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Home / Mafia Short Story / Three Years After I Took The Fall, The Don Begged Me Back / Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

All Chapters of Three Years After I Took The Fall, The Don Begged Me Back: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

13 Chapters

Chapter 1

Victor's brow creased. "No. Ask me for something else."I stared out the car window and said nothing.When I didn't answer, he tried another angle. "Come on, let the past be the past. I promise I'll do my best not to contact Sophia anymore. Okay?"He was making an effort, just not much of one.Three years inside, and the rival family's plant had worked me over until I lost the baby. In his mouth, all of that was just "the past."I was about to speak when his phone started playing that song, the one I'd come to hate more than anything. My Heart Will Go On.Three years, and he still hadn't changed her ringtone. What "not to contact" was he talking about?He hesitated for just a second, then answered.When he hung up, he turned to me with urgency in his eyes. "Delora, Sophia slashed her wrists. She's lost a lot of blood. The hospital's out of RH-negative stock, and I remember... that's your blood type."I looked straight at him. "Victor. Are you actually asking me to donate blood for her?

Chapter 2

The whole East Coast knew I'd gone after Victor.I bought a newly discovered planet and had it named after him, then presented it to him at the most glamorous gala of the season. When his stomach was acting up and he missed a meeting, I dropped everything and showed up at his door with soup.He was cold to me the whole time.He told me he was in love with someone else, a girl with no family name, no connections. Sophia. The family stood in the way of them marrying, he said, but she was the only one he'd ever want.It hurt, but I let him go. I wished him well and moved on.His father, though, had other ideas. He wanted Victor to marry me, because I was the Moretti heiress, after all.I'd almost forgotten Victor entirely when he showed up at my birthday party out of nowhere. That night he drank three bottles of XO, grabbed my arm, and kept asking: "Delora, Delora, do you still love me?"Even drunk, that face of his did things to me.When I hesitated, he got serious. He swore that he and

Chapter 3

My doctor had been treating Sophia for a month when she had an episode behind the wheel and crashed into a woman near the Moretti estate. The woman turned out to be a DEA informant who'd been watching our family.That night, Victor came home and threw a stack of files in my face."Look what you did."His anger over Sophia's treatment had become routine.I picked up the pages and sorted them one by one. "The doctor said she'd been making progress. She shouldn't have crashed like that. Maybe she was... drinking..."Victor sneered. "Here we go again. More blame-dodging.""I can't believe I ended things with her for you. You're a vicious woman."His cold indifference cut into me like a blade, slicing through everything I'd once felt for him.My eyes burned. "Victor, wake up. If I actually wanted to hurt her, it'd be easier than stepping on an ant."He scoffed. "Of course you wouldn't dare. My father nearly had her killed for opposing our marriage back then, and you knew I had people protec

Chapter 4

When I came around, I was in a hospital bed. A dull ache in my abdomen, exactly like that night.My first day in federal holding, I'd gotten into it with a guard. I won the fight. The price was blood soaking through my clothes, down my legs. The doctor who examined me afterward didn't waste words. "You miscarried." That was the first moment I knew I'd been pregnant.The baby, like everything between me and Victor, was there and gone. The three years that followed, I survived only because the Moretti name still carried weight inside. Victor never came once. He sent letters through intermediaries, explaining that any mention of me sent Sophia into a spiral, so he had to write in secret.I touched the flat of my stomach.“Baby, you're better off. Your father doesn't love your mother.”Victor's frantic voice cut through."Delora! Delora!"I opened my eyes slowly. He was cradling my face in both hands. "Baby, you're finally awake. You scared the hell out of me. If anything had happened to y

Chapter 5

Sophia's crying was the most calculated thing I'd ever heard. Even God seemed to have had enough.A crash, and the door flew open as a man pushed inside. A black pistol pressed against Sophia's forehead. His other gun aimed at my heart.Victor shot to his feet but held still. His guards were crowded outside the hall, just as frozen, because the man with the guns was Carlos Reyes, DEA agent, husband of the informant Sophia had killed. He was there for revenge, and no one was faster than his trigger finger.Carlos didn't fire. He looked at Victor. "Tell me which one of them is the killer. I was told the woman who took my wife's life is in this room. I don't kill the innocent. So talk."My stomach dropped. Sophia had blamed me for the assault, blamed me for the depression, and I'd taken the fall for the crash.I fixed my eyes on Victor. "I'm not asking you to defend me. Just don't lie."Sophia was already shaking, barely able to get words out. "Victor... I love you... whatever I've ever d

