A/N: Hey, I hope everyone's having a great day!! I just wanted to let you guys know that I will now be including the exact times each chapter will be releasing on my Instagram due to some prior confusion in relation to time differences. If you go to my highlights and click on the "UPDATES" section, you'll be able to see countdowns there whenever I post my usual chapter aesthetics each week <3
Also, I'm really tired right now so I'm not too sure how well my editing skills just were, so my apologies if there are a few more mistakes than usual. I plan to hopefully go through it again in the morning to fix up anything that's needed!! Enjoy the rest of your day/nights, and thank you all for reading ♡
Chapter 14 : Hailey
Saturday, November 26th, 2022
"Madelyn, no." I shake my head as my grip tightens around her hand, my cheeks feeling damp from all of the tears I've cried.
My best friend's fingers feel warm against mine as she holds me and I her, both of us slightly shaking and most certainly overwhelmed by all of this. My heart seized control of my body, as I inhaled through my nose, trying to stop from breaking down so we could actually talk.
So much has happened, so much has changed, but at the same time, sitting here with her right now felt like every bit of normal I needed. Even though I didn't know what to say, somehow just being here made things feel just a little bit better.
"I've messed a lot of things up lately." Madelyn sniffles as more tears of hers fall at the admission, my heart aching because I know for a fact she couldn't have done too much bad. Not enough to warrant the obvious guilt she's experiencing right now.
The fact alone that she's here is all of the proof I need, because it's clear just by looking at her that sacrifices have been made to get here.
For the last handful of months, I began to worry that it would be a body Xavier, Caleb, and Alec found instead of the woman who was special to all of us in all of our own ways. While this Madelyn isn't the same one who was torn away from me a year ago, it was still her.
I was still me, even with a breakup that continues to tear me apart.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask gently as I reposition my legs on the couch, my one knee bent to rest my chin against it. Even that was shaking, though, my hand still gripped tight around Madelyn's.
I was almost too afraid to let go.
Her eyes looked so much more green than usual with her tears coating her lashes, her face appearing so tired that her body was on the edge of emotional exhaustion. I knew it because I was too, the only thing good about my life right now being her presence at my side.
Madelyn blinked up at me as she shifted slightly closer, leaning her head to the side so that her temple could rest against my couch cushion.
It was so crazy to see her back here, even as different as she seems.
"I don't think I know how to anymore." She says quietly as more tears fall in pace with mine, a small smile twisting her lips for just a second before fading away as her eyes fall shut. She simply lets them close with my hand being her anchor, her's my own.
I was happy Madelyn couldn't see the small flinch across my face at her words, the sole reason being that I don't think she realized just how heartbreaking that confession was.
Our friendship came so easily to us over a year ago because talking to each other was just that. Easy. Natural. Now it felt like we were both at a standstill, waiting for something to break us free from the entrapment of our own experiences.
I lost Mila mere months ago, and it was an amazement that I'd even worked up the effort to answer the door a few minutes prior to now. It's clear that Madelyn isn't in that much better of a state, and what's worse is that I know my friend's pain exceeds so much more than a breakup.
I couldn't tell how she got here or why it's now that I'm seeing her again, but what I do know is that it won't be long before a certain trio comes knocking on my door like their lives depend on it.
Based on the tension of Madelyn's jaw, I can't help but wonder if she's already seen them. Yet again, I can't imagine under any circumstance that Alec, Caleb, or Xavier would let her out of their sight after the warpath they've set themselves upon this last year trying to find her.
"That's okay." I whisper as I let my own eyes shut, bowing my forehead to fall against my propped knee. "If you want, you could start by telling me where you've been?"
If only she knew how desperate that single statement was.
When my eyes reopened in the long stretch of silence, I found her green ones already looking at me, sad and tired. So incredibly tired.
There was a time where I almost thought she wasn't going to answer—a time where I prepared myself to simply be okay with the fact Madelyn was here and she was alive.
