Chapter 349

Ivan stays...late. Way too late.

I see my dad’s expression when he comes home with the groceries, as he spies me out here with my sort-of-ex-boyfriend, and then glances at my husband, who is sitting on the couch with his boyfriend. I can’t hear him, but I see him groan in confusion.

Ivan laughs a little. “Should I go in and say hi?”

“Nope,” I say, wrapping my arms around my knees, starting to get a little cold as night falls. “I think that nobody in that house is very happy to see you here. Except maybe Janeen. But she just thinks you’re hot.”

“Really,” Ivan says, perking up and looking around for her.

“Don’t,” I say, laughing and swatting his arm. “She’ll just rope you into being one of her regulars at the club. She’ll drain your bank account and leave you sobbing.”

“Yeah,” Ivan says, turning back to me and raising his eyebrows provocatively. “But don’t you already know, Fay? Complicated, hard-to-get girls are kind of my type.”

I roll my eyes at him, but I can’t help laughing anyway. “Why do you even like me, Ivan?” I ask, shaking my head and genuinely wanting to know. “I mean, is it just the hard-to-get thing? Do you just like a challenge?”

“Are you a challenge?” he asks, turning his head and looking me up and down.

“Well, I am married,” I point out, laying out the facts like they’re obvious. “And I hate you, and you’ve already got a bruise on your face from the guy who got me pregnant, so,” I shrug, “yeah, I think that qualifies as challenging.”

“Yeah,” Ivan says slowly, nodding a little and considering my points. “But your marriage is a sham to make your baby legitimate, and your baby daddy is locked up forever, and, above all,” he takes a moment to really look into my face now, making me hear him, “you don’t hate me, Fay. Not really. Not in your heart.”

“Don’t I?” I ask, letting my eyes fall to his mouth.

“Maybe for now,” he murmurs. “But...you have a heart. You know what’s right. And I did what I did because it was right.”

“Right for you,” I sigh, closing my eyes and letting my head hang back a little.

“And for you,” he replies, but I almost feel him lean back in his chair, giving me my space. Because if this is real for him – like actually real? Then he knows that he’s playing the long game. And he’s not going to be getting much more from me tonight.

Fall For My Ex's Mafia Father Chapter 0348 I open my eyes when I hear the door slide open. My brow furrows when I see Janeen coming out with two beers in hand, shutting the door behind her. “Hey,” she says, plopping down in the chair next to Ivan and setting the beer in front of him. “I thought I’d bring you your last drink before Mafia Jr.

in there rips you to shreds.”

“Who, Danny boy?” Ivan asks, grinning and peering into the house where Daniel is still glaring at us, his arms crossed. Jerome, still casual, continues to read contentedly beside him. My dad sits on Daniel’s other side, watching a game on the TV. Ivan laughs a little. “I can take him.”

“I don’t know,” Janeen murmurs, smirking and likewise looking in at Daniel. “He’s got a couple inches on you.”

“Yeah, but I’m scrappy,” Ivan says, over-confident and optimistic in his usual charming way.

“Don’t underestimate Daniel,” I sigh, leaning back. “He boxes. And I’m pretty sure his dad taught him how to hit.” I let my eyes drift to the green spot on Ivan’s jaw and he turns to me, laughing, as Janeen sees the direction of my gaze.

“No way!” she says, laughing and hitting Ivan on the arm. “You told me you fell at work!”