#Chapter 98: Letting Go

ELENA I hadn’t expected it to hit me like that. Watching Derek teach Aiden to ride his bike… I don’t know. It gutted me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. Not because it hurt, but because it was right. The way Aiden beamed up at him. The way Derek knelt beside him, patient and calm, catching him every time he fell. The way they both lit up when Aiden finally took off on his own, his legs pedaling wild and proud. It wasn’t just about the bike. It was about this—this moment that should’ve always belonged to a boy and his father. And I’d kept it from them. Not out of cruelty, but out of fear. Fear that Derek would hurt him, disappoint him, abandon him. Fear that he’d do to Aiden what he did to me. But now? Now I wasn’t sure anymore. I watched them from the window, unseen, heart lodged somewhere between my ribs and my throat. Derek’s hand lifted to wave, and I stepped away instinctively. I didn’t want him to see me watching. I didn’t want him to see the crack forming in th