Fall For My Ex's Mafia Dad

Chapter 0055

Next to me, I feel Kent slump in his seat. I turn to look at him then and see him looking out the window

then, more pensive than I had expected. I stare at him, at his stark profile against the light of the

window. He doesn’t move or say anything, so I suppose he lets me look my fill

He hangs his head, then, letting out a sigh. And, shocked, I note that the lines of his face match

Daniel’s. He feels guilt as well.

The next morning, I just laid in my bed and stare at the ceiling for a long, long time. I skip breakfast and

no one comes up to get me, which has never happened before. I guess they’re giving me my space.

I’m grateful, I suppose, but overall…I just don’t really care.

Things moved quickly last night after we got home. The three of us spent the rest of the ride in silence,

but when we arrived at the house everyone was expecting us.

Fiona had made a beeline right for me – not even asking how Kent was doing. Instead, she had

wrapped her arms around me and bustled me upstairs as Kent got himself patched up and Daniel –

well, I didn’t really know what Daniel did. Or care.

She had rushed me right to my room and run a bath for me, stripping me of my clothes while I

continued shaking. Then she helped me to step into the hot water and sit down.

“That’s all right, baby Fay,” she murmured to me, using a cup to pour water over my head like a little

kid. “Shh, baby,” she continued. “You’ll be all right.”

I had noticed, passively, that the water turned a little pink from the blood washing off of me. Not my

blood, of course. Kent’s. I couldn’t help staring at it.

After a long time, when the water was growing cool, Fiona helped me out, bundled me into warm

flannel pajamas – too warm for the spring, but so, so comfortable against my skin – and then tucked

me into bed. Before she left, she opened a cabinet in the corner that holds a television and put on

some mindless reality show at extremely low volume.

“So you don’t have to sit in silence,” she whispered to me, kissing me on the head. Then, intuiting that I

wanted to be alone, she left.

I fell asleep, gratefully, almost immediately. A few times in the night I got the sense that I woke up a

little to someone peeking through my door, probably checking on me, but no one bothered me.

It’s almost noon before someone does. I sit up when I hear the door creak open. I rub my eyes,

expecting to see Daniel or Fiona there, or the housekeeper, or the chef – and get the shock of my life

when I see Kent Lippert standing in my door.

He’s dressed casually in a fine camel-colored sweater and black slacks. I’ve never seen him wear

anything but a suit, I don’t think. “Come on, Fay,” he says, stern but not unkind. “That’s enough.”

I sink back into my pillows a little, resenting his command, giving him a little glare.

To my surprise – again – he laughs at me. “Don’t pout at me, girl,” he says, leaning against my door

frame. “It won’t work.”

He nods to someone behind him in the hallway – the housekeeper, apparently, who brings in a tray of

food and a stack of clothing. As she brings the tray closer, I sniff the air greedily at the scent of

blueberry muffins. I’m shocked to find that I’m ravenous.

“Good,” Kent says, watching me pick a muffin off the try and bite into it eagerly. He nods to the clothes.

“I’ll see you downstairs in twenty minutes. Wear your boots.”

I stare at him for a second, considering, and then I nod.

Boots. Boots means horses. I look towards the pile of clothing at the edge of my bed as the

housekeeper leaves silently. Riding gear.

Well, he’s certainly found my weak spot. There’s nothing, really, that could get me out of bed today

except for Heathcliff.