Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 800 : Soulmate

*Two Months Later*

*Cat*

It was amazing how quickly things changed... and how some things stayed the same. Just like he had promised, Elio and I started working together as he included me in more of the processes the family did during the day.

Understanding the reach that the Valentino family had was shocking. They weren’t rich for no good reason, and they weren’t one of the biggest crime families in the world just because of their name.

Leo and Franky were kind enough to help me settle in when Elio wasn’t there. While I was still uncomfortable directing the men without Elio there, they listened to me anyway. I was surprised by how friendly they were and how open they were to my suggestions, and willing to hear me out despite my lack of experience.

And when I did ask any questions about how things ran, Elio or Franky were there to let me know how things were done. The first few projects I started were making the current supplies and routes more efficient and even looking over the contracts we had and could have.

I proved my usefulness for the first time by getting us a huge alliance opportunity with a worldwide business transport, something that saved us money and time while also opening up more routes for expansion.

I’d been particularly proud of that one, seeing as I had headed it with Elio’s permission. And winning always felt nice. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Everything I learned in school, despite not having finished, came in very handy. I even started going back to classes more routinely. Anna was instrumental, as were my mom and the nanny, in helping to keep Emilia occupied. Any time I wasn’t spending at school or at the warehouse, I was with Elio and Emilia.

Dodging the laws and bending the rules became so much easier now that we had the Feds in our pocket. It helped even more that Elio’s name was still clean out of their records. Our Fed had no idea who was paying his checks, and he didn’t care in the slightest.

MS13, on the other hand, just as Elio had predicted, crumbled and fell apart as after Ignacio’s disappearance, his men fled and ran straight into the hands of the waiting federal agents. After that, there was no sign of them.

No one had truly been loyal to Ignacio. They only wanted his money, and once he was gone and his power had been taken away, there was no one willing to fight for his name. Slowly, he and MS13 began to fade away into history.

Things had been going so smoothly that it felt almost unreal in a way, like a dream where all the pieces fell into place and you had a smooth road going straight to where you wanted. Sometimes, I felt like I might wake up and still be back in that nightmare–trapped and threatened, always in danger with enemies closing in.

But every time I felt like that, Elio was there to reassure me. I grew more thankful for having him every day.

This was why the moment I received a text from him asking me to meet him at Santa Monica Beach, I didn’t even hesitate. Luckily, Anna had been itching for a playdate with Emilia and she jumped at the chance to take her honorary niece to the indoor playground a few blocks from our house.

Ever since Emilia had learned how to crawl, we couldn’t get her to stay still any longer. It was best to get her energy out so she’d actually sleep at night, which was when my hyperactive best friend came in handy.

“You sure you two will be alright?” I asked, raising an eyebrow as Anna put on a semi-fashion show with my daughter.

“No, too clashy,” Anna frowned, exchanging the pink headband for another one in the collection. “Yeah, yeah we’ll be fine. We have guards. So stop hovering and find your man already!”

Anna giggled, giving him a knowing look like she knew exactly why Elio had called me over to a beach in Santa Monica, but I knew her well enough that she wouldn’t be giving me any hints whatsoever. She’d rather sew her mouth shut with a threat and needle than give away a surprise.

“Fine, fine, make sure she gets her lunch and we’ll probably be back in time for dinner. If not, I’ll send Mom over to help with that,” I told her.

Anna huffed, holding Emilia in one arm as she rushed over to push me out the door. “Alright, alright, just go now! I’ve got this handled, so no need to worry about anything tonight.” Anna grinned widely, looking like the cat that got the cream as she slammed the door in my face.

I huffed but smiled as I shook my head fondly at her antics. Anna would always be Anna.

I opted not to take a driver this time, getting into my own car now that I wasn’t constantly under threat from having a semi accidentally run into me.

Santa Monica was pretty far, almost an hour away. I turned on some music to listen to, singing along quietly as I headed down the LA roads. I wondered briefly what surprise Elio would have for me.

With him, it could be anything.

It could have been a surprise trip halfway across the world, or maybe he would finally figure out how to take me on normal dates and not to fancy-ass restaurants where all they served was caviar on everything. I hated to break it to him, but caviar was gross.

Who wanted to eat fish eggs over a good old-fashioned pizza?

Not me.

But even if it was eating caviar at some restaurant on a boat or dinner on a hot air balloon, I knew just having Elio there would make it all worth it.

The beach was surprisingly empty when I arrived, and that was the first thing that tipped me off... or the second actually, after Anna’s reaction. I stepped out onto the pavement, the sunset falling out in the distance on the beach and it looked like a picturesque scene, like one you might find on a postcard or in an art photography contest, one that felt too perfect to be real.

The smell of the sea, salty and refreshing, hit me as I approached the sandy beach, taking the moment to take off my heels and set them aside in the car as I abandoned them. The first step onto the warm white sand was like the first breath of outside you took in after a long flight.

I breathed in, relishing the warmth of the sunset on my skin. The sound of the waves crashing upon the rocks and the sound of gulls flying overheard filled my ears, and I felt everything from my regular life wash away with the receding tide.

I opened my eyes, my heart and mind calm as I made my way down the beach, the sand softening and sinking under my feet the further I approached the shoreline. But that was where I saw a shadow standing there, waiting for me apparently, facing the sunset and looking just as at peace as I was.

“Elio,” I called out once I was close enough to him and the waves rolled up, brushing across my bare feet I laughed at the feeling, the wind carrying the salty taste of the water to my tongue.

Elio turned around, a relaxed smile on his face, and dressed in a nice black suit I knew he hadn’t been wearing when he left for work this morning.

Something was up, but I didn’t quite know what.

