Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 826 : Bad Day

*Elio*

My head was still pounding as I walked out the front door. Leaving her when she was so upset took everything I had in me. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

No matter how angry I still was, I loved her more than that. Her tears still felt like acid on my skin, guilt burning in my chest. I wanted nothing more than to run back inside and hold her in my arms, to reassure her.

But I squeezed my eyes shut, focusing on the pain pounding in my head and the lingering effects from sleeping at my desk last night. I’d always tried to soothe Cat when she was sad or angry, to make up for mistakes, but this time... I didn’t have it in me.

I walked away, pushing my guilt to the farthest corner of my mind as I winced at the bright light from the sun overhead, too much for my sensitive eyes. Once I got into the car, I grabbed my sunglasses, sighing in relief once I could see through the tint.

It was already going to be a long day. There was no need to make it worse for myself.

I started up the car, pulling out of the driveway as my body fell into autopilot and I stopped thinking so much. I was still angry, finding everything around me, from the red lights I just couldn’t stop hitting to the drivers who cut me off without a turn signal, just absolutely irritating.

I was seething by the time I arrived at the office, pulling into my very own parking spot labeled with my name. As soon as I stepped out, however, I noticed something unusual about the lines. I lifted my foot and I stiffened as the white paint smeared across my shoes.

“Fuck me,” I growled, my temper boiling like a kettle. I swore I could hear the high-pitched screech ringing in my ears as I cursed up a storm.

“Sir.” A nearby worker rushed over. “It’s not a good idea to park there! The paint’s wet!”

“You think?” I snapped at him, not feeling an ounce of guilt as he shrunk in on himself, looking incredibly terrified of me. I just glared at him, fully pulling off my shoes as I stormed across the parking lot in my socks.

Luckily, I insisted on kept the parking lot well tended, so the pavement was perfectly smooth in my stocking feet. Although thinking about it, the painting was also those updates that resulted in this mess in the first place, so where did the blame fall?

On me.

I glowered, carrying my shoes by the heel in one hand and my bag in the other as I stormed into the office building. All greetings died on my employees’ lips as soon as they saw my face, but that worked out well for me anyway.

I wasn’t in the mood today.

I was beginning to think I should’ve just stayed home and dealt with Cat, especially when I stormed into my office and Leo took one look at me and burst into laughter.

“Did you forget they were redoing the lines today?” He laughed loudly, not even pretending to hide how funny he found all of this. I shot him a murderous glare, dropping my shoes on the floor as I stormed over to my desk.

I slouched into my chair, sulking at what a bad start to this day I’d already had.

“You don’t read the company memos at all, do you?” Leo snickered. “They made sure to warn everybody about the wet paint yesterday.”

“Enough,” I snapped at him, not in the mood for his shenanigans. I pulled out my laptop and started to get to work, but unfortunately for me, life just wasn’t having it.

A blue screen crossed the front of my laptop, showcasing a bar stuck on one percent as it updated. I only remembered now that it was supposed to update automatically once it was connected to power.

“Fucking fuck!” I slammed my laptop shut, my rage coming out full force as I thought about flipping over my desk in full anger. But as soon as the flash of fury came, it left, like a tide pulling in and then leaving.

I slunk back into my chair, pinching the bridge of my nose as my sunglasses slipped off my face. I felt awful.

This had all started with Cat and now everything else was going wrong as well. Was this karma? The universe above telling me that Cat was right and I was wrong, like always? But I just couldn’t believe that.

I couldn’t believe that after everything that had happened, everything we’d done to get into this life and up to where we were now, she wanted to just leave.

How many times had we fought over her being involved, over us working as a team, and suddenly it was all too much now? We’d fought more threats than just Junior. Cat knew it had always been what I wanted to do, to be the Don and make a difference this way, to fulfill the family legacy and make them all proud.

How could she ask me to leave?

It felt like running away, like giving up, and I just couldn’t accept that. I loved Cat and I understood her concerns, but I couldn’t do what she wanted this time.

“Elio, what’s up with you? This seems like more than just a bad mood,” Leo said, for once having no humor in his tone.

I sighed, rubbing my aching head as I stared at the swirling wood in the desk, somehow finding it looked somewhat like a cat, even if I knew it was just imagination.

“Great, she’s haunting me even at work,” I said frustratedly, sinking in my chair as I glanced over at Leo. “I’m fine.”

