All Chapters of Falling Back to the Way Home: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The day I realized Cicio Russo had taken a liking to another girl behind my back, I spent the whole night thinking without much agitation. The final conclusion I reached? He was all I cared about. And I still couldn’t let him go. So, at my insistence, Cicio left that girl. Well, to be more exact, he sent her away. And our relationship seemed to have returned to what it had been before all the drama and betrayal. But I knew it hadn’t.Over the past three years, the time Cicio Russo spent alone with me had grown shorter and predictably shorter. He would rather stay in the grand study, where he dealt with all his family business, facing those dull shelves with bulky books, than come home to be with me and my everlasting warm company.The meals I reheated again and again, the lights that stayed on night after night—it all felt like they were telling me: He was not coming back.One night, Cicio came home late and paused for a moment when he stepped through the door. He probably hadn’t ex

Chapter 2

It took me three whole days to finally move all my things out of Cicio’s house. I was in the middle of packing into the car when he suddenly came home.The housekeeper was a very sweet woman called Anna. Seeing Cicio's appearance, she hurried to him. “Don Russo, please, will you talk some sense into our Dani! Couples fight and cold-shoulder each other all the time, and it's supposed to be temporary! I mean, it’s not like you're really breaking up!”Cicio stood towering over me, saying nothing. The only sound in the house was the ripping of tape under my hands for my cardboard boxes.A prolonged silence. So long that I thought he was forming speeches to ask me to stay. To stop this nonsense. But Cicio said, “No rush. You don’t have to leave all at once.”Goddamn him. How could he say it so matter-of-factly, as if nothing had ever happened? I paused and looked up at the handsome man I had fallen in love with for eight years, and I hated the fact that even now, he still captivated me.“

Chapter 3

War means war. The Genarros drew back every nickel that had been put in anything the Russos related. I persuaded my family to do this, this borderline self-destruction, to have my revenge on Cicio’s betrayal. There was one thing about me, is that I have always been my parents' precious princess. The only heiress of the family business means I can do whatever I want, and the only reply I’d ever get is going to be “as you wish”. But Cicio was a different story. He was a bastard son given birth by a nameless whore, and he wandered among all the twelve orphanages in the city over the first 16 years of his life before getting reconnected to his family. The power he was granted by the Russos mainly came from his engagement with me.I could afford whatever carnage of this war. But Cicio couldn’t. There would be serious consequences if he messed up what should’ve been taken care of. At this point, wasting more time on Jessica Kolt was the last thing I wanted. At the end of the day, I thou

Chapter 4

Cicio left with his son and Jessica, and left me right where I was, motionless. Alice semi-hugged me for a second.“Dani, it’s okay. He’s not worth it.” She said. “Cry a bit if you want to. Leave him behind with the tears. He’s not worthy of the precious love of the most beautiful Donna-to-be.”I looked at her with a funny expression. “Who says I am going to cry? There’s literally nothing to cry about.”“Dani.” Alice sighed and fetched from her handbag a silk handkerchief, and dabbed around my eyes. “Don’t do this to yourself.”I couldn’t understand. How Cicio could waste everything he had worked for, every purgatory he went through to be a young Don, to earn his right to be part of his underworld family, all on a piece of trash of a whore.Back when we were a happy couple, everyone in both our families knew that it was important that he stayed by my side, because my family, the Genarros, were his only hope to be ultimately trusted by the Russos. He was supposed to be smart enough to

Chapter 5

A lot had happened during the three years I was gone. The ones that made me slightly moved, though, were all about Cicio. I heard that he somehow miraculously turned it all around and found his way up to the family where he was deemed a bastard outsider. As his competitors died of various strange reasons, he would most likely be the next Don Russo.And to no one’s surprise, his faithful love to Jessica and that little demon son of his had become his most important signature next to the way he ran the family business.There were the most beautiful women around him, some tried to seduce him away from Jessica. Without even a blink of an eye, Cicio would hold up his palm and said, “No, my wife awaits me at home.”None of which, though, was my business. Running the art-dealing part of the business as a front for the underworld's illegal chores was enough to preoccupy most of my time. I had learned and developed a more decisive character out of that father’s sweet little principessa. My dad

