Chapter I ;The Root of All Chaos

New York City, New York

Late January, 1956

Although occupied with guests for the past hour and a half of his son's birthday party, Giacomo Romano dropped everything he was doing and immediately walked towards a man who's entrance to his home made his knees weak not because of the cold.

He frantically brushed his hair with his hands and fixed his tie that was slightly slanted due to constant walking earlier. The man stopped on his tracks right in front of him. The other three men behind him did the same. Without a word, Giacomo carefully lifted the man's left hand and kissed its back.

"Don Lucciano, I am so happy that you made it." The man, Don Lucciano Gagliardi, embraced Giacomo tightly with a hint of a smile on his face. It made the wrinkles on the side of his eyes appear.

"How can I not? It's your boy's day. What kind of a friend would miss such an invitation?" He knew he was not here solely for his son's party. No. It's far from that. "Oh! And I brought a gift for... for your boy. Where was that Gio?"

The man behind the don gave him the gift with a smile and shook his hands firmly. He was no stranger to the man. He is one of Don Lucciano's son, the eldest one, if he wasn't mistaken. "Gio, it's been a while! How have you been? You're not hanging around as much as you did back then!"

"Eh! You know exactly why." Right then, Giacomo notice a man with a short stature behind Giovanni. It was none other than the don's brother, Massimo. "My wife just gave birth, and you know how they could be sometimes when you get home a little later than usual." The men all laughed before drinking another round.

"I think I know indeed." He motioned them to sit.

"And who do we have here?" Giacomo looked at the short man with a huge grin. "Massimo Gagliardi..." The two of them giggled like children. He can't help it. Massimo has always been a man who almost always wants to make you laugh.

Shortly after, the drinks arrived. The men already started their chat.

"You must be very proud of your boys, Massimo." Giacomo commented. "They're officially a part of the Gagliardi Family." He enunciated the last two words full of admiration.

"Ah yes. It seems only yesterday when I first cradled them in my arms as babies. Now they're running around doing what I'm doing. " Massimo put his glass down. "But of course, I'm still gonna watch their every move. They can be naughty at times."

"Come on, Massimo. They're not boys anymore." The don said in an exasperated tone. "Somehow, someday, you're gonna need to let them decide for themselves."

Giacomo saw Massimo gulping down his drink. "Easy for you to say not having a wife like mine." The men slightly laughed. "I swear I don't know how I survived her for more than twenty years."

"Well my wife is starting to sound just like zia Dona." Giovanni chuckled. "She always has something to say about everything. From the tip of my hair to the tip of my foot nails."

"How do you think your brother is doing with that wife of his?" Giacomo asked.

"Sergio?" He nodded. All the Gagliardi men burst laughing. Even the serious Don Lucciano cannot help but to chuckle a little bit. "What?" Confusion was written all over his face. It took them seconds to stop laughing. "Did I say something funny?"

"Oh no! No!" Massimo drank another glass. "It's not like that."

"It's just my, boy, Sergio is not exactly a guy who knows how to please the ladies." Now everything is starting to make sense.

"You know how he is. He spends more time in his study than in his wife's bed." The men burst out laughing again. It is true. His second son, Sergio was an opposite of his brother, Giovanni. "Oh, papa. It's only been three months and his wife is already complaining to Gloria how Sergio's always making an excuse not to make love to her."

Don Lucciano shook his head in disappointment. He gulped down another glass. "I worry about him sometimes." He expressed. " He never get to catch a break or do something fun. All he thinks about is work. On how the family could make more profits, but we all know profits can't do anything once you're old and sickly... and alone." The table suddenly turned quite. No one dared to speak.

Massimo put his glass down and put his hands on the don's shoulder. "Now don't worry too much, brother. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he'll start to realize that there's much more than work and making more money. Let's just sit back and relax."

"I sure do hope so." The don replied in a low almost inaudible voice. "It's just sometimes, I can't help to think that it's my fault that he's like that." He looked at his glass before finally pouring it to his mouth.

The men were focused on what's going to come out of the don's mouth. "You all know the things I did in the past." He lowered his gaze before speaking up again. "I was not a good husband, let alone a father. And like Sergio, I worked myself to death just for what? I was blinded by my ambition. I didn't realize I'm becoming the person who made his wife, sons and.... daughters suffer." Then there was a brief moment of silence.

