Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 231

Daniel slowly shakes his head, putting a hand on Alessi's shoulder. "We don't know where dad is," Daniel says, his voice filled with grief. He glances at me and I move to his side, impressed again at how good an actor Daniel can be. I slip what I hope looks like a comforting arm around my husband's waist. "What?" Alessi says, shocked, looking between us.

"We left," Daniel says with a sad shrug, "because we knew, when my father escaped, that they would lock us down - maybe even arrest us, even though we weren't involved. So we fled, wanting to get here as soon as we could. To be with family in these hard times." Alessi clicks his tongue and shakes his head, murmuring something mournful in Italian. "I had really hoped," he says, putting his hands into the pockets of his linen pants, "that he would be with you. My old friend."

"I know," Daniel murmurs, shaking his head again and staring at the ground, looking like he carries a great deal of guilt on his shoulders.

Alessi, seeing his nephew sad, springs immediately to action. "Come in, come in!" he says, wrapping an arm around Daniel's shoulders and leading us both forward. "It is good you are here early - we will cook you breakfast, eh? And then we will have a good long talk -get you set up here, in your home."

"Who is here?" Daniel asks, and his face brightens as we enter the house and begin to walk through rooms that I know carry a great deal of nostalgia for him. I watch his face as much as I look at the incredible house around us. It's wide and expansive, the most impressive house I've ever seen, with sweeping staircases and marble floors.

"Everyone is here!" Alessi responds as he leads us quickly through the main part of the house, which is empty, and through to what is clearly an older part of the home. We are soon in a small, slightly cramped, but remarkably cozy and cheerful kitchen that I am surprised and pleased to see is filled with people.

A series of gasps goes through the room and then shouts of "Daniele!" Metal clatters as at least six women of varying ages drop their cooking utensils and dash across the room to throw their arms around their much-missed nephew or cousin or whatever he is to them. I laugh as Daniel is immediately engulfed in a hug that's at least three people deep, shouting out his greetings to his loved ones.

But as I smile at my husband and his family, waiting patiently to be introduced, movement at the far corner of the kitchen catches my eye.

And as I turn to look, I feel my heart steel as I meet the gaze of the one person who I know is not likely to be thrilled to see me today.

Natalia stands with an eyebrow raised, the knife in her hand paused in the process of slicing onions. Her eyes swiftly move to my stomach, as if checking to see if the baby's still there, and then dart back up to mine before she gives me a cold smile. And I lift my chin, feeling my lips turn up just at the corners.

Because even if she's excited about the baby, I still know precisely how she feels about me. And considering that we showed up without Kent, the love of her life? Well. Perhaps I can intuit why she's looking at me so coldly.

But what Natalia doesn't know is that I've come to this battleground today with the entire Alden arsenal at my fingertips.

And I have absolutely no problem taking her out if she gets in my way.

"Daniele," an old woman says with such emotion that my gaze snaps away from Natalia, turning to see Daniel bend down to hug the white-haired woman who is probably half his size. Tears drop from her eyes as she murmurs something to him in Italian, holding him close for a long moment before stepping away to hold his face in her hands.

"Nonna," Daniel says, beaming at her and laughing as he places his hands softly on her shoulders. "Mi sei mancata, nonna."

She cries again and wraps him in her arms and I turn my head to the side, a little baffled and confused. The women begin to notice me then, as well as my confused face, and several move over to me.

"Are you the bride!?" One gasps, about Kent's age, and she reaches for me immediately, pulling me into a hug. "Daniel, is this her!?"

Daniel, his arm still around the old woman, turns and smiles. "Yes, Valentina - this is Fay, my wife."

Valentina beams and then says something loudly in Italian - I think interpreting Daniel's words - and a cheer goes up in the kitchen as the women of Daniel's family swarm towards me, all reaching to give me hugs and kisses. I laugh as I return them, completely overwhelmed and touched by how they immediately accept me as one of their own.

The old woman comes forward last, her withered hands reaching first for my face to study me and then dropping to my pregnant belly, which she brushes with her fingertips. She looks up at me with such hope in her eyes -

And guilt just rolls in me - because I think this is Daniel's grandmother, and she thinks that this is her first great-grandchild -

She asks me a soft question in Italian that makes the women laugh softly. I just shake my head, looking towards Daniel for help.

He slips his hands into his pockets, looking at me with a great deal of pleasure. "She wants to know if you're pregnant, or you just ate a lot of linguine."

I laugh now too and turn back to the woman, eagerly. "Pregnant!" I say, my hands going to my stomach, a little blush coming to my cheeks.

"Sei incinta?" she asks, wanting to be sure.

I look to Daniel, and he nods at me, and I turn to her and nod again eagerly. She throws up her hands and cheers, as does everyone else, and the kitchen is full of happy noise and cries. Then, to my surprise, someone opens a bottle of something - I don't know what - and begins to fill tiny glasses, handing them around to everyone in the room.

Even I am handed one as Daniel comes to my side. "It's limoncello," he murmurs in my ear. "Just take a little sip to please them."

And I nod as glasses are raised, and words are shouted around - a blessing, I assume, for Daniel, and the child, and me, I guess - before everyone drinks their little glass of yellow liquor. I sip at mine, surprised a little by how much I like it. Lemon is not always my favorite, but this is surprisingly sweet.

Everyone gives a cheer when the glasses are emptied and then the kitchen is again loud and busy, with many of the women moving back to their kitchen tasks, though Daniel's grandmother and the women he called Valentina stay close. My eyes move to Natalia in the corner, who never left her spot, though she participated in the toast.

I find her watching me, curious. But when she sees me looking, she returns to her work.

I smirk a little, knowing that she'll find me at some point, even if she's playing it cool now. Still, it's interesting to see her not take control of the room - to defer to these other two women, letting them take their turn with Daniel and I first. "Come," Valentina says, wrapping a warm arm around my shoulders. "We'll go out back - have a little chat, yes?"

I nod and Valentina leads me away, though I can feel Natalia's hard gaze on me the entire time we walk to the back door.