Fall For My Ex’s Mafia Dad
Chapter 89

Kent leans against the wall outside of Fay's room for a moment after he leaves, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath through his nose. girl...

That

She's going to be the death of me, that girl, Kent thinks as he clenches his jaw, grinding his teeth. It had been...so f*****g difficult. So damn hard to turn away from her in there, as she pulled every piece of her clothing off and tossed them carelessly to her floor. It had taken a level of self-restraint that, frankly - after yesterday, in the barn - he had thought he'd lost. But he'd done it. He'd refused to look at her as she had walked naked past him, as she climbed into her shower and let the water run all over her body, through her hair, telling him all about her ridiculous night with that boy.

But even as Kent thinks of it now, pushing himself up from the wall and opening his eyes so he can resume his day, he has to admit that Ivan is not ridiculous.

Kent knows that Ivan's romantic relationship with Fay is...inconvenient. He doesn't like, at all, that they seem to have a real affinity for each other. But Ivan, despite the fact that he might actually be drawn to Fay, has figured out that Fay is Kent's Achilles heel. That she is precisely where he needs to strike to get to Kent.

Kent sets his shoulders and walks quickly down the stairs towards his office. If he's going to survive this, he needs to convince everyone outside of this house - and perhaps many of the people within it - that Fay is...less important to him than they currently think she is.

As Kent enters his office, he considers that Ivan, despite his youth, has been playing his cards well. Even if Fay is ignorant of the fact, Kent is well aware that everything that Ivan said to Fay the previous night was designed to be repeated to Kent. It's obvious to Kent that Ivan uses Fay, deliberately and efficiently, to prod Kent, to attempt to get him to move in whatever way Ivan feels will best benefit his organization.

Kent is thus not surprised, as he closes his office door behind him and heads to the desk, that Ivan told Fay - in as genuine a way as he could - that he thinks Kent is on the wrong side of things, that he's going down. But what does surprise Kent is Ivan's offer - twice, apparently - to take Fay away. To protect her.

It is...uncommon - unheard of, really - for one boss to take a woman from another family under his protection without an official tie to her, like an engagement or a marriage. That sort of exchange usually unites those families, not further divides them. But Ivan is clearly continuing to mark Kent as his enemy - he wasn't offering to take Fay as a way to draw himself closer to the Lippert family, to which Fay is clearly showing her allegiance by still living in Kent's house despite the end of her engagement to Daniel. And if Ivan is on good enough terms with Alden that Alden is loaning him vacation properties...why offer to take Fay into his own care? Why not let her father do it?

And Ivan hadn't offered to marry her - Kent knows this, Fay would have told him. So, what the hell was Ivan playing at, offering to protect her but...not reaching out to those who were already doing that job?

Kent grits his teeth harder, staring down at the wood of his desk, trying to figure it out.

Either Ivan actually had feelings for the girl, and wanted to be with her without the ties to the Lippert family that Fay could offer, or...

Or Ivan really did know something that Kent didn't.

And Kent really was in danger of going down, in such a way that would put Fay in the crossfire.

The idea of it - of some kind of blindside attack that could hurt Fay, hurt Daniel - and he didn't even see it coming-

Kent's blood boils at the idea. He curls his hand into a fist and slams it against the desk, making the pens, paper and phone sitting there rattle. Then, he grabs his phone, pressing a few buttons and barking orders down the line. "Marco, Gianni, in my office. Now," he orders before crashing the phone back down.

He needed his spies out there, working. He needs more information, and he needs it now.

Kent looks up a few moments later, surprised to see that Marco and Gianni have arrived back at the office so quickly. But he realizes immediately that it's not his two most reliable guys standing in the door staring at him with rage on their faces. It's Daniel.

"Is she home?" Daniel asks, looking upwards towards the bedrooms of the house, towards Fay's room.

"She is," Kent replies evenly, standing straight and squaring off against his son.

"What the hell are you doing," Daniel growls, still standing in the door, "sending her off with him like that? Letting her go?"

