream. I had fallen asleep and dreamed about Dahlia-of her coming back and being dead, of her blaming me.

I suppressed another scream in my throat, the image of Dahlia's black holes of eyes seared into my eyelids.

I scrambled to my feet, still trembling as I made my way out of the door and into the silent hallway. The light under Giovani's study door was no longer on.

I sniffled, heading straight for his door and knocking firmly. I didn't care if he was asleep or on the phone. I couldn't be alone.

Not with my nightmares still haunting me.