All Chapters of After My Daughter Threw Me Away, I Went Back to the Family: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

I went up to my room, found the number I hadn't dialed in years, and called it."Richard, I need you to draw up divorce papers. Send them to me as soon as you can."Richard sounded almost giddy when I finished. "Miss Gambino, you've finally come to your senses about that man? I'll get started right now!"The second the call ended, Preston pushed the door open.I looked at him with no expression at all. "Preston, we need to talk."But he only changed his shirt, then turned to me with impatience all over his face. "Whatever it is, it can wait until tomorrow. And you should spend tonight thinking about what you just did!"Then he walked out without looking back.By the time I came downstairs the house was empty. There was nothing but a note on the dining table.It said, "Anna and I are waiting for you at the Golden House."The Golden House was the restaurant where Preston had proposed to me, and where we spent every anniversary afterward.But since Lena became his secretary, we hadn't set

Preston went still. Something like shock and panic crossed his face.I thought my heart had gone cold enough by then, and it still moved a little at the sight.Was he actually afraid of losing me?If Preston had asked me to stay or shown any regret, I might have left some thread of what we'd been intact.But a second later Lena came around the corner carrying Anna, and that was the end of that.She saw me standing off against Preston with a suitcase at my feet, and she understood immediately.Lena rushed at me with Anna still in her arms and grabbed my wrist, eyes streaming as she begged. "Mrs. Hale, I was wrong, I really was. Please don't be angry with Preston over me. I grew up in an orphanage, I've never known what it feels like to be loved, and Preston only threw me that party because he felt sorry for me. If I'd known it would come to this, I'd rather have spent my birthday alone in my rented room!"I looked at that performance on her face.How could a man as sharp as Preston not

After hours on the road.I was finally back on ground I knew. Sicily.Six years away, and coming back felt warmer than I had words for.The sun came up, and the first light landed on me and soaked in like my soul was starting over.I watched the car turn in through the estate gates, took a breath, and pushed everything rising in me back down.The black Maybach came to a stop in front of the main house.Stanley had barely opened the door before I was out of the car.A few steps in I saw a man standing straight-backed in front of the heavy carved doors.He wore a black suit cut exactly to him, hands clasped behind his back.The years had left faint lines at his temples, and they did nothing at all to soften the weight a man carries when he has been at the top for a very long time.That was Charles Gambino.He was the mafia Don who controlled Sicily's underworld and its financial arteries, a name that made half the region flinch.He was also my father, who had never loved anything the way

The next time I saw Preston was five days later.He stood outside the carved gates of the estate with his hair a mess, his eyes bloodshot, and stubble across a face that was never anything but clean.I was on my way to a business dinner.The black Maybach stopped at the gate and I lowered the window halfway, showing the black iris pin on my couture gown, the pin that said Gambino heir.Preston's eyes lit up the second he saw me. He stumbled forward and stopped at the car, his voice ragged. "Winnie! You're finally willing to see me!"There was one pane of glass between us, which was about right for the distance between him and me that was never going to close."Preston." My voice was ice. "You have two days left to sign the divorce papers voluntarily."Then, without waiting for him to speak, I raised the window and told the driver to go.In the mirror I watched him run after the car for a long time.His hair was wild, his tie was hanging loose, and he looked like a stray.Preston, isn't