Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“Last to board,” the sailor says in a heavy accent that Kent can’t quite place, nodding harshly after Kent steps onto the deck. The sailor closes the gate, pressing a button that detaches the staircase. “No one else. We sail now, immediate.” Then he points down the line of the deck.
When Kent follows his gaze, he blinks in surprise to see…
Daniel, his kid, his arms wrapped around Jerome, laughing.
Kent stares at the two of them as they grin into each other’s faces, each clearly thrilled to see the other, to have had their plan that they apparently slaved over for months finally come to fruition. Kent watches as Daniel places a fond hand on Jerome’s cheek, gazing at him, laughing at something he says.
And then Daniel turns his face to his father, and his smile broadens.
And something in Kent cracks as he stares at his son, who begins to stride across the deck to him.
Daniel, his kid, his child who he’s never been close enough to, who he’s never been…been able to tell how much he loves him. But who somehow did all of this
Saved him pulled him out of that prison where he was absolutely going to be murdered, after everything he told to the police about the Russians
His son, who deserved a better father, has saved him
“Dad,” Daniel breathes, throwing his arms around his father, holding him tight. Kent falls back a step at the force of his son’s greeting, but then his own arms close behind Daniel and a laugh breaks out of his throat.
“Hey kid,” Kent whispers, one arm going tight around Daniel’s back, the other cradling the back of his head, his fingers buried in the soft fuzz of his son’s dark hair. Kent exhales a heavy breath, squeezing his eyes shut as he holds Daniel close. “Hey,” he says again, at a loss for words.
“I can’t believe it worked,” Daniel laughs, pulling back a little and grinning at his dad.
“What, you had doubts? Jerome didn’t.”
Daniel just laughs. “Jerome likes a little unpredictability in his life. You should have seen how he wanted to do this guns blazing, fight and flight kind of stuff. Fay and I had to really talk him down.”
Kent laughs, studying his son’s face, but then he can’t help but look beyond him seeking another figure. Smaller, with bright hair
“She’s downstairs,” Daniel says after a moment, his voice soft. Kent turns to see a knowing smile on Daniel’s face.
“Why?” Kent asks, frowning. Because the Fay he knows he can’t believe she wasn’t at the rail watching him climb the steps. Not that he expected her to be or wanted her to
“She had a hard day, dad,” Daniel says, his face falling a little bit. “And ”
“Wait, what? What was hard?”
“Dad,” Daniel sighs, looking at Kent a little sadly. “Just…let her tell you, all right? And she got hit with some morning sickness as soon as we got on the boat. She’s down in the little cabin ”
“Where?” Kent demands, already moving down the deck, looking for a door.
“Down one flight!” Daniel calls as Jerome pulls open the door in the wall that he’s looking for. Kent nods to him as he passes through. “Cabin 4 you won’t miss it!”
Kent nods again, mostly to himself, as he picks a direction he doesn’t care which and strides down the hall, looking for a set of stairs. He finds it at the end of the hall and jogs down, his mind only on her. As he turns towards the door to the deck below Kent feels the entire boat shudder and takes a second to steady himself, raising his eyebrows.
Apparently, the sailor wasn’t kidding the ship is sailing now.
As soon as Kent adjusts to the movement he’s again striding down the narrow hall, counting down the doors 7…6…5…
And then he’s there. Cabin four.
Kent grabs the handle, turns it, pushes open the door and steps into the room not even breathing as he looks
But. God damn it, where is she?
The cabin’s small there’s barely room for a bed. Kent knows it’s the right room there are some objects that just scream Fay scattered around a hairbrush with a few red hairs, a satchel with some books tossed on the bed, even a pair of expensive pumps which she clearly kicked off, sick of them. Kent crosses the room in a few strides, peering into the small attached bathroom but…
Nowhere.
Shit.
Shit.
Panic hits Kent why isn’t she here?
Was there…did someone take her off the ship? Did she…
Kent’s breathing starts to come hard as he heads back for the door, throwing it open and looking frantically down the hall.
Kent is already moving, anger and panic thrumming through him, when he sees a figure move towards the end of the hall. Kent shouts for him, a loud and commanding “Hey!”
The sailor stops, turning towards Kent warily. Kent closes the distance between them fast, looming down over the sailor, who looks at him with wide eyes. “Where is she?” he asks, pointing towards the door of Cabin 4, which swings open.
“W-who?” the sailor asks, frantic, his accent like his colleague’s thick and unaccustomed to English.
Frustrated, frantic, Kent growls down at him. “Girl!” he demands, “red hair!” He gestures up towards his own hair and then points to an orange emergency kit attached to the wall.
The sailor looks between Kent and the emergency kit and then laughs. “Ah!” he says, smiling up at Kent and nodding. Then he holds up two fingers. “Two decks!” he says, and then he points downwards. “With the…ah…the horse!” And then, laughing, he waves and starts away, leaving Kent baffled behind.
What? The…the horse?
Feeling his temper slip with his anxiety, Kent storms through the ship, down two flights of stairs, slamming open the door to a level that is clearly not for passengers, but which instead gives access to some of the cargo containers. Gritting his teeth wondering why the hell she’d be down here ready to murder anyone who may have may have
God, he doesn’t even know forced her down here against her will
Or tried anything anything
But suddenly, of all things, Kent hears… a whinny?
What?
His steps falter, but then he makes up for it, stalking down the hall, heading for the open door just feet ahead of him
His hand hits the threshold first, stopping him from careening into the door itself as, panting, he turns to look
And god damn it
God damn it
She’s right there.