Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Isla
The city lights blur through my loft windows as I press my hands against the cold glass.
One day. It’s been one day since Eli walked into Wolfe’s office and everything shattered.
My reflection stares back at me, haunted and hollow, but all I can see is the way Eli’s face changed when he saw me there.
The memory is still fresh, making my knees weak:
The heavy door swinging open. My heart stopping at the sight of him, devastating in his tailored suit. But it’s his eyes I can’t forget—the shock bleeding into confusion, then hardening into betrayal.
“What the hell is this?” His voice had been sharp, controlled. Barely.
I squeeze my eyes shut, but the scene plays on behind my eyelids. Me, taking a step forward, heart in my throat. “Eli?—”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Wolfe’s lazy drawl cutting through the tension. “She’s been here for a while.”
The first crack of doubt sliding across Eli’s face. God, I’ll never forget that look.
“How long?” The words like broken glass between us.
My fingers twist together now, just like they did then—the nervous tell he knows so well. “Please, let me explain?—”
“How. Long?”
A sob catches in my throat as I push away from the window. I can’t stay here, surrounded by evidence of the life we were building. The drafting table where we worked late into the night. The kitchen where he made me tea yesterday morning, neither of us knowing it would be the last time.
My phone buzzes again. Drake. It’s been buzzing for hours, but I can’t answer. Can’t explain. Can’t let anyone try to fix what I’m about to deliberately break.
Because in twenty minutes, I have to walk into Wolfe’s office and make Eli’s worst fears come true. I have to let him believe I betrayed him. That I’ve been secretly meeting with Wolfe. That everything between us was a lie.
It’s better than the truth—that I’m Wolfe’s blood. That my very existence could destroy everything Eli’s worked for. That loving me means loving the enemy.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to the empty loft. To the ghost of us that still lingers here. To the future we’ll never have.
Each floor on the elevator ride to Wolfe’s office brings me closer to the moment I have to destroy everything to save everyone. My hands won’t stop shaking, so I clench them into fists.
Now, the leather chair creaks beneath James Wolfe as he leans back, satisfaction gleaming in his eyes. I force myself to meet his gaze, my nails cutting crescents into my palms. The Manhattan skyline spreads out behind him like a glittering backdrop to my personal nightmare.
“I’ll walk away.” The words scrape my throat raw. Each syllable feels like betrayal, like acid burning through everything Eli and I rebuilt.
Wolfe’s smile spreads slow and victorious as he swirls the amber liquid in his crystal tumbler.
“Smart choice, Carrington.” He takes a deliberate sip, savoring both the scotch and my surrender. “You understand what this means, of course? No contact with Eli Alderidge or his family. No explanations. No goodbyes. You simply... disappear.”
I say nothing. I can’t. If I open my mouth, I might scream. Or beg. Or tell him to go to hell. Instead, I focus on breathing – in through my nose, out through my mouth. The way Mom taught me when anxiety threatened to overwhelm me as a child.
“Your mother’s safety is worth that much, isn’t it?”
Wolfe’s voice is silk over steel.I swallow hard.
“I understand.”
His smile sharpens.
“Smart girl. Always knew when to cut your losses.”
I’m protecting Mom. I’m protecting Eli from the scandal that would destroy his family’s legacy. I’m doing the right thing.
God, why does doing the right thing feel like dying?
I stand, my legs somehow supporting me despite feeling like they’re made of glass. The city lights blur through the floor-to-ceiling windows, and I realize my eyes are burning with unshed tears.
Don’t cry. Not here. Not in front of him.
“Oh, and Isla?” Wolfe’s voice stops me at the door. “When he comes looking for answers – and he will – remember our deal. One word to anyone about this conversation, and everything burns.”
I don’t turn around. I don’t give him the satisfaction of seeing my face. I simply nod once and walk out, leaving my heart bleeding on his office floor.
The elevator doors close behind me, and I press my forehead against the cool metal, finally allowing one tear to escape.
Just one.
I have to stay strong. I have to keep walking. I have to protect them both – Mom and Eli – even if it means destroying myself in the process.
The city swallows me whole as I walk, each step echoing against concrete that feels harder than usual tonight. No cab. No driver. Just me and the bitter February wind that cuts through my blazer like it’s nothing.
My phone buzzes again. And again. And again.
Drake
Pick up the damn phone, Isla.
Maggie
Please, sweetheart. Let us help.
