Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
“It is,” Kent says, handing me my own coffee and turning to look at Gio sternly. “I’m asking you to trust me for a few hours, Gio. Our deal still stands. Are you all right with that?”
Gio’s silence implies that he is decidedly not okay with that, but then he sighs, his head dipping a second before he meets Kent’s eyes again. “I trust you, Zio.”
“Good,” Kent says, his eyebrows going up as he nods Gio back towards his room. “Go get dressed, fast. Fay wasn’t kidding about Janeen’s scheduled arrival.”
It really isn’t a ploy we spoke with Janeen last night and she agreed to get on a plane this morning. A little thrill of happiness runs through me at the idea because as much as I love this house full of men, it will be good to have my girl back at my side.
Gio nods once, a good soldier, and heads off. I sip my coffee, looking up at Kent, who wraps an arm around me. We stand quietly for a long moment as our troops get themselves together, as Gio comes out surprisingly first, though I suppose Daniel and Jerome are taking a minute to make peace and says his goodbyes to us, taking the keys to Janeen’s Porsche and hitting the road.
When Daniel and Jerome emerge, they look around confusedly for Gio.
“He’s gone,” Kent says, and I grit my teeth and lean against the counter, trying impossibly to look cool and nonchalant as another contraction hits.
Daniel frowns at me as he walks over to us, but I just wave him off and sip my coffee, yawning and pretending my pain is…sleepiness. I don’t know. Inwardly, I sigh with frustration at myself, because I sincerely doubt I’m being very convincing.
“Dad,” Daniel says, letting me off the hook and turning to Kent. “What the hell is going on?”
“We’re making a move,” Kent says, his words clipped. “And we need the two of you two be part of it.”
Daniel looks between us, confused, but Jerome’s face brightens before he turns to me and sees my scowl.
“That is,” I say, “if we can trust you. Jerome.”
“Fay,” Jerome says as my contraction finally passes. He reaches out a hand towards me. “You can trust me honestly, the reason I never said anything was because I knew it would make you doubt that ”
“Which is not an excuse,” I growl.
“I know,” he replies, genuine sorrow on his face. “And I know we need a longer conversation that there’s no time for today but Fay?” He holds my gaze, willing me to believe him. “Whatever you need me for today for any day, for the rest of your life. I’m your man. I swear it.”
“Good,” Kent snaps, drawing all of our attention to him. “Because you’re with Daniel this morning. We’ll discuss the rest of her life later. And Daniel?” Kent turns his singular, not insubstantial attention on Daniel now. “If he does anything worth doubting you’re going to shoot him. All right?”
Daniel goes pale at the prospect, freezing.
My own eyes go wide. So do Jerome’s.
But then Daniel looses a breath, holding his father’s gaze, not glancing at Jerome. “All right,” he says, nodding sharply. “If those are the stakes, dad? All right. Because I trust him, I agree to these terms.”
Kent turns to Jerome then, silently asking if he agrees to this as well. Fervently, Jerome nods, which goes…a very long way towards making me trust him.
Although, honestly…I kind of did anyway. But seeing him say that he’s willing to be shot by his boyfriend if he steps out of line?
Yeah. It’s pretty good insurance.
“All right,” Kent says, turning to me with a nod. And out of my back pocket, I pull Kent’s phone.
“What we need,” I say quietly, entering Kent’s code and placing the phone on the counter between the four of us, “is for you two to…play fetch.”
As I say the words I open the app on the phone and let Daniel and Jerome see what Kent and I already know: the location of my phone, about forty-fives minutes away.
“Fetch what?” Daniel asks, confused. “Fay, where is ”
“I left my phone in Ivan’s car,” I say quietly. “In the seat cushions, so he wouldn’t know where it was.” Jerome lifts his head and smirks at me, pleased and proud. I don’t change my expression, looking between the two of them. “We want you two to go here, and only when Kent and I give you the word, we want you to take Ivan. And bring him back to this house. All right?”
Daniel’s goes very still, his face paling as he stares at me.
Then, a little frantic, he looks between me and his dad. “What what the hell are you two planning?”
“We’ll tell you when you need to know,” Kent says, his voice dry as he leans back and slips his hands into his pockets. “And when your boy here proves that he can complete this without betraying us?” Kent shifts his gaze to Jerome here and shrugs. “We’ll tell you more.”
Daniel heaves a sigh and glares at Jerome, nodding before grabbing Kent’s phone and pressing a few buttons, sharing the location of my phone the one in Ivan’s car with his own. That done, he nods to Jerome.
“You ready?” Daniel asks his boyfriend, who nods solemnly.
“Take guns,” Kent says, nodding towards our bedroom. Daniel and Jerome nod, heading towards our door.
“Wait,” I say, frowning and standing up straight. “Where are they Kent!” I gasp and turn to him. “You keep guns in our bedroom!?”
“Where did you think I kept them,” he murmurs, frowning at me. “In the freezer?”
My jaw drops open as I stare up at him and then I scowl and point a finger up into his face. “You had better make sure those guns are locked down and that the baby can’t get to them, Kent Lippert,” I growl.
“Fay,” he says, reaching for me and pulling me close. “If you didn’t know they’re there, the baby won’t either. At least, not until she’s six. And then we’ll get a better lock.”
And I scowl and put the issue of Kent’s arsenal to the back of my mind.
Because honestly, we’ve got enough on our plates today.
And it’s just getting started.
When Daniel and Jerome come out of the bedroom and move to the door, I look closely to see where they’ve hidden guns on their bodies but…nothing.
“Are there just guns everywhere, all the time?” I muse, resting my chin in my hands and watching as the boys grab their keys and wave goodbyes over their shoulders, heading out to Daniel’s car.
“Yes,” Kent answers distractedly, glancing towards the hallway where the rest of the bedrooms are. “Is your dad up? He…might not want to walk into this.”
“It’s too early,” I sigh, straightening up and looking anxiously at the clock, knowing I’ve got about five minutes before the next contraction hits if not sooner. I mean, they’re supposed to speed up, right?
Shit. Is that enough time for a phone call?
“All right,” Kent says, pulling out the little slip of paper my mom wrote a phone number on. “Are you ready for this?”
I sigh, putting my anxiety out of my head, knowing that I need to concentrate right now and also that I have to stop trying to micromanage this whole situation.
Because all of it it’s happening so fast, and it’s completely out of my control, the kind of fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants job that Kent, quite rightly, said is not my forte.
“Hey,” he says sharply, putting a finger beneath my chin and turning my face up to his. “Are you having serious doubts? Because if you are ”
“No,” I say, scowling and pulling my chin from his grasp. “I’m just…out of my element, Kent. You know that.”
“Luckily,” he says, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close, “I’m in mine.” He dips his head then, pressing a warm kiss to my mouth that floods me with warmth even makes me almost forget the cramping that’s starting low in my stomach.