Chapter 100
Elena's POV
I looked around, taking in the warmth of the fireplace, the floor-to-ceiling windows, the careful comfort of every detail. "Your place is beautiful. It's safe."
His mouth tightened, and when he spoke again, there was an edge of something dark beneath the calm. "This entire district is still under Vance property holdings. The land, the buildings—all of it traces back to the family's real estate division." He paused, and I watched his jaw work before he continued. "I want somewhere that's completely ours. Somewhere they can't reach."
The way he said "ours" made something flutter dangerously in my chest. Not "yours," not "mine"—ours. Like he was already building a future where we existed together, separate from everything that had tried to define us before.
"A home," I whispered, testing the word. The idea of it bloomed warm and fragile in my mind—a place where no one could demand I be someone I wasn't, where Caleb didn't have to carry the weight of his last name, where we could just... be.
His eyes softened, and the smallest smile ghosted across his mouth. "Yeah. A real home."
An untimely sound came from his stomach. He laughed awkwardly.
I laughed too, reaching for his hand and pulling him toward the table. "Come on. You haven't eaten yet."
The dining room felt different tonight—less formal, more like the space was actually meant to be lived in. I'd reheated the steak I'd brought back earlier. Caleb had rolled up his sleeves, and as he cut into his food with methodical precision, I found myself watching the way he moved.
"You don't know what you like? So it's just steak." I paused. "What's your favorite food? Are there things you hate?"
"I'm not picky." He picked up his fork again, but didn't eat, his gaze fixed on the plate. "I learned early on not to waste food. When you go hungry often enough, you stop being selective about what you'll eat."
The simple statement landed like a blow, stealing the air from my lungs. I watched as he continued eating with that same steady rhythm, as if he hadn't just casually referenced childhood starvation like it was nothing more than a weather pattern he'd endured.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, and my voice came out thick.
Caleb reached across the table, his fingers gentle as they caught the tear that had escaped down my cheek. "That's in the past," he said, thumb sweeping the moisture away in a touch so tender it made my throat close up entirely. "You don't need to apologize for things from before, things you had no control over. You're here now. That's already more than I ever thought I'd have."
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I was helping him clear the plates when my phone buzzed on the table. The screen lit up with a single word: Mom. My stomach clenched reflexively.
I picked up on the third ring. "Hello?"
"Elena." Vivian's voice was quieter than usual. "Are you somewhere safe?"
"I'm fine, Mom."
There was a pause, filled with the sound of her breathing and something that might have been traffic in the background. "I understand why you don't want to go through with the engagement," she said finally. "I do. But your father..." Another pause. "He's not handling this well."
I closed my eyes. "I know."
"No, I don't think you do." Her voice dropped lower, urgent and tight. "He's planning to contact the Enforcement Division, Elena. He's going to file a missing person report, claim you're in danger. And once they're involved, once they have an official reason to look for you..."
She didn't finish the sentence. She didn't have to. The Enforcement Division didn't just find people. They "retrieved" them, using whatever methods they deemed necessary. And with my father's connections, with the Vance family's resources behind the search, there would be nowhere in this city I could hide.
"He's also going to your school," Vivian continued, each word clipped and businesslike now, like she was reading from a tactical briefing. "He plans to question your roommates, your friends. Anyone who might know where you are."
My free hand clenched into a fist against my thigh. Lila. The other girls in my dorm. Anyone I'd ever smiled at in a hallway could become a target for my father's interrogation.
"I can't stop him. I've tried. But you need to be careful, Elena."
The line went dead.
I stared at the blank screen for a moment, my mother's words still echoing in my head.
"Elena." Caleb's voice cut through the static in my brain. His expression was unreadable but his body tense. "What did she say?"
I set the phone down carefully, buying myself a few seconds to figure out how to say it.
"My mom said..." I started, then stopped. I cleared my throat and tried again. "My dad's planning to involve the Enforcement Division. He's going to file a missing person report. Say I'm in danger, that I've been threatened or—" I waved a hand vaguely, unable to finish the sentence. "Once they're involved..."
I didn't need to spell it out. Caleb knew as well as I did what happened when the Division got involved. They didn't just find people. They retrieved them, and when it came to family bloodlines and territorial alliances, they didn't particularly care about consent or personal choice.
Caleb didn't respond immediately. Instead, he reached across the table and pulled my chair closer to his. Then his arm came around my shoulders, a solid, grounding weight that made my throat tighten.
"There's more," I said, my words muffled slightly against his shoulder. "He's going to the school. He'll question Lila, my roommates, anyone who might know where I am."
I felt Caleb's chest rise and fall with a long, controlled breath.
"This isn't surprising." His voice was calm, almost clinical, like he was analyzing a business problem. "Your father's out of options. Cross Industries is shrinking. His pack standing is collapsing. You're the only card he has left."
There was no judgment in his tone, no mockery. Just facts laid out in that even, measured way he had of speaking when he was thinking ahead.
I knew he was right. I'd known it the moment my mother's voice had gone tight and urgent on the phone. But hearing it stated so plainly, so inevitably, made the walls feel like they were closing in.