Fall For My Ex's Mafia Father novel Chapter 43

I fall back against my pillows then, tears slipping down my cheeks. I know it’s not my fault – I was just a little kid – but I feel absolutely rotten. I must have broken his heart into a million pieces.

My door creeks open again and I see Daniel’s dark head peak in. “Fay?” he asks, hesitating. “Are you home already? Can I come in?”

“Sure,” I say, wiping at my eyes.

“Are you all right?” he asks, pressing the door closed and coming to sit next to me on the bed. I nod, sniffing and working hard to contain myself.

“Yeah, just…looking through old pictures,” I say, gesturing towards the album. Daniel picks it up and leafs through it.

“Oh wow,” he says, looking between me and the woman on the page. “Fay, she looks just like you.”

“I know,” I respond, my eyes wide. “Obviously I remember what she looks like, from when I was a kid, but…I didn’t realize I’d grown to resemble her so much.”

He nods, still leafing through. Then he looks at me. “I can see how this would be hard for you. I never, ever go through my mom’s old albums.”

I nod, reaching out a hand for his, understanding. Life can be so terribly difficult sometimes, especially when you’ve lost a parent. It’s a fine line, between wanting to remember them and missing them so horribly that all you want to do is run from the feeling.

Daniel squeezes my hand and we both sit quietly together, having our separate thoughts.

I stare at the album – closed, now, on my duvet – and wonder what changed in her life. What made her go from that day, when she was so happy, to deciding to flee with me, to leave it all behind.

And I can’t help but wonder if it will all be the same for me. I mean, I’m not in precisely the same situation – I’m not married to a man I clearly love, having borne his child – but in some ways, seeing my face in those albums, it feels like it’s her again – repeating the past.

Am I really doomed to repeat it? Will I, too, find reason to flee from this world, to try everything I can to leave it behind and build a new life in hiding? Would it eventually take me out to?

And what, really, killed her? Was it really just a car accident, or is that too much of a coincidence, for a Don’s bride to be killed so shortly after she fled?

Oh my god, was I going to die young as well?

I burst into tears again, fear and sorrow and panic flooding my body. Daniel puts his arms around my shoulders, confused, beginning to ask again what’s wrong when the door opens again.