Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 708 -

*Caterina*

I walked up our front steps, wondering if I would even manage to make it through the front door or if I would just collapse on the porch swing. It wasn't even lunchtime yet, but I felt like I could damn near fall asleep for the night. 'You want to be in school, you want to be in school...' I had repeated to myself thousands of times as I sat through my lectures and diligently took notes.

Although I knew that getting my education was the right choice right now, it was hard to remember exactly why it all mattered when I was so exhausted.

Trying to balance life with Elio and my schoolwork had proven to be more difficult than I had expected. I could feel myself moving further away from the mafia work that I had worked so hard to be a part of, but I knew that getting my degree would be worth it.

Eyeing the porch swing longingly, I decided that my best bet was to go inside and plop down on the couch instead. The couch's closer proximity to the kitchen made my decision for me as I realized that if I laid down on the porch swing, I would definitely end up falling asleep before lunch.

I opened the door and was surprised to see Elio standing in the foyer, texting someone on his phone.

"Hey, baby!" he said happily when he saw me. "I've been waiting for you to get home."

"Why aren't you at work?" I asked, confused as to why he appeared to be waiting for me.

Sometimes he came home so we could have lunch together, but I was sure that he hadn't planned on meeting me today.

"We have to go to a business dinner while we're in New York, so I thought you'd enjoy buying a new dress for it," he said brightly as he tucked his phone away in his pocket.

I did love the idea of buying a new dress. I had never considered myself a particularly materialistic person, but Elio brought it out in me. He just loved to spoil me.

"Sure!" I said as I dropped my bags by the front door. "What's the meeting for?"

"Um, what was that?" Elio asked as though he hadn't been paying attention, but he'd been looking at me the whole time I was speaking.

Alarm bells sounded somewhere deep in the back of my head. Was he lying to me?

"What's the business dinner for?" I asked again. "You didn't tell me we were going to have a business dinner."

"Oh, it's just something for the real estate business, thinking about branching out to another city and seeing if it would be lucrative, nothing Valentino related," he said in an overly casual tone that only increased my suspicion.

I wanted nothing more than to cross my arms across my chest and demand he tell me the truth, but I couldn't understand why he would lie to me. He loved my involvement in the mafia life. He'd said so himself.

He had kept me involved throughout everything with Antonio, and I couldn't think of a reason why he would suddenly stop keeping me involved. I decided to drop the whole thing. I trusted that if Elio was keeping something from me, it must be for a good reason. I was just touchy about things being kept from me because of our past.

"Anyway, are you ready?" he asked me, holding out his arm so I could loop my hand in the crook of his elbow.

I took his arm with a smile on my face, knowing that I didn't have a reason not to trust him. He had more than proven himself to me by letting me be involved with taking out Antonio, and I knew that pushing the issue would only cause us both to feel frustrated.

Elio drove us directly to my favorite boutique. They had perfectly cornered the market between edgy style and business attire. I tried on just three dresses and chose the third one, a black sheath dress with long sleeves and pointy shoulder pads that reminded me of something a vampire might wear if she was the head of a Fortune 500 company. Elio took the dress and paid for it before I had even managed to get my other clothes back on.

"I think you made a great choice," he said as we walked back to the car, my shopping bag in his hand.

I chuckled at his words, knowing he really didn't care what I wore. I was pretty sure I could walk around in a trash bag and he would tell me I looked beautiful.

It would be funny to test that theory out sometime, I thought.

"Where are we going for lunch?" I asked once we were back in the car.

"Hmm... how about Hot Green?" he asked, naming my favorite lunch place in the city.

I glanced at him suspiciously. Although I thought Hot Green was delicious, it wasn't one of Elio's favorites. They only served vegetable-based dishes, which didn't impress Elio. He was a firm believer that some sort of meat should be present in every meal.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I answered, struggling to press down my growing suspicions.

I thought that he had cut out of work early just to buy me a dress and grab lunch together, but now I was starting to feel like he was purposefully sucking up to me so that he could give me bad news or something.