Chapter 6

With both of them gone, I packed a few clothes, went downstairs to check out, and on my way back up I passed Room 311. The door was cracked open. I stopped.Through the gap: Sophia's arms wrapped around Victor. "Why? We love each other. Why can't we be together?""Sixteen years old until now. You're the only man I've ever been with, Victor. If you'd leave Delora, we could still have this. Your family's position is solid now. You don't need her anymore."Victor's brow was furrowed, but he didn't push her away."Sophia. I can't leave her. Delora has given up too much for us. I owe her.""Her father can look after her. She doesn't need you!" Sophia's voice cracked. "You're lying. You've fallen for her, haven't you?"A long silence from Victor. Then, quietly: "...It's just obligation. She's my wife."Something in Sophia's face eased. "I knew it. You only love me." A breath. "If you can't give me marriage... can you at least give me a child?"Victor's expression flickered with confusion. He

Chapter 7

(Victor's POV)Victor got dressed, kissed Sophia's forehead, and headed downstairs.His consigliere was already waiting, holding a bouquet of white lilies. "Finding lilies at this hour wasn't easy," the man said, smoothly taking credit. "Donna Delora will love them."Victor nodded, satisfied. He took the lilies and went back to Delora's room."Delora, I brought you—"The room was empty. Dead quiet, except for the hum of the fluorescent light overhead.Victor's brow tightened. He set the lilies on the bedside table and sat down, his index finger tapping slowly against his thigh.A lot had happened today, too much and too fast. When he saw Delora, he'd have to handle her carefully. These past years had been genuinely hard on her. He ran lines in his head, rehearsed his approach, and watched the door.After a while, it opened.Victor jumped up with the lilies. "Delora—""Victor?"Sophia squeezed through the doorway, surprised. Victor's face fell. It took him a moment to produce a smile ag

Chapter 8

(Victor's POV)Delora was gone, vanished completely, like smoke.Victor turned New York inside out, every button man on the street looking for her, and found nothing. Finally, with nothing left to try, he drove to the Moretti estate. She had to have come home. It was the only place left. If he had to get on his knees and apologize, he would. Whatever it took to bring her back.But the Moretti family left him to sit alone in the reception hall for nearly an hour.When Don Lorenzo Moretti finally walked in, built like a bull with age and authority carved into his face, Victor swallowed his pride."I'm here to bring Delora home." Victor spoke in a hurry, then realising he had been impolite, he added, "Don Moretti."The Don looked him over, slowly. "Delora isn't here. But she left something for you." He slid a set of divorce papers across the table.Delora had already signed.Victor stared at her signature as a slow, heavy grief spread through him from somewhere deep. She wouldn't do this.

Chapter 9

(Victor's POV)Victor didn't remember leaving the Moretti estate. The divorce papers were folded in his breast pocket, a single sheet of paper, thin as nothing and heavy as a wall.He hadn't signed. He couldn't. There was still a chance. He couldn't sign.He told himself that, drifting, until his feet brought him somewhere on their own: the bedroom, their bedroom.Delora's makeup was still arranged on the vanity, every piece in its place like small headstones. He opened the wardrobe and her clothes hung in a silent row. Everything was here. She wasn't.How bad had it hurt her, to leave without taking a single thing?Victor's chest ached. Then he thought of something and grabbed his left hand, the ring finger.The ring. The ring.Delora had asked for it back. She came back for the ring. It was the only thing she brought along when she left. She still loved me.Victor covered his face, laughing through the pressure behind his eyes. Fortune had given him a second chance. So the only thing

Chapter 10

My father clapped me on the shoulder. "I had my doubts about you."I was busy cutting into a perfectly marbled ribeye and didn't slow down."But looking at that appetite," he said, "I'm not worried anymore." He smiled. "You're actually done with Victor."I dabbed my mouth with a napkin. "All I want now is to enjoy my life. The happier the better." I shrugged. "Love's not the only way to get there."My father refilled my wine glass. "Victor's been looking for you. He still won't sign the papers." His voice dropped. "Do you want me to handle it?"I took a sip of red wine. "No. This started with me. I'll finish it." I glanced at my watch. "I have someone to meet. I'm heading out."I kissed my father's cheek and went to meet the person I'd been thinking about.At a private club under the Moretti family's umbrella, I found Carlos Reyes. He was in a white dress shirt, collar open, the clean line of his throat leading down to a chest that looked like it was made out of granite.Not bad.Carlo

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