Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 276

Just as I'm about to pass through the door though, I feel the next contraction take hold. Cursing to myself, I flatten myself against the wall outside of my bedroom and grit my teeth, holding on to the puppy but doing my best not to squeeze him as the pain starts to deepen, an ache building low in my body. The puppy whines as I start to pant my way through this, lifting his little head in concern and sitting up straight, reaching out his little nose to kiss me on the chin. I turn my head away, unable to concentrate on anything else -

"Fay?" Jerome's voice calls, and I look up just in time to see him step out of my bedroom. His eyes go wide as he sees me pressed against the wall, clearly in pain. "What! Are you -"

"Get out here," I growl, releasing one hand from the puppy and tugging him into the hall with the hand that's not holding the baby monitor. Daniel and Ivan - if he's got his hood off yet - absolutely cannot see Jerome's shock and concern. "What's wrong -"

"Jerome," I hiss, "if you say anything about this to anyone in this house right now -"

"Oh my god - " his eyes go wide as he realizes what's happening, "Oh my god, Fay, you're in labor!?"

"Would you shut up!?" I whisper shout, glancing over my shoulder towards my bedroom. "We are getting..." I moan for a second, distracted by the pain, unable to finish my sentence. But then I take a deep breath and press on. "We are getting through this now, and both Daniel and Kent will have a meltdown if they find out -"

"What about me!?" Jerome gasps. "What about my meltdown!"

"You," I seethe between my teeth, tightening my grip on his shirt front, and relief begins to flood me as the contraction subsides, "lost your rights to a meltdown when you kept my mother a secret from me. All right!? You promised this morning that you'd be my man, Jerome." I glare up at him, demand and plea equally present in my eyes.

He hesitates. "Fay, how far along are you?"

"Just at the start," I lie, my words swift. "Honestly, Jerome, I can do this - I just need...a little break sometimes."

"Oh my god," he sighs, straightening and running a hand through his hair. "All right, Fay - but if this gets bad?"

"If this gets bad we'll go to the hospital," I say all in a rush - because I can hear Daniel's steps moving towards the door. "Now go!"

Jerome nods to me and head into the room, almost slamming into Daniel on the way.

"What's going on?" Daniel asks, frowning at us and reaching out a hand to steady Jerome.

"Nothing," I say as the contraction graciously passes. Good. About eight minutes of freedom now, if I'm lucky. "Puppy had an accident, is all."

Daniel's serious expression instantly lightens as he buys my lie. "Lil Kent," he says, reaching out and petting the puppy's head. "I forgive him, as long as he kept it away from my shoes."

I can't help my own smile, but I lift my chin towards the room, indicating that we need to go inside. We have things to do.

Anxiety roils in me as we walk into the room because I am...trying to do a lot of things at once right now, aren't I? I mean, this baby - it is coming soon, whether I like it or not -

But I also have to manage the kidnapping of my ex, and the negotiation with my mother in the nursery across the house..... I let out a shaky breath as I do my best to steel myself and concentrate. "One thing at a time, Fay," I murmur to myself.

And then I turn towards Ivan, who is sitting zip-tied to the chair of the desk with his hood off but his mouth still duct-taped shut. He glares at me, clearly pissed as hell.

I set my shoulders and push all the thoughts of labor away for the moment while I concentrate on being the mafia donna for the next eight minutes.

Well, maybe seven now. If I make it that long.

"Hey, Ivan," I say, forcing my body to relax, a smooth smile to take shape on my lips. I step forward and put the baby monitor on the desk next to him. "I had such a nice time being kidnapped by you yesterday. So much that I thought I'd repay the favor today." Ivan's brow furrows as his glare deepens and he attempts to say some angry words through his duct-tape, but obviously I can't understand him.

I tilt my head to the side and raise an eyebrow, clearly asking him to consider whether this is worth the breath. He inhales sharply as he shakes his head at me, recognizing that I'm in control.

"We're here to offer you a gift, Ivan," I say quietly, bending down to put the puppy on the floor so I can concentrate. He starts to gambol about at my feet. "I'd very much like it if you could leave the house today with us agreeing to be allies and friends. If we take away the duct tape, can you agree not to shout?"

