Home / The Don Faked Poverty for Seven Years, So We Left Him / Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

All Chapters of The Don Faked Poverty for Seven Years, So We Left Him: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

How much would it cost to reserve the entire New York Aquarium for one night?When I found the price, my fingers went stiff.Seven figures.Ella and I could pick bottles for a lifetime and never save that much."Mommy, Daddy is rich, isn't he?"Ella was only six. Her puffer jacket had been washed until the color faded, and her snow boots came from a thrift store. But the boy in Damian's arms wore an expensive tailored suit with a small diamond dolphin pinned to his chest.Confusion filled her small face, as if she were waiting for an answer from me that would make all of this make sense.I opened my mouth, but no answer came.Back in school, I had a crush on Damian for four years. He was the most promising heir of the Moretti Family, and the business press said he would take over a vast shipping empire.Then his girlfriend at the time, Cecilia Rossi, betrayed him. She sold a secret route to a rival family, and his uncle died in the ambush. Damian was stripped of his inheritance, though

Chapter 2

Damian stared at me, disbelieving."Leah Harper, what are you doing?"He was the one who had been hit, and yet I could barely hold back my tears."Where is Ella's present?"Impatience flickered across his face. He took off his coat and walked straight toward the bedroom."What's the rush? I said I'd buy it."Ella and I had been hearing that line for seven years.Wait a little longer. There's no money. Don't push me.But I was done waiting.I pushed open my daughter's door and looked at her red, swollen eyes. "Ella, if Mommy and Daddy get divorced, who would you want to live with?"She stood frozen for a long moment, then suddenly wrapped her arms around my legs. "Mommy, please don't leave me."I gathered her up. "Mommy will never leave you."She did not yet understand what divorce really meant; she only instinctively feared being abandoned. Her red, swollen eyes made me realize that I had not been the only one who had gone without a sense of security for seven years."If you go with Da

Chapter 3

Ella's eyes went red the moment she saw me.She touched the back of my hand where the soup had burned it. "Mommy, did somebody hurt you? Does it hurt?"I pushed down the ache and picked her up. "Mommy's fine. Daddy bought your present. I saw it today."But there was little joy on her face; she focused on inspecting my burn.Just then the lock turned.Damian was home.Ella stood tense and still. But the next second, we both froze—his hands were empty again.Disappointment flickered across my daughter's face, and she quietly lowered her eyes.She did not hide and cry as she had last time. That unnatural calm hurt more than tears.I could not hold it in. "Where is the submarine?"Ella grabbed at my shirt, as if afraid we would fight over her. She was the one who had been wronged, yet she was already used to managing the adults' feelings first.Damian blinked. "What submarine?""The present you promised Ella. I saw it myself today!"He pressed his fingers to his brow. "It's at the office.

Chapter 4

Damian hesitated, then finally nodded."Daddy will be there."Ella's whole face lit up, and she pulled me out to buy craft supplies right away.When I went to pay, she pulled out her own little coin tin instead. She had earned every coin by collecting bottles one at a time. She had saved for an entire year to buy three aquarium tickets, yet now she spent it all without hesitation.That night Ella worked for three hours and finished a little seaside house that lit up.Under the clear roof stood three small paper figures holding hands. She drew a black hawk at the father figure's feet, because that was the design on her daddy's ring.She ruined several sheets of colored paper and rubbed her fingers red on the scissors, and she still would not let me take over. She said Daddy would only like a present she made herself."Mommy, when Daddy sees it tomorrow he'll love it, right?"I tucked her in. "He will."The next afternoon, we arrived early at the kindergarten auditorium and waited.Famil

