Chapter 80 The Man Who built me

Chapter 80 The Man Who built me

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For a moment, Elowen said nothing.
The rain outside had intensified and it kept tapping steadily against the tall windows while the overhead lights cast long shadows across the empty training mats.
Elowen stared down at her hands, at  the faint calluses along her knuckles, at the tiny scars scattered across her fingers from years of wraps, ropes, and gloves.
Her chest tightened painfully because talking about her father was dangerous territory not because she disliked speaking about him but because once she started, the grief never seemed to stop where she wanted it to.
It would slowly and mercilessly spread.
Lucian didn’t rush her to say anything, he simply sat quietly beside her on the narrow wooden bench, quiet and patient in a way she was still learning from him.
Finally, she exhaled softly. “He was terrifying.”
Lucian blinked once then, unexpectedly, the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
Elowen huffed out a quiet laugh. “No seriously,” she said, shaking her head faintly. “The man treated boxing like it was some sort of  religion.”
Something warm flickered briefly across her chest as memories surfaced.
“Every morning at five a.m. he’d drag Kieron and me out of bed for roadwork.”
Lucian looked genuinely horrified. “At five?”
“Yes, five,” she repeated dryly. “Sometimes earlier if he was in one of his ‘discipline builds character’ moods.”
Lucian groaned softly. “I suddenly understand your personality disorders.”
That earned him a look. “My personality disorders?”
“You bark instructions at people like an ex-military commander.”
“I do not.”
“You absolutely do.”
Despite herself, Elowen smiled faintly amd something about the ease of that moment made her chest ache unexpectedly becafor a second, talking about her father felt less painful and less sharp around the edges.
“He was intense,” she admitted quietly. “But… good.”
The word felt too small somehow, too simple for a man who had shaped every part of her life.
Elowen leaned back slightly against the bench. “He believed discipline was love you know.”
Lucian’s expression softened as she spoke.
“He used to say talent meant nothing if you couldn’t control yourself. That discipline was what separated fighters from disasters.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“You know.. He had these ridiculous sayings he repeated constantly.”
“Such as?”
“‘Your body quits long before your mind does.’”
Lucian nodded slowly. “That actually sounds like something you’d say.”
She ignored him. “And ‘boxing reveals who you are when comfort disappears.’”
The smile faded slightly.
“He believed the ring stripped people down to their truth.”
Elowen stared out across the empty gym floor. “I think that’s why he loved coaching so much,” she said quietly. “He liked understanding people.”
Lucian watched her carefully now. “He coached everyone huh?”
“Pretty much.”
Her voice softened further. “Kids with nowhere to go. Teenagers getting into trouble. Guys trying to stay sober.” A sad smile crossed her face. “Our gym was basically a second home for half of Inglewood.”
The memories came easier now. “He remembered everything about people,” she murmured. “Birthdays. Injuries. Which fighters needed encouragement and which ones needed yelling.”
Lucian’s mouth curved slightly. “You definitely inherited the yelling.”
“Oh my God.”
“What.. I’m just saying.”
She rolled her eyes, but warmth spread quietly through her chest anyway then her expression softened again.
“He was hard on us though.” The humor faded from her voice. “Especially me.”
Lucian frowned slightly. “Why you?”
“Because for some weird reason he always expected more from me.”
She looked down at her hands again. “Kieron was the one who truly loved boxing.”
A small smile touched her lips. “He loved the adrenaline. The competition.. The crowd.”
Her chest tightened faintly. “But my dad used to say I understood boxing.”
Lucian stayed silent.
“He’d make me sit beside him during fights and explain everything happening in the ring like foot placement, shoulder positioning, timing ohhh as well as weight transfer.” She swallowed softly. “He said I saw patterns other people missed.”
“He used to call me his little strategist.”
Lucian’s expression changed at that and for some reason, that nearly undid her.
Because she had spent so long carrying Gareth’s absence alone that hearing someone else quietly value those memories felt overwhelming.
“He was  amazing,” Lucian said softly.
Elowen’s throat tightened instantly because yes.. He had been and losing him had shattered everything.
