Betrayal's Wake: A Wife Scorned

The clear blue water shimmered, and beneath me, my seven-year-old daughter, Lily, swam like a tiny mermaid. It was in these quiet underwater moments that I, Ava, felt closest to her, the wall between us finally seeming to dissolve.

Then, her small fingers, meant to grasp my hand, wrapped around the hose of my regulator. She pulled.

The mouthpiece was ripped from my mouth. My vision blurred as I choked, a terrifying gush of bubbles replacing my smile, my lungs screaming for air.