We handed the car over to a valet parking garage and walked a block over to Hot Green. The hostess seated us at a patio table close to the sidewalk and brought us two glasses of lavender sparkling water, their signature drink.

Elio traced the rim of his glass absentmindedly as he read the menu, no doubt trying in vain to replace a dish that had meat in it. I knew I would order my usual house salad, so I didn't bother looking at the menu, instead using Elio's distraction as an opportunity to study him.

If I was being honest with myself, the lines in his face did look a bit deeper. And was that a gray hair at his temple? I couldn't be sure from this angle, but either way, it was clear that something was causing him more stress than usual. I frowned as I watched him, worried about what was going through his mind that would cause him to be so on edge. I reached out and took his hand in mine, twining our fingers. He looked up and smiled at me, sending reassurance through me. Just as I was about to ask him what was worrying him, a familiar voice said from behind me, "Hey, Caterina!"

I sank down into my chair, my mood immediately turning sour. I had no desire for Elio and Elijah to meet. Hell, I didn't even really want Elijah to stop and talk to me. I was trying to avoid the guy for a reason. I glanced at Elio and saw his face tighten with barely concealed irritation.

Elijah stood next to our table, looking down at us with a smile on his face. Not wanting to cause a scene, I sat up a little straighter and said, "Hey, Elijah. This is my partner, Elio. Elio, Elijah."

Elio nodded at Elijah but didn't say a word. My stomach clenched in embarrassment at his open rudeness, and I could see that Elijah was uncomfortable with the interaction as well. He shuffled around awkwardly, as if he was tempted to just turn around and run away.

"Well, uh, it was good to meet you, Elio," Elijah managed to mumble.

"You too," Elio said back, not even bothering to look back up from his menu.

"See you around, Cat," Elijah said before turning around and walking the way he had come.

I wondered if he had come in our direction just because he had seen us sitting here. I sure hoped not. The thought of him noticing me made my stomach turn. I'd had too many bad interactions with dudes who always seemed to be able to replace me no matter where I went.

As Elijah walked off, our waiter came and took our orders. I was grateful for the distraction, although I could tell by the set of Elio's jaw that he was going to bring this up again.

"I'll have the house salad with a lemon wedge, please," I said with a smile.

The waiter nodded and wandered off to put our orders in. Elio turned back to me, his eyes stormy.

"So, who the hell is Elijah?" he asked, his voice low.

"He's just a guy from school. You saw me blow him off. I don't know why you're acting like this," I said, my anger flaring at his accusatory tone.

"Caterina, you know that we need to do background checks on anyone who shows an interest in you, especially now. We still have no fucking clue where Junior is, and he's sure to know by now that I've taken control of the Stateside Valentinos." Elio paused to take a sip of his sparkling water.

Rage swirled deep within my gut. How fucking dare he talk to me like I was a child? Were we seriously going to have this argument yet again?

"If you think I don't know that, you're mistaken," I gritted out, working hard to keep my voice under control. I didn't want to make a scene at one of my favorite restaurants.

"Cat, please, don't get upset. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to sound like I was chastising you," Elio said. "I know you know this stuff. I just get so fucking scared when I think about anything happening to you. I love you so much."

I softened at the worry in his voice and immediately felt guilty for assuming that he was going back to his old habits. He knew I hated it when he treated me like I didn't know shit about life, and I shouldn't have assumed that he would do that. "I'm sorry," I said, reaching out once again for his hand. "I just need you to understand that I think of this stuff too. I don't just waltz through life assuming that nothing bad will ever happen."

"I know, baby. I shouldn't have assumed."

He stroked his thumb over the back of my knuckles. I felt better at his reassurances, but I still noticed that he seemed on edge for some reason. I wished I could figure out what was going on. We ate the rest of our meal in relative silence, the mood ruined even though we'd both technically apologized.

Something was wrong with Elio. I just wished I could figure out what it was.