Falling for My Ex’s Mafia Dad — Episode 15
By evening, strangers had remade Fay for a role she despised. Her hair fell in polished waves, diamonds rested at her throat, and the green dress made her look born to the mansion. A maid concealed her bruises, removing visible evidence of what wealth had failed to prevent. In the mirror, Fay Thompson had disappeared before Fay Alden felt real enough to replace her.
A guard escorted her downstairs. At the sitting-room doors, Fay heard Janeen demanding answers and David pleading for both daughters’ release. The sound nearly destroyed her resolve before the performance began.
The doors opened. Janeen sat on a velvet sofa in torn club clothes, her makeup streaked from fear and exhaustion. David was beside her, wrists free but marked by restraints. When they saw Fay, relief filled their faces so completely that she almost ran to them. She dug her nails into her palms and used the pain to remember that affection would place them back in danger.
Kent stood near the fireplace, watching. One warning glance reminded Fay of the bargain. She stopped several feet from her family and straightened her shoulders, forcing the diamonds and silk to become armor.
“Fay,” David breathed. “Are you all right?” She told him she was fine. The lie emerged cold and smooth, exactly as Kent required. Janeen searched her face, already sensing the distance Fay had manufactured.
David turned to Kent and offered himself in exchange for the women. Kent dismissed him as worthless to the alliance. Fay saw humiliation strike the man who had spent his life making two girls feel priceless.
She called him David instead of Dad. His expression broke. Fay accused him of hiding her true identity and stealing the life she should have inherited. Every word was designed around the fear he had revealed in the kitchen. She watched him search her face for some sign of coercion and deliberately gave him none.
Janeen demanded to know what had happened. Fay raised her chin and described the wealth of the Alden family—private planes, estates, jewels, and power. She pretended those things mattered more than years of shared meals and unpaid bills. Each luxury sounded obscene beside memories of Janeen skipping dinner so Fay could buy textbooks.
“While we were scraping by, you both knew I could have had everything.” Fay heard Kent’s promise beneath her own cruelty: safety for them, a cage for her. Holding onto that purpose was the only way to continue.
David urged her to call the police. Fay laughed at him, though the sound hurt her throat. She offered money to make him disappear, echoing Daniel’s insult because she knew precisely how degrading it felt to have love assigned a price.
Janeen rose from the couch. “This isn’t you.” The quiet certainty nearly undid Fay. Her sister had always recognized the frightened child beneath every defense. To convince her now, Fay had to attack the place where Janeen was most vulnerable. The next lie would survive only if it sounded too unforgivable to be an act.
“Why would I return to that shack with a stripper and a deadbeat?” Fay gestured toward the mansion. “Not when I can have all this.” Janeen recoiled as though struck. Fay kept her face composed while shame tore through her.
She crossed the room and stood beside Kent. His arm settled around her shoulders, solid and possessive. “Meet my future father-in-law,” Fay said. “Daniel and I are engaged.” Both David and Janeen went pale.
Kent announced that the discussion was over. David rose slowly and approached Fay. No guard stopped him. He cupped her face, searching her eyes for the daughter behind the performance, and Fay feared he could hear her silently begging forgiveness beneath every carefully measured breath.
“You are my daughter,” he whispered as he pulled her into his arms. “Nothing will ever change that.” Fay could not answer without shattering. She held herself rigid until he released her and walked toward the door.
Janeen approached next. Fay opened her arms, hoping for one final embrace. Her sister struck her across the face instead. The slap rang through the sitting room, leaving heat across Fay’s cheek and grief far deeper beneath it.
“That is the last thing I’ll ever give you,” Janeen said. She followed David without looking back. Fay held the mask in place until the doors shut, afraid one cry would bring them running back. Guards escorted them to the waiting car, now bound by Kent’s oath of protection rather than physical restraints.
The moment the doors closed, Fay’s knees gave way. She collapsed beside the fireplace and sobbed until the polished room blurred around her. Kent told her she had done the necessary thing, but necessity did not make the loss feel less real. Somewhere beyond the gates, the two people she loved most now believed she had abandoned them willingly.
He left her on the floor and entered his office. Daniel stood at the window, watching David and Janeen’s car disappear through the gates. He turned as his father entered, anger and apprehension warring across his face.
“That was Fay’s family,” Daniel said. “What did you do?” Kent sat behind his desk and studied the son he had just promised to a woman neither of them truly understood. Then Daniel asked the question that would decide all their futures: “Do I really have to marry her?”
