Chapter 42
The next night, she’s gone.
Julian knows the moment he wakes up.
The mansion is too quiet. Too empty.
For the first time in centuries, he doesn’t feel her presence lingering in the walls, in the air, in the pulse of his own godforsaken heart.
He sits up, blinking against the weight pressing into his chest.
He already knows. But still, he checks.
Her room—empty.
The closet door hangs open, exposing bare hangers and a single forgotten silk blouse crumpled on the floor.
He kneels, fingertips brushing the fabric. It’s still warm.
She left hours ago.
His jaw clenches.
He knew this was coming. Knew it the second he let those words slip last night.
"I’m letting you go."
He told her what she wanted to hear.
He meant it.
Didn’t he?
A sharp, bitter chuckle escapes his lips as he straightens.
Who is he kidding?
Of course, he didn’t mean it.
He’s spent lifetimes hunting, bleeding, and burning for Ana. Loving her.
He would never truly let her go.
But this time…
This time, she didn’t even give him a choice.
She took it.
And now she’s gone.
He turns to the window, eyes trained on the dark forest surrounding the estate.
She left, but not because she wanted to.
Not really.
She’s running because she believes there’s something to run from.
Julian isn’t stupid.
Elias got to her.
And Elias is good at two things—lying, and taking what belongs to Julian.
His grip tightens on the window frame.
Maybe he should let her go.
Maybe this is the part where he finally accepts that Ana isn’t his to keep.
But the moment that thought forms—something snaps inside him.
No.
He can’t.
Because she is his.
And if she remembers everything—**truly remembers—**she’ll realize she never wanted to leave at all.
She was his once.
She’ll be his again.
No matter what it takes.
Somewhere deep in the forest, Ana is running.
Her breath fogs in the cold night air, bare feet hitting the damp earth with every desperate step forward.
Her dress is torn, snagged on the twisted branches she barely dodged while climbing over the mansion walls.
She doesn’t know where she’s going.
She just knows she can’t stay.
Her chest aches. Her mind pounds.
She’s remembering too much, too fast—it’s suffocating her.
Flashes of blood. A scream. A silver blade clattering to the ground.
Julian’s voice in her head, whispering, “I did it to save you.”
Lies.
They have to be lies.
She swallows against the nausea rising in her throat.
Elias was right.
He was right about everything.
Julian has been controlling her, twisting the truth, shaping her reality into something it never was.
He made her forget.
And now—now she’s terrified of what else he might have done.
A low growl rumbles through the trees.
She stumbles to a stop.
The silence of the forest feels wrong.
Too heavy.
Too aware.
She’s not alone.
She spins, pulse hammering in her throat.
Nothing.
Just shadows shifting between the trees.
The wind stirring the leaves.
But then—a whisper.
Low. Sinister. Close.
"You can run, little one. But you will belong to me again."
Her blood turns to ice.
Because that wasn’t Julian’s voice.
And it sure as hell wasn’t Elias.
It was someone else.
Someone she doesn’t remember.
Someone far worse.
A hand clamps over her mouth.
Ana screams.
And then—
Everything goes dark.