Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 646 -

*Caterina*

"Aw, such a shame that this willing behavior of yours is coming out now...."

Every single one of Paul's words felt like a sharp slap to the face.

Oh, how I wished I could've just reached through the phone and hauled Paul out the other end. I wanted to pummel his face in. I wanted him to hurt the same way he'd hurt me in the time that we were together, all the times that he'd made me feel less of myself and made me believe that I would never be good enough.

I had tried severing the ties between us. But he kept hanging on and coming like an unwanted virus. And now his venom was spreading beyond just myself. Now it was getting to my family. Paul found a way to snake into my life, and now he was spreading complete havoc.

To think I disliked him before... now I wanted to unleash every ounce of my pent-up, burning rage that prickled through me like red, hot embers. My fists clenched tightly at my side. My nails were biting so fiercely into my palm that I was certain I'd cause myself to bleed.

'Who the fuck does he think he is?' I screamed inside my mind.

That psychopath had my mother. I didn't have the slightest idea how he managed to swipe her without someone else noticing. But I refused to linger on the thought for too long. My nerves were already on edge enough as they were. The last thing I needed was to send my emotions into crippling overdrive.

My anger was seething, nonetheless.

It was, perhaps, the only thing that made me realize that this was all real. Ever since I had encountered Paul at my new college campus, I'd felt as though I crossed over into some messed up surreal dream, a nightmare that my mind refused to let me awaken from. And now things had proceeded to go from bad to worse in just a few short-sighted hours.

That terrible, all-consuming feeling was getting ready to burn a hole through me at any given second. And I couldn't do anything about it. I couldn't even tell the asshole off without running the risk of possibly provoking him. Again, I felt trapped, placed between a rock and hard place with no means of escaping.

As much as it pained me to ever beg him for anything, I needed to know that my mother was, in fact, okay. Right as I opened my mouth to speak, the call was dropped.

My brows drew together in disbelief. "P-Paul? Hey! Paul!" I shouted into the phone but as expected, there was no response.

Elio reached out to rest his hand on my arm. "It's over, Cat," he said softly. "He dropped the call."

The hand that was holding my phone up fell to my side as I swayed back on my heels. Thankfully, Elio was there to steady me, for what it was worth.

The tears that I'd managed to hold back were now flooding down my cheeks. My bottom lip was trembling.

"It's going to be okay," he told me firmly.

But I couldn't seem to understand why or how. How? How could he possibly think that this situation was going to work out in the end?

I shook my head. "No. It's not," I cried. "He has my mother, Elio."

Elio was about to open his mouth to say something when Alessandro stepped back into the room with his phone still held in his hand.

"While that may be the case, thanks to you putting the call on speakerphone, now we know what's been going on," Alessandro stated. "Did you get all of that?"

An unfamiliar, deep voice came from the other end of the line on his phone. "We sure did, boss."

"Good. Expect to see us back within the hour," he said.

"Yes, sir."

Alessandro ended the call before shoving his phone back in his pocket.

The house fell into a bout of uncomfortable silence for a long moment. The air in the room thickened beyond the point of being able to breathe easily.

Alessandro subtly cleared his throat and turned to face Elio. "We need to meet up with the team," he said.

Elio nodded his head and took a step back.

The thought of potentially being left there alone made me want to cling to him and never let go. No. I was not about to be left behind like some child who needed a babysitter. This situation very well involved me just as much as everyone else "I'm coming with you two," I stated.

now.

Elio froze where he stood. His expression twisted into something resembling disapproval. He looked as though he was just about getting ready to deny my request. Little did he know that I wasn't making one. I was issuing a demand. "Cat-"

"I'm not staying here!" I shouted.

"This isn't something that's up for debate," Elio countered.

My eyes narrowed with spiteful determination.

"This is 'my' mother, Elio. My mother is the one who they fucking kidnapped, and if you think I'm just going to sit back and let you two deal with this-"

I let out a long, shaky breath and pressed my hand into the side of my pounding head.

"It's my fault this happened in the first place," I whispered.

Alessandro raised his brows. "Caterina."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Elio hissed. "Nothing about this is your fault."

