Fall For My Ex's Mafia Dad novel Chapter 105

Kent doesn’t wait for me to climb the steps up to the house. Instead, he goes in ahead of me, leaving me to follow dutifully behind.

I feel my stomach turn over for the second time today, though this time for totally different reasons. I would feel better, frankly – understand it more – if Kent were freaking out at me. Yelling at me, losing his temper, giving me commands.

But this Kent? The quiet, controlled, considered Kent?

He’s the one I’m afraid of.

I look down at my feet as I climb the steps, feeling every bit the naughty schoolgirl about to get yelled at for breaking the rules. The pleasant buzz that the tequila built in my mind gets wiped away by my anxiety, my adrenaline. It’s as if my body knows that I have to be focused right now to face him.

When I walk into the house I see that his office door is open, a silent demand for me to enter. I take a deep breath, steeling myself, obeying that command and then walking into the office, stopping just as I cross the threshold.

“Close the door,” Kent demands, his back to me as he leans his arm against the mantle of the fireplace, staring down into the fire. I don’t do anything for a moment, staring at the fire myself. Why did he light it? It’s warm out – a fire, so late in the season –

“Fay,” Kent snaps, turning to glare at me. “The door.”

“Oh!” I gasp, scurrying into action and pushing the door shut behind me. Then, not knowing what else to do, I lean back against it, staring at him, waiting for him to deliver his judgement.

Kent just stares at me for a long moment. Then, he begins. “What the hell,” he demands, “did you think you were doing today?”

I shrug one shoulder, not really knowing what to say. Honestly, I should have spent the time in the car planning my response to this very question. And because I don’t have a practiced answer, I just tell him the truth.

“I…acted on instinct,” I say, my voice a whisper. “Ivan was there, all of a sudden, his car across the road – and I got out because Jerome was going shoot at him and get himself killed. So I went to tell Ivan not to come any further, and he said he wouldn’t if I went out with him for the day and…”

“Does it matter if you kissed, Fay?” Kent asks, leaning back and shaking his head. “The damage is done. You were seen today, did you know that? That place he took you – it’s a gathering place. Neutral territory. So, it wasn’t just you and him there in that darkness – no. Men from all the families saw you there. Your father’s men saw you there. Alden was the one who called me, in fact, to tell me where you were.”

I go pale at this realization. Kent was right – I had assumed that Ivan took me to someplace personal and private, to a place where we precisely wouldn’t be seen. I hang my head, realizing that the damage is just as bad as Kent says it is.

“So, you understand now,” Kent continues. “What you’ve done. How you’ve embarrassed me. How you’ve embarrassed Daniel, of all people. About whom I actually thought you cared.”

Frowning, ashamed of myself, I meet Kent’s eyes, a little angry at that. “I do care about Daniel,” I spit out. “I – I’m sorry. I didn’t know that we’d be seen.”

“Haven’t you learned enough, Fay?” Kent bites out, his voice sharp. “To know that you can’t trust your instincts in this world? That it’s always one step ahead of you?”

I sigh, hanging my head, realizing that he’s right. Damn it, I really thought Ivan had liked me…but now, realizing that he brought me there just so we’d be seen, so Kent would be embarrassed? I realize that I’ve again fallen for a ruse.