Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
Natalia nods sharply, still holding my gaze. “We will teach you to cook,” she says, folding her arms over her chest deliberately, “like a real Italian woman, before you marry my godson. He needs a good wife.”
I smile a little, intimidated, and then nod, agreeing to her terms. But honestly, the last thing I want is to be trapped alone in a kitchen with this woman. She scares me.
A lot.
“So, not that I’m not thrilled to see you,” Daniel says, smoothly changing the subject as he pulls me closer to his side, supportive, “but what are you doing here? Was I ” he glances at his father, “was I supposed to know you were coming?”
“No,” Natalia says, definitive, turning her cool gaze on Kent now. “We are a surprise.”
“Yes,” Alessi says, likewise shifting his attention back to Kent. “My father has been…interested. In your progress these past few months. He sent us here to,” he shrugs here, apparently finding the words, “do a little tiny check. See how you’re doing. See if we can be of any help.”
Kent’s eyebrows lower over his eyes as mine shoot up, realizing the depth of what Alessi is saying. Whoever his father is someone important, I suppose he’s sending these two to monitor whatever Kent is doing with his underworld business.
And whoever is watching the Mafia King, and sending along his auditors? He must be a big fish indeed.
“Well, I’m so glad to see you, and so glad you’re here,” Daniel says, pretending to be oblivious to what they just said and beaming at the two of them. “We’ll have to throw a party! And show you some of the sights, while you’re here!”
“The sights,” Natalia coos, looking back at Daniel with those fond mother’s eyes, coming forward to take his face in her hands and squeeze his cheeks a little. “So cute, you American boys, with your idea of beauty. Daniel, darling, we left all of the sights in Sicily and in Italy.” She drops his face and claps her hands, laughing a little. “You will come home,” she states, definitive, nodding towards me but not looking at me, “you bring your bride, and then we show you the sights.”
Daniel laughs with her, agreeing, but I find my gaze shifting to Alessi, who is staring down Kent with a slick little smile on his face. They stare at each other in silence for a moment before Alessi speaks.
“Yes, Kent,” he says slowly, “your Daniel has a good idea. Why don’t you throw us this party. Tomorrow night. Invite…everyone. We are family, after all.” He shrugs. “We want to see the family.”
I watch Kent grit his teeth as he processes Alessi’s demand. “Of course,” he says after a moment, his voice unreadable. I’m still watching them when Daniel drops his hand from my waist, moving to Natalia’s side to take her suitcase by the handle.
“Come one,” he says, still smiling fondly at his uncle and…well, someone who acts quite a lot like an aunt, even if she isn’t biological family. “Let’s get you settled upstairs.”
“Such a good little host,” Natalia says, pinching his cheek and smiling at him. Then, she shoots a little glance my way. “Though it is usually the hostess’s job to settle guests…”
I feel my cheeks go red as I realize her critique. But she’s already halfway up the steps before I can do anything about it. “There are more suitcases in the car, little Fay!” Natalia calls over her shoulder. “If you want to be useful!”
My mouth drops open and I start, not knowing what to do, but Alessi leans towards me. “Don’t pay too much attention to her,” he says, smiling and shaking his head. “She is…ah, what do you call it here?” he takes a moment to think, looking up at the ceiling, and then snaps his gaze back to mine. “Ah! Yes. A bitch.”
I burst out laughing at this, and Alessi laughs with me, coming to link his arm with mine, patting me on the hand. “Come come,” he says, “you will be my little friend, I will keep you safe from her. Do you have any espresso here, after the long flight?”
“Yes!” I reply, smiling at him, relieved that at least one of these new visitors likes me. I turn towards the kitchen and Alessi turns with me. “Come on, I’ll be happy to get you something.” Alessi smiles at me and nods and we both walk towards the kitchen. Before we pass through the door, though, Alessi calls to Kent over his shoulder.
“Ah, Kent,” he says, a sly grin sliding over his lips. “You’ll get the bags, yes? Thank you, brother. Such a big help.”
I don’t even glance at Kent over my shoulder as we head into the kitchen, not wanting to give anything away. But I know, in my heart, that he must be boiling with rage.
_____________________________________________
Kent is as good as his word, putting all of his best people to work planning a party to welcome Natalia and Alessio, even though they didn’t bother to let him know that they were coming. As a result, I don’t see much of him during the rest of the day.
Luckily, Daniel stays by my side like a little burr, perhaps intuiting that I need his help navigating the innerworkings of his family. He also sooths me after each of Natalia’s verbal barbs which come…frequently. We have dinner together as a family the night they arrive, in the back garden. Natalia shoos everyone out of the kitchen so that she can make us an Italian feast of fresh pasta and fish, complimented with amazing cheeses and cured meats that she and Alessio brought us from Sicily.
