Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 243

We have a long, pleasant Italian dinner after that - not as elaborate as last night's, but still with a great deal of food and wine and laugher going around the table. As the evening passes, I settle back into my chair and allow myself to relax under Kent's capable control. I feel a great deal of guilt, obviously, about missing the fact that Bianci sent someone to tail us home, but seeing the way that Daniel and Kent smile at Gio? Honestly, it doesn't feel like it's turned out that bad.

When desert comes around - just gelato and fresh fruit, since Kent didn't have time to make anything more elaborate - Daniel gives me a little wink from across the table. I smile back, nodding and letting him know that I, too, think it's okay. When I turn back to the table, however, I find that Gio is watching us very closely, a little smile playing at his lips.

"I'm surprised," he says, pointing between Daniel and I with his spoon, "that the newlyweds do not sit together. One would imagine that you're too much in love with each other to be much apart."

I look to Janeen on my left and Jerome on my right, noting that Gio is right. While none of us sat next to our actual lovers, we didn't do a very good job of playing into our façade. Jerome and Janeen in particular have pretty much ignored each other.

I shrug, lifting another bite of desert to my mouth. "I am close with all of my family," I say before taking a bite. I swallow the delicious strawberry gelato before I finish my thought, giving Gio time to see my calm. "My romantic relationships do not need to take priority at dinner, especially with a guest to entertain."

"Is it your home?" Gio asks, turning his head. "I would have thought that it belonged to my uncle."

"Everything here is mine," I say quietly, giving a little shrug. Because while that's technically not true - Kent rented this house with funds from his secret bank accounts - the story we spun to the Bianci's is that Kent has nothing and I have everything. "Though," I continue, putting my desert down with a sigh as if I'm a little tired with the conversation, "we don't really parse ownership like that in this family. It is all of our home."

"Shall we?" Daniel says smoothly, standing up and gesturing towards the back patio, ending the conversation but distracting us with the view of the gorgeous sunset over the sea. "It's a beautiful night."

Janeen, catching Daniel's cue, stands and begins to clear the table, chattering about how lovely it will be to sit outside. Everyone else begins to move too, Kent wrapping an arm around Gio's shoulders and leading him outside first with Daniel on Gio's other side. The rest of us clean up.

"You going to fill me in?" Jerome whispers to me as we carry dirty plates to the kitchen. He passes the dishes to me as I rinse them and load them into the dishwasher.

Quickly, one eye always on the door, I do fill my family in, giving them the quick and dirty version in a whispered hush, of course, but all of the details are there - going to the Bianci house this morning, the offer we made to Daniel's grandfather for Kent's freedom, Gio's role as Alessi's son and spy.

"Well," Janeen says as I load the final dish, slipping an arm around Jerome's waist. "Looks like we're getting hitched for the time being, you lucky boy."

"You hold very few charms for me, physically, Janeen," Jerome says, his voice dry. "I am marrying you purely for your mind."

"Oh, you poor thing," she murmurs, squeezing his cheeks between her thumb and forefinger. "Prepare to be disappointed. That is my least fun attribute."

We all laugh at this and my dad takes a beer from the fridge. "Welp," he says, coming forward to give Janeen and then me a kiss on the cheek. "This is all out of my league. I'll leave you to it." I wrap him in a hug, murmuring my goodnights and thanking him for being a good sport. Because I do know that he's not here for the drama - he just wants to be with family. I make a mental note to order him some kind of American sports package so that he can watch all of his favorite games while we do...whatever it is we're going to do next.After dad goes to bed, Janeen and I agree to head outside, Jerome staying in for a minute to make cocktails, saying something about Gio being more manageable if he's drunk.

"I sure hope this Italian cousin becomes very manageable," Janeen murmurs, her voice low and lascivious as we approach the back door.

"Behave yourself, sister," I say, squeezing her arm and narrowing my eyes. "There's a lot at stake here."

"You heard my fiancé, Fay," she says, her eyes bright with her joke. "He doesn't appreciate me. I need a real man." When my glare deepens she just laughs and pulls her arm from my grip so she can sling it around my shoulder. "Don't worry, baby, I'll play nice. For now."

"You'd better," I mutter as we head outside. Daniel grins at me immediately, patting the seat next to him. Smiling, I curl up at his side, only risking a glance at Kent when Gio turns away to look at the sunset over the ocean.

Kent's eyes are on me already, and I smirk when I see them narrow - perhaps unintentionally - at Daniel's arm casually around me. Even though I know jealousy is unhealthy, there's something nice about the fact that Kent doesn't want anyone else touching me, even when he knows that Daniel poses no risk at all.

Kent huffs a little laugh when he sees my smile, but he turns away when Jerome comes out with a tray full of gin cocktails. When I shiver a little at the cool breeze - Gio wasn't wrong when he said that my apparent swim was a little unseasonable - Daniel produces a blanket from a bin beneath our loveseat and wraps it warmly around me.

"Thank you, baby," I murmur, snuggling up against him.

"I kinda missed this," Daniel whispers to me as he again pulls me close to his side, glancing to ensure Gio is distracted. "We had fun, didn't we? Back in the day of Natalia and Alessi in the house - pretending to be a couple."

"It was fun," I say, smiling up at him. "Though...I admit, I was glad to have it over with."

"Just a little longer," Daniel says with a sigh, his eyes shifting to Gio who chats animatedly with Janeen and Jerome. "I think Gio is going to be more amenable than we originally thought."

I shake my head, suspicious and worried. "Do you just want him to be more amenable, Daniel?" I ask quietly. "Did your grandfather just send precisely the right spy, the one to whom you'd be most likely to spill your secrets?" "Good point," Daniel says with a little chagrin, taking a sip of his drink. "I guess we'll have to ask dad. He has a better instinct for this sort of thing than I do."

I nod, agreeing to again let Kent take control of this and settling in against my husband's side, ready for a long night.

The atmosphere is quite festive as the evening passes, with lots of jokes and stories being told. Daniel and Jerome do a great job of keeping Gio engaged, and while Gio gets in a few sneaky questions about how we're set up financially and how the house is run, Jerome's plan to just get Gio stinking drunk is quite successful.

Unfortunately, it also means that Daniel, Jerome, and Janeen are stinking drunk by the end of the evening too.

As midnight approaches, Kent catches my eye and flicks his gaze towards the house, his face stressed because he's very aware that the other members of our party are reaching a tipping point. While Gio is sufficiently distracted, Janeen is leaning heavily towards him and letting her eyes slip over his body, while Jerome is starting to gaze at Daniel with that loving expression -

And as I see that?

Yup. It's time to go to bed.

"Danny," I sigh, whining a little, and Daniel's head snaps to me when I deliberately use Jerome's pet name for him. "Are you ready? I'm sleepy."

Daniel comes back to himself a little as I wind my arms around his arm and he grimaces at me, apologetic, before turning to smile at the rest of the party. "Fay's right - it's about time to turn in." Kent and Jerome stand up, apparently agreeing to the plan, but Janeen stays put. "Oh," Janeen says, giving Gio a languid smile and not taking her eyes from him. "You guys go on. My new friend and I will stay up for a little longer. Right, Gio?"