Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 200

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.

Kent forgets to breathe as he sees her, her back to him in a little black dress, her hair falling over her shoulders in lazy red curls, standing on her toes in a pair of bedroom slippers - of all damn things - as she strokes the forehead of her horse - Heathcliff, her god damn horse - standing next to another one Kent recognizes his own - a white mare called Butterfly -

The words are on his lips, to demand why she did this ridiculous thing, bringing her horse on a ship -

But as she turns, her blue eyes wide, and looks at him with her perfect mouth in a surprised "oh..." Everything leaves his mind.

All of his words, his panic, his thoughts, his guilt, his desire...

Kent stares at Fay, breathless.

And she turns to him, slowly, her hands going immediately to the barely-there bump at the front of her dress. And Kent's eyes flash to it as well, before coming back to her face.

The two stare at each other for a long moment.

And then his eyes fall to her mouth as her lower lip starts to tremble, just barely.

Kent moves - he's there in an instant. He doesn't remember crossing the room, but his arms are suddenly around Fay, pulling her tight against him as she gasps a desperate breath and bursts into tears.

"Fay," he whispers, tucking his head against her as his own knees go weak. He lets himself sink to the floor and takes her with him, pulling her into his lap, tucking her close against his chest.

Kent holds Fay just like that while she cries for a long time. He rocks her back and forth, his cheek pressed against her head, feeling the softness of her hair against his skin. He murmurs soft things to her - he doesn't know what - and she wraps her hands in the fabric of his shirt, burying her face in it and pulling herself closer to him. And he lets her, lets her do whatever she wants, as long as he can keep his arms around her.

Because this is all he wants, for the rest of his life, forever.

Just to have her here in his arms.

I cry for...way too long. But I can't help it - I can't - can't believe that he was just standing there when I turned around -

So many times, I imagined this reunion. I imagined that I'd be waiting for him in the cabin, and would have something cute to say -

But then he was just there, and I saw him, and damn it but something in me just broke -

It all pours out of me - the months of holding it together, of long nights planning and worrying, of- of deciding to lean in hard to the criminal element I was born to, of deciding to take out my own father to make this all work -

But it was this moment that I was waiting for, and it's absolutely nothing like what I planned - and yet, somehow, it's so much better -

His arms are steady around me as I cry myself out, creating a warm, safe cocoon in which I can completely fall apart. As my tears start to subside I begin to notice things - like the warmth of his body, and the slow pace of his breath, the sound of his heartbeat in his chest, pressed against my ear.

And I calm, and come back to myself.

And then suddenly blush bright red - because I'm supposed to be this powerful mafia donna now, and here I am crying my eyes out on the floor of a makeshift stable in a shipping container, for heaven's sake.

I hear him laugh a little and I look up to see him peering down at me now, his arms loosening just enough so that he can see.

And then I laugh a little too, because I know it - I know I'm being ridiculous.

But somehow, it's right, and I don't feel foolish at all anymore. And I know he doesn't see me that way.

"Hey, Kent," I say, sniffing and bringing a hand to my face to wipe at the tears that have streaked down my cheeks, leaving me a wet and blubbery mess.

"Hey, gorgeous," he says, smiling down at me and relaxing a little so that I'm settled neatly against his arm now, not being clutched to him like he'll never let me go. Not that I minded that, really. It was kind of nice.

But now that I get to sit back a little, and look at him? My smile grows, because I missed this - I missed seeing his face, the complexities of his expression as his emotions pass over it like clouds. But then, as I study him, I note the blood in his hair - the gash high on his hairline -

"Oh," I say, sitting up more, reaching for it. "What happened -"

"Don't," he murmurs, pulling his head back a little bit. "It's fine, Fay - just a little cut, it stopped bleeding hours ago -"

"Oh," I say again, guilt suddenly flooding me as I stare at it and then bring my eyes back to his. "Are you - are you okay? Are you all banged up? When did this -"

"When do you think it happened," he growls, narrowing his eyes at me playfully while a smile tugs at his lips. "When you had me riding across the countryside on horseback? Or when you had a tractor trailer slam into my prison transport?"

And I grin, suddenly, to hear him say it. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"A little reckless," he chides, "and that crash, Fay - what were you thinking? There was no way to predict whether or not I'd be killed -"

I frown at him. "Well, I told them to be gentle."

He blinks at me, shocked. "You told the men who were going to t-bone the van I was riding in to be gentle -"

My mouth falls open. "Well, weren't they!? I said to hit just hard enough to stop the van -"

"They knocked us sideways! The sliding door was on the roof - Jerome had to climb down into it -"

I gasp, my hands covering my mouth as my eyes go wide. I shake my head at him. "That was not part of the plan," I murmur. "I told them...just a tap..."

"Well, they really went above and beyond, Donna Lippert," he growls, bringing his face close to mine, teasing me, and I bite my lip, pleased. "You'll either have to give them a raise or kill them, one or the other."

I laugh at this, the sound bubbling out of me - and then we're both laughing, harder than makes sense, because honestly none of it is funny, but somehow...it's all too much.

Kent gathers me closer to him as we laugh, wrapping one hand around my waist, and butterflies erupt in my stomach when I feel his fingers against the swell of my belly. But then he tucks his other hand around the back of my head, his fingers tangling into my hair, smiling at me -

And he's so damn handsome, and we're both so happy, staring at each other and laughing that I can't help it -

I wrap my fingers in his shirt again, and tug him closer, lifting my face to his -

And suddenly the laughter is gone as he first nudges my nose with his and then presses his mouth to mine, his lips at once impossibly soft and recklessly determined. A moan rises in my throat immediately as my arms wrap around his neck, pulling him closer to me, wanting him -

Wanting every piece of him, every bit -

Every flawed, horrible, wonderful, incredible part of this man who I gave everything to save - who I know would have done precisely the same for me.

Kent doesn't bother being gentle, his mouth hard on mine now as his breath comes in quick pants, as he again clings to me, his hand scraping its way down my back, his teeth bared and claiming my lower lip before he -

"Well," a voice says from the doorway, delighted and a little scandalized. "I mean, I didn't expect anything less, but Fay, you certainly don't waste any time, do you?"