Chapter 74 Escape Route
Elena's POV
I shut the door behind me and leaned against it, breathing in the silence that seemed almost alien after the storm Damian had brought into my life. My chest ached—not just from anger, not just from betrayal—but from exhaustion. From the constant weight of decisions I hadn’t made yet, from the growing life inside me that I didn’t even know I wanted.
I had tried. God, I had tried to manage everything: my job, my life, my pride, the absurd love triangle that had become my reality. But I couldn’t anymore. I wasn’t sure I wanted to fight, to explain, to be caught in a hurricane of emotions that wasn’t even mine alone. I just… needed air. Needed space. Needed the world to stop spinning long enough for me to catch my breath.
And I knew exactly how to get it.
I packed in silence that night, the apartment feeling unusually empty with Damian’s absence and Rachael’s shadow lingering everywhere. Clothes, toiletries, a few keepsakes, and my laptop—the essentials. I didn’t call, didn’t text, didn’t warn anyone. Not him. Not my friends. Not my family. They could all wait. I was done waiting on anyone else.
Brian had been quietly supportive, sitting on the couch as I zipped up my suitcase. His presence was a quiet reassurance, a steady anchor in the chaos. He had come to visit like nothing was wrong, like life hadn’t just exploded in my face. He didn’t ask questions, didn’t pry. He just nodded when I told him what I needed.
“We leave tonight,” I said finally, my voice hoarse from holding back everything I’d been feeling.
Brian’s eyebrows shot up, though he didn’t look surprised. “You’re serious?”
“I am,” I said, shutting the suitcase with finality. “I’m done. I need to breathe. I need… space. Away from everything. Away from him. Away from all of it.”
He nodded, finally smiling a small, understanding smile. “Then let’s go. I’ll get us to the airport. No one needs to know. We’ll disappear for a while.”
Disappearing. The word tasted like freedom on my tongue. For weeks, I’d felt trapped in my own life, in the relentless rhythm of meetings, stolen glances, rumors, office politics, and Damian’s impossible presence looming everywhere. And now, finally, I had a choice. A real choice.
The drive to the airport was quiet, filled with only the low hum of the tires on the highway. I stared out the window at the city lights, at the people walking home with their mundane, unbothered lives, and felt a sharp pang of envy. I had never been ordinary, never been unbothered. Not with Damian, not with Lucas, not with the knowledge that my body was changing and that I was carrying his child—or at least, the man I had once loved in pieces.
Brian glanced at me once, his hand brushing mine briefly. “Are you going to be okay?”
I shook my head, half-smile weak and tired. “I don’t know. I think I need this. I can’t stay. I can’t…” My voice trailed off as the heaviness in my chest pressed down. A baby. A future. A man I wasn’t sure I could trust. And a love I couldn’t fully untangle from all the hurt he had caused.
At the airport, I moved like a ghost, carrying only what I needed and leaving the rest behind. Tickets in hand, we passed through security, the monotony of the process oddly soothing. Everyone was wrapped up in their own journeys, their own distractions, their own lives. For the first time in what felt like forever, I felt invisible, free.
We boarded the plane, the hum of the engines vibrating through my bones as we lifted into the night sky. Below us, the city disappeared in a blur of lights, and I closed my eyes, letting the motion and noise drown out the memories I hadn’t yet learned how to process.
Brian sat next to me, casually flipping through his phone, occasionally glancing at me. “Where are we going?” I asked finally, needing to hear my own plan spoken aloud.
“Somewhere quiet,” he said, a grin tugging at his lips. “Somewhere you can’t hear the world, or him, or anyone else for a while.”
I let out a shaky laugh, leaning back into my seat, hands folded over my growing stomach. Somewhere quiet. That sounded like heaven. Somewhere I could breathe without the weight of everyone else’s expectations crushing me, somewhere I could think without Damian’s face flashing in every thought. Somewhere I could—maybe—figure out what I truly wanted.
The plane lifted higher, and I felt the world shrink beneath me. The city, the office, the wedding, the heartbreak, Damian, Rachael—all of it—was left below, a distant memory that couldn’t reach me here. For the first time in weeks, I felt the tightness in my chest ease just a fraction.
Brian reached over and lightly pressed my hand. “You’re doing the right thing. Trust me.”
“I hope so,” I whispered. “I don’t even know if I want this baby yet. I don’t even know if I’m ready to face everything when I come back.”
“You’ll figure it out,” he said, eyes soft and steady. “And you won’t be alone.”
I let his words settle over me, like a blanket against the cold. I leaned back, closed my eyes, and let the hum of the engines lull me into a rare sense of peace. For now, the world could wait. For now, I was just Elena, untangling herself from the chaos, taking a deep breath, and carving out a moment that belonged entirely to her.
And somewhere in the quiet, in the hours stretched across the clouds, I felt the first tiny spark of hope—a fragile, trembling thing—that maybe, just maybe, I could survive this. Maybe I could survive him. Maybe I could survive everything.
Because for the first time in what felt like forever, I had made a choice that was only mine.