Sophia
Whatever happened, we can fix it. Just talk to me.
The key sticks in my apartment door—it always does—but tonight the familiar frustration feels distant, disconnected. Like everything else about this nightmare of a day.
I step inside and lock the door behind me. The sound of the bolt sliding home echoes in the empty space. I don’t turn on the lights. I can’t face seeing the drafting table where Eli and I worked late into the night, or the kitchen where he made me tea this morning, or the window seat where we?—
Stop.
The silence presses against my ribs, suffocating.
My legs give out and I sink onto the couch, pulling my knees to my chest like I did when I was little and scared. But Mom’s not here to comfort me now. No one is. That was my choice, wasn’t it? To be alone. To protect everyone by sacrificing myself.
My throat is so tight it hurts. My chest feels like it’s being crushed. My hands won’t stop trembling, no matter how tightly I wrap my arms around myself.
But I don’t cry.
I can’t cry.
Crying would mean accepting that I lost him. That I lost us. That I lost everything we could have been.
My phone buzzes again in my pocket. I pull it out, staring at the screen through blurry eyes.
Drake.
I’m coming over. Don’t argue. You shouldn’t be alone.
My fingers hover over the keyboard.Not just for Drake. For Eli.I could call. I could explain.But I don’t.I can’t.
I turn the phone off completely.
I made my choice.
Now I have to live with it.
Darkness has claimed the city when I finally press the power button again.
I stand in my dark loft, staring at nothing. The silence presses against my ribs, suffocating. My apartment has never felt this empty, this cold, this... final. Even my plants seem to droop in the darkness, as if they know their caretaker is falling apart.
The city lights paint shadows on my ceiling, and I watch them dance, remembering how Eli and I used to make up stories about the shapes they created. God, was that only last week? It feels like a lifetime ago. Like a different person’s life entirely.
My phone vibrates to life in my palm. A moment of weakness. Three hours of silence wasn’t enough, apparently.
Ten minutes away.
No. I can’t face him. Can’t face anyone. Not tonight. Not after what I’ve done.
I grab my coat and keys, fleeing my own apartment like it’s on fire. Drake will be here soon, and I can’t—won’t—let him try to fix what I deliberately broke.
The wind hits me as I step onto the street, cutting through my thin blazer. I start walking, no destination in mind. Just away. Away from Drake’s concern. Away from my loft full of memories. Away from everything that reminds me of what I just lost.
My phone buzzes again.
I’m at your building. Where are you?
I switch it to silent and shove it deep in my pocket. The city lights blur around me, and I blink hard, refusing to let more tears fall. I’ve cried enough for one night.
At the crosswalk, I stop automatically with the crowd, staring unseeing at the red hand telling us to wait. A couple next to me huddles close against the cold, sharing quiet laughter and gentle touches. The sight sends a physical pain through my chest.
That could have been us. Should have been us.
I look up, trying to escape the happy couple’s display of everything I’ve just lost, and that’s when I see it.
The Artisan Hotel rises against the night sky, its glass facade catching the city lights. Even unfinished, it’s beautiful.I see us standing here months ago—Eli tracing the edge of a blueprint with his finger, eyes shining with that stubborn determination.
“We’re making history,” he’d said, his voice sure, steady. Now, history is all we are.
Everything I just walked away from.
My phone vibrates again. Drake must be tracking me by now. He’s probably following the signal, determined to save me from myself.
But I don’t deserve saving.
“Miss? You okay?” A street vendor selling hot dogs asks, genuine concern in his voice.
I realize I’m standing alone on the corner now, shaking. Not from the cold.
“Fine,” I manage. “I’m fine.”
Another lie to add to the pile. Another piece of myself I have to bury to keep everyone else safe.
The hotel’s lights seem to mock me as I force myself to turn away, each step feeling like I’m walking through concrete. This is what doing the right thing feels like. This is what protection costs.
This is what it means to love someone enough to let them hate you.
I keep walking, letting the city swallow me whole. Let Drake try to find me. Let the night hide me. Let the pain remind me why I had to do this.
Because Eli isn’t calling.
Eli won’t call.
Because he’s done with me.
And that’s exactly what I wanted, isn’t it? For him to hate me enough to stay away. To be safe from the truth that would destroy him completely.
I chose this.
Now I have to live with it.
Alone.
Broken.
Just like I chose to be.