The shift in her expression must have shown because Lucian’s face grew more careful immediately.
“Elowen…”
She shook her head once quickly but it was already too late.. The grief had surfaced now and once it started rising, it never stopped gently.
“He died when he wasn’t supposed to.. after one of Kieron’s amateur tournaments.”
Her voice sounded smaller suddenly as the gym blurred faintly around the edges in her eyes.
Lucian stayed perfectly still beside her.
“It was raining,” she whispered.
The memory hit hard and immediate.
Too vivid.. Too alive.
“He drove back alone because he had another session early the next morning.. ”
Her fingers curled tightly together. “The police said a truck ran a red light.”
The words nearly cracked in half coming out and for half a moment, silence swallowed the room completely even the rain outside sounded distant now.
Elowen stared straight ahead refusing to blink because if she mistakenly blinked or looked down, she knew she would lose control.
“I remember waking up because Kieron was screaming.”
Her voice trembled faintly and she immediately hated it.. Hated how grief still reduced her this easily.
“It was very early.” She swallowed hard. “There were officers standing in our apartment.”
Lucian’s jaw tightened slightly but he said nothing.
“They kept talking but I couldn’t understand any of the words.” Her breathing grew uneven. “I just remember staring at my father’s gloves sitting by the door.”
A tear slid down her cheek before she could stop it but she wiped it away immediately annoyed with herself but another followed anyway.
“I think part of me believed he’d walk back in eventually.” Her laugh came out broken. “Like the whole thing was some sort of mistake.”
Lucian looked absolutely wrecked listening to her.
“The funeral was horrible,” she whispered.
“Everyone kept telling us how strong we were.”
Her lips trembled slightly. “As if saying that somehow made it easier.”
The ache in her chest became unbearable now.
“Kieron stopped talking for almost two weeks afterward.”
Lucian’s eyes darkened.
“And I…” Her voice cracked fully this time. “I didn’t get the chance to fall apart.”
That sentence hung heavily between them.. Painfully honest.
Because it was true, the moment Gareth died, survival had swallowed grief whole.
Scholarships.. Bills.. Food.. Training then Kieron.
There had never been time to collapse properly and Elowen slowly pressed trembling fingers briefly against her eyes.
She hated crying.. Especially in front of people.
But suddenly Lucian’s voice came quietly beside her. “You loved him a lot.”
The gentleness in those words broke something open inside her completely.
Elowen let out a shaky breath. “He was everything.”
And there it was.. The truth she almost never said aloud.
Her father had not simply been a parent, he  had been safety, guidance.. Home.
The person who made the world feel manageable and losing him had forced her to become someone harder before she was ready.
Lucian reached for the towel beside him quietly and handed it to her without a word.
The gesture was so simple that it made her chest ache all over again.
Elowen took it reluctantly. “Sorry.”
Lucian frowned immediately. “For what?”
She laughed weakly. “Well.. This.”
He looked genuinely confused. “Elowen, why are you apologizing for grieving your father?”
The softness in his voice made her throat tighten painfully because no one ever said things like that to her.
People usually expected composure from her.
Lucian just looked at her like she was allowed to hurt and somehow that felt more dangerous than anything else between them.
She stared down at the towel in her lap quietly. “You know what the worst part was?”
Lucian waited patiently.
“I was angry at him for a while.”
The confession came out barely above a whisper and her chest was filled with shame.
“Because he left us.”
Lucian’s expression softened even further.
“I know that’s irrational but..”
“It’s not.”
She looked up quickly and Lucian held her gaze steadily.
“When people leave us,” he said quietly, “even when it isn’t their fault… part of us still feels abandoned.”
The understanding in his voice hit her hard because he understood that feeling too.
Elowen looked over at him slowly and suddenly the distance between them felt very small it was like piece by piece, they had stopped hiding from each other.
Lucian studied her quietly for a long moment then he said softly..
“He’d be so very proud of you.”
The words hit harder than she expected because deep down, beneath all the exhaustion and survival and grief… That was the thing she wanted most.
To still be someone Gareth Sterling would be a hundred percent proud of.