Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 180

"I can't believe you got me a job," Daniel grumbles from the passenger seat, his arms crossed over his chest as he stares out the window. "Bout time," Jerome murmurs as he drives, smirking as he keeps his eyes on the road.

Daniel makes a squeak of protest as he turns to glare at his boyfriend, but Jerome just laughs. "Seriously, Danny," he says, shaking his head, "you've never had a job in your life. Pay your dues! Especially as it doesn't sound like Donna Lippert back there," he says, pointing at me with a thumb over his shoulder, "intends for you to do it forever."

"Just for a little bit, Daniel," I say, looking up from my phone for just a second to see him glaring at me, "until we get the information we need."

"And what information," Daniel snaps, "do we need? So I can get it and get out of there as fast as possible."

"I don't know yet," I sigh, content. "I'll know it when I hear it."

Daniel grumbles more and Jerome laughs at him.

"You know this is your fault, Jerome," I call to him, tucking my phone back into my purse and smiling as I stir the pot.

"What!?" he gasps, glaring at me in the rearview mirror. "What the hell did I do?"

"You pamper Daniel," I say, grinning and settling back against the leather of my own seat. "You take him to the beach all day, and carry his bag, and make it so he never wants to do a day of work in his whole life, because he just wants to hang out with you -" "Um, I did not start this pattern, Fay," Jerome corrects, "it's your baby daddy that let him go to college for eternity, majoring in end-of-the-road degrees like English and Philosophy and Archaeology."

"True," I say with a sigh. "Though I'd like to see you accuse Kent of it to his face."

"I would," Jerome says, assured. "As long as he was...still behind bars."

We all laugh at that, Daniel shaking his head and not really denying that he's been a bit of a spoiled rich boy his whole life. But neither Jerome nor I really hold it against him - though we are willing to tease him about it. We like Daniel just the way he is, and I know Jerome in particular likes to dote on him. It's part of why they work.

Daniel, I suspect, pays Jerome back in his own way.

But before I can decide whether I even want to consider what those methods of payback are - he is my husband, after all - I sit up straight when we turn the corner onto our street and I see a familiar car in the driveway.

"No way," Jerome murmurs, slowing down and shaking his head.

"They let him keep the Ferrari?" Daniel whispers, completely shocked.

My heart begins to pound as I realize that, while I thought today's work was over and I could just relax...

Apparently, it's just begun. Because Ivan has come for a visit. And I have to be very, very careful with how I handle this.

"Did you know about this?" Daniel snaps, turning to me suddenly.

"I did not," I answer, firm, my voice low with my instant anger at the accusation behind his question.

"Well you didn't tell me about lunch today -"

"This is different," I snap. "And you know it."

Daniel takes a deep breath, staring at me, and then he nods, understanding.

"All right, boys," I say, leaning forward to look out the windshield, trying to see if Ivan is anywhere in sight. But I don't see him yet. "Follow my lead."

"Hey, Fay!" Janeen calls to me from the kitchen in the sing-song way she always used to do when we were kids. Then her head peeks around the corner of the second-floor landing, an eager grin on her face. "Your cop friend came to visit."

I roll my eyes at her as I make my way up the stairs, Daniel and Jerome coming along behind me.

"Thanks, Janeen," I murmur. "But we kind of figured it out, considering the flashy car in the driveway."

"You know me," Ivan says as we come into the kitchen. I immediately turn to face him. "I always like to make an impression."

I look Ivan up and down, considering that his look has completely changed since he's come out from being under-cover. Whereas he was always bad-boy chic before, now he's...well, he's clean cut in black pants and a button-up shirt. But somehow he's still got that air of bad boy around him. The tattoos, after all, are all real.

Ivan smiles as he sees me taking him in, slowly lifting a glass of lemonade to his lips and taking a sip.

"Seriously?" I ask, turning to Janeen and frowning at her. "You gave him refreshments?"

