CHAPTER NINE: THE LAST NIGHT

ELENA POV 

"You were gone forever," 

Maya was sitting on the porch steps when my headlights swept across the driveway, her little arms folded tight across her chest, bottom lip pushed out just enough to show me she'd been worried but wasn't going to admit it. 

Sophie stood behind her in the doorway with a look that said we needed to talk. 

I got out of the car and Maya was already running toward me, bare feet slapping the cold ground, purple pajamas with the little foxes she refused to let me wash too often because she said they smelled like sleep. 

I caught her, lifted her up and held her tighter than she expected. 

She didn't complain. 

"You're cold, mama," she said against my neck. 

"I know, baby," I said, "I know. 

Then I carried her inside and settled her on the couch under the big knitted blanket my father had left me, the only thing I'd taken when I ran five years ago. 

"Did you eat dinner?" I asked. 

"Sophie made her bad pasta again," Maya said. 

"My pasta is not bad." Sophie called from the kitchen.

"It needed more butter," Maya said, completely serious. 

I laughed despite everything, sitting beside her, pulling her feet into my lap. 

This, just this, a child complaining about pasta, a best friend calling from the kitchen, a warm house that smelled like pine soap and animals, this was everything I'd built from nothing. 

And I was leaving it tomorrow. 

"Mama," Maya said, watching my face the way she always did when something was wrong, "are you sad?" 

"No, love," I said faking my smile. 

"Your eyes are doing the thing. She said. 

"What thing?" I asked. 

"The pretending thing," she said looking directly into my eyes to check if Im okay! 

I looked at her, this five- years- old who saw through me every single time, her dark hair and those yellow eyes that had nothing of me in them. 

"I have to go away for a little while," I said carefully, "not forever, just for work, you're going to stay here with Sophie," 

Maya was quiet, thinking it through with that serious expression she wore when things mattered to her. 

"How long?" she asked.

"A year," I said. 

Her face shifted, not crying, just processing, 

"That's very long," she said. 

"I know," I said. 

"Will you call me every night?" She asked. 

"Every single night," I promised. I said 

Then she nodded, satisfied the way she had accepted hard things without breaking, which sometimes scared me more than tears would have. 

She was five, and she already knew some things just were what they were. Sophie appeared in the doorway."Bath time, Maya-bug," she said. Maya climbed off the couch but stopped and turned back to me. 

"Mama," she said, "if the night wolf comes while you're gone, should I tell Sophie?" 

I kept my voice even. "You tell Sophie everything," I said, "and you stay inside at night, always. 

She tilted her head, decided not to argue, then padded toward the stairs. 

Then I waited until I heard the water running, then let out the breath I'd been carrying since the contract office. 

Sophie dropped into the chair across from me."Tell me," she said.

I told her everything, the bracelet, the spark when our hands touched, the things I'd thrown at Cassian about Marcus before walking out. 

Sophie was quiet when I finished. "He's going to figure it out," she said. "I know," I said. 

"Elena, if you told him yourself, on your terms, before he pieces it together. 

"Not yet," I said, "I need to know Marcus doesn't control everything in that house first, I need to know Maya is safe before her name ever enters that world. 

Sophie looked at me for a long moment, 

"Just be careful in there," she said quietly. 

Later, then I stood in Maya's doorway watching her sleep, blanket rising and falling, dark hair across the pillow. 

She looked so much like him sometimes it physically hurt. 

I pulled her door halfway closed and went to finish packing. 

One bag, same as five years ago, only this time I was walking toward it instead of away. 

The next morning, I loaded the car before Maya woke up. I couldn't handle a long goodbye; I already knew I would fall apart, 

But she appeared at the top of the stairs in her pajamas while I was putting my shoes on, hair messy, one sock on and one off. 

"You were going to leave without saying goodbye," she said.

Not an accusation, just a fact, and somehow that was worse than if she'd cried. "Come here," I said. 

She came down the stairs and walked straight into my arms. 

So I held on. 

"I love you more than anything," I said into her hair. 

"More than the deer?" she asked. 

"More than everything in the whole world.” 

Then she pulled back and looked at my face."Bring yourself back, mama," she said. "That's the only thing I want." 

Then I kissed her forehead, stood up before I could change my mind, picked up my bag and walked out. 

I didn't look back. 

The drive to Obsidian Heights took four hours. 

By the time the city came into view, my hands had stopped shaking. The Vandenberg mansion gates were already open when I arrived. Like they'd been watching for me. Like they'd been waiting all along. That was when I knew this was just the beginning of life.