Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“Fine,” she scowls, sighing and following Kent as he moves down the hall. “Though I’d like to remind you that my backup is here, and that if I don’t come out of this house in one hour ”
“You are perfectly safe with us,” Kent murmurs as he opens the last door on the right down the hall, his voice smooth and comforting.
I follow my mother slowly down the hall, only turning into the room when she’s stepped inside. And then I lean against the doorframe, my hand moving slowly across my stomach as I watch my mother turn slowly around, her eyes roving over everything.
“What…what is this,” she asks, her voice breathless.
“It’s the baby’s nursery, mom,” I say quietly. “We thought you’d like to see it. You’re about to be a grandmother, after all.”
She snaps her gaze to me and glares, not at all liking that term. “Cut the emotional subterfuge, Fay,” she says, her voice withering. “It’s not going to work on me.”
“It’s also the only private room we have that works conveniently for our conversation,” Kent says, his voice bored. “So, emotional subterfuge or not, Victoria, would you please take a seat?”
He gestures towards the comfortable armchair I plan to use when nursing and my mother sits down.
“Okay,” I sigh, turning away from the door. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“What?” my mom asks, surprised.
“Did you think I’d stay?” I ask, blinking innocently at her, the puppy in my arms looking her way with curiosity. “After all, I’m too naïve for these conversations.” I give her a bit of my own withering stare as Kent nods to me. “Call me if you need me, sweetheart,” I sigh, playing my prescribed sweet little mafia wife role and pulling the door shut behind me as I head back into the living room to peer out the window.
“Just in time,” I murmur, watching Daniel’s car pull down the driveway as well.
As I watch, Daniel parks the car and Jerome steps out of the back seat, hauling a captive Ivan out with them. I glance down the hall, hoping to hell our soundproofing of the baby’s room two months ago is as good as the contractor said it would be. And then I go to open the front door.
“All right,” Daniel says, striding through the front door and gesturing for Jerome to follow. “Where do you want him, Fay?”
“Fay!?” I hear Ivan shout, the word muffled by his duct-taped mouth.
“In my bedroom, please,” I say, gesturing towards my room, which is the furthest point across the house from where Kent and my mom are having their little chat.
Ivan moans in frustration as Jerome lifts his arm up, hauling Ivan across the living room and pushing through the door into my bedroom.
I sigh, hanging my head and kissing the top of the puppy’s ear as I take a deep breath, praying to hell that the rest of this goes smoothly. Because there are way, way too many wildcards left in this game for my comfort.
But, I’m in it now. And so I stride forward, following the boys into the bedroom, grabbing a little baby monitor off the back of the couch on the way.
Just as I’m about to pass through the door though, I feel the next contraction take hold. Cursing to myself, I flatten myself against the wall outside of my bedroom and grit my teeth, holding on to the puppy but doing my best not to squeeze him as the pain starts to deepen, an ache building low in my body.
The puppy whines as I start to pant my way through this, lifting his little head in concern and sitting up straight, reaching out his little nose to kiss me on the chin. I turn my head away, unable to concentrate on anything else
“Fay?” Jerome’s voice calls, and I look up just in time to see him step out of my bedroom. His eyes go wide as he sees me pressed against the wall, clearly in pain. “What! Are you ”
“Get out here,” I growl, releasing one hand from the puppy and tugging him into the hall with the hand that’s not holding the baby monitor. Daniel and Ivan if he’s got his hood off yet absolutely cannot see Jerome’s shock and concern.
“What’s wrong ”
“Jerome,” I hiss, “if you say anything about this to anyone in this house right now ”
“Oh my god ” his eyes go wide as he realizes what’s happening, “Oh my god, Fay, you’re in labor!?”
“Would you shut up!?” I whisper shout, glancing over my shoulder towards my bedroom. “We are getting…” I moan for a second, distracted by the pain, unable to finish my sentence. But then I take a deep breath and press on. “We are getting through this now, and both Daniel and Kent will have a meltdown if they find out ”
“What about me!?” Jerome gasps. “What about my meltdown!”
“You,” I seethe between my teeth, tightening my grip on his shirt front, and relief begins to flood me as the contraction subsides, “lost your rights to a meltdown when you kept my mother a secret from me. All right!? You promised this morning that you’d be my man, Jerome.” I glare up at him, demand and plea equally present in my eyes.
He hesitates. “Fay, how far along are you?”
“Just at the start,” I lie, my words swift. “Honestly, Jerome, I can do this I just need…a little break sometimes.”
“Oh my god,” he sighs, straightening and running a hand through his hair. “All right, Fay but if this gets bad?”
“If this gets bad we’ll go to the hospital,” I say all in a rush because I can hear Daniel’s steps moving towards the door. “Now go!”
Jerome nods to me and head into the room, almost slamming into Daniel on the way.
“What’s going on?” Daniel asks, frowning at us and reaching out a hand to steady Jerome.
“Nothing,” I say as the contraction graciously passes. Good. About eight minutes of freedom now, if I’m lucky. “Puppy had an accident, is all.”
Daniel’s serious expression instantly lightens as he buys my lie. “Lil Kent,” he says, reaching out and petting the puppy’s head. “I forgive him, as long as he kept it away from my shoes.”
I can’t help my own smile, but I lift my chin towards the room, indicating that we need to go inside. We have things to do.
Anxiety roils in me as we walk into the room because I am…trying to do a lot of things at once right now, aren’t I? I mean, this baby it is coming soon, whether I like it or not
But I also have to manage the kidnapping of my ex, and the negotiation with my mother in the nursery across the house…. I let out a shaky breath as I do my best to steel myself and concentrate. “One thing at a time, Fay,” I murmur to myself.
And then I turn towards Ivan, who is sitting zip-tied to the chair of the desk with his hood off but his mouth still duct-taped shut. He glares at me, clearly pissed as hell.
I set my shoulders and push all the thoughts of labor away for the moment while I concentrate on being the mafia donna for the next eight minutes.
Well, maybe seven now. If I make it that long.
“Hey, Ivan,” I say, forcing my body to relax, a smooth smile to take shape on my lips. I step forward and put the baby monitor on the desk next to him. “I had such a nice time being kidnapped by you yesterday. So much that I thought I’d repay the favor today.”
Ivan’s brow furrows as his glare deepens and he attempts to say some angry words through his duct-tape, but obviously I can’t understand him.
I tilt my head to the side and raise an eyebrow, clearly asking him to consider whether this is worth the breath. He inhales sharply as he shakes his head at me, recognizing that I’m in control.
“We’re here to offer you a gift, Ivan,” I say quietly, bending down to put the puppy on the floor so I can concentrate. He starts to gambol about at my feet. “I’d very much like it if you could leave the house today with us agreeing to be allies and friends. If we take away the duct tape, can you agree not to shout?”
He stares at me for a second but then slowly nods. I look up at Jerome, who takes a step forward and holds Ivan’s head steady as he rips the duct tape from his mouth. The tape makes a vicious ripping sound and Ivan groans, his face red over his mouth and cheeks.
I wait, giving him a second to recover, and when he lifts his head again he renews his glare at me.
“So nice to see you again, Fay,” he growls. “How the hell did you find me?”
I shrug, implying that it doesn’t matter how I found the location of the new hotel he and my mom transferred to after they left the last one. “It’s not important,” I sigh, needing to get this done fast. “I need you to listen to something, Ivan. One conversation. And if you do that really listen, without interruptions, actually considering what is said…we’ll let you go.”