Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad by Scarlett Rossi
Chapter 717 -

*Caterina*

"Anna?" I asked warily as she stormed across the pathway straight toward me, looking like she might slap the hell out of me for whatever I did to cause her grievances.

She stopped inches in front of me, eyes blazing with fury with her hands on her hips. She reminded me of my mom when she caught me trying to light a cigarette when I was sixteen. I had gotten a mouth full, and Mom had been furious. But now, I had no idea what I had done to set off Anna.

"You didn't tell Elijah about me!" She glared at me, stomping her foot childishly. "You ran off to New York and completely forgot about me!"

My mouth was wide open and completely shocked. It took a few minutes for my brain to catch up but once I did, I took one look at Anna's pursed lips and burst out into giggles. Her fake angry look melted away into a grin. "You're waiting outside my door for that?" I laughed.

"Despite you not telling me," she said, giving me a pointed look, "I knew you were getting home today and since you did mention that your boo was dealing with that work thing all day, I invited myself over." I made a face at the word. "Nobody says 'boo' anymore, Anna."

"Well, I do." She shrugged. "Now, are you gonna let me in or not? I've been out here for hours, you know, since somebody didn't tell me what time they would be back." She pointed to the door with a huff.

I rolled my eyes, chuckling as I used the thumbprint on the door. It opened up automatically and Anna grabbed my suitcase, helping me pull it inside, where we both plopped onto the couch.

"So, why'd you decide to come over?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, right!" She perked up from the couch, giving me a grin as she reached into her overly large purse, pulling miniature bottles of alcohol.

My eyes widened as she kept pulling them out like a clown car until there were nearly ten half-sized bottles on the table, a pile of movies, popcorn supplies, new pairs of comfy fuzzy socks, and a bunch more items.

She grinned proudly. "I just got paid from my new job and I wanted to celebrate with my best girlie. I figured, let's have a girl's day. It's been forever since we've hung out."

"Anna." My eyes misted up at the thought. "You were waiting at my door all day for that? You're the goddamn best." I scooted over, hugging her tightly, emotional at how thoughtful she was.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm the best around, I know." Anna patted my back awkwardly. "Now don't get too weepy yet. I've got stuff for three, so you better call your Mom too because that woman knows how to party."

I laughed, blinking away the water in my eyes. Anna grabbed one of the four bags of microwave popcorn and left for the kitchen while I called my mom. It didn't take much convincing. She was over the moon to hang out with me and Anna.

It took less than five minutes before I heard the doorbell and I got up from the couch, where Anna and I had spread out the movies, trying to settle on one. I wiggled my toes in new fuzzy socks, bursting with happiness as I opened up the front door.

There was my mom, holding her giant tote bag that she always used for parties and a massive grin.

She barely got through the door when Anna yelled, "Let's go, ladies! We're doing the 80's first!"

I chuckled, and we settled in for a fun day. We quickly made it through the movie pile, making cocktails out of whatever we had in the house. I was on my third rum and coke when Mom broke out the nail kit, insistent on fixing me and Anna's toes.

We made our way through the assortment of popcorn and snacks that Mom had brought, giggling as we talked straight through the movies we'd seen hundreds of times at this point. I ordered pizza for us from my favorite shop.

I was laughing all night as Anna did impressions of all the movie characters, and Mom got all of them wrong. We even broke out one of the old board games Mom had brought, something we used to play with Dad before he died. It was old and worn and truly a terrible game, but I didn't feel sad or angry anymore. I felt happy, sharing those memories with Mom and Anna as we tried to sabotage one another. Eventually, it ended with me and Anna bankrupting each other and Mom taking the win.

I felt light, like I was floating on cloud nine way above the reality of home. All the stress just vanished as I played around like I was a little kid with stars in her eyes and hope in her heart that everything was going to be okay.

Anna and I hung upside down from the couch, our feet propped up against the window as our nails dried-purple for mine and red for Anna. Mom had dozed off an hour ago after we started watching one of the corny horror movies we brought.

I sipped the remainder of my drink through a silly straw as I watched some random girl get chased by a maniac.

"Rule number one in horror movies. You never go off to have sex in a car." Anna rolled her eyes. "Totally deserved that one."

"But that's assuming she knew she was in a horror movie, which she didn't," I pointed out, "unless the characters are self-aware, then their actions make sense."

