Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 685 -

*Caterina*

I heard rustling long before I opened my eyes. The light from the morning sun gently streamed through the blinds of the windows, casting an ethereal glow throughout the room. Slowly, I blinked away the blurriness in my eyes. My hand felt around for Elio, only to replace that his side of the bed was completely empty.

What little bit of sleep that was still lingering around my eyes instantly fell away. I turned my head to replace Elio rummaging through the closet and dresser and throwing on whatever clothes he found.

My brows drew together in confusion. Was I forgetting something? Where on earth was he going in such a hurry? Did we have some kind of errand or engagement this morning that I'd completely forgot about?

In all honesty, there wasn't much to remember from the evening before. After the whole unexpected run-in with Alexi, Elio's mood had remained rigid and distant. I had hoped to spend the rest of our night relaxing and winding down from our trip, but that didn't happen.

I hadn't even tried to revive the passion I'd originally stirred back in the car, allowing Elio to simply work through his own feelings in peace. Normally, I would have poked at him for an explanation.

I still didn't know or understand why Alexi was there in the first place. Whatever was said between them was enough to send Elio into a spiraling fit of rage, and I knew that pestering him on the matter was not going to make things any better. I figured that once the two of us finally got some real rest, that everything would be fine.

But by the furious look on Elio's face, that was clearly not the case.

"W-what's going on?" I yawned.

I brushed my hair back from my face and blinked up at Elio, who glanced over his shoulder to look at me. His eyes were filled with stern exhaustion.

'Well, so much for getting any real rest,' I thought to myself.

"I have to meet with Leo and Francesco," he said under his breath.

Elio turned back to continue getting himself ready. Meanwhile, I threw back the covers and struggled to replace my balance when my feet touched the floor. I carried myself over to my side of the closet and began rolling through my hangers. "I didn't realize that we have a meeting," I said. "If I'd known before, I would have set an alarm to wake up a bit earlier."

I settled on a cream-colored blouse that I liked along with a pair of faded jeans. My hair was slightly a mess, but I figured I'd just pull it back into a clip or a ponytail of some kind.

I had just turned to head into the bathroom when Elio's voice broke through the silence.

"You don't need to come," he stated firmly.

There was no possible indication in his tone that he meant those words as a suggestion. My entire body froze on the spot. I turned around to face him with a look of utter confusion. "What do you mean, I don't need to go?" I asked him tightly.

For him to be meeting with Leo 'and' Francesco meant that this wasn't just regular work they'd be discussing. This very likely involved talking about Junior and Antonio-which meant that I had every reason to be there. I had told Elio that I needed to be included in everything that pertained to those two.

And yet for some unknown, aggravating, reason, he was making the decision to exclude me.

Again.

I tried to keep my tone as calm as possible and gave him the chance to explain.

"Elio, tell me why I don't need "

"Because it's not something you need to concern yourself with right now," he said pointedly. He let out a long breath. "I'll fill you in later."

My chest tightened in devastated anger. How the hell could he say that?

Part of me wanted to be spiteful and tell him that it was too bad, that I had every intention of coming with him. But Elio was already finished getting ready and was on his way out of the bedroom. So, it wouldn't have mattered how quickly I'd have tried to get myself together.

Elio was dead set on leaving me behind.

I was beyond pissed. My hands clenched into tight fists at my sides, causing my knuckles to turn white with rage. He was shutting me out-disregarding my stance in the entire situation. What had happened to the Elio who was defending my place back in Florence? When every other man was so quick to discount my importance, he had been the one standing up to them and insisting that I be a part of it all.

And yet here he was, pushing me aside, leaving me behind... shutting me out.

"Well, have a great time," I hissed bitterly.

Elio suddenly stopped and turned back to face me. For a brief moment, I genuinely thought that he'd changed his mind. Maybe in those few split seconds, he had come to his senses and realized the mistake he was making. I was wrong.

Elio didn't say a word, nor did he even appear to be remotely sorry for his shitty attitude. He took a few steps toward me, closing the space between us. He looked as though he was going to lean down and kiss me. But I didn't have a single ounce of interest in affection right now.

I narrowed my eyes and slammed the door right in his face.

