CHAPTER 203: What She Said

POV: Selene Castellano

“You left when I was twelve,” she said. “You didn’t just leave physically. You left completely. No calls. No birthdays. Nothing. Maya and I raised each other.”

“I know,” her father said quietly.

“And when you finally reappeared,” she said, “it wasn’t to apologise. It was to try to have me killed because I was inconvenient to whoever you owed money to.”

Silence on the line.

“I know what I did,” he said.

“I don’t think you do,” she said. “Not fully. I think you know the facts. I lived the aftermath. Those are different things.”

“Tell me then,” he said. “If you want to.”

She was quiet for a moment, surprised he’d asked.

“I spent years flinching at loud noises,” she said. “I spent years assuming people would leave because that’s what people do. I built walls so thick that when someone finally got through them, I didn’t know what to do with the space he left inside me.” She paused. “That’s what you did. Not just leaving. You  teaching me that leaving was normal.”

Her father made a sound that might have been a sob, quickly controlled.

“And then,” she continued, “after everything, after I’d finally built something real — a marriage, a daughter, a foundation that actually helps people — you let someone pay you to try to tear it apart. Again.”

“I was desperate,” he said. “That’s not an excuse. I know it’s not an excuse. But it’s the truth.”

“I don’t need excuses,” she said. “I need you to understand something clearly, and then I need you to leave me alone unless I reach out first.”

“Okay,” he said.

“I forgive you,” she said.

The line went silent.

“Not because you deserve it,” she continued. “Not because what you did was okay. I forgive you because carrying hatred for you was taking up space I need for my daughter, for my sister, for my husband, for the people I actually love. You don’t get to occupy that space anymore, not even as someone I hate.”

“Selene—”

“I’m not finished,” she said. “I don’t want a relationship with you. I don’t want calls on birthdays. I don’t want you to know my daughter. What I want is for you to know that I’m free of you now. Completely. And that freedom doesn’t require your participation.”

There was a long pause.

“That’s more grace than I deserve,” he said finally, his voice rough.

“I know,” she said. “I’m not doing it for you.”

“I understand,” he said.

“Take care of yourself,” she said. “Stay sober if that’s real. I hope it is, for your own sake.”

“Thank you,” he said.

“Goodbye,” she said.

She hung up before he could respond.

Sat on the kitchen floor for a long moment, phone in her lap, feeling something unclench in her chest that she hadn’t realised was still clenched.

Avalon found her there twenty minutes later.

He sat down across from her without asking, the way he always did now, understanding the floor’s particular honesty.

“You called him,” he said. It wasn’t a question.

“I called him,” she confirmed.

“How do you feel,” he said.

She considered the question seriously.

“Lighter,” she said. “I told him I forgave him.”

Avalon’s eyebrows rose slightly, but he said nothing, waiting.

“Not for him,” she clarified. “For me. I was tired of carrying him around.”

“That makes sense,” he said.

“I told him I didn’t want a relationship,” she said. “That Elena wouldn’t know him.”

“Good,” Avalon said, relief evident in his voice.

“I meant it,” she said. “This isn’t reconciliation. This is release.”

He reached across the floor and took her hand.

“You’re remarkable,” he said.

“You keep saying that.”

“I keep meaning it.”

She leaned her head back against the cabinet, feeling the weight of the conversation finally settle into something manageable.

“I think that’s the last time I’ll ever speak to him,” she said.

“How do you feel about that,” Avalon asked.

“Complete,” she said, surprising herself with the certainty of it. “Genuinely complete.”

He squeezed her hand.

“Then it was the right call,” he said.

They sat together in comfortable silence, the apartment quiet around them, Elena asleep in the next room, the voicemail finally, truly closed.

Her phone buzzed.

A text from Maya.

How did it go? You okay?

Selene smiled and typed back.

Better than okay. I’m free.

Maya’s response came instantly.

Good. Love you. See Robert kick tomorrow, he’s putting on quite a show.

Selene laughed, showing Avalon the message.

“Robert’s already causing chaos,” he said.

“He’s a Castellano,” Selene said. “Chaos is basically genetic.”