Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 587 -

*Tallon*

I watched Natalia leave but didn't even try to stop her.

I had no idea what had possessed me to blurt out something so hurtful to her. As soon as she turned away from me, I felt my entire body deflate, and all the anger that I had been feeling turned to regret.

I was such a fucking idiot. How could I say that our wedding wasn't important? Of course, it was. Falling in love with Natalia was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and finally being able to call her my wife was going to be even better.

I knew she had been getting stressed out with the wedding planning, but instead of stepping up to help her, I ignored the problem until it became too big for her to solve by herself. Then I had the audacity to get mad at her for the way she had chosen to handle it.

I shook my head and ran my hand anxiously through my hair, then pulled my phone out and tried to call her. She had only left a few minutes ago, and I hoped to catch her before she left the compound.

The phone rang and I waited anxiously for her to pick up, trying to think through how I would apologize. I had to reassure her that I cared deeply about marrying her. I wasn't sure if she would be ready to forgive me yet, but I would figure out a way to make her feel better.

On the eighth ring, the call went to voicemail. I sighed as the robotic voice encouraged me to leave a message.

"Sweetheart, it's me. I'm so sorry. Please, come back to the kitchen and let me apologize to your face. I know that I really fucked up. Let me make it up to you," I pleaded. "I love you. Call me back when you get this."

I hung up quickly and went straight to texting her. "I'm so sorry. Come back and I will get on my knees so you can see how sorry I am."

I hoped that would at least make her smile. Maybe it wasn't the right time to try to be funny, but that was always my go-to when things got tense. Before this argument, I would have said that was something Natalia loved about me, but now I wasn't so sure.

This was the first time I felt like I had said something to her that would be extremely difficult to forgive. Even when we had found ourselves on opposite sides of our family feud, there had always been something inside me that knew that we would be okay. But now I wasn't so sure.

I decided to text her again, just in case. "Okay, that was a stupid joke. Except I'm not really joking. I really am that sorry. Please come back."

I shoved my phone in my pocket and ran outside, hoping I could catch her before she left. I looked around frantically, but she was gone. She had managed to leave so quickly that she must have driven herself. I hated knowing that she was out driving alone while upset. I knew that she was a better driver than me, considering I had grown up with drivers while she had grown up driving herself, but she was still relatively new to living here.

I pulled out my phone again and stared at it, willing it to ring. I didn't want to call her again and risk distracting her from driving even more, so I decided to call Vinny and ask for his help.

Unlike Natalia, Vinny picked up quickly. "Hey, Tallon, I'm glad you called-" he started, but I interrupted him. We didn't have time to hash out our last conversation.

"Natalia's missing," I blurted out.

"What? When did you last see her?" I could hear the panic in his voice as he thought about the last time Natalia had gone missing.

"Sorry, not really missing. She left."

I hated to even say the words. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash our argument with Vinny, but I knew that I would at least need to explain to him why she had left and was now avoiding my calls. "What happened, Tallon?" Vinny prompted.

"I confronted her about the Bianca thing, and let's just say it went horribly wrong. I completely fucked up. I just got so pissed off and I said something I shouldn't have," I explained, avoiding telling him what I had said. "What the hell did you say that made her want to run away?" he asked.

That was what made Vinny such a good second for me. He never let me get away with my bullshit. Although I hated it at times, I knew it was good for me.

"I told her the wedding wasn't that important." I ran my hand through my hair, waiting to hear his response.

"You are a fucking idiot," he said. "Why would you say something like that?"

"I don't know. It came out wrong. I didn't mean it like that. I just meant that we shouldn't be so worried about all this stuff."

"Well damn, you sure found the absolute worst way to tell her," he chuckled darkly.

"I know. Can you please just get over here and help me look for her? She drove off on her own and I'm worried for her. Who knows where she might have gone?"

"Alright, alright. I'll be there in five."

He hung up without saying goodbye. I wondered if Vinny was mad at me now too. I knew that he and Natalia had developed a bit of a friendship since she had come to live in the compound. They loved to play chess together, and I could tell that he had started to view her as a little sister. He probably hated the fact that she was out on her own almost as much as I did.

I decided to risk texting her one more time, just to see if maybe she had gone somewhere and calmed down enough to answer.

"Baby? Please will you just text me back and let me know you're okay?" I typed it out and hit send. I was fully begging now and I didn't care. I just wanted her back in my arms where I knew she was safe.

Vinny pulled up in a black sedan and rolled down the driver's side window.

"Hop in, I'll drive. We can check her favorite places first, then call in backup if we still don't replace her," he said.

I got into the passenger seat and nodded my thanks to him. I really was lucky to have him in my life.

"Alright, where should we go first?" Vinny asked. "Where do you think she would go to try to cool down?"

"Maybe that cafe she likes downtown," I suggested, not feeling particularly hopeful that we would replace her. I couldn't understand why she wouldn't at least text me back and tell me she was okay. My heart squeezed with anxiety.

We drove to the same cafe that I had once found her in a long time ago. I walked in, my heart hopeful as I looked around the room. My eyes passed over a small brunette sitting in the corner and I did a double take, my heart stuttering, but she glanced around the room and it wasn't Natalia.

I turned to Vinny and shook my head, leaving the cafe before the people behind the counter could ask us if we needed anything.

We got back in the car and Vinny waited for me to direct him where to go next. I pulled my phone out just in case Natalia had finally reached out to me, but of course, she hadn't.

"You know what? Let's go look on foot. I think the walk would do you some good," Vinny said gently when he saw the distress on my face.

He drove to a parking garage and parked in a discrete corner of the third story. Luckily all of our vehicles were nearly unidentifiable, so we didn't need to worry about our enemies trying to break in.

I sighed and got out of the car, deciding to wander in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio. I remembered that Natalia had said she liked to walk across it to clear her mind sometimes. It was a few blocks to the east of the parking garage.

I kept my head on a swivel, looking back and forth and desperately hoping to catch a glimpse of her in the crowds of people on the street. There was some sort of festival going on in the block just before the bridge. Live music blared out of large speakers that had been placed every few feet and a large crowd danced in front of a small stage that held a band playing an eclectic mix of pop and folk music.

This was exactly the sort of thing that would have Natalia stopping and deciding to bob along to the music, but looking in the crowd, I didn't see anyone who even remotely looked like her.

I snuck around the stage and continued on my way toward the Ponte Vecchio. The old shops that led up to it were very active, but I didn't think Natalia would be in any of them. Being a big tourist attraction, they weren't exactly the best place to go if she wanted to clear her head.

Of course, if her goal was simply to elude me, then it would make sense to hide in a place that I wouldn't even think to look. My thoughts were in an endless circle and I stopped in front of one of the little shops, hand on the door, indecision paralyzing me.

I stopped myself from going inside. No, I knew Natalia. She wasn't just running away from me. She had to have gone somewhere where she could think over our argument and get herself in the right headspace to see me again.

I just hoped I could replace her in time to apologize before she could twist herself into knots wondering what I had meant by saying our wedding wasn't important. I needed to be able to tell her that I had misspoken. Vinny and I walked in silence and I could feel his disapproval.

"What? Clearly, you want to say something," I said, tired of his judging silence.

"Nothing, Tallon," he sighed, disappointment evident in his tone of voice. "I just really wish we didn't have to be doing this right now."

"Me fucking too," I responded tersely. "Trust me, nobody is angrier with myself than I am right now."

He nodded. "Alright, let's get my men on this. With just the two of us, we're never going to replace her."

He pulled his phone out and shot off a few quick texts. I desperately hoped that the help of his men would be enough.

Would I be able to replace her in time to ensure that she forgave me?