I shook my head in firm denial. "Think about it. It was 'my' car that was spotted. The people who took mom probably didn't even realize that it was her driving and not me," I explained. "You believe yourself to be the intended target all along?" Alessandro questioned.

I nodded my head whereas Elio let out a frustrated sigh.

"She's probably right. Paul was the one who picked up the call. He's the one who's been after Cat for months. Chances are it was her he was anticipating to catch tonight."

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to steady my breathing.

"And that's why I need to come with you two tonight," I pointed out.

Elio pinched the bridge of his nose and stole a glance at Alessandro who merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine," he said. "Let's go then."

I hadn't bothered to bring my bag with me when the three of us made it out to the cars. But I made sure to keep my phone in my pocket just in case another call came in.

Alessandro informed us that we'd be heading to one of the warehouses his team has been operating out of. I didn't see the need to ask any further questions since my mind was currently occupied with other pressing matters, like how the hell we were going to get my mother back.

Paul's nauseating voice echoed in my ears. "If you want your mother back, you'll have to bring Alessandro to me...."

I rolled my eyes at such a ridiculous remark. How could he seriously think that we'd just willingly hand over another person in exchange for someone else? What kind of fucked up business was this?

We made it off the main road to head down an eerie-looking side street.

"I'm going to do the exchange," Alessandro said evenly.

"You what?" I gasped. "Alessandro, you can't be serious!"

Elio turned to glance at him from the passenger side. "How?" he asked.

Alessandro rolled an inquisitive brow.

"We'll figure it out somehow."

I sat back in my seat and shook my head in bafflement. How has this become my life? When did my sense of normalcy change from a night out with my friends to now tagging along on a ransom exchange? 'Will it always be like this?' I asked myself solemnly. 'Is my life bound to revolve around nothing but danger and fear?'

Maybe so.

But if that was truly the case, then I knew I had to learn how to evolve along with it. I couldn't just let myself curl up and shrivel away when times would get tough. I knew for a fact that the previous version of myself would have. The old me would have been a coward and hid from the thought of danger. But not anymore I wasn't going to lie down and just take it.

These people had already taken my dad away from me, I was not about to let the same thing happen to my mom.

We arrived not too long after that at the warehouse, Alessandro had mentioned earlier. Elio kept me close to his side as we all walked through the various doors and hallways. We gathered in a main room that acted as the center of Alessandro's base.

Dozens of tables were lining the walls, holding pounds of heavy equipment. There were men on guard everywhere. It made me feel both secure and unsettled.

Once they all noticed that Alessandro was there, they stopped what they were all currently working on and gave him their immediate attention. A tall man with dark hair approached the main table. "Sir."

"What have you got for me?" he asked.

The man went on to pull out a tablet and began reading through the notes he'd made.

"We've got eyes on where they're keeping Matilde Leone."

I immediately perked up and took a step closer. Alessandro noticed my heavy interest and pressed for further details.

"She doesn't seem hurt, but she is, in fact, surrounded on all sides."

Alessandro grimaced. "So, there are no weak points is what you're telling me then."

The man nodded.

"We can't get to her without the likely chance of someone killing her before we do. I would be too risky to make any rash decision, sir."

I sucked in a fearful breath and swallowed hard. Alessandro slowly nodded his head before falling into sudden thought. "Anything else?"

The man nodded. "Yes. Turns out we discovered a hidden tracking device that was purposely planted on Caterina's car. We ran the prints through our system and found that they belonged to a Paul Bryant." "That would be Antonio Jr.," he grumbled.

The man with the tablet nodded. "Our theory says that Caterina was the original intended victim of the kidnapping."

My stomach clenched in distress as Elio's hand enveloped my own.

"We've made that same discovery ourselves before we got here," Elio noted.

The room was suddenly overcome by a buzzing sound that was coming from my back pocket. I quickly pulled out my phone and saw the caller ID belonged to my mom.

"It's Paul," I said weakly.

Alessandro snapped his head up. "Put it on speakerphone... and act normal."

"Hello?" I silently prayed for the off chance that it would be my mother waiting on the other end of the line. But I was wrong. Paul's snarky tone filled the room, and it made me feel sick. "Well, are you ready for the details of this exchange?"