Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
So, he lets himself space out a little bit, which he never does, glancing down at the paperwork on the table and passively reading some of the words. But as he looks closer, he frowns, leaning forward a bit to see that…
Her handwriting is…basically on every piece of paper here.
What?
Kent’s eyes eagerly pass over everything on the table, noting Fay’s chaotic cursive notes on nearly every document that the lawyers have brought today which were only updated yesterday with the final details. Which means that…Fay was up last night, or this morning, going over every bit of it. What the hell?
Why on earth was she involved? Fay doesn’t have a law degree and while she’s certainly clever enough to understand it…why…
Kent stands up straight and sighs through his nose, working hard to keep his face impassive. What on earth is she up to? He knows she wanted him to take this plea deal, but he had assumed it was to…keep things easy for him, for all of them. To just get everything settled so that they could all go on with their lives Kent in jail, Daniel and Fay out in the world.
But this? The fact that she’s not just leaving it up to the lawyers? That she’s apparently going over every bit of the paperwork?
Kent clenches his fists as he realizes that…that Fay is fighting for him. And he doesn’t get it he doesn’t know how, or why but she’s up to something.
And he could kill her for it for putting herself in the middle, when she should be concentrating on herself, on the baby.
But damn it, if his heart doesn’t swell with happiness and pride. Because his girl is out there, and she’s fighting for him.
And he…he doesn’t really know if he fully deserves it. Deserves her.
But he’ll take it. God damnit, he’ll take it, all of it. Because he’s a selfish bastard and Fay?
Because she’s everything.
“Mr. Lippert?” The judge says turning her gaze on him now and startling him a bit out of his reverie. “How do you plead?”
Kent glances at his lawyer, who nods to him, letting him know to do as rehearsed.
“Guilty,” he replies, his voice ringing out stronger than he thought it would when he entered the court room, almost…god, it almost sounds a little happy, and smug, and sly.
The press whispers with curiosity and anticipation.
The judge takes a moment to look at him and then puts her glasses on, looking down at her the paperwork in front of her. “So be it. The sentencing will be delayed, then, but I am well convinced that the bargain struck here between the state and the defendant is equitable. Mr. Lippert, if you provide evidence to the state regarding the illegal activities of other extant criminal organizations to the satisfaction of the state, you will be sentenced to twenty years in prison for your collected crimes. Do you understand?”
Kent sharply nods, and the judge bangs her gavel. And then it’s done.
Kent turns away from the judge but before he can turn to Daniel, Ivan catches his eye from across the room, giving him a smirk and a nod that clearly says “I’ll be seeing you soon.”
But Kent gives him nothing, and turns to his son.
Daniel’s there, and Kent quickly reaches for him, despite the rail between them. His wrists are still pinned together, but Daniel wraps him in a tight, fast hug. Kent knows that they don’t have much time before the guards pull him away, take him back to prison for the month of interrogations, but he’s going to take what he can get.
“How are you,” Kent growls, resting his head against his son’s for a moment. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good, we’re good,” Daniel says, pulling back a little bit and giving his dad a real smile. “I promise. Fay is…she’s getting fat.”
Kent laughs suddenly, surprising even himself. “No, she’s not.”
“No,” Daniel says, grinning at him, and Kent can’t help the surge of love that fills him to see his son looking so happy, even on such a tough day. “You’re right, dad she’s not fat. She’s just got this little belly now. I um, I wish you could see her.” His eyes flick around, aware that there might be listening ears.
Kent just nods, understanding. Daniel has to play the role of a husband telling his father about his wife’s pregnancy. Not updating an imprisoned man on the woman he loves.
“She’s healthy?” Kent asks. He knows it’s dangerous to ask, but he has to know. “The baby too?”
“Yeah,” Daniel says, smiling and running a hand through his hair. “The doctor says they’re doing great the baby, he’s making her really nauseous ”
“He?” Kent asks, his breath catching, his eyebrows raising almost to his hairline.
But Daniel’s face suddenly falls. “Oh, god, no, dad ”
Kent frowns, not understanding.
Daniel glances at Jerome, who grimaces, and then looks back at his father. “I’m sorry it’s kind of like, an inside joke. We don’t know the sex of the baby yet not at all. But we have this bet going, where Janeen and Jerome think it’s a girl, and Fay’s dad and I think it’s a boy, and so we call the baby he and she it…it doesn’t sound very funny, does it? But it’s ”
“It’s all right,” Kent says, smiling truly now as he nods to his son. Honestly, it’s the best news Daniel could have given him that he and Fay are living in a house with so much joy in it right now, despite everything, that they have jokes about the baby. That they laugh, and tease each other, and that the baby is safe and warm.
It’s all he could have wanted. Daniel, without even knowing it, has given him a gift he couldn’t have thought to ask for.
But still. There’s more he needs to know.
Kent’s eyes flash to the guards moving close towards him now, intent on taking him away, so he leans close to his son.
“What the hell is she getting into?” Kent says, leaning close and nodding over his shoulder at all of the lawyer’s notes with Fay’s handwriting all over this. “What is she planning?”
Daniel just shrugs. “She’s a real Lippert now, dad,” he says, sighing a little. “She says when we need to know, she’ll tell us.”
“God damn it,” Kent growls, glancing away, his mind whirling. The guards come then, taking him by the arm, pulling him away. He looks back at his son and shakes his head once, sharply.
But Daniel knows his dad well enough to read him, even without the words. Don’t let her get into anything she can’t handle, Kent had said with that shake.
Daniel just shrugs, apologetic. She’s out of my control, dad.
And Kent sighs, because he knows it’s true.
When Fay is determined to do something, or have something her own way?
Lord help anyone who tries to stop her.
The guards lead Kent out of the courtroom and he lets them without hesitation or protest. He doesn’t even look back over his shoulder at his kid.
Because he doesn’t need to. Daniel gave him everything he needed more than that.
The two of them the only two people who matter to him in the world?
They’re safe, they’re happy.
And they’re fighting for him.
Kent closes his eyes for just a moment, saying a quick prayer, because whatever she’s doing? Fay’s dabbling in a dangerous world. Kent just hopes to hell she doesn’t get in so deep that she can’t get herself back out.