Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
I saw people die tonight people with families people who were coming after me, maybe, trying to take me because I’m a powerful pawn in whatever fucking game they’re playing Kent and Alden and Daniel
I hate them all then hate everything they stand for.
Daniel tries to be kind to me, tries to shush me and stroke my hair softly.
“I hate this,” I whisper between my clattering teeth. “I hate this, I hate this life, I hate everything it represents ” I turn to Daniel then, hurt and damage all over my face. “I wish I’d never met you I was right to dump you the first time, when ”
But I snap my mouth shut. I don’t mean all of it, not really I don’t hate him. If I did, I’d tell his dad his secret to punish him for wrapping me all up in this for not letting me go, for being complicit in keeping me here, trapped in this life, when all I want to do is leave.
“I’m sorry, Fay,” Daniel says softly, and I can tell by the guilt in his face that he means it.
“Then let me go,” I plead, desperate.
Slowly, though, he shakes his head.
Deep down, I know the choice isn’t his. But I weep bitter tears anyway.
Next to me, I feel Kent slump in his seat. I turn to look at him then and see him looking out the window then, more pensive than I had expected. I stare at him, at his stark profile against the light of the window. He doesn’t move or say anything, so I suppose he lets me look my fill
He hangs his head, then, letting out a sigh. And, shocked, I note that the lines of his face match Daniel’s. He feels guilt as well.
The next morning, I just laid in my bed and stare at the ceiling for a long, long time. I skip breakfast and no one comes up to get me, which has never happened before. I guess they’re giving me my space. I’m grateful, I suppose, but overall…I just don’t really care.
Things moved quickly last night after we got home. The three of us spent the rest of the ride in silence, but when we arrived at the house everyone was expecting us.
Fiona had made a beeline right for me not even asking how Kent was doing. Instead, she had wrapped her arms around me and bustled me upstairs as Kent got himself patched up and Daniel well, I didn’t really know what Daniel did. Or care.
She had rushed me right to my room and run a bath for me, stripping me of my clothes while I continued shaking. Then she helped me to step into the hot water and sit down.
“That’s all right, baby Fay,” she murmured to me, using a cup to pour water over my head like a little kid. “Shh, baby,” she continued. “You’ll be all right.”
I had noticed, passively, that the water turned a little pink from the blood washing off of me. Not my blood, of course. Kent’s. I couldn’t help staring at it.
After a long time, when the water was growing cool, Fiona helped me out, bundled me into warm flannel pajamas too warm for the spring, but so, so comfortable against my skin and then tucked me into bed. Before she left, she opened a cabinet in the corner that holds a television and put on some mindless reality show at extremely low volume.
“So you don’t have to sit in silence,” she whispered to me, kissing me on the head. Then, intuiting that I wanted to be alone, she left.
I fell asleep, gratefully, almost immediately. A few times in the night I got the sense that I woke up a little to someone peeking through my door, probably checking on me, but no one bothered me.
It’s almost noon before someone does. I sit up when I hear the door creak open. I rub my eyes, expecting to see Daniel or Fiona there, or the housekeeper, or the chef and get the shock of my life when I see Kent Lippert standing in my door.
He’s dressed casually in a fine camel-colored sweater and black slacks. I’ve never seen him wear anything but a suit, I don’t think. “Come on, Fay,” he says, stern but not unkind. “That’s enough.”
I sink back into my pillows a little, resenting his command, giving him a little glare.
To my surprise again he laughs at me. “Don’t pout at me, girl,” he says, leaning against my door frame. “It won’t work.”
He nods to someone behind him in the hallway the housekeeper, apparently, who brings in a tray of food and a stack of clothing. As she brings the tray closer, I sniff the air greedily at the scent of blueberry muffins. I’m shocked to find that I’m ravenous.
“Good,” Kent says, watching me pick a muffin off the try and bite into it eagerly. He nods to the clothes. “I’ll see you downstairs in twenty minutes. Wear your boots.”
I stare at him for a second, considering, and then I nod.
Boots. Boots means horses. I look towards the pile of clothing at the edge of my bed as the housekeeper leaves silently. Riding gear.
Well, he’s certainly found my weak spot. There’s nothing, really, that could get me out of bed today except for Heathcliff.
The closer they get to the stable, the more Fay seems to cheer up, as if she’s leaving the memories of last night behind. Kent can’t help the smile from his face when he sees it. He was worried for her last night truly worried that some real damage had been done.
Fay was delicate. He knew it intimately it was one of the things he liked best about her. She was a sensitive girl, feeling things keenly, more acutely than others. But beneath that, she has a solidity to her core, a well of strength that he’s not sure she’s even aware of.
She’s going to need that strength, he knows, if she’s going to make it in this world. And he’s quite determined to see that she does. Because if she doesn’t…
He shakes away the thought, not letting it enter his mind. He will see that she does, and he’ll do everything he can to foster that strength in her. It won’t be easy, but Kent intends to see it through.
Fay sits up very straight in the seat when they pull into the driveway of the stable, the gate swinging open for them. Kent can tell that she’s reining in his excitement for his sake, trying to play it cool, but she’s out of the car before he can throw it in park.
Kent finds her in Heathcliff’s stall a few minutes later, cooing to her horse, running her hands over his silky ears and talking to him softly. He watches her for a few minutes, letting her greet her friend, who nuzzles her warmly.
“Have you ever ridden before, Fay?” Kent asks quietly after a few minutes. She turns to him and smiles, biting her lip a little in embarrassment. He smirks, knowing her answer before she says it.
“Yes?” she says, a question rather than a statement. “I’ve…ridden. Before.”
His smile deepens. “By which you mean, you’ve sat on a couple of ponies at the county fair.”
Fay bites her lip again before smiling and blushing a little. “Okay, yes. But the man who owned the ponies said I have a natural seat!”
Kent laughs at her then and bends down to pick up a basket of brushes and combs by the door, placing it inside the stall before shutting it and bolting them in. “I’ll let you two get acquainted,” he says, “perhaps you could brush him. He’ll like that.”
Fay eagerly coming forward to select a brush.
“I’ll be back in a little bit,” he says. “We’ll get you saddled up and then we’ll see if that seat is any good.” Kent turns away then, heading to the front of the barn.
He’s surprised, a moment later, to hear her call after him.
“Thank you,” she says softly, her head peeking out over the stall door.
Kent simply nods to her and turns, tucking his hands in his pockets and continuing on his way.
Kent and Fay spend the rest of the day at the stables. He leaves her alone, mostly, going around to visit the other horses under his care, checking in with the grooms and the manager to ensure that everything is running smoothly.
When the trainer arrives, Kent points him in Fay’s direction and is pleased, about half an hour later, to see Fay leading her saddled horse out to the riding arena.
Kent leans against the door of the barn, watching at a distance as the trainer runs her through the basics of riding, showing her the horse’s gaits on a long lead while Fay is still on the ground. It’s a special thrill, though, when he sees Fay put on her little velvet helmet and lead her horse over to the mounting block.
The joy on her face when she sits astride Heathcliff’s back for the first time a little chill runs down his spine. He can’t help feeling just…purely happy.
Last night, in the car, seeing Fay shake like that the shock, the trauma in every muscle it was one of the worst feelings of his life. He frowns, thinking of it now, of his extreme reaction to Fay’s physical danger.
He’s a mafia boss, for heaven’s sake, Kent tells himself. It’s not like he hasn’t lost people to this business before, hasn’t put his loved ones on the line on an almost-daily basis. So what was it about this girl that made him absolutely horrified at the thought of her in danger?