Running Away

Chapter 3

With one hand covering her mouth, her other shakily pointed at him. "W-what are you – what are you doing here?!"

"I don't know what you're doing all that screaming for." Elias responded calmly, cutting through a steak that he was eating. "This is good. You make this?"

"How did you get in here? And why?!" Sera asked, she felt like she was going crazy. Her heart raced within her chest. "Is this a fever dream?!"

"It wasn't hard." He put his silverware down and pointed at her. "I thought that I taught you better than that. Never rely on technology to keep you safe, Sera, you know that. You should honestly be concerned with how easy that was."

"Are you serious right now?! Do you want me to call the police?!"

"I mean, if you want to, that's fine." Elias shrugged. He wasn't worried about the police or any one for that matter. He had skated past death so many times that he was desensitized. "By the way, that stunt you pulled with the money?...That almost got me killed, so congrats. You do know that I take out criminals for a living right? You thought it would be hard to find you?"

Sera's face heated up in embarrassment, and she was at a loss for words. When she took it she did not consider that she would ever have to see him again. Sera opened her mouth to speak but closed it again.

"That is some of the silliest s*** you've ever done." Elias shook his head before taking another bite of the food.

"Elias...I know you didn't break in to talk about the money and eat up my food, what is it? Why are you here? And have you done this before?! This is TOO weird!"

"Look, I was in the area and got hungry, that's all there is to it." He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes then turning towards a framed picture of Bryan, Sera and Emilia. Elias put down the silverware and walked closer to the picture to see it more clearly.

Sera's heart skipped a beat, the last thing she needed was for him to see the strong facial resemblance between himself and Emilia. She walked over to him and grabbed his arm to pull him back. She was so much shorter and smaller than him, he did not even budge an inch. "Elias, it's time for you to go. Like NOW, bye now."

He looked intently at Emilia's face and then over to Sera. His tone was much calmer and softer than it usually was, "You had a baby?"

Sera took a step back from him and crossed her arms over her chest. She was desperately avoiding eye contact with him. "Yeah...Yeah, I did."

"How old is she?"

"Don't worry about that, just go." Sera's heart was now heavy within her, an intense wave of guilt swept over her. "I'll pay you back the money that I took, but you gotta' go."

"Were you stepping out on me or something? She doesn't look that old. You cheated on me with this guy?"

Sera was offended that he would even think of such a thing. "What? No, I never cheated on you. I met Bryan after we broke up."

"And when did we break up exactly? Cause I don't remember any conversation. In fact all I remember was going to sleep next to you and waking up with you and money missing." Elias questioned, visibly growing agitated. "Was I that horrible that you had to run out in the middle of the night like that? I never hit you, I never raised my voice at you... Why couldn't you have the f****** decency of just telling me?"

"It was uncomfortable for me! I didn't know how to, okay?! I'm sorry." She let out a deep breath and finally looked up to his eyes. "Really, I am."

Elias looked at her for a few moments before shaking his head and turning away. "I would have never done you like that."

"I know, I know. It was wrong, I had my reasons."

"Oh yeah? And what were they?"

"From the beginning I told you that I wanted to settle down and get married and have kids, all of that! But all you know is work, Elias, I couldn't do it anymore."

He squinted his eyes from what she said, "Are you serious? I don't know how many times I told you that I wanted those things with you too. I worked so hard to make sure YOU were good and had all that you needed. Just say that you wanted to break up, don't use that bulls*** trope about me not wanting to settle down. Don't play me, Sera."

Sera rolled her eyes, now also irritated. "So you mean to tell me that let's say I got pregnant, you would've slowed down on work? You? Mr. 75-hour-work-week?"

"You don't get it do you?" His voice was no longer angry, but now laced with pain and regret. "I would've done anything for you. You act as if I was some crazy workaholic that neglected you or something. Why do you think I worked so much? The bags, the shoes, the vacations, the HAIR! D*** the hair was so expensive. Where do you think all that came from?"

Sera's throat felt as if it was going to close up and she was momentarily winded. She wanted to just out with it and tell him that Emilia was his, she opened her mouth to get it over with but the words wouldn't come out. She took a step back and fought with everything in her to not cry.

Though it had been long since he and Sera were together he still found his mind being fixed on her safety and wellbeing. When he and his team had to fly into New York for an assignment, he knew he wanted to stop by and see if she was okay. He was about to leave the US for a new assignment in Italy.

In truth, Elias didn't even know what to expect when showing up at Sera's place. He wanted to see her again but he also didn't. It just so happened that he got hungry and missed Sera's cooking.

He fought back the urge to come find her every other day, but that weekend he folded.

"You need to go. He's going to kill me if he comes home and sees you here."

"Who's he going to kill?"

"Not literally. You know what I meant, just go." Sera pointed to the door. "Bye, Eli."

"Let me find out he's messing with you, I'll be back." He warned. Walking over to the sliding glass door he opened it up and hiked one leg over the railing. "I'm serious, Sera."

"Yeah, okay, we know. Just go. And please try not to kill yourself on the way down, I don't see why you won't just go through the front door."

"Cameras" With that last remark, Elias flashed a bright white smile at Sera before jumping over the balcony's ledge. Sera's heart skipped a beat in a moment of panic. She had the crippling fear take over her. She rushed out and peaked over the ledge. Elias free fell down the 30 floor building, dislodging a mini parachute at the last possible second. When he landed, he stuffed the parachute into the trash can next to him and put his hood over his head, walking away like nothing happened.