"Papa, I don't think this is a good moment to talk about that." Sergio tried stopping his father.

"No no. " Don Lucciano disagreed. "You see, I was not a perfect father to my children, but I couldn't stand it if anything happens to any of them."

Giacomo could feel his heart beating rapidly.

"I love my children..." He stated. "... children in general."

It was that moment, Giacomo realized where the conversation was heading. He gulped unconsciously, sweat starting to form on his temples. The Don gave him a piercing look.

"Is there anything that I am not aware of, Giacomo?"

"I, I don't exactly know what you're trying to imply here, Don Lucciano." He tried and failed miserably to hide his nervousness.

"Very well." The don paused for a moment. Giacomo breath a sigh of relief. "I kindly asked you if you're hiding something from me, and you lied."

Giacomo's eyes widened.

"We know."

The words from Giovanni sealed it for him. How foolish was he to think that he could get away with that?

"Oh, my dear friend. If you can't repay me yet," Disappointment engulfed the don's face. "You could have just said, 'Don Lucciano, forgive me, but I don't yet have the money that you are asking for'. That, I could have accepted. " Frankly, Giacomo himself didn't know why he didn't go for that option. All he knew was that fear devoured him. "But what did you do?"

Not long and Giacomo broke his cool.

"Don Lucciano, I apologize." He's hoping with all his heart that the don would let this one slip. "I promise, I won't do it again." The don stared at him expressionless. "I just did it out of desperation." He explained. Tears threatening to fall. "I- I just wanted to pay you back on time. And as promise I am ready to pay now. I can get it from my study." He was ready to stand up when Massimo held him down.

"Calm down, now."

After that, silence befell them once again.

"I'm not going to take the money." Giacomo could not believe what he just heard. "I don't want to get my hands with those filthy money." He declared again. "Child trafficking?" The don could not believe it himself. "I didn't let you start your own family and even lend you some money just for you to do this."

"But I was just trying to repa-"

"It was a large amount of money. Yes. But paying me with those money?" The don tried to hide his disappointment, but failed to do so. "If I'm being honest, I feel disrespected. You lied to me and expected me to eat whatever you deem to feed me. "

Hearing those words was the last thing Giacomo would want to hear. "Forgive me, Don Lucciano. Forgive me." He said in an almost begging tone. He kept his head down for a minute before the Don finally spoke.

"I've spent half of my life trying to legitimize my wealth." He looked at Giacomo. "And you're willing to throw that all in the trash. How do you expect to keep the feds at bay if you keep staining our money with dirt?"

"Don Lucciano-"

"I don't wanna hear it." The don cut Giacomo's words. "It's your boy's party." The don stood up and readied himself to leave. "I'm not gonna do anything." He looked at Massimo and Gio. "You two enjoy the rest of the day." He looked for his driver and spotted him not long after. "Just don't make your wives wait too long. I'd don't want to hear complaints."

"But papa, don't you think it's too early for you to leave?" Gio objected to his father's sudden eagerness to leave.

"Yeah. I think Giacomo here wants to explain himself more." Massimo grinned at him.

"He doesn't need to. I am willing to forget what he did, so long as he doesn't disrespect me again."

"When do you want me to pay you back, Don Lucciano?" Giacomo quickly blurted.

"When do you want to pay me back?"

Giacomo didn't know exactly what to reply. The don always has his ways to make his enemies puzzled. "As soon as I can."

"Very well." The don embraced Giacomo once again before finally leaving. "This conversation didn't happen." He reassured with a smile.

"Grazie..." He kissed the back of the Don's hand delicately.

"You take care of those two... Don't make them too drunk."

They didn't realize it then, but it was the last time they're going to see the don conscious again.

The ride was peaceful and silent. Just how the don wanted. He looked at the window and saw how beautiful the sunset was. The one in Sicily was better, as he remembered, but this one is pretty too.

Ahead of the road, he saw a sharp curve. His driver, of course, noticed it too. He could see the look on his face when he stepped on the breaks and the car didn't slow down. He swiveled the steering wheel in a panicked state. They successfully managed to turn their car before crashing, but they're eyes widened when they realized that they're now in the wrong lane and another car was heading towards them...