Chapter 318
Chapter 318
But I stop dead in my tracks when I see Kent smiling down at Natalia in response, his hand on the small of her back, tucking her body in close next to his.
Daniel comes quickly back to my side when he realizes that I’ve stopped moving, clutching my shoulder more tightly and pulling me with him this time. “Keep moving, Fay,” he murmurs to me, his voice serious and low enough so that only I can hear. “Your my fiancé tonight, remember?”
And then I scowl again, realizing that he’s right. That I have no reason, on the surface, to mind that Kent is looking down at Natalia like the long–lost–love she might very well be.
So I turn my attention back to Daniel, taking another big swig out of my glass of wine as he leads me over to the table and seats me down with him.
“Gonna be a long dinner, isn’t it,” I murmur to my fiancé as we watch Natalia put a fond hand on Kent’s cheek before heading again into the kitchen to get more food.
“At least there’s gonna be a show,” Daniel mutters back, drinking his own wine now.
Kent comes over to the table then, taking his place at the head,
Chapter 318
not bothering to acknowledge either of us as he takes out his phone and flicks through his messages, clearly preoccupied.
2/4
“Seriously?” I say to Daniel and Kent, and both look up at me at the same time with matching Lippert stares. “We’re doing this?” I ask, looking between father and son. “We’re just…having dinner again? Ignoring the fact that last night she ordered my father’s assassination and ended my engagement?”
“What would you suggest, Fay?” Kent murmurs, putting his phone down on the table and turning his heavy attention to me completely.
My mouth falls open, ready to respond, before I realize that… I don’t have any answers. I don’t have a suggestion for what we should be doing instead. I sputter for a couple of seconds before Daniel comes to my aid.
“She’s right, dad,” he says, sighing and leaning back in his chair as he takes another deep sip of his wine. “It’s kind of ridiculous to expect us to sit here and play nice, considering what went down last night.”
“Well,” Kent says, leaning back and studying us. “You’re free to go, if you want,” he says, giving a little shrug and a smirk. “If you’re feeling…cowardly.”
I glare at him a little, falling for his taunt even though I know precisely what it is.
Daniel opens his mouth to protest, but Kent cuts smoothly in.
Chapter 318
“Listen, I hear you both, okay? But the Bianci family is an incredibly important ally that I absolutely cannot afford to alienate completely, no matter how much they’ve pissed you off. And Daniel,” he says, looking at him closely now, “they are your family. Whether or not they’ve made you mad, you are tied to them for life. I would suggest you find a way to create a middle ground, especially with Alessi if not Natalia.”
“And what about me?” I ask, curious and a little miffed that Daniel is getting personalized mafia advice when I am not.
“You, Fay,” he says, smirking at me. “I’m getting the impression that you’ll make your own decisions regardless of my advice.”
“Doesn’t mean I don’t want it just so I can do the opposite,” I say, narrowing my eyes at him and making him laugh. But even as Kent laughs a little, and Natalia comes back through the door, Alessi at his heels, I don’t miss the fact that Daniel frowns at me, just a little.
And I realize that Kent, in that moment…
Well, that intentionally or not, he communicated to both of us that he has a little more faith in me to make my own choices than he does his own son.
—
But there’s no time to discuss this not really – as Natalia places a large bowl of salad on the table and then promptly sits down on Kent’s lap, wrapping her arm around his neck and pretending that this is a normal thing in the Lippert house. Kent, to my displeasure, wraps a steady arm around her waist
Chapter 318
as casual as a friend but, with the way he lets his thumb rub slowly up and down against her …
4/4
I turn away from the sight and finish my second glass of wine, doing my best to keep my face impassive.
But I place my empty glass on the table and nod at it, silently indicating to Daniel that I’m going to need a heck of a lot more wine if I’m supposed to get through this.
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