Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 289

"We were desperate, nonno," Daniel says, stepping forward. "It's my fault, it was my idea -"

Bianci just presses his lips together, waving a dismissive hand at Daniel. "No one believes that you thought of this Daniele," Bianci says, dismissive, turning his gaze back to me. "It is all this grasping little girl, isn't it? Trying to get her claws into the Bianci family - to see what she can do." He bends over a little, peering into my eyes like he's trying to figure me out. "What is it you have planned, Fay? What do you really want? Were you trying to take Gio out of this family so that your boy could be my heir? Hmm?" Something in the way he stares at me like Im a cunning little toy, a piece of clockwork he can figure out makes me stand up straighter, lifting my chin high. "I want what was offered, Bianci," I say, my voice firm. "I want Kent and Gio out. Nothing more, nothing less. I want Kent out so that my child is never any closer to this business than he already is.

And yes, I played every card available to me to get that, as well as putting everything I have on the table for you. I'd do it all again."

He smirks a little, I think appreciating my spirit, even if he is well aware that he is a cat and I am the little mouse he has backed into a corner.

"This is why I don't do business with women," he murmurs, still staring at me. "You lie, and you cheat, and you scrabble

- but in the end, you are sloppy -"

"Enough," Kent says, his words livid. "The deal stands, Bianci, if you'll take it. We want nothing more than what we've offered - and you've already made Fay pay through the teeth for it -"

"Oh, Kent, the terms have changed," Bianci says, straightening up and laughing a little - actually laughing-god, I see why people hate this man - "for I'll never be able to trust you now -"

But Biancis speech is interrupted when his wife smacks him on his arm, demanding something in angry Italian.

"She wants to know what he's saying," Kent murmurs, translating for me now as he holds me close to his side." He's...explaining that he can't trust us, that the deal can't go through. That if hes ever going to trust me again, i'll have to prove myself with years of loyalty."

Nonna gasps, her eyes going wide as she stares appalled at her husband. Then she whips up her tiny anger again, pointing it straight in his face, and begins to speak slowly, every word heavy with the gravity of her intent.

"You listen to me, old man," she says, Kent giving the translation to me word-for-word now that she speaks slower. "You and I? Our lives are almost finished. We are going to die in a few short years - and I intend to live them, every single one of them, surrounded by the ones that I love. If you make me lose my son, and my two grandsons

- one of which I have barely met - I will never forgive you, and I will make your short life a living nightmare.

Bianci blinks at his wife's vehemence, and...did I see that right? Did he go a little pale, under his tanned skin?

She laughs now, her own dark chuckle. "Italian women always outlive their husbands, my love," she says, her voice low with threat. "And I will be a good widow to you - I will wear the black, and I will hold your memory close to my heart. But you should remember who cooks your meals, old man - and thus who has a great deal of control over how long I get to be a widow."

My eyes go wide at the very, very real threat she lays out for him - for all of us. Because Nonna - she has very plainly chosen her adoptive son over her husband.

The way Bianci's mouth falls open lets me see that this is new for him as well - that his perfect, sweet, obedient wife of dozens of years has perhaps never stood up to him like this, has never insisted on anything.

But now? Now she has put her foot down. Even beyond that, it seems that she has lifted her knife.

"Corina," Bianci murmurs, putting a pleading hand out to her, asking him to see his side -

But she just shakes her head, slow, decided. "I will inherit it all, my love," she murmurs, "when you die, no matter when that is. And if you do not go with me on this, I will leave it all to Kent anyway, when I die after you. If you want to start a war," she says, shaking her head slowly at him, "then I,

100, shall play."

She folds her arms, clearly letting Bianci decide.

He glares at his wife, livid, for a long moment.

And then he shocks me by exhaling a deep breath, covering his face with his hand and murmuring something that I can't hear. Kent's arm tenses around me, and I can tell that he is surprised as well, holding his breath while he waits for Bianci's answer. "What would you have me do, wife?" Bianci murmurs to his wife. "Let them lie to me? Let them back out of the deal they made?"

"I would have you take the millions that the girl has offered you," Nonna says, softer now, gentle as she steps forward and wraps her hands around her husband's arm, her tactic changing as she pleads with him now. "Let her make you rich - richer than you already are - you don't need the money anyway. And let our son go! Let him raise his second child in peace if that's what he wants. Let them take Gio - let them all go, love. But let them do it in peace, so that we may come to our house and visit us. Is this what you want, you ruthless man? To live your last years alone and at war?"

She gestures towards me now, sending me a warm glance that goes right to my heart. "The girl has given you her wealth, her mother, for the sake of this man. She has given it all up for the sake of him - it shows she will be a good little wife to our boy. Take what she has offered, and give them your blessing in return."

I press myself even closer to Kent's side, my eyes filling again at her words, and I hold my baby close to my chest.

Because that is everything, everything I want - And though I didn't realize I wanted it before, I do want this connection to this house - to nonna at least. I want this woman as my child's grandmother, I want Kent to be able to come and see the woman who raised him.

My breath comes short as I move my eyes to Bianci, hoping desperately that he takes what is before him.

Because Nonna is right - it is so much more than the money, and the deal.

It's the life. It's peace.

Bianci stares at us for a long moment, his eyes moving from me, to Daniel, and finally to Kent - the child he raised.

"I will accept the deal," he says, his voice low and a little bitter to be persuaded. But he wraps an arm around his wife's shoulders, tugging her close against him. "The American woman in exchange for Monaco...it is enough, this once. The rest will be processed," he says, raising an eyebrow at Kent.

Kent nods, agreeing to transfer all of the assets I stole from my father to Bianci as soon as possible.

My heart wells with joy.

"Then we will have peace," Bianci says, glancing down at his wife. "Because your mother has asked for it," he murmurs, "and it will be my gift to her."

He says something softly to Nonna in Italian that makes her face burst into a smile, and she twines her arms around Biancis waist, tugging him close and standing on her toes to give him a simple kiss on his cheek. I am shocked to see a coy smile on Bianci's face then, almost as if he can't help it. Because he loves her - I realize. Loves her very much.

I look up at Kent, hardly able to believe it, and he looks down at me, raising a hand to stroke his thumb across my cheekbone.

"Is that really it?" I whisper, breathless. "Is it...it's over?"

"It's done, Fay," Kent replies, a small, disbelieving smile starting on his mouth as he shakes his head at me. "You did it."

"I didn't do anything," I say to him with wide eyes, glancing back over at the tiny woman at the center of the room." Nonna did everything."

"No, Fay," Kent says, a little dry. "Nonna closed the door - but all of this? This was you. I owe you everything." And he lowers his face, and presses his lips to mine, and my eyes drift shut as I stand a little on my toes as I kiss him back, wanting always to be closer to him. "Oh my god." Natalia's disgusted voice rings through the room, startling me so that i pull my face from Kent's just in time to see her stalking from the room.