Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 105

apparently confused.

The people blocking the door step aside and the new guests begin to fill in - about twenty of them. Some of the people are familiar to me but some are totally new. While everyone else fills in, I'm surprised to see my father standing still, narrowing his eyes at Kent, And then he shifts his glance to me, on Daniel's arm, and I realize that...Kent just publicly re-established my engagement to Daniel without Alden's permission, even though my father has been offering me around as a potential marriage option to other powerful families Ivan included - I quickly glance around the room, trying to get a read on it -

I see Ivan's blonde head moving away from us through a group of people, walking with a dark-haired girl -

But, more pressing, I see Natalia and Alessi approaching Kent, their eyes curious and a little eager, as if they're hyenas finally getting to the heart of their prey.

And Kent is staring at my father, locking eyes with him, daring him to counter his word that Daniel and I are engaged, that the alliance between the Lippert and Alden families that has lasted for twenty-two years has finally broken apart.

I know immediately what I have to do and I move, pulling Daniel with me to my father's side.

"Papa!" I say, giving a happy little laugh and throwing an arm around his shoulders, still keeping a hold on Daniel with my free hand. I stand on my toes to give my father a warm kiss on the cheek. "I'm so glad you could come - I didn't hear word back from the invitation!"

My father starts a little at my sudden hug but then wraps his arms around me, fond. "It is good to see you, girl," he says, smiling down at me in a fatherly way. And despite how much he's pushed me recently, I'm reminded - suddenly - of the fond father that I saw in the images of his wedding to my mother, the way he looked at me when I was a child. And I realize that he's perhaps been waiting for a hug from me for a long, long time.

I smile at him, then, not able to help it.

"Sir," Daniel says, breaking the moment a little, but not in a bad way. He offers his hand to my father with a charming smile. "It is good to see you again."

"Daniel..." my father says, hesitating just for a breath as he looks at Daniel's hand. My father then glances towards Alessi and Natalia, who have drawn close to Kent. And I realize, quite suddenly, that he knows precisely who they are. "Yes," Alden concludes, apparently making a decision as he releases me to take Daniel's hand in a hearty shake, pulling him in for a hug as well. "It is good to see you as well, son."

When Daniel pulls back, my father wraps an arm around my shoulder and he, Daniel and I walk as a trio towards Kent, Alessi, and Natalia, who stand waiting for us.

"Dad," I say, doing my best to play the gracious hostess, "forgive me, I'm not sure if you've been introduced -"

"Alessi," my father says, squeezing the arm around my shoulders in thanks and putting out a warm hand towards Alessi, who shakes it happily. "It's been years - so good to see you again, and you looking so well."

"You, however," Alessi says, giving him an amiable grin. "You have gotten a little fat, yes? Too much of these American cheeseburgers?"

My eyes go a little wide at Alessi's gall but my father bursts into rich laughter, and so I laugh a little as well. When I look at Daniel, I realize that he's doing it too - all three of us faking it, all three playing the game.

"You've got me there," my father says, shaking his head in apparent mirth. "And this beautiful specimen..." my father continues, looking towards Natalia.

"Natalia," Kent says, gesturing towards her. "Of the Bianci family, in Sicily."

"Another Sicilian," my father replies, taking her hand and bowing low over it. "Like me."

"It is always good to be amongst our countrymen," Natalia replies smoothly, not friendly but not cold.

The four of them begin to chat lightly, then, and I quietly slip away from my spot beneath my father's arm, moving to Daniel's side. I nod back to the little alcove that we left, asking him as subtly as he can to take me there. Daniel glances at his father, who gives a tiny nod that I think no one else notices, letting him know he should.

So quickly, without fuss, Daniel and I move away.

"What the hell is going on," I hiss to him, looking anxiously around the party - searching, if I'm being honest, for a blonde head of hair amongst this sea of dark-haired Italians, and failing.

"It's an ambush," Daniel whispers back, glancing over his shoulder. "That was well done on you, though, greeting your dad like that. It put us in a good position."

"Good," I murmur, stopping when we reach our little bench but not sitting down on it, instead smoothing my hands anxiously down the length of my dress. "What did you mean when you said it was an ambush?"

"Everyone who just came in is from a rival family," Daniel replies, shaking his head a little and looking around at everyone. "They were not invited, but somehow figured out that Alessi and Natalia are visiting, and that they'd be here tonight. If I had to guess, I'd say these other families are going to make some kind of play to turn the Bianci family against my dad and towards them."

"Christ," I curse, clenching my teeth. "What can we do?"

"Nothing," Daniel sighs, likewise anxious. "Or - get whatever information we can, I guess. And make sure we don't fuck up."

I look at him with worried eyes. "Not my strong suit," I mutter.

"You're better than you think, Fay," Daniel replies passively, not looking at me and surveying the party instead. I see his eyes flash a little. "Seriously?" he whispers to himself. "They're here?"

"Who?" I ask, eager.

"The fucking Russians," Daniel replies, his voice low and angry. "The Kozlovs. Your boy Ivan must have brought them - they're his biggest tie, besides Alden. God damn it."

"Is that bad?" I ask.

"Yes, Fay," Daniel replies, looking at me a little angrily. I glare back, because how the hell was I supposed to know that when no one tells me anything. "They've notoriously got the weakest hold in the city's underworld. It used to be Ivan, but he surpassed them when he got in the drug game. But if they're willing to come here, in open defiance of my dad?" Daniel shakes his head, worried. "They're feeling bold."

"Which ones are they?" I ask quietly, and then - as I suddenly spy Ivan moving towards me through the crowd with a beautiful brunette on his arm - I think that I can probably guess.

As the two approach, the music changes, going from pleasant background music to an orchestral tango, causing the party guests to clear from a dance floor that I hadn't realized was there. A few couples take to it, beginning to spin around expertly.

As Ivan approaches, his trademark smirk already on his lips, he holds my gaze without wavering. I feel my eyes narrow at him as I shake my head, but I can't help my own lips from twitching up towards a smile, even as I stand with my arm clasped in Daniel's. "Fay," Ivan says, nodding to me and then shifting his gaze to my fiancé. "Daniel. I'm so pleased to hear that you two have...patched things up."

"We were never apart," Daniel snaps in reply, causing Ivan to shift his eyes back to mine, his smirk deepening.

"Really," Ivan replies, his words slow enough to be infused with a deep doubt. "Fay gave me a... different impression."

Daniel glowers at Ivan and my heartrate picks up as I sense that rare temper rising in him. My eyes go wide as I feel Daniel ball his fist next to me and I realize that Daniel is about five seconds away from punching Ivan right in the face.