But then, her lips parted and a sob escaped past them—one I can tell she's been suppressing for quite possibly the entire stretch of her absence.
"It wasn't so bad." Madelyn choked, her voice cracking painfully. It was then that I realized I didn't need to hear the rest of what she was going to say to know the truth.
Whatever happened while she was gone was so much worse than what she's about to tell me, because as much as I love her, the Madelyn I remembered wouldn't be here right now.
She wouldn't be shaking so hard like she hadn't physically been allowed to only days before this, and she wouldn't be seeking out comfort in my company.
If things weren't so bad, she'd be with her men—the ones who've been going out of their very souls to find the only woman they've truly let themselves want. And above all else, she wouldn't be telling me being kidnapped and abused wasn't so bad.
____
By the time we were both all talked out, my lips felt numb from all of the truths that had been told.
Madelyn informed me about Nina and Alec and Caleb and Xavier, but the one place she wouldn't tell me about was the abandoned mansion she apparently took shelter in for the last year, forced or not.
She told me about a girl, Kiana, and she told me about a step-brother she's apparently only spoken to three out of ten occurrences in her time away.
During the span of when she was kidnapped, she told me sex, fighting, and alcohol were her only escapes, but apart from the obvious, she never told me what she was always needing to escape from.
I got two names and San Diego as an explanation, the thousands of Madelyn's unspoken words caged within the depths of her hard green eyes.
It was bad, and whatever trauma she was trying to manage was making her distant and confused, Alec and Xavier not fucking helping. She'd told me about the handcuffs and them trying to mandate her choices, and even though I saw their side of it more than Madelyn could, I can also see why she reacted in the way that she did.
Even if it was from a place of immense concern, they had no right to chain her up after all that she's been through. After all of the loneliness it's obvious she's been forced to bear for far too long.
When she spoke to me on my couch for hours, she had that same foggy look about her that she did when telling me about her stepdad, along with every other shitty part of her childhood.
Madelyn has always been a fighter deep down inside, and I think that's why she rejected my offer for her to move back in, even when I assured her it would be no burden. In fact, the company would've been nice for me too.
It's not like I've had Mila to spend time with.
She fell out of love with me a long time ago apparently.
"I'm sorry." Madelyn had whispered again as she stood hesitantly at my front door, the small box she'd spent some time on clasped tightly between her fingers. I didn't want her to leave, I don't think she wanted to either, and that was what was so confusing.
Why did she always feel the need to leave? To distance herself?
I truly couldn't figure it out, but I also wasn't going to force her to stay here or speak about anything she wasn't ready for.
I think that was what Alec, Caleb, and Xavier's mistake was, even if it wasn't done with ill intention.
"No more apologies." I say as I take a step towards her, going slow enough that Madelyn could move away if she didn't want my touch. She stayed still, though, wrapping her arms around me as she relaxed into my hold.
I felt Madelyn's fingers against my back along with the rounded ends of her acrylic nails, something else that was new about her.
I don't think it was to stop her from biting, though.
I think it was because she was trying to cover them up.
"You need to call me whenever you get to wherever you're going, okay?" I ask as I pull back slightly, brushing against strands of her blonde waves. "Just let me know you're safe." I whisper, not as a demand but rather a pleading request.
The taxi waiting for Madelyn outside honked at its impatient arrival, but she made no move to leave as her eyes met mine softly. They were ever so slightly red from the combination of her tears and tiredness, looking at me as though she wanted to stay.
Minutes later, however, she had left, off to whatever place she thought she could escape to for just a little longer.
In my hand was something from her—a box full of little trackers Alec had thought he could hide on her earlier today. It was almost midnight by the time I finally managed to sit back down in my darkened, quiet house, once again alone and so very conflicted.
After the slight shock of our entire interaction wore off enough that I could think, I realized that I had a few options laid bare in front of me—options that could mess up a whole lot if I wasn't careful.