Kent comes late to dinner and doesn’t say long. While he’s there, he doesn’t say much. He nods and laughs when appropriate, but excuses himself quickly, saying that he has work and planning to do. I watch him go with a little regret. I’m still mad at him, but he was stressed out yesterday I have no idea how he’s handling the surprise arrival of these intense Italians on top of everything else.
“This one,” Natalia says, jolting me out of my reverie by placing a creamy soft cheese in front of me, “is illegal in your silly country. Unpasturized,” she says, patting me on my shoulder and gesturing for me to eat. I take a bite, groaning at how delicious it is. “Good girl,” she murmurs, moving away to bring more dishes to the table. “Eat more, it will help you put some meat on your body. Grow some tettas.”
Daniel snorts, almost sending red wine through his nose while I gape and look down at my body. I mean, my boobs aren’t gigantic, but…I’m slim…
“Do not listen to her,” Alessi whispers, leaning over to nudge me familiarly with his elbow as he sips his Campari cocktail. “She is trying to see if she can get under your skin. She will be more impressed with you if she cannot.”
“Fay’s tough,” Daniel says then, winking at me across the table. “She can handle it.”
“I don’t know,” I murmur, taking another slice of the delicious cheese and eating it. “Maybe I need more meat on my bones to survive all of these knives she’s throwing at me…”
Both Daniel and Alessi laugh, making me smile.
I’m glad that I have both of them on my side. At least, for now.
The next afternoon, Daniel gets ready for the party with me in my room, and we’re alone for the first time since Alessi and Natalia arrived. He stayed up late with Alessi, drinking and laughing, while I begged off to bed by myself to be alone for a minute.
Today, Daniel and I had taken our guests out to see the sights, as Daniel promised. Natalia was, predictably, unimpressed and kept calling our beautiful city a “horrible cage of rats.” I’m finally relaxing from the experience now as I do my hair, curling it gently in the way that Fiona showed me so that I can let it sweep down over my shoulders like a femme fatale. My makeup is already done to match, and I’m starting to feel powerful exactly how I’m going to need to feel if I’m going to stand next to Natalia all night.
“So, what’s this all about, Daniel,” I ask him, looking at his reflection in the mirror so I don’t have to turn around. “Why are they here, really?”
Daniel sighs and looks at me seriously. “Something’s up, Fay,” he says, shaking his head. “They wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. Don Bianci my grandfather he hasn’t sent anyone to check on dad since mom died. We must seriously be in hot water if he’s sending Natalia and Alessi here together.”
“Oh,” I say, my eyes going wide. Don Bianci finally I have a name to put to Alessi’s father and Natalia’s boss. I had gleaned, through our conversations the past day, that he’s an incredibly wealthy and powerful boss in Italy and Kent’s father-in-law. If he’s getting upset with Kent…
“This could go really well,” Daniel continues, buttoning up his white shirt, “or, it could go terribly. A lot rides on what happens tonight. Alessi and Natalia want the whole family together so they can get a real picture of what dad is doing. And then, whatever they learn,” he shrugs, shaking his head. “They’ll decide to either support him in whatever way they can, or…”
“Or what,” I say, my hands going still as I stare at Daniel.
“Or they’ll replace him,” Daniel says, looking at me seriously in the mirror. “My grandfather has a great deal of capital invested with my father. Dad is the boss and grandpa generally lets him do what he wants,” he continues, “but if they decide that dad is seriously messing up…”
I nod, understanding him. “Grandpa,” I murmur, grimacing a little. “Crazy that you call the most powerful mob boss in Italy grandpa…”
“Not to his face,” Daniel says, grinning at me. “Then, it’s nonno.”
“Nonno,” I say, laughing a little and wrinkling my nose. “That’s even weirder.”
Daniel laughs with me, shrugging, and then starts to put on his tie.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” I ask, finishing my hair and lifting a can of hairspray to set it just the way it is now.
“Just…make dad look good,” Daniel says, turning his eyes back to me. “Which, I think, means presenting a united front to Uncle Alessi and Natalia.”
“United front,” I say, turning to him after I finish spraying. “By which you mean…”
“It would be better, Fay,” Daniel says seriously, pausing with his tie and turning to me. “If we were…engaged. And nobody knew, at all, about…whatever’s going on with you and dad.”
I sigh, understanding and nodding. Then, seeing him struggle further with his tie, I stand up and cross the room to him, batting his hands away and taking the tie in my own hands, beginning to knot it for him. “But you know,” I say quietly, looking up into his face after a second. “That us pretending to be engaged for appearances doesn’t…actually change anything.”
“Fay,” Daniel whispers to me softly, looking down into my eyes. “You should let it change. Let me change it for you. We can go back to what we had ”
“Daniel,” I interrupt, pausing my hands and then wrapping them around the tie itself, using my frustrated grip to pull a little on Daniel’s neck. “Even if I wasn’t…” I hesitate, not wanting to say it to him aloud, “with your dad… you and me? It’s not fair to either of us.”