Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 760 : Anna’s Visit
**Two Months Later**
*Caterina*
I woke up and groaned in pain; my shoulder bothered me constantly ever since I’d been shot. Luckily the bullet had made a clean exit so the injury hadn’t been too bad, but that didn’t make it hurt any less.
I rubbed my shoulder, trying to get the worst of the pain to go away. Most days I was able to forget about the pain after a while, but every morning I woke up feeling like I’d been shot all over again. I tried to remind myself to be grateful for my health and the health of the baby, but it was difficult to feel anything but hatred.
Dealing with a gunshot wound was the last thing I wanted to be doing during my pregnancy. I had envisioned lazy days spent lounging with Anna and my mother, relaxing before the baby came. I had thought I would be spoiled by Elio, and not just because he was trying to hide how much real danger I was actually in.
I thought maybe we could go on a few different babymoons and spend time just enjoying the last few months of our family only being the two of us. But instead, I’d spent the past two months in physical therapy, relearning how to use my shoulder after it had nearly been destroyed by one of our enemies.
The one thing that brought me comfort was knowing that Franky had killed the man who shot me. That man’s last act had been failing at his job; instead of killing me, he’d only managed to injure me, and he’d paid for it with his life.
What happened after that had felt like a blur. I’d passed out from the pain, but Elio told me the neighbor had called the cops. We weren’t used to having to deal with the authorities, but Elio and Franky were both smooth under pressure. They explained everything that had happened, leaving out the illegal parts and greasing a few palms, and soon the whole thing was ruled an act of self-defense.
The problem now was that we were obviously on the Fed’s radar. I noticed unmarked black vehicles driving past our driveway almost every day, and I knew they didn’t belong to us or our enemies. Apparently, they had correctly identified the man who had shot me as belonging to MS13, so now they were suspicious about why exactly an organized crime syndicate would be targeting us. MS13 didn’t care about real estate moguls, and our ties to Italy made us even more suspicious.
Elio was already up and getting dressed for the day. He looked at me with concern in his eyes. “Are you sure you don’t just want me to stay home today? You know I’m always available if you need me.”
He sat on the bed and pulled me into his arms, gently rubbing his hands over my injured shoulder. He knew it always gave me trouble in the mornings.
He had been especially vigilant ever since I’d been shot, and I didn’t blame him at all. A few inches to the left and I would have died. I couldn’t ignore that, no matter how much I wished I could just forget it all. I had finally stopped fighting him when it came to security around the house. It wasn’t just about me anymore. I patted my growing stomach, grateful that our little baby was safe in there. It would only be a couple more months before we finally got to meet her.
Elio moved his hands down to rest over mine. She had started kicking in the last several weeks, and he was absolutely delighted every single time he felt it. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
“She’s sleepy today,” I murmured as we sat together in silence, waiting for movement. “She’ll probably wake up later.”
Elio kissed my cheek and stood up. “Maybe I should just stay home.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I’ll be fine. Besides, Anna is coming over, so it’s girls only!”
Elio chuckled and finished getting ready. “Have I mentioned before what a badass you are?”
“Hm, maybe once or twice.” I grinned and stood up to hug him before he left.
Although I would never get tired of Elio’s doting, I really was excited to have a girls’ day with Anna. It had been a while since the two of us had been able to hang out by ourselves. Elio tried his best not to interfere when he was present, but that didn’t stop our conversations from being a little awkward as he hovered nearby.
For the first month after I’d been shot, Elio hadn’t left me alone for more than a few minutes at a time. I had truly thought he was going to lose his mind. He had struggled to sleep at night, and he’d woken up yelling for me to get down more than once. In many ways, seeing me get shot had been more traumatizing for him than actually getting shot had been for me.
I was pulling on the only pair of sweats that still fit me when a text arrived from Anna letting me know that she was on her way over. I still hadn’t felt much movement from the baby, but I didn’t think much of it. Usually, she would get more active after I’d eaten something.
I wandered downstairs to wait for Anna. We had planned on watching reality TV and ordering food delivery all day, and I could not wait. Anna was normally too busy to block off an entire day to spend with me, so it was a rare treat to have her all to myself like this.
She walked in the front door without knocking and immediately enveloped me in a hug, holding out one arm so she didn’t crush the bag of food that she’d brought with her. When she pulled away, I saw that the little to-go bag was stamped with our favorite coffee shop.