He stares at me for a second but then slowly nods. I look up at Jerome, who takes a step forward and holds Ivan's head steady as he rips the duct tape from his mouth. The tape makes a vicious ripping sound and Ivan groans, his face red over his mouth and cheeks. I wait, giving him a second to recover, and when he lifts his head again he renews his glare at me.

"So nice to see you again, Fay," he growls. "How the hell did you find me?"

I shrug, implying that it doesn't matter how I found the location of the new hotel he and my mom transferred to after they left the last one. "It's not important," I sigh, needing to get this done fast. "I need you to listen to something, Ivan. One conversation. And if you do that really listen, without interruptions, actually considering what is said...we'll let you go."

His mouth drops open a little bit at my words.

I wait patiently, letting him process this.

"Wait, seriously?" he says, looking between the three of us. "You just want me to...listen to something?"

I nod.

"This isn't a trick?" he says, looking at me from the side of his eye, trying to figure out the catch here. "You're not going to....beat me up anymore? Kill me?"

"We reserve the right to beat the shit out of you," Daniel says, crossing his arms, "if you try anything. And frankly, I wanted to rough you up a lot more. But you bizarrely have a fan here in Fay," he says, sending me a glaring little glance. "Who wants to keep you pretty."

"Then why did you even kidnap me?" Ivan growls. "I would have come willingly, just to listen."

"He said I'm nice, Ivan," I snap, my lip curling. "Not stupid."

Jerome laughs a little, and Ivan renews his glare. "Seriously? This is it? I listen, and I walk? You're not going to tear me limb from limb and dump me in the ocean off the back of your house?"

"Ivan," I say, my voice gentle as I slowly walk towards him. "We're friends. I've always liked you. And quite frankly, after all of this, I don't really see why we can't call it even and leave on good terms. But," I bend over now that I'm very close to him, bringing my voice close to his ear. "Don't make any mistakes about it. I will have you killed you if you come after me, or my family, or even my new little puppy. Ever again. Are we clear on that?"

And I lean back a little so that there's barely a hand's breadth between our faces, staring into his cool grey eyes. To my pleasure, they widen a little in surprise as he sees how completely serious I am.

"All right," he breathes, nodding once as I straighten. "I'll listen, and then I'll go, and we'll be...even, Fay. We'll be even."

"And by 'we, you recognize that you meant Kent too, right?"

Ivan hesitates, gritting his teeth, because he knows I'm asking him to give up the vendetta he's carried in his heart for years.

"Agreed," he finally grits out. And I nod.

"Okay," I say, heaving a little sigh. "Daniel?" I gesture towards the baby monitor. Daniel reaches for it, flicking the button that turns it on. There's a fuzz of noise as he puts it back on the desk, a little green button in the corner lighting up.

Jerome moves to Ivan's chair, turning it so that he faces the monitor as Daniel turns the volume up. Ivan glances up at me once before leaning forward, looking at the screen. "What the hell is this?" he murmurs, curious. And then his eyes go wide as he hears my mother's voice, halfway through her negotiation with Kent.

We all listen quietly for a minute or two, with nothing interesting happening yet, and just as I lean forward to put some of my weight on the back of Ivan's chair, another contraction hits.

I stand up straight, turning and heading for the bathroom, wanting to be out of Daniel and Ivan's eyeline before this truly takes hold -

"Fay," Daniel calls, frowning after me.

"Just a second!" I say over my shoulder, working hard to keep my voice light as I scurry into the bathroom. I shut the door behind me just in time, my body bowing almost in half as the pain overtakes me.

And suddenly, as I grit through the pain, I feel a very strange little popping sensation and then...a rush of liquid down my legs.

Shit. Shit.

I groan, not because it hurts but because my water just broke at the most inconvenient moment. But there's nothing I can do about it now, so I just moan low through the pain and wait for the contraction to pass. When it does, I grab one of Kent's precious fluffy towels sorry, Kent - and do my best to pat my legs dry with it, leaving my poor ruined panties on the floor and dropping the towel on top of them.

I mean, it's a mess but...

I glance at my watch and then back towards the room. Shit. Shit. The contraction was only five minutes after the last one this time. God damn it, the labor took so long to get started - why is it going so fast now!?

And have I missed anything important in the conversation?

I spin towards the door.