At a family cookout, my six-year-old daughter, Emma, clutched a keepsake unicorn from her late grandmother. When her cousin reached for it, my mother snatched the toy and threw it into the fire, then slapped Emma. “Whatever your cousin wants, you give her,” she snarled.
Shocked and furious, I refused to replace the toy with money. That night, I began gathering proof—photos, timestamps, witnesses—because if the adults around us wouldn’t protect her, I would. What I did next left every one of them speechless.