The thing is that I know Madelyn a lot better than she thinks.
I know something happened while she was gone to craft her into the woman who sat before me only minutes ago, something that I think she doesn't know how to cope with.
While Xavier shouldn't have shot at her father in that church after promising Madelyn he would never harm him, Madelyn also shouldn't have felt such an inclination to take a bullet for her captor.
One might think she did it out of sheer stupidity, but I knew better.
I knew her, and that's why I forced up all of the courage inside of me as I walked over to my phone, picking it up and dialing the only number I believed would be able to help.
I listened nervously as it rang for a couple of times, my heartbeat so loud I could hear it in my ears. I waited, and unsurprisingly, after a few seconds I got an answer from a low, tired voice on the other side of the call.
"Hailey?" Caleb groaned quietly as though I'd just woken him from his sleep, but what I had to say was more important anyways.
All three of them have been great to me during my breakup, the sounds of movement making me suspect that Caleb was already getting ready to come over to help me. It was sweet, but this also wasn't that kind of call.
"Don't give up on her." I say, listening as the line goes quiet as though he didn't already know Madelyn had been here.
It was probably the clearness of my voice that'd caught him off guard most.
"Caleb, I need you to promise me that none of you will give up on her, because Madelyn won't talk and she has always talked to me."
I heard his inhale of breath as his hand stroked through his hair, likely tugging on the strands like he tends to do when he's stressed.
I hated to put more weight on him when I know everything of importance has already been tossed on him recently, but this was one thing I refused to budge on.
Madelyn was still in there, even if it wasn't the exact same person she was before. Honestly, after the hell I can imagine she went through, I would be concerned if she was.
"You know we would never give up on her, Hails. She's scared—"
"She's traumatized." I interrupt, needing someone to understand what had been so abundantly clear to me just by sitting with her for a solid ten minutes.
Scared didn't even come close to cutting it for her.
"Cal, I don't know what happened to her while she was gone, but something bad has been happening for a year and she has had nobody to talk to." I paused to let out a shaky exhale, marred by the tears already threatening to come out to play again.
"Please don't give up on her, because I am serious when I say she views very little of what she's been through as the abuse it is. I don't know if it's Stockholm syndrome or something else entirely, but Madelyn is fighting to cope in whatever way she can." I pause again, forcing myself to breathe. "Caleb, she's my best friend, but I also don't think I'm the person who can really help her through this..."
My words come to a slow as sadness overcomes me, grieving for everything my friend has been put through.
Considering what happened to Nina in a day, I can't imagine what a year would do to a person broken into compliancy.
"Hailey." Caleb says my name again, softly but a lot more clearly. "I promise for as long as I live and then some, I will not give up on her. None of us will."
Good, because a part of me worries that Madelyn has already given up on herself.
____
***Switches POV***
Chapter 14 : Madelyn
Saturday, November 26th, 2022
I barely made it ten steps out the door before I realized whoever was driving the taxi was no longer in the car.
Instead, I was greeted with the firm clasp of a hand grabbing onto my wrist, an unwelcome surprise especially after the day I've had.
My senses come alive as I hear a slight ruffle in the bushes off to the side, concealed almost completely by the shadows of night, but my attention was on far more important things.
One, it was clear the person who was stupid enough to grab me off guard was a man just based on the build of his body.
Two, it was gravely too late to realize who it was before my dagger had been drawn, slicing cleanly into a muscled thigh until the sound of a Russian curse echoed in my ear.
"Ublyudok!" Lev's heavy accent came, falling to one knee before me as his hands dropped to clutch his now bleeding leg, the injury nothing serious, but more than enough to stun an attacker long enough for me to run.
His grunt of pain didn't surprise me with the way his weight hit the ground, his head tipping up to look at me in sheer and utter annoyance.
