“And I chose MY son.” The words settled between us. Clear. Unshakable. “I’ve raised him,” I said. “Protected him. Loved him. Without you.”
“And I’m here now.” He kept pushing.
“That doesn’t change anything.” I didn’t budge.
“It changes everything.” This time both his hands flew through the air.
“No,” I said again. “It doesn’t.” Because if I let it … If I allowed even a fraction of what he was saying to matter … Everything I had built would start to fracture. And I couldn’t let that happen. Not for him. Not again.
“You don’t get to walk in here and decide you’re his father,” I said. “You don’t get to interfere in his life, in my life, in the choices I make for him.”
“I’m not interfering,” Rowan said, but there was less certainty in it now.
“You are,” I said. “And you need to stop.” H
