Chapter 5

Eliana Carter POV

The next morning, the sky was a bruised shade of purple, heavy and low.

I sat on my porch steps, three boxes stacked beside me. That was it. My entire existence condensed into cardboard.

Jax pulled up.

He wasn't driving his sports car this time; he was in the black SUV-the one he used for "business." The one that smelled like leather and bad intentions.

He got out, looking rough. His hair was messy, his shirt unbuttoned at the collar. He hadn't slept.

"Where do you think you're going?" he demanded, marching up the walkway with a storm in his eyes.

"The airport," I said, keeping my voice steady. "My flight is in three hours."

"You're not getting on a plane."

"Watch me."

He closed the distance and grabbed my wrist. His grip was tight, possessive.

"I checked the registrar at UCLA. You aren't enrolled. You really did this? You really torched our future for a little drama?"

"I removed myself from your future, Jax. There's a difference."

I yanked my arm back, breaking his hold.

"And by the way, you're no longer my emergency contact. I scrubbed you from my medical files this morning."

The words hit him like a physical blow. He flinched.

In our world, in the Life, being the emergency contact wasn't just paperwork. It was a blood oath almost as binding as marriage. It meant you held the power of life and death over the other person.

"You ungrateful brat," he hissed, stepping closer.

Before he could escalate, tires screeched against the pavement.

Catalina's car skidded to a halt behind his SUV. She jumped out, looking perfectly put together, clutching a coffee cup like a shield.

"Jax!" she screamed, her voice pitched high with panic. "My dad called. The rival crew... the ones who followed me? They're near the park."

It was a lie. A calculated performance. I could see the fabrication glinting in her eyes. She needed to snap his focus back to her, and fear was the quickest leash.

Jax hesitated. The instinct to protect, ingrained in him since birth, warred with his rage at me.

He looked at me, then at her.

"Go," I said, my voice hollow. "Go save her. It's what you do."

Jax pointed a finger at me, his jaw tight.

"If you leave," he warned, "don't think you can come crawling back when the real world chews you up."

"I won't."

He stared at me for one last second, then turned and got into his car with Catalina. He chose the distraction. He chose her. Again.

I waited until their taillights disappeared. Then, I loaded my car.

But I had one last stop.

The Old Oak.

It stood on the jagged edge of the Outfit's territory, a massive, ancient sentinel where generations of made men and their wives had carved their initials. It was sacred ground.

I drove there, my heart pounding a slow, painful rhythm.

I grabbed my keys and walked up to the trunk. There, weathered by time and elements, was the carving:

J.L. + E.C.

We had carved it when we were twelve. A blood oath of sorts. A promise that now felt like a curse.

I took my car key. I didn't just scratch the bark; I attacked it. I gouged the metal deep into the wood, scraping away the 'E.C.' until only raw, weeping pulp remained.

"That's vandalism," a voice said.

I spun around.

Jax and Catalina had followed me. Of course they had. He couldn't let me go without making sure I was really gone.

Catalina was smirking, leaning against the hood of the SUV. "Look, Jax. She's erasing herself. Saves us the trouble."

She sashayed up to the tree, inspecting my work. "You should carve my initials there, baby. Right over her mess."

Jax stood back, watching me with cold, dead eyes. "You're desecrating history, Eliana."

"It's not history," I spat, dropping my hand. "It's graffiti."

I dropped my keys. My hands were shaking so hard I couldn't hold them.

Catalina stepped closer to me, invading my space.

"You look pathetic," she whispered. "The fallen princess."

Then, she shoved me.

I wasn't expecting it. I stumbled back, my bad knee buckling under the sudden weight.

Behind me was the estate pond-fed by the same dark, stagnant water system that filled the pool at the Riley's.

I fell backward.

The water rushed over me for the second time in a week. But this part of the pond was deeper, muddy, and choked with reeds.

My heavy boots sank into the silt, anchoring me down. I struggled, thrashing, my knee screaming in agony.

I breached the surface, gasping for air, wiping thick mud from my eyes.

Jax was standing on the bank.

He was close enough to reach out a hand. Close enough to pull me up.

He looked at me struggling in the muck.

Then he looked at Catalina, who was laughing-a cruel, tinkling sound.

Jax put his hands in his pockets.

"Die if you want," he said softly, his voice carrying effortlessly over the water. "You aren't my problem anymore."

He turned around. He draped his arm around Catalina's shoulders and walked back to his car.

I watched them leave.

I was alone in the freezing mud.

I stopped thrashing. I found my footing in the sludge. I dug my fingers into the muddy bank and hauled myself out, inch by painful inch.

I lay on the grass, shivering, covered in slime and decay.

The love I had for him didn't die in that moment. Love is a stubborn thing; it doesn't die that quickly.

But hope did.

And in its place, something colder, harder, and infinitely more useful began to grow.

I stood up.

I didn't look back at the tree.

I walked to my car, leaving a trail of muddy footprints that looked like black blood.

I was going to New York.

And I was never coming back.