“Please tell me those are the blueberry muffins from Harriet and Oak!” I squealed.
They only made a certain number of blueberry muffins every morning, and once they sold out, they sold out. It was nearly impossible to get them unless you got up ridiculously early, which Anna was known to do.
“Well of course they are! I had to get my favorite pregnant person her favorite treat,” she said with a smile. Anna opened the bag with a flourish and handed me a muffin. I took a gigantic bite out of it right in the foyer, manners be damned. Manners were for people who weren’t pregnant and starving.
I rolled my eyes back and moaned as the sweet muffin gave way to tart blueberries. The top was covered in thick sugar crystals that danced on my tongue and complemented the blueberries perfectly. I continued to eat as I made my way to the kitchen, Anna following closely behind.
We sat at the small bar and Anna pulled out a muffin for herself, pure bliss on her face when she bit into it. “God, I always forget how amazing these are.”
“Good morning, ladies,” the chef on duty today greeted us. “I see you’ve already got your breakfast covered. Can I get you some coffee or anything else?”
“I’d love a coffee, please,” Anna said, making herself right at home.
There had been a bit of an adjustment period for the both of us as we got used to the new servants that Elio’s family hired after the shooting, ones trained in security as well as whatever their specialties were, but we had finally gotten used to it. We still kept our old trusted servants; they just didn’t have to work as many hours for the same pay. The family had insisted that we needed another layer of security.
“I’ll just have my usual,” I added.
Trying to keep my caffeine intake down, I had started drinking a half coffee, half milk mixture, with plenty of cinnamon added in. The result was nothing like the jet fuel I’d used to get me through boarding school, but it was just enough to wake me up without feeling guilty that I might give my poor baby a caffeine addiction before she was even born. My doctor had assured me that wasn’t how it worked, but I didn’t believe her.
We finished the blueberry muffins far too quickly, but Anna had thought ahead and made sure to bring extras. Although I was far too full to eat a second one, it would make the perfect mid-morning snack. Three meals a day simply wasn’t enough for me anymore. I had started eating at least five, sometimes six.
We finished up our breakfast and the chef made us a couple of coffees to go so that we could bring them up to my and Elio’s private living room. It had been important to Elio when we had this mansion built to ensure that we would still have spaces that felt solely ours.
Part of the mafia life meant that people would always be coming in and out of our house and that Elio himself would run the business out of the house often, but our bedroom suite was the one place where nobody except for our cleaner was allowed.
We both sat in the overstuffed armchairs that faced the gigantic TV, ready to settle in for our show. I sighed in contentment as I laid my armchair back and put my feet up. The baby was still resting, and I knew how she felt. It had hardly been any time since I’d woken up, but I already thought I could shut my eyes and take a nap if I really wanted to.
“Tell me if you’re going to fall asleep so I can pause the episode!” Anna demanded as she noticed my eyelids fluttering. “I waited to watch this with you and I want to discuss. I heard that the super-rich one gets into a fight with the one who has the crazy lip injections. It’s supposed to be hilarious.”
I chuckled and promised that I wouldn’t fall asleep. “Look, I’ve got my coffee right here!” I insisted.
Anna glared at me with mock suspicion, but she started the show anyway. She was right; the episode was hilarious. All thoughts of taking a nap left my head as the people started screaming at each other over the fact that one of them had said that her wallpaper was fancier than the other one’s.
Suddenly, a sharp pain hit my stomach. I groaned and doubled over, wrapping my hands around myself.
Anna looked at me with alarm. “Caterina? What’s happening?”
“I don’t know,” I gritted through my teeth. Suddenly, the pain stopped. “That was so weird.”
“Do you think it was a contraction?” she asked, her eyes wide with fear.
I shook my head. “No, it’s way too early, maybe it was just–” I cut off as another searing pain ripped through my abdomen. I could feel my entire stomach clenching tight under my hands.
“I think I should call Elio!” Anna pulled out her phone and dialed.
“We need to go to the hospital,” I groaned.
Anna nodded and helped me up.
“Elio?” she said into the phone. “It’s Anna. There’s something wrong. You need to meet us at the hospital right now.”
I tried hard not to panic. It was far too early for the baby to come. Surely everything was going to be okay. I just had to believe everything would be okay.
