Submitting to My Best Friend's Dad-Chapter 843 : No Matter What

*Cat* 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

An icy grip tightened around my heart, squeezing painfully until I swore I could feel it stop as I watched Elio’s face fall. I couldn’t hear the words through the phone as he slowly sank onto the couch, but I knew immediately that whatever was said, wasn’t good.

I’d never seen Elio become that pale, look that panicked. He stared blankly ahead like he was barely registering the other side of the line. I gripped a hand over my heart, my imagination whirling into the possibilities of what could’ve happened to shake Elio so badly.

And my mind hit the worst possible option.

Elio mumbled something I didn’t catch, too preoccupied as I drowned in my own anxiety, reaching out to grip his arm like he was the last thing keeping me from sinking into the abyss. And he was because, despite all my bravado, I was terrified.

Terrified that this call had brought my worst fears to life.

“I’ll... I’ll call you once I tell her,” Elio said quietly, not even glancing at me and tears sprung to my eyes, already knowing that this was bad. He ended the call.

“What happened? What–” I choked on my own words, not even able to say them aloud in case the universe decided to make it a reality. Please, please, please, I begged every god and deity above that everyone I loved was okay.

That is what I thought was wrong.

“It’s–” Elio’s voice cracked, his head hung like a sinner, and every inch of me was rearing up in pain and panic as I tightly gripped his arm, unknowingly digging my nails into his skin painfully, but he didn’t complain one bit.

He gave a shuddering breath and looked up at me with guilt-ridden eyes. “Emilia....”

“No!” I jumped to my feet, pushing him away as I clasped my hands over my ears. “It’s not true! I don’t want to hear your lies!”

Cat!” Elio was quick as he grabbed my arms, trying to pull me into his embrace, but I was too far gone into my misery, too terrified that if he confirmed what we both knew, then it would all be over. Tears streamed down my face as I hysterically ripped my wrists from his hold, pounding my fists on his chest as I screamed.

Elio took it all, every ounce of my pain and misery and grief, standing there with a grim look as he let me vent everything out on him.

It took minutes but felt like hours before my tears dried up, my energy depleted as I lost the fighting spirit inside of me. Exhaustion and hopelessness took their place, and my legs collapsed under me.

Elio barely caught me as I fell like a ragdoll to the floor, cradling my head softly as he hushed me. I just shut my eyes, praying that all of this was just a nightmare.

“My baby,” I whimpered into his chest, my voice hoarse from all the screaming and crying. I felt lost, like I was reaching out blindly into the dark for something that wasn’t even there, and the feeling was so visceral.

I wanted my baby.

I wanted my sweet little daughter back in my arms where she was safe. But the emptiness of where she should be was more devastating than anything I’d ever felt before. I would rather have thousands of knives dug into my heart than this.

“I’m sorry,” Elio’s shoulders trembled as he held me tightly.

I could feel the cold drops of his tears on my skin, like acid dripping and dissolving away at me until every inch of me felt raw and exposed.

But after all my tears had dried up, all the despair and guilt and pain became fuel for the one emotion I knew I could feel at the moment.

Wrath.

“Where’s my baby?”

The raw harshness in my voice wasn’t directed to Elio, but I felt his flinch anyway. I slowly looked up, my senses coming back to life as they sharpened. I could hear his rapid heartbeat in his chest as mine cooled to a steady pulse, could feel my own skin feeling like ice as he radiated warmth still.

I could see the remorse and shame in his eyes, and deep beneath it, a deep resentment aimed only at himself. But I didn’t need his sorrow or guilt right now. I had enough of my own.

I needed the ruthless Don.

Clenching my fists at my side, I glanced coldly at Elio’s phone before I shakily got to my feet. Elio tried to grab my hand but I dodged him, taking slow steps before I sat on the couch, opening his phone and calling Franky back.

I needed every detail he had.

I was going to get my daughter back.

“Elio?” Franky’s voice came through the speakerphone.

“What happened? Where’d they take my daughter?” I demanded coldly.

There was a pause on the phone, and I could almost imagine Franky reeled back in surprise. But I wasn’t going to play nice anymore.

Until I had my daughter back in my arms, the Cat they knew was dead and gone.

Franky sighed but gave me the information I wanted as I switched to speakerphone.

