The room seemed to shrink, the walls pressing in with the weight of past years, the betrayal, and the audacity of their demand. I could hear my own heartbeat—a relentless drum—through the suffocating silence.
“No,” I finally said, my voice steady, though my insides quivered. “I’m not a pawn you can manipulate or a tool to be used at your convenience. Whatever legal tricks you have up your sleeve, whatever threats you brandish, it changes nothing.”
My father scoffed, but my mother remained unfazed, as though she had anticipated my defiance. It was a game to them, a strategic move in their warped perception of family. But they had underestimated the strength forged in me from years of neglect and rejection.