“Yeah, right. You’ve been in a bad mood since you walked in and, yup, there goes the group chat,” Leo snorted, looking down at his phone, which kept letting out pings. “Everyone’s sending out warnings to avoid you because you’re on a warpath, apparently. Did you cuss out an intern on the way up here?”

He sent me an incredulous look and I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms. “I cussed near them, not at them,” I said, for what little defense I had.

“Jeez, Elio.” Leo sighed, taking a seat opposite of me with a firm look. “What’s going on? Tell me right now or I will pry it out of you if it’s the last thing I do, and judging by the fact that you keep wincing whenever the sunlight even comes close to your face, your hangover will not let you outlast me. So spill it now.”

“Bastard,” I snapped, knowing he was right but not wanting to get into it at the moment.

“My parents were married, thank you very much.” He grinned cheekily.

I rolled my eyes but straightened up in my seat, sending him a thankful look when he pulled the blinds over the window, giving up a bit of darkness and privacy. I told him everything, about my fight with Cat and how I’d slept in my office out of sheer stubbornness, even this morning when Cat had broken down and I’d just left her.

“So this is all because Cat wants to leave the mafia?” Leo asked with a raised eyebrow.

I nodded solemnly.

“Well, I don’t know why you’re so surprised then. It makes perfect sense.”

“What?” I snapped in bewilderment. “How does it make sense? We’ve been working on this for years now! She’s the one who begged and begged to be involved as a team and got pissed when I wasn’t letting her do that, and now she wants an out? It doesn’t make any fucking sense!”

“That’s because you’re thinking from your perspective,” Leo huffed, sending me a ‘duh’ look. “Think about it. People have been threatening your daughter’s life even before she was born, and now Junior, her ex-boyfriend who traumatized her, is lurking around and doing the exact same thing. Of course, she’s terrified. She has a helpless baby to protect. Cat might be tough, but she’s also a new mom. She’s thinking about the baby, not you and her.”

“I know that,” I snapped, sighing helplessly as I leaned back in my chair. “But what am I supposed to do? I don’t want to give up everything we’d built just because of that asshole.”

“Well, you don’t necessarily have to,” Leo said thoughtfully, giving me a smirk. “All Cat’s asking for is a break, not to leave entirely. Try giving that to her. Take her on a trip somewhere nice where she doesn’t have to worry about all this, and let me and Franky handle everything about Junior and company here.”

I couldn’t believe what I was about to say but as Leo stared at me smugly, I had to praise his idea.

“You’re a genius,” I admitted begrudgingly, realizing now that the solution was easier than I thought it would be.

“Damn right, I am.” Leo winked at me like the asshole he was.

I sighed, realizing he’d be gloating about this for years now.

Dammit.

The more I thought about it, the more excited I became. I did just recently have an acquaintance who’d sold their house in Laguna Beach to me. It was fully furnished, entirely upgraded, and now empty. I had thought about selling it, but now I thought it might be perfect to use as a vacation home.

Laguna Beach wasn’t too far away either, so it might be nice to drive down there. I could even take one of my favorite cars, the old classic 1956 Corvette that I’d inherited from Dad.

It was the perfect plan.

“See? Isn’t it nice to have such genius friends like I am?” Leo grinned widely at me and then screamed as he dodged the paint-covered shoe I threw at him. “Hey, that’s rude!”

I just smirked, ignoring his grumblings as I pulled out my phone. It had been a long time since it had just been me and Cat, so as nice as it would be to take Emilia with us, I knew she would only be another source of worry for her. The best thing to do was to find someone to take care of her for a couple of days.

Besides, it would also get the upcoming wedding off of her mind as well, which was another plus.

“Hey, Matilde.” I grinned as my soon-to-be mother-in-law answered with an unimpressed sound. I winced as she went off on me, probably already having heard the details of our fight from Cat. “Yeah, I know, I know. I’m trying to fix it, which is why I need your help.”

Matilde grumbled, but she was all for taking care of Emilia for a few days so Cat and I could go relax. She adored her granddaughter, after all.

“Thanks,” I said to Leo once I was off the phone and all the plans had been made.

He grinned, giving me finger guns, and I almost wanted to take it back at his stupidity. Still, I owed him, so I said nothing.

Now, the rest was up to me.

We’d go relax at Laguna Beach and maybe, if I was lucky, I could change Cat’s mind about all this.