The next morning, after breakfastm she sent the brothers on their way like a dutiful wife would and started to think things through. First she decided not the take the phone, because she was pretty sure that either one of the brothers or both of the brothers used that device to trace her calls and location. She went to her closet and took out the money she had hidden in her clothes. She knew that Elijah would never search her clothes for no reason. She had about 50 000 dollars saved over the years, when she had taken out a little money every times she went shopping because large amount would have raised too many questions. But that way, Elijah knew nothing of the money.
She chose a small hand bag cause she didn't need to put much stuff there. Just her passport, the money and her wallet. And for some reason she put the book collection of short stories in the bag too. She put on jeans and a blouse and a jacket and decided on sneakers as footwear. She also needed large sunglasses. Although she wasn't sure how much they would help.
When she was ready, she tried to leave the building like she would any other day and not act suspiciously.
She got in front of the building and didn't see anyone suspicious lurking around. She quickly got a taxi and pretty fast the taxi was in the flow of all the yellow taxis of New York. SO when anyone wanted to physically follow her, it would have been quite hard as her taxi blended in nicely.
At the airport, she bought the ticket to the first flight out and that happened to be Los Angeles. She was quite paranoid about the people around her but in the end she didn't notice anyone watching or following her. She got into the plane and during the flight she didn't notice anything suspicious either.
Four hours later
Elijah was the first one to get the call that his wife had been seen in the surveillance video of their apartment building. She wasn't seen during the live feed but later during the routine check that Elijah's men did every day.
"And where were you yourself at the time when she went through there?" Elijah barked into the phone.
Klaus was already on the phone with his guys too.
"I was in the toilet for 3 minutes and that's when she must have gone past me." The vampire at the other end explained to him.
"So why are you talking to me. Check the surveillance video, check where she went when she got out of the building and trace her from there."
"Elijah, I had my man following her but the taxi she used just blended into the taxi traffic and he couldn't use the physical following. But it's assumed that she went to the airport, because woman matching her description was seen there. I have my men checking the airport surveillance right now." Klaus told him.
"And her phone?"
"Still shows home as her location."
5 minutes later Klaus received confirmation that she had indeed been at the airport and flew to LA but that's all they had.
"So who do we have in LA? Send them to LAX, now."
Both of them started to call their friends who lived in LA but as the plane landed during the LA rush hour they missed her in the airport, just barely. The surveillance video showed her get on a bus but it was too hard to follow her on the streets of LA and as she could have gone out at any of the stops there was no way of knowing where she was headed to.
"So you are telling me she's gone?" Elijah asked Klaus.
"For now," Klaus muttered.
When Elijah started to beat the wheel in rage, Klaus tried to calm him, "But we'll find her, don't worry, brother."
So finally Elijah calmed down a little bit. Elijah wasn't worried about her safety, he was just angry that she was gone. But Klaus had more emotions to deal with. Of course, he was angry, but he was also worried because the supernaturals in LA hated the Mikaelsons. There were any number of things that could happen to her there. But at the same time he knew that she wasn't so much running from Elijah but more from him. She was so scared of her feelings and her inability to keep away from him while living in the same apartment that she had decided to leave him altogether. That thought was eating away at him, he felt guilty all of a sudden.
"You go deal with Richard and Maddox, I'm going to go to LA," Klaus suddenly told him.
"No, I should go, she's my problem, not yours."
"Your presence is needed in Vermont. And me as your right hand man, should go deal with the things I can deal."
"Okay, there's an airfield not too far from here, I'll order the jet to pick you up from there."
"Fine."
Caroline didn't intend to stay in LA for long, just enough to think what to do next. First she took a cheap hotel on Hollywood Blvd and compelled herself a room. She couldn't use her real passport for that. On the third they there she was at the shop early in the morning and as she tried to save money, she tried to compel the shopkeeper to get stuff for free. But it turned out that he was on vervain.
"Oh, honey, don't try to compel me. I'm dating a witch so I know about your kind. So If you want this stuff you have to kill me or pay me."
Without thinking she handed him her master card. That night she had the weirdest dream about money and credit cards and suddenly she woke up, covered in sweat.
"Oh my god," she suddenly remembered the big mistake she had done and without even turning on the lights she quickly started to change clothes when suddenly the lamp in the corner of the room suddenly lit up and there in the corner sat no one else but Klaus Mikaelson himself.
Caroline was so startled that if she had a beating heart it would have skipped not one heartbeat but two.
"Klaus," she said, her voice shaking.
"Going somewhere?"
"How did you find me?" she continued with a shaky voice.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I'm the one asking questions." Klaus said while slowly walking closer to her and with every step he took forward, she took one back. "Why, Caroline?"
"You know why."
Klaus just nodded. He really had that figured out.
Suddenly she hit the wall backing away from him. And he closed the distance to caress her cheek with his knuckles.
"Do you have any idea what I went through not knowing where you were, whether you were having the time of your life without me or if you were in some kind of trouble?"
"So you are not mad at me for trying to escape but you were worried about me?"
Klaus turned away from her and walked a little further and then turned to face her again, when he yelled, "OF COURSE I AM ANGRY, more than you think. God, Caroline, what were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that we had a close call TWICE, Klaus. And I just knew that if I stayed then it would have taken you less than a day to get me in bed. I freaked out and made an impulsive decision. I am sorry, okay I am."
"So you were afraid to anger Elijah? What do you think he is feeling now, waiting for us at home?"
