Falling for My Ex’s Mafia Dad — Episode 80
The bullet passed through Ivan’s coat and buried itself in the wall. Kent pulled Fay behind the concrete kitchen island while Daniel triggered the residence alarm. Independent security returned fire toward the opposite rooftop.
Ivan remained on the floor, uninjured but stunned. Saving Kent had been instinctive, occurring before grief could remind him whom he protected.
The sniper abandoned the rifle and escaped through a maintenance stairwell. Police recovered the weapon with DNA planted from Kent’s preserved blood sample, proving the rural scheme had already entered operation.
Had the shooter succeeded, evidence would have suggested Kent mishandled his own rifle during illegal activity. Grant’s planners preferred deaths that blamed the victim.
Security footage identified the sniper as the missing deputy warden. His vehicle was found near the river, but he disappeared before roadblocks formed.
Mara moved everyone into the residence’s protected core. Kent’s release conditions prohibited association with criminal captains, leaving lawful authorities as the only defense. He accepted the limitation even while old instincts demanded retaliation.
Fay assessed Ivan for shock. He laughed bitterly when she thanked him, saying he had spent years planning Kent’s death only to save him without thinking.
Kent said one action did not erase either history, but it created a fact worth remembering. The acknowledgment was the closest the men could come to peace.
Victoria examined the recovered rifle photographs and recognized a symbol carved beneath the stock. It belonged to Lorenzo’s oldest enforcement circle, men loyal to succession rather than the don himself.
With Lorenzo unconscious, the circle needed a new Alden leader. Fay’s pregnancy made her child their preferred future heir, while Fay herself could serve as regent whether she consented or not.
Daniel suggested announcing the baby had no claim to either criminal family. Victoria warned that declarations meant nothing to men who treated blood as law.
Fay decided to confront the circle through the only language they respected: succession. She would call an Alden council, assert her blood claim long enough to dissolve Lorenzo’s authority, and transfer legitimate assets into protected trusts.
Kent opposed placing her before captains while pregnant. He stopped himself and reframed the objection as fear rather than command. Fay listened, then maintained her decision.
Ivan offered intelligence on the council members in exchange for immunity consideration. Mara agreed to present his cooperation without promising an outcome.
Victoria would attend beside Fay as the surviving witness to Lorenzo’s coercion. Daniel would represent the Lippert trust, while Kent remained at the residence under court monitoring.
The separation frustrated him, but entering would violate release and make Fay’s claim appear controlled by him. Supporting her meant staying behind.
Before departure, Fay and Kent shared a quiet moment in the protected room. He asked her to come back, not as an order or expectation, but as the selfish hope of a man who loved her.
She promised to do everything in her power. No one could promise survival honestly, and their relationship had been built at last on truths rather than comforting lies.
The Alden council gathered in an underground hall beneath Lorenzo’s oldest hotel. When Fay entered with Victoria, every captain rose—some in respect, others in calculation.
At the head of the table sat the missing deputy warden. He smiled, placed Lorenzo’s gun before Fay, and said, “To become Don Alden’s heir, you must execute the man who destroyed him—Kent Lippert.”