Falling for My Ex’s Mafia Dad — Episode 54
Fay called David before panic could take control. He answered from the protected apartment, irritated that guards had prevented him from walking to the corner store. His ordinary complaint proved he was safe for the moment, but the message revealed Grant knew exactly which threat would move her.
Kent doubled protection around David and Janeen. This time, Fay did not object. Her father could still choose whether to leave the apartment, but the danger was specific enough to justify visible security.
The clinic exchange became unavoidable. If Grant believed the threat worked, he would expose himself to collect the badge. Fay insisted the evidence bag contain a replica while the original remained with independent counsel.
Board attorney Mara Chen agreed to supervise. She arranged cloud backups, notified a judge under seal, and hired security unconnected to either family. Each guard signed an evidence protocol, every camera recorded to two jurisdictions, and an ambulance waited without knowing the identities involved. For the first time, Fay entered an operation supported by institutions rather than criminal promises alone. The precautions felt slower than Kent’s commands, but their strength came from accountability rather than fear.
Daniel accompanied her publicly. Kent watched from a nearby building because Grant would flee if the Mafia king appeared. Colin remained with David and Janeen, accepting protection while helping trace communications.
Ivan arrived at noon wearing no weapon the visible scanners could find. He seemed exhausted, his practiced ease replaced by shadows beneath his eyes. Fay wondered whether Grant’s disappearance had destabilized his mission or his faith.
He placed a sealed envelope on the conference table. Mara verified the paper matched the photographed ledger page without opening the evidence sleeve. Fay placed the replica badge opposite it.
Grant did not appear. A voice entered through the room’s speaker system, instructing Ivan to complete the exchange. The building cameras showed no intrusion, meaning access had been planted during construction. Ivan recognized a coded phrase ordering him to obey without confirming his handler’s location. His refusal to answer immediately revealed that the command no longer held the certainty it once had.
Fay asked the hidden agent why Lorenzo wanted Elise moved. Grant answered that questions were not part of the agreement. Ivan looked toward the ceiling, anger tightening his face. He had expected a meeting, not another remote command.
Mara opened the ledger envelope. The page was genuine, but its final line had been cut away. Lorenzo’s name appeared beside a payment, while the identity of the safe-house informant remained missing.
Fay refused to release the badge. Grant activated the building’s fire suppression system, filling the room with choking chemical fog. The compound was designed for electrical fires, not occupied spaces, and it stripped oxygen from the air with frightening speed. Emergency locks sealed the main doors as alarms failed to sound. Mara shoved the evidence beneath her jacket while Daniel wrapped his sleeve across Fay’s mouth.
Ivan pulled Fay beneath the table and covered her mouth with his sleeve. Daniel used a chair to break the glass partition while Mara protected the ledger inside her jacket. Through the haze, a masked figure entered from the service hall.
The intruder moved toward Fay, not the evidence. Ivan intercepted him and took a knife across the ribs. Daniel reached the broken partition and triggered the manual release, allowing Kent’s external team to enter.
Grant escaped through the construction tunnels before they reached the control room. The masked attacker died during the struggle, carrying no identification. Once again, official technology had concealed an unofficial crime.
Fay knelt beside Ivan and pressed his wound closed. He remained conscious, joking weakly that Kent would hate the symmetry of another man bleeding over her dress. She told him to save his breath.
Kent arrived and stopped when he saw Fay holding Ivan. Jealousy flashed, then yielded to the medical facts. He assessed the blood loss, cleared space around Ivan, and ordered his surgeon to treat the Russian before questioning him. Fay noticed the choice because months earlier Kent might have allowed an enemy’s wound to solve the problem. Change appeared most honestly when no one had time to perform it.
Ivan caught Kent’s sleeve. “Did you kill my father?” he asked. Kent answered yes. Fay expected violence, but blood loss left Ivan too weak to rise.
Kent added that Ilya had worked for Lorenzo and Grant. Ivan called him a liar. Kent said the surviving ledger could prove it if Grant had not removed the final line.
Paramedics carried Ivan toward the ambulance. He reached for Fay’s hand, and she let him take it for three steps before the stretcher passed through the doors. The contact was compassion, yet Kent looked wounded by it.
Mara emerged from the fog with worse news. The ledger page was gone. Someone had cut it from inside her jacket without breaking the seal—and the only person close enough to do it had been Daniel.