Sexting My Ex’s Dad (Forbidden Silver Foxes)

55. Elio

55

ELIO

I barely leave the hospital over the course of the next few days. If I do, it’s mainly to go home, shower, and eat a meal that isn’t hospital food. Thankfully, my nurse has made it easy for me to take food on the go, and I always take some for Stella because I know, one of these days, that she’ll be awake and she’ll want something that’s better than this hospital food.

When I step back into her hospital room, there’s no doctors and nurses.. My eyes instinctively find Stella, still unconscious and connected to machines.

It’s been like this for almost a week, but I try not to let it get to me too much.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” a cold voice says. I look up and see Owen already there, standing at the foot of the bed. How had I not noticed him? His face is pale, his eyes haunted. There’s a hardness in his gaze when he turns to me, but it’s the pain behind it that hits me the hardest.

This is eating him up inside. Does he feel as guilty as I do?

“Owen,” I say, attempting to keep my voice steady. I wonder if he’s been visiting her – I haven’t run into him if he has, but that’s not all that surprising. Owen knows how to avoid me like it’s an art skill.

“I’ve spent all of this time thinking you were the bad guy, dad,” he says with a bitter laugh. “And I’m sorry.”

He’s sorry? I wasn’t expecting to get an apology from him.

“Owen…”

“I’m not done,” he says quickly. “Just because you didn’t kill her doesn’t mean that I like you. In fact, I might hate you more. My mother may not have been your fault, but Stella was. If you had never tried to take what was mine, none of this ever would have happened. You couldn’t let me have one thing, could you?”

I swallow. It’s not like I’d stolen her from under his nose. They were broken up. As if that makes my argument any better.

“Owen, I—” My voice falters, but before I can say anything more, he talks again.

“You know I really thought you would be different when you reached out this time, Dad.” He shakes his head. “I was actually going to ask you for relationship advice. Now, I’m glad I didn’t. You probably would have just lied to my face.” His green eyes, that look so much like his mother’s, blaze with resentment, and it feels like a punch to the gut.

“I’m sorry about the way you found out, Owen,” I apologize. But it doesn’t change the way I feel. I meant to say it together, but, for some reason, I can’t get those words out.

“What you should be sorry about is sleeping with her in the first place.”

Maybe, I should agree with him, but I can’t apologize because I don’t regret it. I don’t regret anything I’ve done with Stella. I’m just sorry that it hurt him along the way, and if there was a way for me to change that, I would.

Owen takes my silence as a cue to keep talking. “You know if she does, you won’t have anyone but yourself to blame, right?”

I can’t think about Stella dying. The thought itself makes me want to do things – violent things.

“Stella’s strong,” I say, looking over at her unconscious form. “She’s going to pull through this, and I’ll be there for her every step of the way. For both of you if you’ll let me.”

“Maybe we don’t want you there,” Owen snaps, and I feel the sting of rejection like a slap in the face. “Maybe we’d be better off without you. Can you do that? Can you back off and just let the two of us be happy?”

I look at my son. That’s what this is all about. He wants me to back off, so he can have Stella for himself.

Would it be such a bad idea if I did back off? It’s clear that Owen loves her…he’d lunged at Massimo in an attempt to save her. What had I done? Stood there and watched; the same thing I did with Margot.

Owen had done a bad thing to Stella, but people change, don’t they? And if he wants her so bad, isn’t it my job to step aside and let my son be happy?

“Is that what you want?” I ask, my voice barely above a whisper. “For me to back off and let you have her?”

Owen doesn’t hesitate. “Yes, and if you don’t, you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting the fact that you’re the reason your son disowned you.”

It’s a threat. I don’t do well with ultimatums or being backed into a corner, but this is different. This is my son. Even if he doesn’t feel the same way, I love him and do want him to be happy.

If letting go of Stella is what it takes…

“I’m trying my best, you know,” I tell him.

“Your best isn’t good enough.” Venom drips from every word he says. “It never has been. If you really cared then you would leave Stella alone because when she wakes up, she’ll realize what I see. You don’t deserve her, and you never will.”

My gaze shifts to Stella, still unconscious and tethered to the machines that monitor her every breath. Her face is pale, a stark contrast to the vibrant woman I’ve come to know and love. I long to reach out and touch her, to reassure myself that she’s still here, that there’s still hope for her to recover. But something holds me back—the gnawing fear that Owen might be right. That I’m more of a danger to her than a protector.

That I’ll never be good enough for her…

“Stella,” I murmur, my voice barely audible even to myself. “I never meant for any of this to happen. I just... I wanted to protect you.”

As the words tumble out, they feel hollow, lifeless. An inadequate defense against the barrage of Owen’s accusations. I can’t shake the feeling that he’s right, that I’m not capable of being the man Stella needs. And maybe, in the end, the most loving thing I can do for her is to let her go.

I need to let her pursue a life with my son.

I turn away from her bed. With a heavy heart, I step into the empty hallway and begin to walk away. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, but it’s the only way I can truly protect her.

Because loving something, sometimes, means being willing to let it go.