"I needed the intel," Kent replies.

"You're ruining my life!" Daniel shouts, taking a fierce step into the room and slamming the door shut behind him before stalking over to Kent's desk. Kent doesn't flinch, not an inch, instead taking a moment to study Daniel as he crosses the room. He hasn't seen Daniel since last night after Fay left and Daniel is wearing the same clothes he was yesterday. He has dark circles under his eyes and his hair, usually carefully styled, is mussed. If Kent had to bet on it, he'd say that Daniel also slept out last night - and that he had been on a bit of a bender.

But with who? Daniel had never been one to drink alone.

"Am I really ruining your life?" Kent asks, his voice mild. "Or are you doing that all on your own?"

"She's mine, dad," Daniel growls, "she's going to be my wife."

"No, she's not, Daniel," Kent sighs, looking down at his desk and straightening his papers - not because they need straightening, but because he knows it will piss Daniel off to be disregarded.

"She is!" Daniel cries, slamming his fist on the desk as Kent had done moments before, "she's the only thing I've ever wanted! The only person I've ever liked! And you're taking her away from me - and letting f*****g Ivan mess with her, on top of whatever you're doing -"

"Really?" Kent snaps, moving his gaze quickly to his son's eyes again, allowing the anger within him to reignite. "Because if she was so important to you, Daniel, then where were you last night? Because you certainly weren't here." Kent takes a minute to look at his son's clothing again, letting Daniel see him do it this time. "And wherever you were, it certainly doesn't look like you were being faithful to Fay."

When Kent moves his eyes back to Daniel's face he's surprised by the rage he sees there. He had expected shame, embarrassment, but this -

"You're going to ruin her life, dad," Daniel growls, leaning over the desk to bring his face closer to Kent's so that he can see that his son means every word. "And if you do that, I'm going to ruin yours."

Kent leans slowly across the desk, meeting Daniel's fury with his own deliberately cool gaze. He opens his mouth, then, intending to say "try me," but he's honestly surprised when another set of words leave his lips.

"You lost her, Daniel," Kent whispers, his eyes narrowing at his son. "And I'm not giving her back. Go find another beard to pretend to be your wife. Fay is mine."

Daniel stands up stock straight at these words, paling a little, and Kent suddenly realizes what he said. The knowledge he just confessed to knowing, without...without meaning to do it -

Daniel backs away from the desk, staring at his dad, fear stark on his face. Kent merely straightens, watching him go, not letting Daniel see that he messed up. Inside, there's an impulse to reach out a hand to his son - to apologize, to tell him that he's doesn't actually care -

But in reality, Kent knows that this was, in some ways, an act of war between him and Daniel. To be...different, in a family like this, was in some situations a death sentence. And Kent has no intention of punishing Daniel, or making him change, or ever letting anyone else hurt him for who he is -

But in a situation like this, revealing his knowledge as he just did as a way to intimidate and get him to back off? It was every inch a threat.

And Daniel knows it too. He backs towards the door, holding his father's gaze, shaking his head a little bit. Kent's stomach turns as he watches his son twist the knob, leaving the room and closing the door behind him without another word.

It will be fine, Kent tells himself. We've spent too long with that 'secret' between us anyway. It's better to have it out in the open, at least between us.

But a deeper part of him wonders if he's just crossed a line he can't uncross. If he's lost Daniel's trust for good, without meaning to do it. All in pursuit of Fay.

Kent raises a hand to his face, covering his eyes, repeating the words in his mind that he had thought when he left her room. This girl will be the death of me.

He didn't...he didn't f**k up like this before she had come around. He had been in complete control.

But there's no time to dwell on the thought. A knock comes immediately at the door before Kent can indulge in the question any further, or come up with a solution on how to approach Daniel next.

"Come in," Kent calls, dropping his hand, his voice returned to its steady timbre.

The door swings open and Marco and Gianni come in.

"Good," Kent says with a nod, gesturing towards the two chairs across from his desk. "We have work to do. We need more intel - much more."