Chapter 5

Damian kept checking his watch, an uncharacteristic impatience creasing his brow.He could not put it off any longer.What time was Ella's contest again?He froze, suddenly realizing he had not remembered at all, even though Leah had reminded him more than once the night before.An unfamiliar panic seized his heart. He skirted the celebrating crowd and hurried toward his office.The submarine he had bought that morning was sitting there. He had planned to give it to Ella himself once the contest ended.Cecilia had been watching him and caught up fast."Damian, Leon is waiting for you to cut the cake."He did not turn around. "Cut it yourselves. I have something to do."Leon grabbed his coat. "You promised to teach me to shoot."Damian forced himself to sound patient. "Another day."The boy still would not let go. With no other choice, Damian pulled out his phone to call Leah first.But the screen was black.No one in the Moretti Family dared touch the Don's phone. Damian slowly raised

Chapter 6

I thought I had run into a group of lunatics.Enzo did not come closer. He only handed me a yellowed missing person file and a preliminary DNA report.The little girl in the file was four years old, and her features were almost identical to mine.Twenty-six years ago the Vitale Family was ambushed at the docks. The heir's only daughter went missing in the chaos and was later placed in an orphanage under a false identity.That child's real name was Leah too."Three months ago the old orphanage finished digitizing its records, and that was how we found you again."Enzo looked at my right shoulder. "Security footage from the Moretti building confirmed the birthmark and your age."Ella held on to me tightly. I did not believe him right away, but I did not refuse the formal testing he offered either.I insisted every test be done at an independent hospital, and I had a lawyer verify every document. Seven years of being lied to had taught me that even the most moving family story has to surv

Chapter 7

Damian took off his coat and knocked the restaurant manager to the floor with one punch.Blood streamed from the man's nose as he begged for mercy. Damian seemed not to hear. He kept punching until his bodyguards pulled him away.He left money for the damage and went back to the apartment alone.A delivery box that no one had signed for sat by the door. Damian kicked it in irritation, and several faded pieces of a little girl's clothing spilled out.There was a note in the box."These are my daughter's old clothes. They are clean. If you need more, just let me know."Damian stared blankly at the old clothes.Then he looked around the home: the rough table, the cabinet with its paint peeling, the range hood that worked when it felt like it, and the toys Ella had taped back together more times than he could count.For one absurd promise, what kind of life had he made his wife and daughter live?Damian went down on his knees, buried his face in Ella's old coat, and cried without any digni

Chapter 8

Cecilia hit the floor and looked up, unable to believe it."Damian, are you insane?"She still believed a few tears would soften him as they always had, so she clutched her arm and sobbed even more pitifully.He looked at her coldly. "Who let you into my house?"Cecilia finally panicked. "Is Leah upset? I can apologize to her."Damian froze with his hand on the door. "What did you do to her?"She stammered that she had seen me at the Moretti building on the day of the birthday party, and had only asked the bodyguards to see me out."Asked?"Damian seized her wrist. "You also turned off my phone and had my wife dragged away."Cecilia protested through tears. "She's just an orphan nobody wanted. She was never good enough for you!"And you promised me yourself that the Moretti glory belonged to me. She's gone now. Isn't that better?"Only then did Damian see clearly that the girl he had kept on a pedestal for years had been reduced to greed and scheming.The room went silent.Damian's fis

Chapter 9

After the meeting Damian caught up with me in the hallway, took my hand, and struck himself with it."It's my fault. I made you and Ella endure seven years of hardship."It's my fault. I never kept a single promise to her."It's my fault. When you were being humiliated, I chose Cecilia."Leah, hit me. Don't look at me like that."I pulled my hand back. Nothing in me moved.Why should everything my daughter and I went through be smoothed over by a few of his tears?"Damian, I'm not going to hit you. As of today, your pain has nothing to do with me."Ella sensed something wrong and ran over to stand in front of me.When she saw it was Damian her eyes went red, but she did not run to him the way she used to.Damian crouched down and took out the submarine that had come too late."Ella, this is the one you always wanted. From now on, anything you want, Daddy will buy it for you."The submarine slipped past her hand and fell to the floor."No thank you. Mommy already bought me one."Damian

SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP