Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“Fay,” Daniel sighs frustratedly, shaking his head at me, “I’ve said it before we could be so good together ”
“What about Jerome?” I ask, looking up at him, my expression serious. “It’s not fair to Jerome either.”
Daniel freezes for a second, staring at me honestly, as if he’s never thought about it before.
“Are you in love with him?” I ask, genuinely wanting to know.
Daniel pulls away from me, turning his back, but I can see the tension in his shoulders. I wait, trying to be patient, but he just stands there I think wondering himself. I clasp my hands together, considering that…maybe he just doesn’t know.
I’m still waiting for Daniel to turn back to me when the door opens and I jump a little bit, turning to look at Kent standing suddenly in the doorway.
“What the hell are you two doing,” he demands, “you’re not even dressed!” he exclaims, gesturing towards my pajamas. Then he looks at Daniel and scoffs at him, “your tie,” he mutters, stepping forward to do it himself. “Why can’t either of you tie a tie ”
“I can do it,” Daniel complains, the hint of a little boy’s whine in his protest, and I smirk as I hurry to the bathroom where my dress is hanging next to the shower. I put it there to let the steam unwind any last wrinkles.
“Fay!” Kent shouts after me, tense, as I peel my pajamas off and begin to slip on the dress. “You have about twenty seconds!”
“I’m coming!” I shout back, smirking a little as I pull the dress over my head and zip it halfway up my back, unable to reach any further. Then I hurry back out into my bedroom. “Can one of you…” I say when I’m back in the room, walking swiftly over to them and holding up the front of the dress with my hand. Then I turn and indicate the zipper, looking over my shoulder at them.
Both Kent and Daniel step forward to do the job but, realizing it simultaneously, they both stop and glare at each other. I can’t help the laugh that bursts out of me at this. “Seriously!” I say, turning my head away and shaking it. “It’s just a zipper!”
But then there’s the warmth of a body close behind me and I feel a tug at the fabric of the dress as someone zips me up. When I turn, I’m surprised to see Kent standing close. He stays there for a second perhaps a second too long, from Daniel’s perspective, since Daniel angrily clears his throat.
Kent steps back, then, and looks me over from head to toe. “Shoes?” he asks, slipping his hands into his pockets.
I nod and spin around, looking for them, and I hear a little frustrated sigh come from Kent’s direction.
“Would you chill out?” I scold, smirking at him briefly before I spot the five-inch stilettos under my vanity, their red bottoms catching my eye. I quickly sit on my stool and pull them on before standing up and spreading out my arms. “Well?” I ask. “Do I pass muster?”
The dress is…gorgeous, simple, and serious. Kent has dressed me in a lot of different styles before, but never one that made me feel so…grown up. The black silk Versace dress has only two little spaghetti straps holding it up before it slinks its way down my body, the delicate invisible corseting below it giving me an incredible hourglass shape. The skirt of the dress spills to the floor but there’s a slit up the right side that goes almost to my waist, though there’s enough fabric in the circle of my skirt that you barely notice that sexy little fact unless I’m walking, or you’re looking closely.
Daniel raises his eyebrows at me, clearly impressed, and gives a thumbs up, but Kent does nothing. He just stands there, looking at me from top to bottom like a connoisseur before he nods. “You’ll do, Fay,” he murmurs.
I roll my eyes at him a little bit, wanting a little bit more than that, but he just smirks and turns, walking out of the room, snapping his fingers over his shoulder to let us know that he expects us to follow behind.
I move to follow but Daniel stops me with a hand on my arm. “Forgetting something?” he asks, and I frown up at him, confused. Then, from his pocket, he pulls out his mother’s engagement ring.
“Oh,” I say, blinking down at it. And then I sigh, putting out my left hand and letting him slide it onto my ring finger.
“Where it belongs,” Daniel says quietly, keeping my hand in his when he’s finished. “Ready?”
“Ready,” I say, smiling up at him.
“Off to war then,” Daniel says, and we walk out of the room hand-in-hand just as a shout comes from below.
“Daniel, Fay!” Kent’s voice rings out. “Come on! We don’t have all night!”
Daniel rolls his eyes at me and I laugh as we make our way down the stairs.
The party is already in full swing when we get there, which makes sense. Even though Kent is technically the host, there’s no way he’s not going to make an entrance. I walk in on Daniel’s arm and find my breath almost immediately stolen at the beautiful scene before me though I’m not sure why I’m so surprised. When Kent does something, he does it right.