His feet were as bare as mine, pant legs rolled up as he stood ankle-depth in the ocean. The sky had faded to a brilliant and vivid purple and pink, casting a cooler glow across the beach as the sun began to vanish and the moonlight took its place.

“Hey.” Elio smiled as he saw me, eyes soft as he gently held out a hand. “Care to walk on the beach with me?”

“Oh, is that what you write in your dating profile? Likes long walks on the beach?” I joked, happily stepping forward as the water retreated back. I took his hand, his hand squeezing my mind gently like he was reminding himself I was really here.

“Too cliche?” Elio raised an eyebrow, giving me a smirk as he pulled me along down the beach.

“No.” I curled up by his side, leaning on him as we took a slow walk across the wet sand, letting the waves roll in playfully around our feet and then retreat just as quickly. It felt surreal to be here like this but I didn’t question it.

Elio had a plan. He always did.

“Do you remember when we met?” Elio asked suddenly, breaking the silence as he looked straight ahead.

It was an innocent question, but one we both knew was filled with a heavy answer.

“Yeah.” I swallowed, remembering that painful rainy day, the way everyone had dressed in black, the uncomfortable dress I’d been forced into, and how Mom had cried and cried all day long.

I couldn’t even remember the faces of the people who came, expressing how sorry they were that they had lost such a great man.

But he wasn’t just a great man to me. He was my Dad, a man who I got to spend way too little time with.

“I remember thinking back then how small and fragile you looked, like a little doll, so empty and hollow,” he said.

The admission was surprising to me. Empty... It was a harsh word to describe a grieving twelve-year-old, but not a wrong one.

“I was angry back then,” I admitted quietly. “When I found out what Dad did for a living, how he’d sacrificed himself for some random stranger I’d never met then found out he lived a whole other life I didn’t know about. He was a hero to me growing up, like all girls think of their father, I guess. I just... I didn’t know how to feel after I found out that I was nothing more than a lie to him, just some secret he kept hushed up to the world. Mom was falling apart and Dad was gone and everything I knew had been upended in a matter of days. I guess empty... was all I could feel at the time.”

I smiled at Elio as we paused walking. Elio turned to face me with a serious look. I brushed my hands over his cheek, pulling myself closer as he wrapped his arms around my waist.

“That’s why I’m so thankful to have you, to have fallen in love with you,” I said. “Even back then, the only one who was able to bring me out of that state of misery was you, Elio. Though, admittedly it was mostly due to fights in the beginning.”

Elio laughed, probably remembering the same childish fits we’d thrown at one another, especially me as I hated being told what to do.

“Cat, our... our lives have always been entwined together.” Elio sighed as he gently leaned over foreheads together, just breathing in the same space as me as we listened to the sea around us. “I became the man I am today because that was the day I met you. The day I was asked to protect you and keep you safe and the more time I spent with you, the more I grew to adore you. It was miserable for me when you left for those five years because even back then you were my best friend and my confidant, the one I told everything to. And it’s only grown more and more. You’ve been my friend, my lover, and my soulmate, Cat.”

“I know that. You’re mine too,” I said softly, gently lifting his chin so I could meet his eyes. There was a determined fiery look to him, like he needed to get something off of his chest right here and now. “What’s going on, Elio?”

Elio entwined our hands together, lifting our clasped knuckles to his lips where he pressed a tender kiss to my engagement ring that sat on my left hand. My breath hitched as I realized what all this was about.

I stared him in the eyes, stunned into silence as emotions welled up in my throat, my eyes heating with tears.

“I’m ready to marry you, Cat,” Elio declared boldly. “And I’d do it right here and right now if I knew your mom wouldn’t kill me for it.”

I gave a wet laugh at that, knowing it was true.

“So, Caterina–” Elio said my full name, falling down to one knee as he kept my hand held tightly in his, eyes locked on me so passionately. “Please tell me you’re ready too.”

“Of course, I am, you idiot!” I burst into blissful tears, laughing at the same time as I fell to my knees in the sand, wrapping myself around him tightly as he held me. “I already agreed to marry you and now you’re here doing romantic gestures again? Are you trying to get my heart to burst?”

He laughed, holding me close as he breathed out. “I love you and I want to be able to call you my wife to everyone. So set a date.”

"I will," I beamed, entwining my arms around his shoulders as he lifted us out of the sand. But I noticed his pursed lips like there was still something else he wanted to say. "What is it?"

"Do you think your dad would’ve liked me?" Elio asked hesitantly, a scared look in his eyes.

"You knew him longer than I did, Elio," I reminded him of that fact.

“I mean, like as a son-in-law," Elio said awkwardly, giving me pensive eyes like he truly didn’t the answer to the question.

But I did. I had known this was coming for a long time, and I had spoken with everyone who knew my father to prepare this answer for him ahead of time.

"Elio," I said, grinning widely, taking his cheeks between my palms so I could look into his eyes. "The moment he would’ve found out you were dating me, he would’ve hated you more than anyone in the world."

"Cat!" Elio’s mouth dropped, and I shrieked in laughter as he fully tackled me to the sand. "Take that back, you little wild cat!"

"It’s the truth!" I beamed as he tore his fingers into my sides, tickling me to what felt like death. The water rushed against my head and I shivered, Elio finally letting go as he pinned me to the ground.

I grinned at him as he pouted, probably already having figured out that what I’d said was the truth. I softened at his sad, lost little look.

"But it wouldn’t have mattered, Elio." I cupped his cheeks, smiling brightly at the man I loved. "I would’ve chosen you anyway."

His pout turned into a brilliant smile, just like I knew it would.

He was the person I had loved for a long time, after all.