Caroline walked over to him and took his hands in hers and pleaded with him, "Please, don't take me back to him. Let's just leave, just the two of us, Klaus."
Klaus used her vulnerable moment to kiss her but before it could get out of hand, he pulled away, "That's the ultimate plan, sweetheart. But we can't at the moment. He's not at home, I lied, he's already in LA, 15 minutes away."
"Oh, god, oh, god, he's going to kill me," she cried while pacing the room.
"He won't, we talked about it. But there are going to be some consequences."
"Like what?"
"Don't worry, you'll handle it. But first things first. This money," he said while pulling out her cash from her purse, "is now confiscated. And you better tell him the truth about where and how you got it."
She nodded through tears.
"Now get dressed, I'll be just outside the door."
They barely got out on the street, when they saw a black SUV speeding toward them and when it finally stopped, Elijah came out of it and flashed to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the car.
"You're hurting me, Elijah."
"You'll live. Now get in the back and be quiet the whole way to the airfield.
The whole ride to the jet and the flight home was depressing. All three of them were in their own world and no one really talked.
When they got to the foyer of their apartment building, Elijah told Klaus, "Could you find something else to do for a few hours. I need to talk to my wife. In private."
Klaus hesitated to leave them alone, "You remember what you promised me?"
"Of course and I never break my promise, so please go little brother."
Klaus threw her one last look, trying to assure her that it was going to be alright."
When the elevator doors opened, he pushed her into the apartment.
She stumbled in and slowly turned to look at him, when she stumbled back as her right eye was met with his right fist. Then he grabbed her by the hair and turned her toward the rest of the apartment.
"Look around, Caroline, you are living like a princess. You have everything you could possibly want and more. So why, " he held her hair tighter making her moan in pain, "would you want to leave me, huh? Do you have any idea how much you have humiliated me? Not just in front of my brother but everyone involved in your search!" And then he let go of her and she stumbled on the floor.
He walked away from her a few steps and as he turned around, he screamed at the top of the lungs, "ANSWER ME!"
Caroline stood up and said, "Yes, I have everything money can buy, but I live like a prisoner. Before you had me followed but now you put your brother to accompany me EVERYWHERE I go. You two are suffocating me. And you talk about humiliation. What do you think I feel, when you are publicly cheating on me with Katherine Pierce of all people."
Elijah snickered and then replied, "If You think we were suffocating you before, I don't know what you are going to feel going forward."
"What do you mean?"
"I mean actions have consequences. And there are going to be many. For one, you will have no money of your own. Everything is paid by the one who is with you at the time and everything you want, you will have to earn."
"Let me guess, by sucking up to you."
"Yes, If you want something, you have to behave like an adult and win back my trust."
"Fine." She said and started to leave the room.
"I'M NOT DONE!" He yelled and she turned around to face him.
"You will not be meeting Hayley Marshall and Rebekah Martinez anymore. Do you understand?"
"For how long?"
"Until I say otherwise."
"Anything else?"
"Yes, no going out for two weeks. Only when I need you to join me somewhere, you can leave the apartment. But otherwise you are an indoor cat for now, so get comfortable in here."
"And you are going to have someone with you all times. When me and Niklaus can't babysit you, then there will be one of my men here. Is that understood?"
"Is someone going to be in my bedroom too, while I sleep and shower?"
"No, but you are going to follow a strict schedule. No more laying around watching TV and reading crap. You will have an hour or two of free time and that's all. You can't lock yourself in your bedroom anymore, you will go there only to sleep at night and shower and so forth. It's all written here in your daily schedule. Every day is a little different and I give you next day's schedule the day before the latest. You are dismissed." He said and gave her a paper with plastic covers around it when he finished.
"I hate you." She said and left the living room.
"You can hate me all you want, it won't change anything." Elijah told her before she slammed her bedroom door.
In her bedroom she sat down on the bed and looked at the schedule in horror.
6:30 am Waking up
6:35 am Mourning routines like brushing teeth, a quick shower and so forth.
7:00 am Exercise (we have a little gym in the building)
8:00 am Breakfast
8:30 Internet use for checking emails
9:00 Study (You will use that time to enroll to some internet course but your husband will confirm it before you can apply. And then you get the materials and you start studying.)
1:00 pm Lunch
1:30 pm Klaus will start teaching you to play chess or a new language or some other new skill.
3:00 pm Book reading (it has to be one of the classics)
5:00 pm Evening snack.
5:15 pm Exercise
6:00 pm Journal (For example: analyze your day, write down the goals)
7:00 pm Dinner
7:30 Free time
9:00 Shower or bathe and other washing routines.
9:30 Bedtime
"This is a nightmare."
Although Caroline had to admit it was a pretty good schedule and maybe following it strictly helped her stop thinking about Klaus all the time, she also hoped that given time, Elijah would let it loosen a little. Or a lot.
She soon fell asleep and was woken up when her phone buzzed. It was Klaus texting on Whatsapp.
'I heard everything, how are you?'
'I'm resting as starting tomorrow morning I'm going to have a lot to do, following his strict schedule."
"Actually, I did that schedule."
'WHAT?'
'He would have put together one himself, but doing it myself, saved you some things like, cleaning the apartment and other chores, for which we have Maria.'
'Oh, okay, thanks I guess.'
'No problem. Okay, rest now because tomorrow there will be no time for that during the day. And Good night, sweetheart, as I'll be home when you are already asleep.'
'Good Night, Klaus.'