Elena did not sleep that night.
Every time she closed her eyes, she saw the paper again the sharp black letters, her name at the bottom, the weight of the pen in her hand. Signing it had felt unreal, like stepping off a ledge and only realizing too late that there was no ground beneath her.
Morning came without relief.
The hospital corridor looked different in daylight less ominous, but no less heavy. When the nurse finally told her the surgery had been approved and payment cleared, Elena's knees almost gave out.
"Someone has taken care of everything," the nurse said kindly.
Someone.
Julian.
She should have felt grateful. Instead, unease settled deep in her chest.
Her phone vibrated just as she stepped outside the ward.
Unknown Number.
She stared at the screen for a long moment before answering.
"Yes?"
"You left without saying goodbye," Julian said.
Her heart skipped. "How did you..."
"I said I'd handle the rest," he replied calmly. "That includes knowing where you are."
That shouldn't have sounded as unsettling as it did.
"I didn't agree to constant contact," Elena said, forcing steadiness into her voice.
A pause.
"You agreed to the terms," Julian said. "This is part of them."
She tightened her grip on the phone. "Then tell me the rules."
Another pause longer this time.
"Rule one," he said. "You don't disappear."
"I wasn't disappearing."
"You didn't inform me where you were going."
"I don't belong to you."
Silence stretched between them.
When he spoke again, his voice was quieter but firmer. "This arrangement only works if I know where you are. At all times."
A chill ran down her spine.
"And if I don't?" she asked.
"You won't put me in that position," Julian replied.
The line went dead.
Elena stared at her phone, her reflection faintly visible in the dark screen. For the first time since the agreement, she felt the full weight of it pressing down on her.
This wasn't just about money.
It was about control.
That evening, a car was waiting outside her building.
Black. Tinted windows. Engine running.
She stopped short on the sidewalk.
A driver stepped out and opened the rear door without a word.
"I didn't agree to this either," she muttered.
Julian's voice came from inside the car. "Get in, Elena."
Her pulse quickened. "Where are we going?"
"To where you'll be staying."
"I have a place."
"You had a place," he corrected. "Things have changed."
She hesitated. Every instinct told her to walk away, to run, to pretend this was all a misunderstanding.
But she remembered the hospital room. The machines. The quiet certainty of what would have happened if she had said no.
Slowly, she got into the car.
The door closed with a final, solid sound.
Julian sat across from her, composed as ever, his gaze briefly meeting hers before looking away.
"This isn't permanent," she said quickly, as if saying it aloud would make it true.
"No," he agreed. "But it is necessary."
"For how long?"
"That depends on you."
The car pulled into traffic.
Elena looked out the window as the city passed by, her reflection staring back at her someone familiar, yet already different.
She had signed an agreement to save a life.
But she was beginning to understand something far more dangerous.
She hadn't just agreed to terms.
She had stepped into someone else's world.
And she didn't yet know how to leave it.