Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 277

As I pull the bathroom door open, I grit my teeth again and glare down at my belly.

"You've sure got crap timing, little baby," I mutter, but as I step out I almost trip, immediately, over the puppy, who stares up at me with worried eyes. I can't help the little laugh that stumbles from my lips.

"Come on, puppy dog," I murmur, shaking my head at him and starting to walk across the room back to the grouping of boys by the desk. The puppy runs to keep up with me, clearly eager to be at my side, clever boy that he is. Daniel steps aside as I reach the desk, making room for me to squeeze in. I bend over, peering at the screen with the rest of them.

"Did I miss anything?" I ask Daniel quietly, not looking at him.

"No," he murmurs in reply. "It's taking him a minute to get her on the right track."

I nod, understanding. Kent's job was to kill time negotiating with my mom until we turned on the baby monitor - when we turned it on in here, a green light appeared on his as well, so he'd know we were listening. Now the real talk begins.

I feel Ivan's eyes on me and I turn my face to his.

"What the hell is this about?" he hisses, clearly not understanding.

"Just listen," I say, turning my face back to the monitor.

We all fall silent, tuning in. The puppy sits on my foot and I glance anxiously at the clock, hoping to hell that Kent talks fast. Because, ridiculously, I've got about five minutes until I'll need to dash into the bathroom again - and boys are dumb, but they're going to start figuring out that I don't have to pee that frequently.

"What's Ivan's role in all of this?" Kent says quietly, snapping my attention back to the screen. I focus on his form and I can see his hands steepled together as he sits casually in the chair across from my mother. "Do you want to make any...appointments? Concessions for him, as part of the deal?"

"I made him some promises," my mom says cagily, "that I'd prefer to keep. But if he needs to be jettisoned in pursuit of the bigger goal, I don't mind that either." "Fay's fond of him," Kent says quietly. "She doesn't want him hurt."

"She's soft-hearted," my mom replies, dismissive. "Honestly, Kent, I thought you'd have picked a tougher character, like your first wife. At least she had a little spirit to her."

Kent shrugs, not defending me but not confirming her assessment of me either. "I can't have Ivan coming after me when you and I have made a deal, Victoria," he says, staying on track in the conversation. "I know that he wants me more than he wants Bianci or Alden. Those are your priorities, not his."

"You're giving her the Alden family?" Ivan breaths, looking at me with wide eyes as he cleverly puts the pieces together. "Fay, they fucking belong to you - they're your family, they're in your pocket - why would you give them up to the FBI!?"

"Just watch," I growl, not taking my eyes from the screen as I reach out and shove his shoulder. "Listen."

Kent's playing his role well but god, fuck, this has to go just right...

"So," Kent says carefully, "you don't want any protections for Ivan?"

"He's not on my list of priorities," my mother says, her voice dry. "I promised him that we'd take down you, Kent, to get him on board. But I always had my eyes on bigger targets. If this means having to disappoint the kid and cut him loose?" she shrugs, "what the hell do I care? Unless...you don't think you can take him, Kent. What are you, scared?" Kent laughs a little, shaking his head, dismissing the idea.

Ivan slumps as much as he can, tied into his chair at the ankles and the wrists. "Took him down once, didn't I?" he murmurs, and I smirk because - well, he's right. My mom - she's underestimating Ivan like Kent once did, which is not a good choice in the long run. "Victoria..." Kent says, his voice a little hesitant now as he leans forward and peers at my mother. "Are you...aware of who this kid is?"

"Why does it even matter?" my mother breathes, "can we move on?"

"No," Kent says, glaring at her now, "this boy is coming after me with a great deal of persistence - he's more than just a fly buzzing around my head anymore, Victoria. And do you know why?"

"Of course I know why," she drawls, returning Kent's glare. "I know exactly who he is, and why he wants you, and the very deep irony that he's working with me in that pursuit."

Ivan goes still next to me. I glance at him, seeing his brows knit together in interest and confusion.

"So, you never told him?" Kent asks, letting his voice turn curious and conversational as he drapes an arm over the back of his chair, looking at my mother like he thinks she's a very clever woman. "He never put together the connections between your history with his dad?"

I train my eyes on Ivan now, watching him instead of the screen. After all, I know this story - Kent told it to me last night. I don't need to watch.

Ivan eyes go wide and I swear he stops blinking as he stares at the screen rapt.

"Why would I ever let him know the connections," my mother says, her voice rough with disgust now, "between me and that rat?"

Kent laughs a little. "So many years of history and you're still pissed about it?"