"You'd think you'd learn by now not to sneak up on a lady." I raise an eyebrow, slipping my now dirty dagger back into my pocket with every intention of thoroughly cleaning it later. For now, Lev was every bit of the distraction I needed, even though I wasn't sure yet as to why he was here.
If it was with the orders to return me to the Keep, my father would be receiving one mangled up body, and it wouldn't be mine either.
"I think we both know you're far from a lady, Adams." Lev scoffs amusedly over his obvious pain, not bothering to seek my help as he forced himself back onto his feet. His right knee remained almost entirely bent to remove the pressure of his weight from that leg, keeping his eyes on me as he tore a long strip of his shirt straight from his body.
Even in the dark, I could see the blood that had already begun to leak onto his hands.
However, I still held very little sympathy for him as he tied the strip tight around his thigh, wincing until it was securely knotted and in place.
My own bandages had already been changed and discarded in the house that was still looming behind me, not wanting to admit that Alec actually didn't suck at the medical attention he'd given me.
If only he wasn't such an ass on top of it.
"True." I end with a shrug of my shoulders, done with beating around the bush and deciding to switch over to more important topics. "I don't suppose you knocked out my taxi driver for the night, did you?" I ask, the empty vehicle still running and aglow at the end of Hailey's driveway.
When I turn my head back to Lev, I can sense the tenseness inside of him before he even opens his mouth, bracing himself as though he wasn't sure of what my reaction would be.
"I am your taxi driver for the night." He flashes a quick smile before stretching his palm out towards the car. "A compromise from Marcus." Lev includes at the end as though that would lessen the chances of me taking whatever current emotion I had out on his already bleeding body.
Though I had no intentions of harming him any further for tonight, I couldn't help but remain incredibly reluctant to get into any vehicle with him, let alone a likely stolen, fairly common model of car.
"Bodyguard" or not, Lev has had very little of my trust throughout the last year that I've known him, and tonight didn't really seem like it was time for that to change.
"A compromise?" I prob for more information as my body relaxes just a little bit, thankful that I hopefully won't have to fight the six foot three pile of muscle anymore tonight. Once again, while Lev has the strength, I have the stealth, something that will ensure my safety up until the moment my steps falter.
Considering how the night has been going so far, odds seemed to be on my side for winning any kind of fight that might arise for now.
"I was supposed to get you to call him the second I found you, but then of course you had to go all stabby on me like a—"
"Yeah, you're not finishing that sentence." I interrupt him part way through because I could already taste the man-words that were about to be spewed from his mouth.
The fact that he was smart and listened told me just that.
"Well you found me now, and quite frankly, today has overall just been shitty. Either we get in the car and call my father with me in the driver's seat, or you can fuck off and let me call an actual taxi to get me out of here."
Whatever tears I'd been crying earlier have left me sobered up now.
I wouldn't be surprised if my dad tried to drag me back against my word, but I also feel like he would've sent out a lot more than just Lev to get it done if that's what he truly desired.
Even with my guard still up, I felt a little more comforted by that fact.
"One, I'm driving because I won't risk putting our location into a GPS, two, we'll only be calling your father once we know it's secure, and three, while you may know how to tackle my ass, I'm also quite perceptive. How long have your friends been hiding out in that bush for?" Lev asks, my eyes narrowing in confusion as I spin around to my back.
I can't see anything through the rows of bushes leading all the way up the side of the stone pathway to Hailey's door, but when my eyes later catch on a glint of gold, I smirk because I know who it is. Or rather who they are.
"Kara? Imani?"
Crossing my arms over my chest, my smirk turns into a subtle grin as I watch the pair of women stand up from their hiding place, both of them brushing themselves off from the dirt they'd accumulated from their prior positions.
"Hey, girl." Imani grins.
"Miss us?" Kara shoots right afterwards, stepping into the light so that I can get a better look at both her and her twin.