Chapter 6

It’s imperceptible but I believed I saw it. I saw the dark cloud of impatience and annoyance fly through his face like a fleeting flock of birds. Alice didn’t seem too surprised. “Again?”I asked her what she meant.“Oh, Jessica’s old trick?” Alice sneered. “If Cicio wasn’t home by 8, she used their son as a hostage. She took that boy to wherever Cicio was and threatened him to go home with her.”“By 8? Who did she think Cicio was? A toddler with a curfew? ” I almost couldn’t suppress my laugh. “Once I woke up at 8 p.m.”“I was at a party in South End the other day, and it’s almost midnight. Jessica just stormed in with their son uninvited. ” Alice told me. “It was so funny. The boy was too sleepy to cry his father home, and Jessica strangled him in front of all the Dons and Donnas of the reputable families, just to make the boy cry for his dad. It was so embarrassing. If I were Cicio I would’ve probably had her murdered.”It was dim, and I was sure that Jessica didn’t see me. I watch

Chapter 7

Focusing on the boy’s face, I couldn’t see Cicio, but everyone around me, their jaws dropped. I could hear a murmur start from the back of the living room and wander back into the kitchen. They wanted to know why and how and who with, but no one dared to ask the questions.Cicio pushed Jessica aside and closed his fingers so hard around my arm. It hurt.“What did you just say?” That was an attack. It’s like before the storm, the entire room was overcast silently.“As she wishes.” I pointed at Jessica. “I got married.”I did two years ago. Still licking my bleeding scar left by Cicio on my heart, I married another man, and I had a two-year-old daughter, just like I said.Cicio looked defeated. “Why were you married to another man? Who approved this?”I chuckled. “I didn’t need anyone’s approval. Especially not yours.”“You knew I had no choice when I left you. I did it for my boy.” Cicio said, “Why couldn’t you understand that I didn’t mean to stop loving you?”What a ridiculous questio

Chapter 8

“Mommy!” My daughter flew at me straight into my open arms. “I miss you so much!”“Oh, my baby.” I had errands to deal with, so I was home a few days earlier. I told my father that my husband and daughter would come along with me home later, and he was thrilled too.“My principessa has a little principessa too.” He looked at me with a softened smile. “You will be a good Donna for her, I imagine.”“Most definitely.” A couple of years ago, I would never have imagined what my life would become without Cicio. I thought I would keep being miserable and nothing could save me from my tragic love affair with him. But here I was, soon from principessa to Donna, with a family to keep the blood of my name going. The father of my daughter followed her a few steps behind, looked at me with content and gladness, and commented, “Never thought a cruel and broken-hearted Donna like yourself could love again.”I rolled my eyes. “Never thought a cruel and broken-hearted Don like yourself could love agai

Chapter 9

The wedding back in Italy was held in a local chapel where Mario’s father was brought up. It was his family roots, he told me. The certification of marriage was more important than the actual wedding anyway, so we didn’t have an extravaganza of a wedding. Only his close family and friends back home and my soldiers attended.Back in New York, my dad, who decided to be the best host for the Pescatores, threw a party to announce and celebrate this relationship with the Pescatores. The name Pescatore attracted all the families to gather here in our mansion. Including the Russos.I saw Cicio when he walked in the gate. He was very quiet and didn’t seem to have any interest in making a scene. He even applauded for us when my father asked the crowd to raise their glasses and bless me and Mario. After a few drinks, Mario whispered in my ear, “Is that Cicio? He looks like a decent guy. And he looks like he misses you.”“He made his choice already. And I made mine.” I turned around and kissed M

Chapter 10

Cicio stopped going home. Jessica kept playing the crying drama but it stopped working. Cicio just didn’t care anymore.Imagine the panic it brought to Jessica. After all, the reason she stayed in the Russos, the only reason, was her son. She needed to get Cicio’s attention back to her, unless she wanted to be divorced and go back to her petty old life.One day, she crept into Cicio’s study. He stayed there all day, arranging things on his computer, Jessica thought, there must be something really important to keep him in there. If I destroyed what he cares about, he would have to be home to fix it. That’s what’s in Jessica’s mind when she asked her son to pour a bucket of boiling water on Cicio’s computer. And, desperate as she was, she called Cicio.Cicio came home furious. All the arrangements, documents, receipts, and secrets were in that computer. He looked at the dead piece of machine, and he almost reached for the gun in his drawer.“Who did this?” He screamed.Jessica pushed th

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