Forever Hers | 18+

C h a p t e r 12

"I know, baby." I whisper, grabbing some lettuce and turkey from the fridge to make Nina a quick sandwich with. 

I needed to keep my hands busy somehow to hide the small shake I couldn't manage to suppress. 

"We all miss her." Caleb says, grabbing her hand and offering it a light squeeze. She may have just been a child and couldn't fully understand the emotion in his voice, but I could. 

Caleb was mad at Alec and I right now even if he hasn't outright said it yet, but I know the second Nina isn't in the same room, there will be hell to deal with. 

We could worry about that later, though. 

Madelyn may not be here right now, but she is far from gone. 

The twins should already be on their way out, and call me unfair, but we all know where she is right now. The trackers in her coat pockets, shoes, and bandages ensure all of that. 

"Then why did you make her sad?" Nina asks, surprising us all a little as our eyes go to her. Madelyn had been smiling the entire time she was with Nina throughout this morning, and while all of us could see the subtle tiredness in her eyes with each forced gesture, there's no way a seven year old would pick up on that. 

But she did somehow. Nina's tone was as accusatory as it was curious, and none of us expected that of her. 

"What makes you think that, angel?" Alec asks gently, putting down his phone which no doubt is open to a map of the roads our car is currently driving Madelyn down. 

Her newfound recklessness would get her killed in our territory, and while we may disagree on a lot of things, that would not be happening under our watch. Ever. 

However, I couldn't help but wonder about what makes Nina pose such a question without any reason that we know of to think that. 

"Before I got sleepy at the bad man's home, she was crying while writing her note for you." Nina mumbles as though she were in trouble, but our dumbfounded expressions weren't for her. 

I hated how she called it the "bad man's home" and the fact that Nina had to be panicked in the first place, but the only thing I could think of right now were her final words.

What note?

There wasn't one on her person when we stripped her of all of her weapons, and while it was hard to imagine the burning fire I saw in Madelyn this morning to be the same person who would weep while writing to the people she seemed to despise, I knew her. 

Madelyn has always been a fighter as much as she is a lover; now, it's merely the reverse of what we saw before. 

If there was a letter out there that could tell us more about what's going on in her mind right now, I knew without a doubt I needed to find it. 

That started with Nina.

"What note, Ni?" Caleb asks softly despite the desperation I can already hear lacing his voice, his eyes snapping to mine only once before resuming on the small girl before us. "Do you remember what it looked like by any chance?"

Is there anything you can tell us to bring back the woman we still love, even the defensive, infuriating, incredibly stubborn side of her that I knew were nothing more than shields?

It feels like just yesterday when I was sitting by her side in that small motel the night we first met, when she was sleeping and I couldn't resist brushing the strand of her beautifully soft hair away from her face. 

When I looked at her that night, even asleep I remember seeing her layers. 

I saw Madelyn's nightmares.