"He fucking betrayed all of us," Victoria seethes between her teeth, leaning forward to glare at Kent now. "He lied to me for years, showing up in my house, buddying up to my husband, bringing that boy over to play with my daughter? One of Lorenzo's most trusted men," she shakes her head in disbelief in the memory, "and still, he goes down remembered as a true-blue cop."

Ivan's face goes pale as he realizes what my mother is saying.

"I remember your face that night," Kent says quietly, his voice conspiratorial as he reminisces along with her, "when we were on that job? And you realized who was dressed in a police uniform? I mean, I hadn't put the pieces together yet - but I do remember how livid you were."

"Lorenzo's man on the inside," she says, her voice angry as she remembers it, even after all of these years. "Pretending to be a cop, and all the time just making sure the Alden family got out of all of their police deals scot-free. How could I not shoot him, Kent? Fucking guy went against everything I believe in - and did his job so well that no one figured it out even after he was dead."

Ivan lets out a guttural groan, pressing his eyes shut and turning his head away as his world comes shattering down around him.

"You were a mafia don's wife, Victoria," Kent says, confused. "How could he be against everything you believe in? He was on your side."

"Lorenzo forced me to marry him, Kent," she says, her voice bitter and full of rage. "Maybe he didn't have me as brainwashed as you have my daughter, but he, too, knocked me up and tied me to a situation even when I knew it was wrong. I got out and have spent the rest of my life chasing down rats like Alden and Kaminski. Rats like you."

"Enough," Ivan grits through his teeth, shaking his head, his eyes still closed.

Daniel looks at me, questioning. I nod. Ivan - I think he's heard all of the important stuff. Daniel picks up the baby monitor, flicking it off. I watch the little green light in the corner fade to black, knowing that the same is happening on the baby monitor in the nursery, letting Kent know that Ivan's done listening.

I straighten up, exhaling a steady breath as I rub my stomach, which starts to ache with the beginning of my next contraction.

My mind works quick, coming up with a plan.

"I'm going to give you a minute to think, Ivan," I say, working very hard to keep my voice calm and quiet. "Daniel? Could you get him a glass of water?" I shift my eyes towards the closet, where there are some bottles in the fridge.

"I don't need any water," Ivan murmurs, his eyes still pressed shut, his shoulders starting to shake a little with his effort to suppress his emotions.

"Well, even if you don't need it," I sigh, moving towards the door to the room already. "I'm still offering it. I'll be back in a minute, and then we'll talk."

I don't look over my shoulder as I head out the bedroom door, hoping to hell that Daniel does as I suggest and moves to the closet.

Jerome he gives me less grace.

"Fay!" he hisses, closing the bedroom door behind him as he chases me out. I sit heavily on the couch, the contraction hitting me in full force. "Was that - was that all for real!? Did your mom - oh shit!"

I glare at Jerome as he realizes, finally, that I'm having another contraction.

"Oh my god," he murmurs, going to one knee in front of me. "Um, what do I do!? Fay, these seem to be like, fast. Are they - are you - what -"

"Just shut up, Jerome," I growl, reaching out for his hands, which he gives me. "It will pass."

I turn my head to the side then, moaning heavily into my shoulder as I squeeze his hands hard.

"Ow," he whispers, but he doesn't pull his hands away. Instead, he keeps vigil with me, staring intently up into my face as I weather the contraction and it starts to fade. When I finally start to catch my breath and open my eyes again, I see that he's looking at me with real worry on his face.

"Fay, please," he murmurs, reaching out to touch my cheek. "I - I think we have to get you to the hospital -"

"It's so close, Jerome," I murmur, leaning into his palm a little. "Please - let's just finish this, okay? And then we'll go -"

"Let me call an ambulance now -"

"No," I snap, glaring at him. "We're not there yet - and I can't fuck this up by having an ambulance at the gate." With a heave, I start to lift myself off of the couch. "Come on, we need to -" "What!?" he breathes, putting a hand on my shoulder and trying to keep me on the couch. "Fay, you can't -"

"I have a job to do, Jerome," I snap, pushing his hand away and staring hard at him as I get to my feet. "Kent is handling Victoria, and I am handling Ivan. I am not leaving this unfinished." Jerome puts his head in his hands and groans, shaking his head as I get to my feet and head back towards my bedroom, determined.

"Stubborn," I hear him murmur as I go, "rich girls - always so stubborn."

And I smirk at that - because damn right I'm stubborn.

I want this absolutely finished before we welcome this little baby into the world - I'm not going to let any clouds hang over that.

But, as I push through the door into my room...

My body tells me that we are going to need to hurry if I want that to be the case.