Why Did Loung Ung Write 'First They Killed My Father'?

My mother was my father’s sugar baby. Every year, he would hold her in his arms and promise, “Wait for me. Next year, I’ll marry you.” He said it for five years. In the end, he married a woman from his own social circle instead. My mother never got the wedding she dreamed of. After that, she became unstable and cruel. She used me as a way to get my father’s attention. “Go. Call your father and tell him you’re sick. Tell him to come see you.” But my father only frowned and yelled at me. “You’re already learning to lie from your mother at such a young age? Always haunting me like this. Disgusting.” They blamed all the anger they had for each other on me. Later, my father’s wife gave birth to a son. He became the perfect husband and father in everyone’s eyes. My mother only grew worse. She hit me harder and harder, all just to make my father come look at her once. When I was seven, I fell down the stairs and broke my leg. I begged my mother to take me to the hospital. She slapped me hard across the face. “What are you pretending for? You fall once and suddenly your leg is broken? You’re just like your irresponsible father. You were born to make me suffer.” My father rushed over, but he only shoved my mother to the floor in irritation. “If you use this little bastard to fake being sick and trick me again, don’t expect another cent from me.” Their screams and sobs tangled together. I lay on the cold floor, slowly losing consciousness. This time, could they finally stop fighting?

My father’s death was ruled a suicide, but I knew it was murder. The last word he left behind was a name: Volkov. So I buried the girl I once was, built a new identity, and walked straight into the world of the man I believed had taken him from me. Damian Volkov was everything one should fear—cold, brilliant, untouchable. Yet the longer I stayed, the more I saw the fractures beneath his control. Behind his silence lived a sorrow that mirrored mine. I sought vengeance, but somewhere between hate and obsession, I fell for the man I swore to ruin. Now I stand between the monster who ruined me and the only man I have ever truly loved. Until a truth I never thought possible tore through every reason I had to hate him: He is my stepbrother, born from a one-night stand my father could neither bury nor escape.

Thirteen years ago, Daniella watched her father drop dead right in front of her, his heart harvested and taken away. She watched his life drain away before her very eyes by the one man the world would never suspect. Since that very moment Daniella Cruz has lived her life for just one purpose—Revenge. At 18 Daniella was ready, she was trained, calculated, manipulative and a heartless being wanting to devour the soul who took the only one who mattered to her on earth. When she finally tracked down the man she believed destroyed her life, a powerful, untouchable billionaire with a dangerous and secretive reputation–she does the unthinkable. She enters home, as a disguised house help . Her plan is simple: get close, gain his trust and destroy him. But nothing goes as planned because the man she grew up to hating all her life is nothing like she imagined. He is cold, yes. Dangerous, maybe. But not cruel. Worse, he sees her, not as a servant, but someone worth protecting. And just something that started off as mere stealing glances, quiet conversation and something inside of her that she can’t explain. Daniella fell hard. She makes the one mistake she swore never to do. She fell in love with the man who killed her FATHER. A crazy turn of events, Daniella realizes that the truth is far more dangerous than the lie she has been living. Because he is not her father’s killer. And when the real monster finally stepped out of the shadows Daniella is forced to face a devastating reality: Revenge built her….. But love might be the one thing that would destroy her one question remains When the truth finally reveals itself will Daniella Cruz be able to pull the trigger?.

I didn’t marry him for love. I married him to pay my father’s debt. To save my brother’s life. To survive. Lucien Draven is a billionaire, a killer, and the man who made my father disappear. Or so I believed. Now, I wear his ring. Sleep under his roof. Live as his wife with no rights, no freedom, and one rule: *Never ask about the night my father died* But secrets don’t stay buried. And when I dig too deep, I find something that changes everything. Maybe Lucien didn’t kill my father. Maybe the real killer is closer than I think. And maybe… the devil I married is the only one who ever truly wanted to protect me.

My mother had a rare disease. After months of dead ends, I found one person in the country who could treat her. She told me there was a price. She said she needed a husband. I agreed. For my mother, I agreed. For six years I was her ATM. I bought her the bags. I bought her the watches. It got worse. She used my money to keep a kept man. She brought him into our bed. The day my mother had her last surgery, she walked out of the operating room halfway through to go celebrate her lover's birthday. The moment they pronounced my mother dead, I decided there and then, she was paying for that with her life.

After I Took Three Bullets For Him, He Said He Was Just My Uncle I took three bullets for Don Lorenzo Moretti, the man I called my uncle. The last one nearly killed me. Only then did the family elders agree to name me Donna. But in the two weeks I lay unconscious, Lorenzo announced his engagement to Ava, the daughter of a family benefactor. The Rocci, my family, lost its power when I was ten. Ever since Lorenzo, a close friend of my father's, brought me to the Moretti estate, I was certain he would one day be my husband, despite our age gap. He always told me to find men my own age, but I just let it go. In my previous life, I crashed their engagement party, a decision that led to a miscarriage and my own violent death. But this is my second chance, and I have learned my lesson. I will reclaim the token of my love, accept my destiny as Donna, and offer myself in a marriage alliance far away in Sicily. Uncle, I finally understand. A young man is far more entertaining than an old one like you.