Chapter 4

Eli POV

The note was a lie.

I knew it the moment I touched the paper. It was too pristine. Too sterile. Harper's handwriting when she was distressed was jagged, chaotic-ink bleeding through the page where she pressed too hard. This was precise. Calculated.

I stood in our bedroom, the silence ringing in my ears louder than a gunshot. The tracker bracelet sat on the nightstand, a hollow silver circle mocking me.

"She's gone, Eli," Florence said from the doorway. She was dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, but the fabric remained dry. "She was so unstable. We should have seen it coming."

I turned to look at my mother. I saw the tremor in her hand. I smelled the fear coming off her like the sour scent of old pennies.

"Where is she?" I asked. My voice was quiet. Deadly.

"The river," Florence stammered. "The police found... footprints on the bridge."

"And Kasey?" I asked. "Where is Kasey?"

"She's in her room. She's distraught."

I walked past my mother. I didn't run. I hunted.

I kicked open the door to the guest suite. Kasey was packing a suitcase, clothes thrown haphazardly into the open maw of the bag. She froze when she saw me.

"Going somewhere?" I asked.

"I... I just need some space, Eli. The tragedy..."

I crossed the room in two strides and grabbed her by the throat. I lifted her off the ground and slammed her against the wall, the drywall cracking under the force of her skull.

"I checked the security logs," I snarled, my face inches from hers. "You and my mother left the estate at 11:40 PM. You returned at 1:00 AM. Harper's tracker went offline at midnight."

Kasey clawed at my hand, her face turning purple, her nails digging uselessly into my wrist. "Eli... please..."

"Did she jump?" I squeezed tighter, feeling the cartilage shift. "Or did you help her?"

"She... she wanted to die!" Kasey gasped, spittle flying from her lips. "We just... we helped her!"

I threw her across the room. She crashed into the vanity, glass shattering around her like falling rain.

"You touched what was mine," I said. The rage was a cold fire in my gut. It wasn't about love. It was about property. It was about the audacity of thinking they could destroy something that belonged to the Don.

"She was weak!" Kasey screamed, blood running down her face and blinding one eye. "I gave you a son! A real heir!"

"You gave me a bastard and a liability," I said. I pulled my gun from my holster.

I didn't waste breath on a eulogy. I put a bullet between her eyes.

The silence returned, heavy and metallic.

I walked out of the room, leaving the body for the cleaners. I found Florence in the hallway. She was pale as a sheet, clinging to the wainscoting for support.

"Eli..."

"You are no longer the matriarch of this family," I said, holstering my weapon. "You are a prisoner in your own home. You will never leave the east wing. If I see you, I will kill you."

"And the boy?" she whispered.

"Send him away," I said, already walking away. "Military school. Overseas. Somewhere hard. If he survives, maybe he's a Stark. I don't care."

I walked back to our bedroom. It felt massive. Empty.

I picked up the silver bracelet. I sat on the edge of the bed where she used to sleep, the sheets still faintly smelling of her vanilla shampoo.

They said she was dead. The river was fast. No body had been found.

But I felt it. A pull in my chest. A severance of a tie that hadn't completely snapped.

She wasn't dead. Harper was smart. Smarter than any of us gave her credit for. She had played us.

I looked at her photo on the dresser. Her eyes were sad, but her chin was high.

"You think you can run from me?" I whispered to the picture.

I traced the line of her jaw with my thumb, imagining the warmth of her skin.

"I will burn the world down to find you, Harper. And when I do, I'm going to chain you to this bed so you never leave me again."

Harper

Three hundred miles away, in a small coastal town that smelled of salt and pine, a woman named Avery sat in a sunlit conservatory.

She was reading a book on advanced cognitive behavioral therapy. She turned the page, her fingers graceful and steady.

"Coffee?"

A man walked in. Casey. He placed a steaming mug on the table.

Avery looked up and smiled. Her eyes were bright, clear, and unburdened by shadows.

"Thank you," she said. "This chapter on trauma response is fascinating. It feels... intuitive."

"You have a gift," Casey said, watching her carefully.

"It feels like I've always known it," she said. She looked out the window at the garden, where the hydrangeas bloomed in perfect, heavy clusters. "I feel so peaceful here, Casey. Like I was born for this quiet life."

"You were," Casey lied gently. He touched her shoulder.

"You're safe here, Avery."

She leaned her cheek against his hand. She didn't remember a husband. She didn't remember a son. She didn't remember the water filling her lungs.

She was a blank canvas, painted with the colors of peace. But she didn't know that the artist who had painted her previous life in blood and darkness was already hunting for his brush.