Chapter 4
Series 1 Chapter 4
Three days remained on my countdown.
By then, my documents were secured, the financial records had been copied, and most of what Isla and I needed was packed inside a suitcase hidden in the back of the nursery closet.
That morning, I came downstairs and found two suitcases beside the front door.
Seraphina stood beside them with Milo. Her eyes were red.
“I think we should leave,” she said.
Callum looked up from the kitchen.
“What?”
“I don’t want my being here to make things worse between you and Elara.”
Her voice trembled in exactly the right places.
Callum stood immediately.
“You don’t have to go.”
“Maybe I do.”
He picked up one of her suitcases.
“No. You and Milo are staying.”
Then he looked at Milo.
“Take your backpack upstairs. You’re not going anywhere.”
Milo hesitated before obeying.
I waited until his bedroom door closed.
“Why are you so desperate for her to stay?”
Callum stopped.
“She’s your sister.”
“Is that the only reason?”
Seraphina’s expression changed.
“Elara, what are you suggesting?”
I looked at Callum.
“Is Milo your son?”
Silence.
Then Callum asked, “Where is this coming from?”
Not no.
I held his gaze.
“It’s a simple question.”
“You gave birth less than six weeks ago,” he said. “You’re exhausted, and you haven’t been acting like yourself.”
Seraphina folded her arms around herself.
“I came here to take care of you.”
“Is Milo your son?” I asked again.
Her eyes narrowed.
“Did you go through my things?”
Neither of them had said no.
Callum stepped closer.
“You need to stop.”
“Stop asking you to tell the truth?”
“The accusations. The mood swings. This isn’t like you.”
Seraphina wiped beneath one eye.
“I should have left days ago.”
Callum turned to her.
“You’re not leaving.”
Again, he chose her without hesitation.
I nodded.
“You’re right.”
Callum frowned.
“What?”
“I’m exhausted.” I forced a tired smile. “Forget I said anything.”
The tension left his shoulders.
He wanted me quiet.
So I let him believe I was.
Upstairs, I called my attorney.
“There are three days left,” I said. “I don’t think I can stay that long.”
She reviewed the plan with me again.
No custody order currently prohibited me from traveling with Isla, but Callum could challenge the move.
She would file the necessary custody documents that afternoon.
Once Isla and I were safe, Callum would be formally notified through counsel.
He would be told that his daughter was safe and how all future communication should proceed.
“Do not disappear,” my attorney warned. “And do not negotiate with him alone.”
“I understand.”
After the call, I deleted the countdown.
Thirty days had never been a sentence I was required to serve.
It was only the longest I had been willing to stay.
I changed my flight to that evening.
Before sunset, a driver stopped beside the side gate.
I carried my suitcase through the nursery and down the back stairs while Seraphina helped Milo with his homework.
I had almost reached the door when footsteps sounded in the hallway.
Callum.
I pushed the suitcase behind the laundry-room door and picked up a basket of towels.
He appeared a moment later.
“What are you doing?”
“Isla needs clean blankets.”
His eyes moved toward the half-open door behind me.
For several seconds, neither of us spoke.
Then Isla began crying upstairs.
Callum looked toward the sound.
I walked past him with the laundry basket.
Five minutes later, while he checked on Isla, the driver collected the suitcase through the side gate.
At six, I carried Isla downstairs with only her diaper bag.
“She won’t settle,” I said. “I’m taking her out for some air.”
Seraphina barely looked up from Milo’s homework.
Callum appeared in the hallway.
“Don’t stay out too long.”
“I won’t.”
The car waited around the corner.
I secured Isla in the back seat and climbed in beside her.
The driver looked at me through the mirror.
“Where to?”
“The airport,” I said.
I had given myself thirty days to leave.
In the end, I needed only twenty-seven.