"I don't care who you are. If you're a cheerleader and your boyfriend's best friend tries to have sex with you in a car late at night in a parking lot, just go home. Ain't worth that shit," Anna huffed. She shrugged, grabbing a handful of the cheddar popcorn and throwing it into her mouth.

I was about to retort when I heard the tell-tale sign of a text message on my phone. "Oops," I struggled for a bit to untangle myself from where I had hung upside down on the couch, reaching out for my phone as I opened it up. The blood rushed to my head in a hurry, and I steadied myself, blinking wildly to get rid of the double vision.

I frowned once I saw the message though. It was from Elio.

'It's what we thought. I'll tell you more when I get home.'

Reality had come crashing through the front door. I swallowed, setting my phone down as I tried not to show any emotion on my face. I didn't want to lie to Anna or Mom, but I couldn't tell them anything about this either.

I stayed cool for the rest of the movie, pretending I hadn't read the message as I tried to savor those last stress-free moments with Anna. Eventually though, night came and Anna stretched her arms above her head. "We've got class tomorrow, so we better get to bed," I convinced her as she yawned like a toddler up past their bedtime.

She'd drunk more than I did, and because I didn't want her driving home after drinking, I directed her to one of the guest's rooms.

"You better tell Elijah about me tomorrow in class, okay?" Anna lectured me, slurring her words a bit as I pushed her by the shoulders to the guest room.

"I promise I will," I reassured her and after that she grinned, patting my cheeks with a dazed look.

"Good girl," she said and then face-planted onto the bed, letting out a huge snore.

I suppressed my laughs as I rolled her up in the blanket like a burrito, making sure she was completely covered before I snuck back into the living room.

I cleaned up the living room, saving the last few slices of pizza and washing the dishes we'd used. I packed up Anna's stuff and Mom's, getting them ready for the morning. As I did, I didn't notice a pair of eyes on me. "Sometimes I forget how old you are now."

I glanced up at Mom, who smiled sadly at me. "You're not that little girl who used to insist on doing everything I did, chasing me around like a little duckling." "No," I smiled, "But I'm still your baby."

"Right, that you are," she chuckled then patted the couch next to her. A bit confused, I willingly sat next to her. "So, tell me, baby girl. What's got you in knots?"

I jolted in surprise, giving her a wide-eyed stare, but she only smiled knowingly. "How'd you notice... I thought I hid it—"

"You did, to anyone else." Mom nodded softly, gazing at me from the corner of her eye. "But I'm your mother, Caterina. I always know, especially when you're worried about something. You scrunch up that little nose just like your dad used to." She bopped me on the nose with her finger as an example and I blinked, covering my nose.

I wasn't sure whether I was more concerned that I shared that odd trait with my dad or that I had such a big tell. But knowing I couldn't keep this from my mom any longer, I sighed, glancing at my phone with a heavy heart.

"I won't tell you details," I told her firmly. "But one of Elio's men went missing. We... we haven't found him yet and it looks like it wasn't... simple." Mom sighed, gently holding my hand as she turned to me with a sad look. "Did you know him?"

"No," I answered.

She nodded, looking a bit relieved. "Unfortunately, baby, because of what you're mixed up with, that is going to happen again and again. People are going to die, go missing and never be recovered, or worse, they'll be found in a condition worse than death. That's how it works in that life. It never stops. Your father knew that, and that's why he tried to keep us as far away from it as possible."

"I know," I said solemnly. "But even after all of that, he didn't. We still got involved anyway. If his choices are going to affect me anyway, then I want to make the choice to be prepared to fight. I don't want to live in fear all of my life."

Mom smiled sadly. "I know, baby. That's why I won't say anything more. It's your life and you can choose what to do with it. Just... be careful. The violence never stops when you're involved with people like that. I don't want to bury you too." "Mom...."

I was interrupted by the sound of the front door opening and Elio appeared in the entrance, a tired look to him.

"I think I'll sleep off the alcohol here if you don't mind." Mom gave me a strained smile, blinking away the tears building in her eyes as she got up. She nodded to Elio as she passed by, heading off to the second floor where there were several spare rooms.

"Goodnight, Mom," I called out after her.

Once she was gone, Elio gave a heavy sigh, collapsing on the couch next to me. I grabbed his hand, squeezing it reassuringly as I waited for him to start. But instead of what I thought, Elio just looked over at me, looking completely drained of life, and said simply, "I love you."

"I know." I chuckled, then leaned forward with a serious look.

"Tell me everything."