Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 177

Daniel sighs and glances at Jerome, willing to explain. "We got a phone call from the prison during cocktails," he says, pitching his voice low as if he's still worried about being overheard. Probably the result of growing up in a house filled with secrets, I consider, thinking about the little kidney bean in my own belly. Would my baby be the same, being raised in a Lippert house?

"Oh?" Jerome asks, his eyes going wide. "Is everything...okay?"

"Yeah, it was..." Daniel glances at me now, "it was actually just dad calling. He got his phone privileges so that he can call people who are not his lawyers."

A thousand emotions flood me at this news but I keep my body perfectly still, blinking softly and not letting a single one of my feelings cross my face. Instead, I take a deep breath and sip at my soda. "That's so creepy, Fay," Janeen whispers, and I flash my eyes to her, confused and surprised. "What?"

"I once saw you have a meltdown because you dropped your coloring book in the bathtub," she says, leaning forward to peer at me. "You've always been like, the most emotional person I've ever met." "So?" I ask, confused.

"So?" she replies, her face twisting with displeasure. "Your husband just told you that your baby daddy, his father, just called from prison - and that he can call from prison, even though you haven't talked to him since he told you he thought you were cheating on him. And you just sit passively? You, of all people, show no emotion?"

I sigh, resting my drink in my lap and looking down at it for a second, clenching my teeth. "What do you want me to do, Janeen?" I ask, frustrated. "Break into tears? Fall on the floor in hysterics?"

"Kinda!" she says, and I whip up my head to glare at her as she throws her hands in the air. "Because that's what my sister would do! I don't know how I feel about this," she says, bringing her arms down and using her pointer finger to squiggle a line in the air between us, "this new Fay who is so placid. Were you body snatched? Are you a robot?"

"If I was," I snap, leaning forward to glare at her a little, "would I remember the time that you passed out drunk, and naked from the bottom down, in the kiddy pool? And that the neighbor's dog found you there, and stole the hotdog you were holding - all night - right out of your hand?"

Janeen gasps, clasping a hand to her chest. "That was a secret, Fay!" she hisses, leaning forward to glare at me more as Daniel and Jerome burst into laughter.

"Well at least I'm still your sister, Janeen!" I snap back, leaning further forward.

"My sister would never tell strangers -" she insists, but Daniel interrupts.

"She's doing it again, Janeen," he says, smirking at me. "Distracting you. Doing the word thing."

Janeen gasps again, her hand going back to her chest. "Fay!" she shouts, and then she takes a stray cashew off the table and throws at me. "Stop that!"

"Stop falling for it," I mutter, crossing my arms and sitting back in my chair. Then I glare at Daniel for betraying me, but he just shrugs.

"Seriously though," Jerome says, looking at Daniel now. "What did he say?"

My shoulders go rigid as I steel myself again, not sure I want to hear it. Daniel, sensing that this is harder for me than for them, puts a hand on my arm. "Do you want to know?"

"Of course she wants to know!" Janeen growls, but I take a deep breath, considering.

"Yes," I sigh, because I really do. And it's not doing any good to put it off.

"Okay," Daniel says softly. And then he takes a sip of his drink, I think wanting to steel himself in turn. "Well, there's not a ton to report. He's okay, he's...bored, and anxious. He feels really helpless and he's never been very good at feeling that way, if he ever has before."

"He said all of that?" Jerome asks, a little disbelieving.

"Well, no," Daniel sighs, twisting the stem of his martini glass. "Some of this is my interpretation. He said that jail is jail. And then he asked a lot of questions about...here. About us."

My eyes flick up to his now, and find Daniel's eyes already on me.

"He asked about you," Daniel says softly. "I told him you're okay."

"You didn't tell him I was planning anything, did you?" I ask, abrupt.

"No," Daniel says, flinching back a little bit. "I just said that you're okay. That you're feeling good in your," he hesitates now, feeling a little awkward, "...first trimester. You're not sick or anything."