“We were alerted something was wrong when the bodyguards we attached to Matilde didn’t respond. They’d informed us she was stopping at a grocery store to pick up some food. I thought it was odd because of how late it was, but I agreed. She had Emilia with her, and five guards. They were supposed to check in after an hour, so when they didn’t, we sent a team to investigate.”

I glanced over at Elio as he rose to his feet, coming to sit beside me. We were both tense and I could see the coldness crossing his face as he listened intently to Franky’s story.

“Why only five men?” Elio demanded.

“We thought that would be enough. It was late and just a quick trip to the grocery store. We had more men in the area and surveillance on our side,” Franky explained. “Unfortunately, there was an outage in the area, and our surveillance cut out for ten minutes, just enough time for an ambush. When we arrived, all five guards had been killed–sniper rifle on three and close range on two. Emilia was missing and Matilde was the only survivor.”

My heart ached but I pursed my lips, stuffing it down as I focused on the anger I felt for the culprit.

“Is she okay?” I asked quietly.

“She was left unconscious in her car–an injection to the back of the neck, probably a sedative–but otherwise, she had nothing but some bruises. She fought back as much as she could, but whatever they gave her was quick. She’s being kept in the hospital overnight to make sure it’s out of her system but physically, she’s fine.”

“What do you mean physically?” I demanded, and then I immediately regretted it. Of course, she wasn’t mentally okay. She loved Emilia as much as we did.

“She hasn’t stopped crying since she woke up. We had to restrain her to make sure she wouldn’t fight the doctors. She kept trying to go out to find Emilia herself, but she’s out of it still from the sedative.”

I grit my teeth, rage burning through me. “Was it Junior?” was my last question, the only thing left that I needed to be confirmed.

“He’s responsible but as far as we know, he did not take part in the kidnapping.”

“Fine.” I nodded coldly.

I glanced at Elio as I passed him the phone. I barely heard the tail end of the conversation, Elio telling him we’ll be back on the first flight soon as I stormed into the hallway, grabbing my shoes and stuffing them on my feet.

I heard Elio coming after me.

“I’ll have someone pick up our stuff. They’re prepping the plane for flight so we can go immediately,” Elio said grimly.

I nodded, not even looking at him as I opened the front door. It was quiet between us, utterly tense on the drive to the airport.

All I had were the clothes on my back but I didn’t give a damn. We climbed aboard the plane in silence and I could feel Elio’s eyes on me, watching like I might break down in front of him again, but I just couldn’t.

I couldn’t feel anything anymore, just a boiling rage under my skin directed straight at Junior, at Franky, at Elio–to everyone in the goddamn world for putting my daughter at risk.

But mostly myself.

I had been so afraid of this happening. I’d seen the warning signs and I’d tried to make myself heard, but I let Elio convince me otherwise. But it wasn’t fair to blame him alone. No, I hadn’t stood up for my daughter’s safety. I had tried to make everyone happy and now, I’d hurt the most precious thing in the world to me.

Now all I could do was make sure Junior would pay for this, in the most miserable, painful way possible.

I avoided looking at Elio, not wanting to lash out in my anger, and Elio did the same.

It was only once we were in the air and the attendant said we could safely move about that Elio turned to me, giving me a deep frown.

I bristled, finally looking him in the eyes. He didn’t flinch back from my indifference, but I could see it rattled him underneath.

“And?” I said coldly.

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Of course, we will get her back. Do you really think that if we kill Junior and get her back, everything will be perfectly fine, just like before? We failed our daughter, Elio. We let her face something that no child should ever have to go through. And you know what the worst part of it all is?” I scoffed, self-loathing crawling its way down deep into my soul, etching itself into every part of me. This was a reminder, something I would never be able to forget.

“Cat–” He reached out for me, but I brushed his hand away, pinning him with a cold glare.

“I was terrified that this would happen. My literal worst nightmare has come true. Elio, you wanted to follow in your father’s footsteps, well, guess what? You’ve succeeded. This is exactly what happened to you as a child, and now your daughter, our baby, has to suffer for our mistakes. So sure, Elio–” I gave him a cold look. “We kill Junior, we get our daughter back, and then I’m fucking done. If you want to stay, then fine. But I’m not. The moment this is over. I’m out, Elio, whether you come with me or not.”

Elio looked taken aback after my words, but I was unyielding on this.

“Emilia comes first,” I finished.

His expression melted away into one of determination. “Emilia comes first,” he echoed in agreement.

And with that, I knew we were on the same page.

We were going to get our daughter back, no matter what.