Falling for My Ex’s Mafia Dad — Episode 34
Lorenzo’s lieutenant whispered urgently, but the room had already changed. Kent rose from the table, his hand settling near the weapon beneath his jacket. Fay touched her pendant twice, not to summon rescue, but to ensure the team heard every word that followed.
Lorenzo insisted he had ordered Colin frightened, not harmed. Kent replied that men who kidnapped innocents did not get to distinguish between intended and unintended blood. The polished dinner dissolved, revealing the violence both men had dressed in crystal and linen.
Fay forced herself between them. Killing Lorenzo would not find Colin, and threatening him would not restore information his lieutenant clearly lacked. She asked who had managed the abduction. Lorenzo named a captain called Rafe, a recent recruit who had offered access to Lippert security schedules.
Kent recognized the name as one of Dean’s surviving associates. The kidnapping had never belonged entirely to Lorenzo. Rafe had used the Alden order to enter the estate, then taken Colin for a purpose of his own once the blackmail failed.
Daniel’s voice sounded through Fay’s transmitter. The blood trail was shallow and intermittent, suggesting Colin had injured himself breaking free rather than suffered a serious wound. They had found fabric caught on a fence leading toward an old service road.
Relief weakened Fay’s knees, but Kent caught her elbow without tightening his grip. He asked permission with his eyes before steadying her. The small courtesy, offered in the middle of crisis, told her his apology in the garden had not been empty.
Lorenzo ordered his men to assist the search. Kent refused to place Daniel among them, but Fay argued that speed mattered more than pride. The two families shared maps and radio channels under a truce so fragile that every exchanged coordinate sounded like a threat.
Fay demanded to go with Kent. He said the search area was unsecured. She reminded him that Colin might be hurt and that she had more medical training than most of the armed men combing the woods. Lorenzo unexpectedly supported her, proud of the daughter he had endangered.
The approval made Fay want to refuse simply to deny him satisfaction. Instead, she chose usefulness over rebellion. Kent fitted her with a protective vest beneath his coat and warned her to remain beside him. His fingers checked each fastening with brisk care, avoiding her skin even when the narrow space made contact almost inevitable. This time, she agreed because the danger was real, not because his authority was absolute.
They reached the abandoned clinic twenty minutes later. Broken windows reflected the convoy’s headlights, and rain had begun to soften the tracks beyond the fence. Daniel waited at the rear entrance, mud on his knees and panic stripped bare across his face.
Fay examined the blood on the jagged glass. The color and volume suggested a cut forearm, painful but survivable. She told Daniel what she could confirm and nothing more. False reassurance would insult both his intelligence and his love.
Search dogs followed the trail toward a collapsed workers’ cottage. Kent sent men around the perimeter while Fay and Daniel waited behind a vehicle. A gunshot shattered the rain, followed by two answering bursts from the Lippert team.
Daniel ran before anyone could stop him. Fay chased him three steps until Kent caught her around the waist and pulled her behind the engine block. She fought his hold, screaming that Daniel was alone, but Kent ordered his men forward and refused to release her until the shooting ceased.
The restraint triggered every fear she had named in the surveillance room. Fay shouted their agreed boundary, telling him not to use force in anger. Kent answered that this was not anger; it was a bullet crossing open ground. He loosened his arm the instant cover fire made the path safe.
They found Daniel kneeling inside the cottage beside Colin. Colin’s shirt was torn, one forearm bleeding, but he was conscious. Rafe lay dead near the window, while a second captor had escaped through a trapdoor beneath the floor.
Fay bandaged Colin as he explained. Rafe had received a second offer after the kidnapping—more money if he delivered Daniel’s lover to an unknown buyer. Colin escaped before learning the buyer’s name, but he had heard the captors mention a Russian arriving in the city.
Kent and Lorenzo exchanged a look heavy with recognition. Neither explained it. Fay asked who the Russian was, and Lorenzo dismissed the reference as underworld gossip. Kent’s silence told her it was anything but harmless.
Daniel helped Colin stand. In front of both families’ men, he wrapped an arm around Colin’s waist and refused to hide the tenderness in the gesture. A few guards looked away; others stared. Kent turned toward them until every expression returned to professional neutrality. Daniel noticed the intervention, and the defiance in his posture eased by a fraction as he guided Colin through the rain.
“Colin rides with us,” Kent announced. No one challenged him. Daniel’s eyes met his father’s, gratitude competing with years of hurt. The rescue had not repaired their relationship, but Kent had placed his authority between his son and public contempt.
As the convoy prepared to leave, Fay found a silver cigarette case beneath Rafe’s chair. An unfamiliar crest marked its lid, and inside was a card embossed with one name: Ivan Kozlov. On the reverse, written in fresh ink, were four words—*Bring me Fay Alden.*