"Well, I will not be rude, Fay," Janeen says, giving me a mock frown that secretly tells me how delighted she is at all the drama occurring in the house right now. "Not in my own home."

"My home," I correct, walking to the fridge and pulling it open, grabbing a water bottle and then walking past Ivan, heading for the back deck. "Come on," I say, waving to him.

"Fay," Daniel snaps, making me look over my shoulder at him, but I don't stop. "Are you actually going to talk to him?"

"Don't be jealous," Ivan says, walking backwards to grin at Daniel as he follows me towards the deck. "I'm only chatting with your wife. Not your boyfriend."

Daniel growls and lunges forward but Jerome easily catches his arm, holding him back and laughing a little. "Come on, Danny," Jerome murmurs. "Don't rise to the bait that easy."

Ivan's still smiling as he turns to me where I stand at the back slider, my eyebrows raised. "Do you have to?" I ask, gesturing him outside.

"I do not," he replies with a sigh and a shrug. "Though I find it very hard to resist."

I shake my head at Ivan as I slide the door shut behind him, making eye contact with Daniel and nodding so that he knows that I've got this handled. Daniel just settles on the couch, his arms crossed, staring out at us - apparently content to watch everything we do. Jerome, to his credit, settles beside Daniel and picks up a magazine from the table, starting to flick through it. Janeen does the same.

"So," Ivan says, settling back in his chair and giving me his patented satisfied smile. "How are you enjoying married life?"

"It's great," I snap, and then I nod my chin towards him. "What happened to your face?"

"Oh this?" Ivan asks, running a hand over the right side of his jaw, where a large bruise is fading from purple to green, just barely visible on his pale skin. He grins. "What do you think happened?"

"No way," I say, leaning forward, my eyes going wide. "Kent punched you?"

"Punched the shit out of me," he confirms, sighing and smirking at me. "He's fast, for an old guy."

I laugh a little and shake my head, a little pleased that Ivan underestimated Kent's physicality and paid the price for it.

But after a moment, I look up at Ivan and c**k my head to the side. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?" he asks, taking another sip of his lemonade.

"Disarm me like that?" I ask, genuinely curious. "I came into his house ready to hate you, and what, sixty seconds later? You have me laughing."

"It's still me, Fay," Ivan says, leaning forward a little, holding my gaze. "I know that...that there's been a lot of lies, and misinformation. But..." he shakes his head, "you still know me. The connection we made over these past couple of months - it was real."

I sit back in my chair, looking away from him, still determined to hate him but...well, kind of believing what he says. That as much as Ivan is a cop now, instead of a mafia boss, he's still also the guy I formed such an intense connection with when I really needed support.

It's complicated. It may always be complicated.

The fact that it's complicated doesn't change anything at all but...well. It does make everything just a little bit more difficult, which is not at all what I need.

"What are you even thinking about, Fay?" Ivan asks, interrupting my thoughts and making me blink and look at him.

"What?" I ask.

"You just spaced out for a solid minute and a half," he says. "What are you thinking?"

"I was thinking about how you ruined my life," I say bluntly, cocking my head to the side, curious to see how he takes my words. "And how to get you out of here as fast as possible." "Lie," he says, giving me a little wink.

I sigh, looking down into my lap for a second. "You always could tell when I was lying, Ivan," I murmur.

"Because I know you, Fay," he says, leaning forward, eager.

I look up into his eyes again. "Why are you here, Ivan?"

"Because I want to help you," Ivan replies, honesty all over his face, as if it's the simplest thing in the world. "And I want you to forgive me. And trust me."

"Why on earth do you want that?" I ask, my voice soft because...I'm not sure I'm ready for his answer.

"Because," he says, his voice equally soft, as if he's not sure he's ready to say it. "Even though you're married? And knocked up with my enemy's kid?" he shakes his head. "I...can't stop thinking about you, Fay." My lips curl up into a very small, very hesitant smile.

And I let him see it.