Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 475 -

*Olivia*

Sal stepped easily away from Gio with his hands slightly raised, though I couldn't tell if he was placating me or protecting himself from the quivering fury of my husband.

"I don't know how to say this, Olivia, but Giovani is just being paranoid."

Gio's shoulders tensed further at the accusation, but he didn't turn to me yet. I repositioned Elio on my hip and let my father continue.

"I was looking for the bathroom," he said. "I got lost, found Elio's room, and thought I might take a look-see at his toys for a later-" He glanced at his all-too-alert grandson in my arms. "For a later surprise."

Gio turned then, slowly. Every line of his body was taut with tension, but the gaze that met mine lacked any heat. Instead, I found nothing but an open, honest bid for trust. He was begging me, with nothing but his eyes, to believe he wasn't just paranoid, to trust him over my father.

I bit my lip. I'd just sworn I was going to trust Salvatore, but with Gio looking at me like I was the last thread between him and total insanity, I couldn't bring myself to take his side.

"The bathroom's the first door on the left from the dining room door I pointed you out of," I said to Sal. "I don't totally know how you missed it and came upstairs, but why don't you head there, and Elio and I will be back to walk you out in a moment?"

"Not a problem. You probably have some things to talk about. I don't know how I missed it, either." He chuckled self-consciously and dodged around Gio to exit.

I settled Elio on the floor of his room with his animal noises toy, kissed him on the head, and pulled Gio out into the sitting room before shutting the door.

Sal absolutely couldn't hear us at this point.

Gio held onto my hand softly. "Thank you, carina. I—”

My temper flared. "That was not a get-out-of-jail-free card. Why couldn't you just do the one thing I asked and trust him?"

He dropped my hand as if it were hot. "I tried. I was going to my office, staying out of your way, but I caught him in Elio's room. He was studying it like he'd need to recreate it later."

"Like he'd need to recreate it later?" My eyebrows shot up. "Do you hear yourself? Why would he need to do that?"

A dark cloud passed over Gio's face, but he simply shook his head. "I cannot shake the feeling that he's up to something."

I huffed and dropped onto the couch. "I need you to. He said he was looking for a present later. Why couldn't that just be true, even if he wasn't supposed to be there?"

"It's possible," Gio admitted through gritted teeth. "But don't you think it's strange he got all the way upstairs and into our room before thinking he might've had the directions wrong, even if he had something useful to do after he found Elio's room? We're on a different floor."

I closed my eyes. That detail bothered me a little, but I couldn't stand the conclusions Gio always leaped to.

He took my hands in his. "I'm sorry, carina."

My eyes shot open, and I pulled my hands out of his. "Save it. You don't mean it, and I don't want to get into the habit of distrusting your apologies like I apparently have to your promises."

Gio's mouth fell slightly open, and he looked as if he'd been slapped. I regretted it instantly. I didn't distrust him, not really. I was just tired of spending my days alone while he did god only knew what, tired of defending a father who had maybe just made his first real misstep.

He gathered himself quickly. If my husband knew one thing, it was how to take a hit.

"I am sorry," he said. "If my words are no longer enough, I will do what I can to prove it to you. I meant to cause you no distress. I didn't mean to cross paths with your father at all, to ensure your lunch went well." He grimaced. "He's leaving now?"

It was a good apology. I wanted to believe it, wanted to fall into his arms and weep my own apologies for what I'd said. I wanted the world to be simple enough that I could believe doing that wouldn't just end us back in this exact same spot a week or a month from now, when Gio had some new scrap of "proof" my father wasn't what he said.

But the angry part still had the reins.

"Of course that's what you want to know." I sighed. "Yes, he was already on his way out."

He stood. "Let me see him out. I owe him an apology as well, and I'd like to show you I can behave civilly."

"You owe him more than an apology," I said. "But I don't want you two fighting in the foyer. Take some time to cool off. You can say whatever you want in a few days."

Gio crossed his arms. "How else can I make this up to you?"

I dropped my head back on the couch, all the fight draining out of me. How could he make this up? Maybe time travel, or a memory wizard, or actually trusting me like he claimed he did.

