I woke up to the sharp, sterile sting of antiseptic and the rhythmic, indifferent beeping of a machine.
I was in a standard room at the Family's private hospital—functional, cold, and devoid of flowers.
My ribs throbbed with a dull, grinding ache with every breath, and my left arm was immobilized in a sling.
The door was slightly ajar.
I could hear voices drifting in from the VIP suite next door.
"You're safe, Viv. I promise."
It was Damien. His voice was a low rumble, a sound that used to be my sanctuary, now soothing someone else.
I shifted in the bed, wincing as pain shot through my side, and looked through the crack in the door.
He was sitting on the edge of her bed, holding her hand to his lips. He kissed her forehead, lingering there, his eyes closed in utter relief.
My breath hitched.
That was the kiss he used to give me after a nightmare.
The final thread of hope in my chest didn't just break; it dissolved like sugar in hot water.
I didn't cry.
I felt a strange, cold clarity wash over me, numbing the physical pain just enough to move.
I waited until the nurse did her rounds and left the station.
I pulled the IV out of my arm. Blood trickled down my skin, warm and sticky, but I didn't care.
I grabbed my clothes from the plastic bag on the chair. They were torn and dirty, stiff with dried mud, but they would do.
I walked out of the hospital.
I didn't take a taxi. I walked three blocks to a bus stop, blending into the gray afternoon, just another face in the crowd.
When I got back to the Villa, the guards let me in without a word. They were used to me being invisible.
I went strictly to the penthouse.
I didn't pack the Hermes bags. I didn't take the Cartier watches.
I took a nondescript duffel bag.
I packed two pairs of jeans, three shirts, and the cash I had stashed in a hollowed-out book over the last year—a rainy day fund I had prayed I'd never need.
I walked over to the nightstand where a framed photo sat.
It was taken four years ago. Damien and I on a boat, laughing, the wind in our hair. We looked like we owned the world.
I took the photo out of the frame.
I ripped it down the middle.
I dropped Damien's half into the trash can.
I put my half in my pocket.
I wasn't leaving him. I was taking myself back.
I walked out of the master bedroom, down the hall, and out the service entrance.
I knew exactly where the blind spot in the cameras was. I had listened intently when the security chief explained it to Damien months ago.
I slipped through the gap in the fence and walked into the woods that bordered the estate.
My ribs screamed in protest with every uneven step, but I kept walking.
I walked until I reached the highway.
A taxi finally stopped for me.
"The Immigration Office," I said.
When I got there, the clerk I had arranged to meet handed me a thick envelope.
"Passport, visa, new birth certificate," he said, his voice low and transactional. "Welcome to Aquinox, Miss...?"
I looked at the passport.
*Elena Vance.*
"Elena," I said, testing the name on my tongue. It tasted like freedom.
I took my phone out of my pocket.
It was a burner, but Damien had the number.
I took the SIM card out and snapped it in half.
I dropped the pieces into a storm drain outside the office.
Then I dropped the phone in a dumpster three blocks away.
I got in another taxi.
"The airport," I said.
Back at the hospital, Damien would be checking his watch.
He would eventually leave Vivian's side to come check on me.
He would find the empty bed.
He would call my phone and get dead silence.
He would track the GPS and find a dumpster.
He would race to the Villa and find the torn photo in the trash.
And he would realize that while he was busy protecting his brother's ghost, he had lost the only living thing that ever truly loved him.
But by then, I would be in the air.
"Drive fast," I told the driver.
He looked at me in the rearview mirror, eyes scanning my disheveled appearance. "Running from something, lady?"
I looked out the window at the city skyline, dominated by the Jones Tower.
"No," I said, turning away from the glass. "I'm running *to* something."