I look down again, pursing my lips. Because...I can't think very hard, right now, about Kent asking about the baby. I can't let myself think about how his voice might have sounded when he asked, or whether he actually asked if I had morning sickness, or Daniel just told him...it's too much. It's all just way too much.

So I move on. Because if I don't, I'm going to have that meltdown Janeen is looking for.

"Don't tell him anything," I say quietly, looking down into my lap.

"Why not?" Daniel asks, curious.

"Because," I reply, flicking my eyes up to his. "I don't trust those phones. I know that they're supposed to be confidential because prisoners have rights, or whatever," I say, rolling my eyes, "but after everything Ivan pulled, I don't believe in rights at all anymore." I clench my teeth again, frustrated and determined, and my three comrades sit quietly, watching me.

"Kent can't know anything either," I say quietly, looking around at all of them, finally deciding to let them in on the plan, just a little bit. "Because what I have planned...he has to be in ignorance of it. Complete ignorance, all right? Until I say so." They all just stare at me, silent.

"Okay?" I ask sharply, making Janeen flinch a bit.

"Okay," Daniel replies, and my sister and Jerome just nod.

"And I don't want to take any calls from him," I say, making the decision suddenly and turning to Daniel so he sees that I mean it. "Tell him not to call me on my phone. And if he calls you on yours, I don't want to speak to him." "Why?" Daniel asks, completely confused and looking so terribly sad for me.

"Because," I say, biting out the words, ignoring his pity so that I can be bitter and determined. "As far as the world is concerned right now, Kent means nothing to me. Nothing. He's my husband's disgraced father, who embarrassed us and is going to be in jail for decades and never meet his grandchild. As far as everyone else is concerned, he never meant anything to me, and I never expect to see him again in my life."

Daniel swallows hard over a lump in his throat, but nods. Jerome doesn't say or do anything, just sits still, staring at me.

But Janeen leans forward. "Fay," she says, shaking her head. "Not even like...if Kent called now? If we were alone - and Natalia and Alessi weren't here - you...you wouldn't want to talk to him."

"No," I reply, my voice harsh, though I look down into my lap, suddenly too exhausted to hold my head up. "Because I don't trust the phones and I don't...I don't trust..."

Myself, I think, looking down into my lap.

Because that's the truth of it.

I know that if I hear Kent's voice, I'm going to fall to pieces. And I cannot - cannot fall to pieces right now. I need every bit of strength I have, and if I talk to him, even for a moment, I'm going to want to lean on him - and tell him everything - and let him sort it all out for me, and tell me what to do, and how to do it -

But he - he can't do that. He just can't - not from his place in jail - not without getting caught.

So, I have to do it for him. And it's all so precarious right now that I just can't slip.

"Fay," Janeen says, her voice too soft. With effort, I lift my head and meet her eyes. "Is it...are you moving on?" she asks, her voice squeaking a little with emotion that she doesn't usually show. "Are you...do you not love him anymore?"

I fall back in my chair, my mouth falling open in shock.

Because...

But then anger overtakes me.

"God damn it, Janeen," I snap, standing up and glaring at her over the table. "If I were giving up, do you think I'd be working this hard? If I was moving on, don't you think I'd have just taken Daniel's offer to go live peacefully in Europe and raise the baby there?" I pause, looking around at the three of them, letting my words sink in.

"I'm doing this," I continue, pressing a single finger against the table, "because I love him. All right? And that's the last time you'll hear me say it because it's too dangerous a statement to utter in this new world we're building. But don't any of you," I hiss, glaring around at all of them, "even begin to doubt it. Not for a second."

And then, too angry and overwhelmed to say anything else, I push away from the table and storm through the door into my house.

As I head to the open door of my room, I hear Janeen's question echo behind me.

"Guys...what the hell does she have planned?"

And Daniel's baffled answer.

"Honestly...I have no idea."