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I, Nicholas Jerry Jonas, petition for full custody of Nolie Marie Jonas and Nicholas Jerry Jonas, as of August 20, 2016.

The phrase was overused and cliche, but nothing could more perfectly describe how Demi felt at that moment. Like her world had been turned upside down. Like God had picked up the Earth and tilted it off of its axis, throwing everything off balance. Like her life had just completely changed forever.

She couldn't even take in the hot liquid from her shattered mug seeping into her silk pajama pants. Her hands were trembling and the trembles were overtaking her entire body but she couldn't even try to control to them like she usually did. And she faintly heard the thump of heavy feet on her expensive floors but didn't register that anyone else was around her until the arms that she had fallen asleep in wrapped around her, shaking her out of what felt like a haze, like a nightmare, like something that she desperately wanted to awake from but couldn't.

"Are you okay?" That was a stupid question to ask. But the sun was only just beginning to rise and she was sure she was in the middle of a panic attack so maybe it wasn't. Was she okay? No...she wasn't, and she probably wouldn't be for a while.

"Demi..." She couldn't even open her mouth to form any words. She simply grabbed the paper off of the floor and shoved it at his chest. Her words were failing her. She couldn't speak. For once in her life, she was speechless.

Wilmer grabbed the paper from her shaking hands and read the bold print at the top. It was a bold statement, and one that didn't make sense to him at all. But nothing about Demi's world made sense to him. This was the world she lived in; where ex husbands who had signed their parental rights away during a publicized divorce could suddenly ask for custody, sole custody at that.

"He's going to take my kids away," she whimpered, clutching her fingers in the material by her heart as if it was hurting, as if it was breaking into a million pieces and she was trying to hold it together.

"Hermosa-"

"He's going to take them away," she repeated before standing up and walking past the kitchen and down the hall to the Twins' bedrooms. First she entered Nicholas's and sat next to him on his bed, combing her fingers through his freshly cut hair and allowing a fresh stream of tears to gather in the bottom of her eyelids. She used to think he looked just like his father but that was all a lie, she knew that now. Had she been dreaming when Nick signed over his parental rights? Had the last six months of him not even coming to see the twins just all been a bad dream? Was she going to wake up in Milan with Nick right next to her as if the last six months hadn't even happened? Because that's what it felt like.

"I love you so much," she whispered, leaning down and kissing his temple. She couldn't lose her kids. Nick couldn't take them away from her. No one loved them like she loved them, especially not Nick.

She rose from his bed and made sure to leave the door cracked open a little bit behind her before she entered Nolie's room. She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her fingers over her messy braids, tears streaming down her cheeks as she took in Nolie's flushed face because of how she buried it in her pillows.

"I love you so much," she quietly sobbed, trying not to wake her up. Her kids were everything to her. Anyone who knew her knew that. Nick knew that and they didn't even talk anymore. How could he do this to her? Why was he doing this to her? Why now?

She couldn't control her sobs any longer so she left Nolie's room before she woke her up with all of her crying. Wilmer was waiting for her out in the hallway, expecting her to walk into his waiting arms but she ignored him and headed back into the main living room so that she could go to her bedroom. Her mind was going a million miles per second but the same thought kept flashing through her mind every second: why?

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