CHAPTER 24 : Escape or Exile

The adrenaline fades, leaving exhaustion and pain in its wake. They hide in a safe house on the outskirts of the city, tending to wounds both visible and unseen. Alexander watches Eve sleep, knowing this is the closest she's been to peace in weeks. And he knows what he has to do.

There's no running from the life he's led. No escaping the blood on his hands. Even with Carver gone, others will come. They always do. The only way to protect her is to disappear—to cut the last tie between them before she gets dragged back into his world.

He spends the night writing a letter, each word carved from his soul.

Alexander (writing): "Some loves are meant to heal. Ours was only ever meant to burn."

When Eve wakes, he's gone. No note. No explanation. Just an empty bed and the weight of his absence pressing down on her chest like a physical wound.

She screams his name into the quiet morning, but there's no answer. Just the whisper of the wind carrying him away.