The apartment still smelled like her…Earl Grey. Vanilla. Not perfume. Not anything obvious. Just… Ellie. Paper and something faintly earthy from the cleaning spray she always used when she was stressed. Alex paused in the doorway. Then stepped inside.
The place looked wrong. Not messy. Not disturbed. Just… empty.
The bookshelf was half cleared.
The desk—bare except for a lamp and a single notebook.
The walls lighter where photos had been.
Alex’s stomach tightened. “She really did it,” she murmured.
Ten minutes later—
A knock. Sharp. Fast.
Macy didn’t wait for Alex to fully open the door before stepping inside.
“Okay, what is going on?” dropping her bag by the couch. “Your text was—” She stopped. Looked around. “What the hell…”
“Sit down,” Alex said.
“I’m not sitting down,” Macy snapped. “Where’s Ellie?”
“She’s not here.”
“I can see that.”
Another knock. Caroline this time—quieter, more controlled. She stepped in, eyes already scanning the room like she was putting something together. “What’s going on?” she asked.
Alex exhaled slowly. “Close the door.”
Caroline did. Neither of them spoke.
The third knock came softer. Kristen. Alex opened the door and something in her chest shifted immediately. Kristen’s eyes went straight to her face.
“You know something,” she said.
Not a question.
Alex swallowed. “Come in.”
Kristen stepped inside. Her gaze flicked once around the apartment—and froze. She saw it. All of it. The absence. No one sat. They hovered instead—Macy pacing, Caroline leaning against the counter, Kristen standing still near the center of the room. Waiting.
Alex stayed by the table. Ellie’s phone sat in front of her. The letter still unopened beside it.
“Talk,” Macy said. Alex didn’t ease into it.
“She left.”
Silence.
Then— “Left where?” Macy demanded.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I’m not joking.”
Macy let out a sharp laugh. “Okay, no. No, she wouldn’t just—what, disappear? Without telling anyone?”
“I know enough,” Alex said.
Kristen’s voice cut in, low and controlled. “When. Exactly. Because we were together until lunchtime? She submitted her thesis and we were going to have lunch…”
“Her flight left at 2:50.”
That landed.
Caroline straightened. “Today as in—today today?”
“Yes.”
Macy shook her head. “No. I just texted her this morning. She told me she was submitting her thesis and—”
“And to come celebrate,” Alex finished quietly.
Macy stopped pacing. “You knew,” she said.
Alex met her eyes. “I met with Maya.”
That changed everything.
Caroline’s expression sharpened. “Her advisor?”
“Yes.”
Kristen went very still. “What did she say?” Kristen asked.
Alex hesitated.
Then chose her words carefully.
“She said Ellie is safe.”
Macy threw her hands up. “Safe from what?”
Alex didn’t answer.
“Alex,” Caroline said, more firmly now. “You don’t get to do that. You don’t call us here and then give us half a sentence.”
“I’m telling you what I can.”
“What you can?” Macy echoed. “Or what you’re allowed to?”
Alex didn’t flinch. “Both.”
That shut Macy up—for a second.
Kristen stepped forward. “Is this about Will?”
The room shifted. Alex didn’t speak. She didn’t have to. Macy’s face changed. “No,” she said immediately. “No, she ended that. She told me that was done.”
“It was and it wasn’t,” Alex said quietly. “Ellie was serious when she broke off the engagement. Ellie meant it. Will didn’t.”
Caroline’s voice dropped. “What do you mean?”
Alex exhaled slowly.
“She didn’t just leave because she wanted to leave,” she said.
“She left because she needed to leave.”
Macy stared at her. “Needed to?”
Kristen’s voice was tighter now. “What did he do?”
Alex’s jaw clenched. “I’m not getting into details.”
“That’s not good enough,” Macy snapped.
“It has to be.”
“Why?” Macy demanded.
“Because the less you know, the safer you are.
And I also don’t know the details.”
The words landed heavy. Kristen flinched. Caroline went still. Macy just stared at her. “That’s… insane,” she said.
“It’s real,” Alex replied.
Silence stretched. Longer this time. Heavier.
“Does he know she’s gone?” Caroline asked.
Alex shook her head. “Not yet. Or at least I don’t think so. But he’s been messaging all afternoon.”
Kristen let out a breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “She broke up with him. Why can’t he go away?,” she said.
All three of them looked at her.
Kristen’s gaze dropped briefly—then back up.
“He’s called me.
“I haven’t answered. But—yeah.”
Alex’s stomach dropped. “How often?” she asked.
“Enough.”
Macy swore under her breath. “So what,” she said, voice sharp again. “We just sit here and pretend everything’s fine? When she’s—what—running?”
“She’s not running,” Alex said.
“She disappeared,” Macy shot back. “That’s literally running.”
Alex’s voice stayed steady. “She left.”
“For what?” May demanded.
“For herself.” That didn’t land. Not with Macy. Maybe not with any of them.
Caroline crossed her arms. “What do we do?” she asked.
Alex answered immediately. “We don’t tell anyone anything.”
Macy laughed again. “That’s not happening.”
“It has to.”
“Her parents—”
“They’ll get a letter,” Alex cut in.
Silence.
That stopped Macy cold. “A letter?” she repeated.
“Yes.”
“That’s—” Macy shook her head. “That’s insane.”
“Yes,” Alex said. “It is.”
Kristen hadn’t moved. “Did she leave me something?” she asked quietly.
Alex looked at her. Then at the envelope still sitting on the table.
“Yes.” Kristen didn’t reach for it. Not yet.
The room felt smaller now. Too many thoughts. Too many questions. No answers.
Macy sank onto the couch finally, rubbing her face. “I don’t understand,” she said. “She was fine. We were literally—everything was normal.”
Alex shook her head slightly. “No,” she said. “It wasn’t.”
Macy looked up at her. “What are you not saying?”
Alex held her gaze. “Enough.”
Silence again.
Caroline pushed off the counter. “If he comes to us—”
“He will,” Kristen said quietly.
They all looked at her. And for the first time, there was something like certainty in her expression.
“Then we tell him nothing,” Alex said.
Macy shook her head. “He’s not going to accept that.”
“No,” Alex agreed. “He won’t.”
The phone buzzed.
All four of them looked at it.
Ellie’s phone.
On the table.
Between them.
Buzz.
Buzz.
Buzz.
No one moved.
“Answer it,” Macy whispered.
Alex shook her head. “No.”
The screen lit up again.
Unknown number.
Again.
This time— Kristen stepped forward. Stopped just short of the table. Staring at it.
“He’s already looking,” she said quietly.
No one argued.
Because they all knew.
She was right.