“Wow,” I breathe, pulling a little closer to Daniel as I look around. “Incredible…”
Daniel shrugs, less impressed than me. But then again, he’s been coming to parties like this since he was a kid. I nudge him with my arm, making him look at me, and then I whisper “so jaded,” teasing him as I wrinkle my nose. Daniel just laughs at me and shrugs, looking around and trying harder to appreciate it.
The party is being held in a beautiful rooftop garden in the center of the city so that buildings rise tall beyond the delicate arcs of greenery artfully placed along the rooftop’s waist-high brick walls. The entire place is lit by candlelight and a quartet of musicians sit in an alcove, giving us a little music to pair with the night.
Kent, Natalia on his arm, moves away from Daniel and I to speak with a group of people who come forward to greet Natalia, and Alessi is likewise snapped up. Daniel nods towards the bar, raising a questioning eyebrow my way, and I happily nod. Halfway there, though, we’re intercepted by a couple of young men around our age who Daniel introduces as his “cousins,” though I know that can’t be right Kent doesn’t have any siblings. But these Italian families are so sprawling that I doubt they bother with differentiating second- and third-cousins from firsts.
The boys’ conversation is chatty and cheerful, talking about old memories and childhood vacations, but there’s not much room for me in it. So I tug on Daniel’s arm a little and nod towards the bar again, indicating that I’ll go get us some drinks. Daniel nods to me encouragingly, letting me go.
I quickly walk over to the bar and place our order a red wine for me, a Manhattan for Daniel when suddenly I feel a presence by my side. I turn and am shocked to see Natalia standing close, looking at me rather than the bar tender.
“What did you order?” she asks, cold, not bothering with a greeting.
“Um,” I hesitate, suddenly on guard and doubting the order even though I know it’s what we want. The bar tender is back with our drinks before I can answer, though, so I nod towards the glass of wine and the whiskey.
“Red wine,” Natalia sneers, looking at the glass with distaste. Then, she turns the look on me. “In the summer?”
“Um,” I say again, hating myself in this moment for not having a better retort. But I love red wine…
“Take this back, per favore,” Natalia orders the bar tender. “The girl will have prosecco, and so will I.” The bar tender doesn’t hesitate, doing as Natalia says, and I sigh discreetly through my nose. I don’t look at Natalia, a little pissed at being countered like that, but she places an elegant finger under my chin and obliges me to turn my face to look at her.
“You will like it better, eh?” she says, nodding to me and taking back her hand once I meet her eyes. “In the summer, you must drink light. Red wine is for winter nights. Unless it is sangria, and then it is for day.” She shrugs, as if this is obvious.
“I can handle my own drinks, Natalia,” I reply, working to keep my voice even as the bar tender delivers two sparkling glasses of prosecco.
“Clearly,” Natalia remarks, smirking at me. “You cannot.”
I roll my eyes a little and reach for my and Daniel’s glasses when suddenly Natalia reaches for my left hand, quick as a whip, a little hiss on her breath.
Shocked, I turn to her as she clasps my hand, pulling it closer to her so that she can stare at my ring.
“He gave it to you?” she asks, looking up into my face with wide eyes. “This engagement ring?”
I hesitate, a little shocked. “Yes?” I reply, hoping it’s the right answer. “Daniel thought it would be…good. For me to have his mother’s ring.”
I’m a little shocked by Natalia’s reaction as she turns her eyes once again to the sparkling diamond and then drops my hand as if it’s a hot coal. She turns her face up to mine again, glaring at me as she grabs her drink. “Don’t be a fool, girl,” she sneers. “That ring was never Daniel’s. If you have it, it’s because he wanted you to.”
And then Natalia spins and walks away faster than I’ve seen her move before, her elegance and poise ruffled for a moment. As she walks, though I see Natalia straighten her shoulders and smooth out her steps, as if our strange encounter never happened.
“Hey,” Daniel says at my side, and I jump a little. I had been so focused on Natalia that I didn’t see him coming.
“Hey,” I say, giving him a brief little smile, and then I reach for his drink on the bar and hand it to him, taking my glass of prosecco as well.
“What was that all about?” he asks, looking after Natalia’s retreated form. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her…perturbed before.”
“She got upset,” I say, turning and frowning after her, “when she saw my engagement ring.”
“Oh,” Daniel says, raising his eyebrows and then nodding with understanding. “Well, that makes sense,” he says, giving a little shrug and putting his arm around my waist, guiding away from the bar and towards a little bench underneath a rose arch, where we’re alone.