All Chapters of My Daughter’s Regret After I Gave Her Exactly What She Asked For: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

When she was little, every time we went to a Family dinner she'd gush about how pretty the Donna was, how pretty the underboss's wife was, how pretty the consigliere's wife was.I'd tease her on purpose. "And Mommy isn't pretty?"Nina would answer in a bright little voice. "Mommy's hideous. You're the ugliest one out of all the ladies."I'd be stunned, and seeing that innocent little face, I couldn't help saying, "Nina, when you say things like that, it really hurts Mommy."But she'd plant her hands on her hips and lecture me like a tiny grown-up. "Daddy says good kids don't lie. This is the honest truth."I was too astonished to answer.Other children love everything about their mothers without question, looks and all.Nina was the exception.Later, when a traitor inside the Family turned, the FBI took me in for three days of questioning.The day I came home, Nina was bent over the table, drawing, and she didn't even glance up.I pressed my lips together, then couldn't help myself. "N

Nina's video blew up. Millions of views.Strangers online turned into keyboard crusaders, each one sure they were on the side of justice.[Case solved. The girl's parents are mafia, high-ranking members of the Marlow Family.][Oh my God, seriously? The Marlows are trafficking kids now? What is this, the 1800s?][Share this everywhere! Make the feds investigate the Marlow Family!]The whole thing was sliding out of control.Marlow came at once, men in tow.The moment Nina saw the Don, she threw herself at him in tears, pointing at me. "Mommy admitted it herself! She stole me! Sir, give her the Family's justice, quick!"Her head was buried against him, but she'd tilted it just enough to watch me out of the corner of her eye.I saw the malice and triumph there, clear as day.The kind of triumph that fed on someone else's humiliation.Marlow pushed her off.His eyes were vulture-cold, his voice colder. "It's gone too far now. You're both confined to your home, that's decided. The public's

The man wore a cheap shirt, his ribs showing through it.The woman's cheeks were sunken, and the stink coming off the both of them was as plain as their ruin.Marlow covered his nose in distaste and had his men hold them back while someone explained.Their eyes rolled around, scheming at something.For a second, I thought I saw what Nina would look like grown.When the woman had heard enough, she clamped a hand around Nina's wrist and yanked her in."Hmph! I knew you were no good! All these years you've been abusing my daughter, and you think forty grand makes us square? You're going to pay me! Pay compensation for mental distress! Or I'll take this to the feds and never let it go! I'll leak every video of you thugs beating money out of people! The Marlow Family, swallowing us whole, stealing our own flesh and blood! I'll make sure you never hold your heads up again!"Greed lit up the man's eyes too. "That's right, pay up! Who'd have figured, a couple of debt-collecting rats, getting r

Looking at Nina's face, I couldn't help thinking back to three days before.She'd openly threatened a classmate she didn't like, saying she'd bring a gun the next day and shoot him dead.It took me endless talking to convince the teacher it was just something she'd said in anger.But she held it against me, and went on at me every day."Honest truth, Mommy, I think you're completely useless.""I don't like that kid, and not only did you not stand up for me, you apologized to him.""People online say If you can’t protect your children, you shouldn’t have them."I'd explained to her a hundred times that violence is the very last resort.Besides, she and the boy had only been arguing over which character in some cartoon was more likeable. There was nothing for me to avenge.But none of it got through. She just held her grudge and looked for ways to get back at me.I sighed, and my mind came back to the present."Nina, whether I ever abused you, you know perfectly well in your own heart. A

Once the clarification video went up, the whole storm finally died down.Nina posted nothing more. How the Morettis managed that, I didn't care to know.Then came the court date, and Vincent had everything arranged.With the birth parents' claim and the statement Nina had signed herself, the judge honored her stated wishes and returned custody to her real parents.And on the very day my ties to Nina were severed for good, the hospital called with good news.I was pregnant.Ten months later, the baby came. A girl.I held the baby who looked almost exactly like me and wept for joy.Her eyes weren't open yet, but when I lifted her, she smiled, sweet as could be.This was my daughter.Vincent and I named her Dorothy, and we called her Dolly.She was our lucky star. The year she turned two, Vincent got his wish and founded his own Family, becoming a Don.He was Don Hale, and I was his Donna.Dolly grew day by day, and before long seven years had passed and she was starting grade school.I c