Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 223

I'm practically vibrating with excitement and anxiety as we wait for the sailors to attach the plank that will allow us to disembark from the ship. Of course, we have to pass through an empty shipping container and exit through a secret back door that Daniel assured us will allow us to bypass security, so we don't get to disembark the way I dreamed we would out into the Italian sun, looking out over the land.

But, well. I suppose I can make do, if it means we won't be immediately arrested.

Daniel takes lead here, and I'm quite pleased to see him operating efficiently and with authority.

I am, however, also very distracted.

I glance back over my shoulder, worried about Heathcliff and if the sailors will get him off without scaring him -

And all of our luggage, will it go to the right place? Maybe I need to -

Kent just laughs, putting a warm hand on my shoulder. "Stop micromanaging it, Fay," he says, smiling down at me. "Everything is in order - you spent weeks ensuring all that. Now you either trust the system or you don't. Yes?"

I scowl at him a little. "You sound like me," I murmur, turning forward as Daniel and Jerome start to move.

"No," Kent says quietly as we walk forward too. "You stole that form me. Plagiarist."

I laugh a little, glancing over my shoulder again, but this time locking eyes with Janeen.

"Don't worry, we're coming!" she says, giving me a wide grin, her arm linked with dad's. Dad also nods to me with a smile, letting me know that he's all right and excited.

So, I take a deep breath and move forward, hoping to hell this all works.

To my pleasure, my father's lessons to Daniel seem to have paid off. Daniel shares a few words with a couple of Italian men who wave us forward, handing Daniel a booklet of papers in exchange for two separate envelopes which I assume hold a great deal of cash. Once that's done everything is...simple. The Italians, money now in hand, wave us forward, not bothering to look us in our faces, perhaps not wanting to know who, precisely, they've just let into their country.

Then again, if what Daniel says is right, this sort of thing is pretty standard smuggling procedure. So maybe it's less about not wanting to know, and more about not actually caring because they do this sort of thing all the time. I shrug a little as Kent puts an arm around my shoulders, looking down into my face to see if I'm all right.

I guess the details of international smuggling is Daniel's expertise these days - and the less I know about it the better.

"Come on," Kent says as we pass through the massive port building and move through a back door into the bright, fresh Italian air. "Let's get started."

As with the start of our journey, everything is impossibly smooth, and if I hadn't put so much work into planning it all - even these past few days, putting details in order after Kent decided we would be safest and most comfortable in Sicily instead of elsewhere in Europe - I'd be suspicious that it's too easy.

But any suspicions I have fall to the wayside as we climb into a luxury passenger van that's waiting for us outside the port, the first in a line of vehicles that we've arranged to carry us and all of our goods to the home we've rented a few hours away, down the coast. "Ohhh," Janeen says, grinning as she climbs into the van ahead of me. "Oh, this is nice - I've worked in a couple of these before for some bachelor parties - sometimes they have a poll at the back!"

I laugh as I step in after her, Kent's hand warmly in mine, surveying the plush van with way too much bench seating for the six of us. But, well. I wanted to be comfortable. "I guess it will do."

Kent laughs and urges me towards the back, saying a few words to the driver in Italian as a couple of our suitcases are loaded into the van along with us - just the personal stuff which we wanted to keep by us. The rest - all of our possessions, clothes, even all the baby stuff Natalia bought for me - will all be delivered later, along with the horses.

When we're ready, Kent comes to the back of the van and sits next to me, my dad and Janeen on the other side of us.

Daniel and Jerome sit on either side of the benches that stretch along the length of the van, grinning with excitement.

"Ready?" Kent asks, looking around. When we all nod, he whistles to the driver, who pulls away.

"When does it get pretty?" Janeen asks, peering out the window and frowning at the port. "Europe is supposed to be gorgeous."

"It already is pretty," Kent insists, frowning at her, defensive. "Did you not smell that fresh air? See that clear sky?"

Janeen turns to look at Kent, a little baffled. "You mean the fresh air that smelled like diesel fuel and fish? Is that what I have to look forward to here?"

Kent clicks his tongue and turns away from Janeen, wrapping an arm around my shoulders while he waves a dismissive hand in her direction, a very Italian gesture. I laugh, leaning against him and turning eagerly towards the window.

Because...well, Janeen is right for the moment, but I don't need to agree with her out loud. Still, I'm excited to see what all the fuss is about too.

Daniel and Jerome chatter happily with my dad, Daniel telling about his own memories of coming here as a child and a teenager. I am happy to let them fill the air with their noise so that I can sit quietly, looking out the window and taking in this new land, my new home.

And as we leave the port, and drive south along the coast...

I am...absolutely not disappointed.

My lips part in surprise and awe as we begin to drive down the long highway that borders the coast because it's just...god, it's actually so gorgeous that it threatens to take my breath away. The hills are rocky and rough, and the trees and shrubs are a rich sage- green, clinging to the dry soil with a coarse determination.

And the sky - it stretches above, such a rich, vibrant blue...

When the sea again comes into view, crashing below us, so close to the highway that I get a little vertigo looking down, my mouth is fully open in surprise. I lean away from Kent, my head turning, trying to take it all in.

He laughs behind me, and I can tell he's delighted as the rest of the van goes quiet, everyone beginning to look out the windows and take in the incredible sights around us.

"Wow," I say, my eyes wide as I press my hands eagerly against the window. "Kent, you weren't kidding, it's...it's so incredibly beautiful here..."

"This is just the start," he says, pleased and a little smug, as if he somehow takes credit for the beauty of the land. And I smile but I don't tease him, knowing it's only because he loves it. Kent's an American - he was born there, he made his fortune there, raised his first child there but I know that in so many ways? Sicily is his home.

I grin at him over my shoulder, so excited to learn about this place that I feel I could burst with it.

"I know," he murmurs, nodding to me and wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me back against him. "I feel exactly the same way."

I snuggle back against Kent, an excited smile on my lips. "I'm so glad we broke you out of prison," I sigh, again buzzing with excitement. Kent just bursts into laughter, and I smile again, happy to hear him laugh at my side.