Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
My cheeks are wet, but nobody is surprised at that. Of course I’m crying.
“Enough, Corina,” Bianci murmurs, covering his face with one hand, rubbing at his eyes.
My eyes flick around the room as I wipe at my cheeks with my free hand, at Alessi, whose mouth trembles as he stares at his parents, at Natalia who looks at Nonna in complete shock.
And then up at Kent, who stands stoic at my side, his arm still passively around me, his face…blank.
Or at least, blank to the casual observer. But I know him now I can see in his stillness how hard he is working to not let anything show. And deep beneath it all, I know a great well of emotion is bursting through.
Flean..just a little closer, wanting desperately to press myself to his side as this woman I know he loves so much claims him, irrevocably, as her son.
But I also knowing that the stakes are just too high and her claim may be too little to stop this.
“It is enough,” Nonna whispers, stepping closer to her husband. Daniel has to clear his throat to make his words clear as he continues to translate. “Kent has been a good son to us and whatever his girl is offering now, it is enough. Take it,” she says, nodding to him eagerly, “and let there be peace between us. Let us have our son back let us raise this new grandchild in peace instead of at war.”
Daniel’s words falter as he repeats her words to me, as she casts a hand out towards us and we all go still as we realize what nonna said what she has long figured out.
That Dominic…is not her great-grandchild.
But instead…
Slowly, Bianci turns to stare at the three of us, his eyes roving over the picture we present. And it’s impossible absolutely impossible to miss the fact that though Daniel leans towards me, speaking into my ear, that it’s Kent’s arm that’s wrapped around my waist
I see Bianci quickly doing the mental calculations, figuring out everything that Nonna elearly already knew
That it was Kent who caught me, just a moment ago, when Flost my balance
That on the day my child was born, it was Kent who stayed at my side and Daniel who went to complete our family’s mission.
That it is Kent who has always had a proclivity for small, fierce things and Daniel who never showed an interest in girls at all. Who, indeed, snuck out on summer nights, going who knows where in the dark…
Slowly, Biancis lips curl into a wicked smile, his eyes lighting with glee.
And behind him, Natalia gets there just a second later gasping, pressing a hand to her mouth.
Alessi takes the longest before he sucks in a deep breath of air, muttering something in Italian and staring between us.
“Is this true?” Bianci says slowly, switching to English now so that I can understand. “Is this child…”
None of us say anything. I stand…completely still, not knowing at all what to do.
But Kent acts for both of us. After a long moment of silence, he tightens the arm that is around me, gently pulling me flush against his side. Claiming me, and our child. Marking us incontrovertibly as his, not as Daniel’s.
And I raise my chin, refusing to be ashamed. I love this man, I’m proud of our beautiful child. I won’t let getting caught in my lie cow me.
Alessi murmurs something swift and vivid, tucking his face into his hands as Natalia stares at us open-mouthed in shock.
Nonna just rolls her eyes, crossing her arms and looking around at her family like they’re all idiots for not realizing it immediately, as she did.
“So, this is it, then,” Bianci says, stepping towards us and gesturing between Kent, Daniel, and I. “My wife would have me drop the argument, drop the claim, for the sake of family. But how can I ever trust you,” he says, narrowing his eyes specifically on me now. “When you have tried to trick me, Fay Lippert. Tried to pass this child off as one of my line, when it is absolutely nothing to me?”
And he laughs then, a dark chuckle that clearly lets me know he’s won.
And my heart sinks absolutely to the pit of my stomach.
“We were desperate, nonno,” Daniel says, stepping forward.
“It’s my fault, it was my idea -“
Bianci just presses his lips together, waving a dismissive hand at Daniel. “No one believes that you thought of this Daniele,” Bianci says, dismissive, turning his gaze back to me. “It is all this grasping little girl, isn’t it? Trying to get her claws into the Bianci family to see what she can do.” He bends over a little, peering into my eyes like he’s trying to figure me out. “What is it you have planned, Fay? What do you really want? Were you trying to take Gio out of this family so that your boy could be my heir? Hmm?”
Something in the way he stares at me like Im a cunning little toy, a piece of clockwork he can figure out makes me stand up straighter, lifting my chin high. “I want what was offered, Bianci,” I say, my voice firm. “I want Kent and Gio out. Nothing more, nothing less. I want Kent out so that my child is never any closer to this business than he already is.
And yes, I played every card available to me to get that, as well as putting everything I have on the table for you. I’d do it all again.”
He smirks a little, I think appreciating my spirit, even if he is well aware that he is a cat and I am the little mouse he has backed into a corner.
“This is why I don’t do business with women,” he murmurs, still staring at me. “You lie, and you cheat, and you scrabble
but in the end, you are sloppy -“
“Enough,” Kent says, his words livid. “The deal stands, Bianci, if you’ll take it. We want nothing more than what we’ve offered and you’ve already made Fay pay through the teeth for it -“
“Oh, Kent, the terms have changed,” Bianci says, straightening up and laughing a little actually laughing god, I see why people hate this man “for I’ll never be able to trust you now -“
But Biancis speech is interrupted when his wife smacks him on his arm, demanding something in angry Italian.
“She wants to know what he’s saying,” Kent murmurs, translating for me now as he holds me close to his side.” He’s…explaining that he can’t trust us, that the deal can’t go through. That if hes ever going to trust me again, i’ll have to prove myself with years of loyalty.”
Nonna gasps, her eyes going wide as she stares appalled at her husband. Then she whips up her tiny finger again, pointing it straight in his face, and begins to speak slowly, every word heavy with the gravity of her intent.
“You listen to me, old man,” she says, Kent giving the translation to me word-for-word now that she speaks slower. “You and I? Our lives are almost finished. We are going to die in a few short years and I intend to live them, every single one of them, surrounded by the ones that I love. If you make me lose my son, and my two grandsons
one of which I have barely met I will never forgive you, and I will make your short life a living nightmare.”
Bianci blinks at his wife’s vehemence, and…did I see that right? Did he go a little pale, under his tanned skin?
She laughs now, her own dark chuckle. “Italian women always outlive their husbands, my love,” she says, her voice low with threat. “And I will be a good widow to you I will wear the black, and I will hold your memory close to my heart. But you should remember who cooks your meals, old man and thus who has a great deal of control over how long I get to be a widow.”
My eyes go wide at the very, very real threat she lays out for him for all of us. Because Nonna she has very plainly chosen her adoptive son over her husband.
The way Bianci’s mouth falls open lets me see that this is new for him as well that his perfect, sweet, obedient wife of dozens of years has perhaps never stood up to him like this, has never insisted on anything.
But now? Now she has put her foot down. Even beyond that, it seems that she has lifted her knife.
“Corina,” Bianci murmurs, putting a pleading hand out to her, asking him to see his side
But she just shakes her head, slow, decided. “I will inherit it all, my love,” she murmurs, “when you die, no matter when that is. And if you do not go with me on this, I will leave it all to Kent anyway, when I die after you. If you want to start a war,” she says, shaking her head slowly at him, “then I,
100, shall play.”