"Just go," I said quietly.

Tears threatened to fall in disappointment, but I fought them back. Grabbing clothes off the bed, I headed into the bathroom to get ready on my own time.

***

I'd decided on a long, hot shower in hopes of working out some of the stress my muscles held since the morning. As much as I tried to forget about the whole encounter with Elio, I couldn't.

I tried to think through several different possibilities as to why he saw the need to leave me out this time. It was then that I remembered about the strange phone call Elio had received in the middle of the night. I couldn't tell who exactly was on the other end of the line, but what I did notice was how tense Elio became afterward.

The thought then occurred to me... not only did he not include me, but intentionally didn't tell me about the meeting until it was too late for me to be a part of it. What the hell kind of shit was that?

Once I was put together, I reached for my phone to call Anna. If anyone could help me see logic in my anger, it was her.

Two rings went by before I heard her voice come through the other side of the line.

"Hey, Cat."

"Hey, Anna."

Apparently, the trepidation in my voice was easily picked up.

"Is everything okay?" Anna asked. "You normally don't reach out to me this early unless something has happened."

I paused. "Well...."

"Cat. Did something happen?" she asked sternly.

I let out a long sigh of frustration. "It's Elio," I muttered.

I knew I couldn't very well fill Anna in on 'all' the details of the issue, so I made it a point to alter the truth just slightly for everyone's sake.

"Elio told me that he wanted to include me in on a meeting at work to help me gain some experience," I told her.

"That sounds great," she said.

"Exactly. I really thought that he was finally taking me seriously in wanting to be involved in his work and was willing to bring me in on the important parts."

The anger that I'd managed to tamper down from earlier was beginning to flare up again by the second.

"So, what happened?"

Another huff of irritation slipped from my mouth.

"Well, it's just that... for a while now, Elio's been on board about including me when it counts at his work, yet he proceeded to completely disregard me this morning when he blatantly refused to let me go with him," I explained. "I thought we were finally past the whole keeping me at a distance phase, and now he decided to pull this."

"Cat, it sounds like you and Elio really need to sit down and talk about this," Anna suggested. "I think it's great that he wants to include you in his work, but if he's persistently keeping you away then you need to know why."

As usual, Anna was right. There was little to no point in skulking over Elio's actions, though he had left me feeling angry and upset with little to no explanation.

"Maybe something came up in his schedule, and it just wasn't the right time to bring you into his work," she said.

My brows raised while my thoughts immediately took me back to the mysterious call that I'd overheard last night. Something obviously happened that required Elio's immediate attention. Maybe it wasn't necessary for me to be physically brought in, but the least that he could have done was just tell me about it.

Nonetheless, I felt much better having spoken with Anna. She'd asked about Italy and told her a few bits and pieces from my trip before I came to the startling realization that I had yet to inform my mom about my return home. I quickly ended the call and grabbed my bag.

Key in hand, I hastily made my way down to my mother's apartment and lightly knocked on the door. Just as I was about to turn the key into the lock, I saw the doorknob twist open. My heart jumped into my throat when I came to see that it was my mom who answered the door.

"Oh, my God!" I gasped in shock.

My mom's face lit up with both surprise and happiness. "Cat! You're home! Oh, dear, how was the trip?"

I nearly shrugged off her question as though it held little consequence.

My mother was walking again. Granted, she was relying heavily on her walker, but she was walking. It was almost enough to bring tears of joy to my eyes, seeing her regaining her life back one step at a time.

I led us back into the living room. "Florence was beautiful and every bit of how I once remembered it," I said. "It was incredible to go back."

Her features softened with blissful ease as I told her all about the art galleries and museums we went to. My mom's smile widened further with every new detail. I could tell that she missed the place deeply. When it finally came to reaching her full recovery, I made a mental promise to myself that she and I would go back to Florence again.

For the remainder of the afternoon, we spent most of our time catching up until I heard the sudden noise of my phone buzzing on the coffee table.

I quickly glanced down at the screen to see that it was Elio's name being displayed. For some strange reason, I felt a twinge of uneasiness.

I pushed my slighted feelings to the side and answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Al just called me," Elio said. "He has an update on Antonio."