My sister pushed my daughter into the pool—still in her dress, unable to swim. I rushed forward, but my father grabbed me by the neck and forced me down. “If she can’t handle the water, she doesn’t deserve to live.” In that moment, my heart felt like it was being torn apart. After pulling my exhausted, water-choking child out, I didn’t scream. I didn’t cry. I just looked at them one last time—long, cold, and silent. Then I walked out of that house for good. They had no idea I would take away everything they ever valued… and by the next morning, they finally began to understand.
The moment Olivia’s small body hit the water, her scream was swallowed by the pool before anyone could react. She wasn’t wearing a swimsuit—only the pale yellow dress she had begged to wear for Sunday dinner. My sister, Melissa, stood at the edge, arms crossed, as if she’d simply dropped a napkin. “She needs to toughen up,” she muttered. But Olivia couldn’t swim, and the water was deep. I lunged forward, instinct taking over, but before I could reach the pool, a heavy arm clamped around my throat. My father, Leonard, tightened his grip and pushed me down into the grass. “If she can’t handle the water, she doesn’t deserve to live,” he growled, as though discussing a faulty appliance instead of his granddaughter.
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