Chapter 0167

Kent leans against the wall outside of Fay’s room for a moment after he leaves, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath

through his nose.

That girl...

She’s going to be the death of me, that girl, Kent thinks as he clenches his jaw, grinding his teeth. It had been...so fucking

difficult. So damn hard to turn away from her in there, as she pulled every piece of her clothing off and tossed them carelessly to

her floor.

It had taken a level of self-restraint that, frankly — after yesterday, in the barn — he had thought he’d lost. But he’d done it. He’d

refused to look at her as she had walked naked past him, as she climbed into her shower and let the water run all over her body,

through her hair, telling him all about her ridiculous night with that boy.

But even as Kent thinks of it now, pushing himself up from the wall and opening his eyes so he can resume his day, he has to

admit that Ivan is not ridiculous.

Kent knows that Ivan’s romantic relationship with Fay is...inconvenient. He doesn’t like, at all, that they seem to have a real

affinity for each other. But Ivan, despite the fact that he might actually be drawn to Fay, has figured out that Fay is Kent’s Achilles

heel. That she is precisely where he needs to strike to get to Kent.

Kent sets his shoulders and walks quickly down the stairs towards his office. If he’s going to survive this, he needs to convince

everyone outside of this house — and perhaps many of the people within it — that Fay is...less important to him than they

currently think she is.

As Kent enters his office, he considers that Ivan, despite his youth, has been playing his cards well. Even if Fay is ignorant of the

fact, Kent is well aware that everything that Ivan said to Fay the previous night was designed to be repeated to Kent. It’s obvious

to Kent that Ivan uses Fay, deliberately and efficiently, to prod Kent, to attempt to get him to move in whatever way lvan feels will

best benefit his organization.

Kent is thus not surprised, as he closes his office door behind him and heads to the desk, that Ivan told Fay — in as genuine a

way as he could — that he thinks Kent is on the wrong side of things, that he’s going down. But what does surprise Kent is lvan’s

offer — twice, apparently — to take Fay away. To protect her.

It is...uncommon - unheard of, really - for one boss to take a woman from another family under his protection without an official

tie to her, like an engagement or a marriage. That sort of exchange usually unites those families, not further divides them. But

Ivan is clearly continuing to mark Kent as his enemy — he wasn’t offering to take Fay as a way to draw himself closer to the

Lippert family, to which Fay is clearly showing her allegiance by still living in Kent’s house despite the end of her engagement to

Daniel. And if lvan is on good enough terms with Alden that Alden is loaning him vacation properties. ..why offer to take Fay into

his own care? Why not let her father do it?

And Ivan hadn’t offered to marry her — Kent knows this, Fay would have told him. So, what the hell was Ivan playing at, offering

to protect her but...not reaching out to those who were already doing that job?

Kent grits his teeth harder, staring down at the wood of his desk, trying to figure it out.

Either Ivan actually had feelings for the girl, and wanted to be with her without the ties to the Lippert family that Fay could offer,

or...

Or Ivan really did know something that Kent didn’t.

And Kent really was in danger of going down, in such a way that would put Fay in the crossfire.

The idea of it — of some kind of blindside attack that could hurt Fay, hurt Daniel — and he didn’t even see it coming —

Kent's blood boils at the idea. He curls his hand into a fist and slams it against the desk, making the pens, paper and phone

sitting there rattle. Then, he grabs his phone, pressing a few buttons and barking orders down the line. “Marco, Gianni, in my

office. Now,” he orders before crashing the phone back down.

He needed his spies out there, working. He needs more information, and he needs it now.

Kent looks up a few moments later,

surprised to see that Marco and

Gianni have amtved Desks! ticdifide

ikl ButlAStealizes

immediately that it's not his two

most reliable guys standing in the

door staring at him with rage on their

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It's Daniel.

“Is she home?” Daniel asks, looking

upwards towards Kpenessou

t pause towelty ay’s room.

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“She is,” Kent replies evenly, standing straight and squaring off against his son.

“What the hell are you doing,” Daniel

growls, still standing ja the dade

“gepding he olf With him like that?

Letting her go?” Please read the

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“I needed the intel,” Kent replies.