"I don't know, Gio," I said honestly. "It's not about the fact that you yelled at my father, though, god, I wish you hadn't. It's about the fact that you keep promising to follow my lead and then turning around and doing whatever you damn well please. How do you fix that?"

The couch shifted as he sat back down next to me. "I don't know yet either, carina, but believe me when I say I will replace a way."

I opened my eyes and found him leaning over me, his gaze boring into mine. He looked determined, earnest, and despite everything, I wanted to see what he came up with.

I patted him on the cheek. "Good luck."

He leaned back, and I stood.

"I'm going to walk him out, and I honestly don't want to hear anything else about this from you tonight. Can you put Elio in something cleaner and take him to play?"

Gio nodded, looking slightly more repentant.

I stalked out of the room, wishing I had the anger back to make me feel powerful.

Sal stood in the front room, coat on and hands behind his back.

"Livi!" he said as I approached. "Did the little guy have to go down?"

I nodded, and the lie didn't even ache anymore.

He smiled. "Ain't that the way with babies."

That pang I'd felt earlier, that Elio would have him in his life at this formative age when I didn't, came screaming back to the surface.

"Well, thanks for having me over," he said. "Great food."

I offered him a wan smile. "Are you really still glad you came over?"

He shrugged. "Any chance to see you is a good one. And I just wanted to say I was sorry for my part in that little debacle. I had a bit of a temper back in the day, and I let myself get riled for no good reason. I won't cause you any more trouble."

I swallowed and mentally held that up against Gio's apology. He accepted blame and promised to be better without an ounce of prompting. He met my gaze and seemed honest like he always did.

"Is it too much for your old man to ask for a hug at this point?" He opened his arms invitingly.

I hadn't hugged him since our moment in the stairwell after dinner, but raw from my fight with Gio and downright exhausted, I couldn't deny the appeal.

I collapsed into his arms. He was warm, and he stroked a palm over the back of my head.

"Take a word of advice from your dad," he said quietly. "Change always seems like it's turning your whole life upside down. This is just the adjustment period. Everything's gonna settle out soon enough, and you're gonna be as happy as you've ever been."

I smiled into his chest and was shocked to feel my eye filling with tears. Were they happy or sad? I couldn't quite tell.

I released him and stepped back quickly.

"Thanks," I mumbled, keeping my eyes averted so he couldn't see my reaction.

"Anytime, sweetheart," he said. "I'll just hit the road. Reach out about getting together later this week, okay? Or I will, if he's causing too much trouble."

Sal's eyes drifted along the hall to where I knew I left Gio. Something in me bristled.

"I will," I promised. "Drive safe."

He opened the door and waved as he left. When it closed behind him, I leaned my forehead against the wood and swiped at my tears.

I'd just decided to trust Sal, despite the Russian connection, despite the half-truths he told about his past, but it seemed like every time I made that call, something appeared to make me question it. Just now, he'd been a perfect gentleman-a perfect father, I allowed myself to think-until he threw in a little dig at Gio in the very end. Gio was nearly insane with paranoia, and he kept stomping all over the boundaries I set up, but in the end, he always seemed to say or do the right thing.

I thumped my head against the door. Gio had proof-scraps, sure, but still proof. Sal had nothing but his own word on the events of twenty years ago. Even when Gio promised to trust Sal, I knew he'd be looking into the Costa family and their change of leadership, for professional reasons if nothing else. I hadn't heard anything about it yet, and I didn't know whether that meant he hadn't found anything, or he'd confirmed Sal's story and didn't want to admit to it.

I wanted to trust and love them both, but more and more, they seemed to be forcing me to side with one or the other. I didn't want to keep fighting with Gio. I didn't want to keep defending him to Sal. I just wanted a father and a husband. Was that really too much to ask?

I shoved up off the door. I could sit here and spin hypotheticals in my mind all night. The only path to any sort of clarity was another perspective. Gio had proven time and again that he couldn't be objective about my father. I needed to lay this all out in front of someone a little further away from the problem who I knew had my best interests at heart.

I took off down the hallway, looking for Dahlia. I just needed someone to tell me I wasn't crazy, and that my father wasn't a bad guy.

Both he and Gio made that difficult to believe on my own anymore.