My eyes glanced over the both of them as I noticed the tight black clothing they both wore, glints of gold and dark blue beads woven into the many lengths of their braids. Shining against their dark skin in combination with the fiery look in their eyes, they truly looked like power—like every bit of the fierce women I met just over a year ago.
"Depends. Are you here to return me to the bosses?" I ask, keeping my stance relaxed yet prepared in case I needed to find a way out of this conversation. It was also partially because I knew that even with Lev, there was no chance in hell we would win a fight against the two in front of us.
Imani scoffed as she came closer to me, tilting her head to one side almost in contemplation.
"You're not an object to be transported, Madelyn." She says as she gives me a smile and a slight incline of her head, telling me that even if they were under orders to take me back, they wouldn't either way.
When I looked to Kara next, I saw the same look upon her face–expressions of friendship and not regret.
I let out a breath to realize nobody was going to be attempting to haul me around tonight, allowing my already exhausted mind to go lax as I walked towards the two women before me.
"Then yes." I say as my arms wrap around Imani first, hugging her while remaining grateful there wouldn't be a divide between us anytime soon. "I missed you both." I continue as I go over to Kara, finding her already at my side and returning my tired embrace.
"You're okay?" Kara whispers against my ear as her arms tighten around my back, only pulling away when she feels my nod against her.
My time with the twins had been severely limited last year, half of their company being for work, however things felt as natural as they'd come with Hailey and Aaliyah.
It turns out the latter had moved away to Michigan with her husband, Issac, and their newborn son about a month ago, needing to upgrade to a more accommodating house to begin a family together.
I was happy for them, I really truly was, but I was also sad that they were gone. When I'd asked Hailey what they'd been told about my sudden disappearance, she simply said they were under the impression I'd broken up with Alec, Caleb, and Xavier, and that I needed time to heal. Apparently that had been believable enough.
"I'm okay." I echo Kara's words as her hand dropped from my arm, frowning at my wince from the brief pressure on my cut.
I really was fine, however a wound was a wound. It would go away with time, but that didn't stop the soreness of it in the moment.
"You don't even look—" Imani started with a stare just as Kara looked back at her, her face unchanging yet seeming to communicate something with her sister I couldn't understand.
The glance itself was quick, though it also seemed to be enough to make Lev take a step closer to my side, an action that didn't go unnoticed by anyone. In sync, Kara and Imani's eyes took place on the way Lev put his hand on the middle of my back, polite, yet the message clear.
A message that was so absurdly stupid I was tempted to cut him for real this time for it.
"Whatever insulting or belittling words that were about to come out of your mouth, I suggest you listen to your twin when I say to stand the fuck down." Lev cautioned, and the change in everyone's stance was immediate and abundantly clear.
While I was slightly angry at him for thinking he had the right to speak for me, I couldn't also help but be slightly stunned by how assertive Lev was as well right now.
It's easy to forget he's the son of the Russian Don when so often he acts foolish or banterful with me around.
As much as he pisses me the fuck off most of the time in a way I imagine a younger sibling would, most of our interactions have been a distraction for me in times I haven't really thought about until now.
But still, the anger that arose within me at his tone doesn't fade away despite all that.
"As much as I'd love nothing more than to see Imani take your ass down in whatever way she deems fit for using that tone with her, I really think I could use some sleep and you likely some stitches first." I say to Lev in a way I hoped was convincing, obvious that whatever kind of comfort there had been in the air before was quickly fading into tension.
Slapping his hand away from my back, I firmly grab onto his elbow instead, letting my nails bite into the skin to remind him I wasn't kidding.
I just wanted a soft bed and some peace and fucking quiet.
"And as for you two, I really am fine if that's what you were here for—to check on me. I'm good, I'm safe. But I'm also tired and in desperate need of a decent sleep." I continue to Kara and Imani, trying to cover up the fact that my grip on Lev's arm has slowly become for balancing my swaying more than trying to keep him under control.
Whether he noticed this or not, he stayed by my side, ironically leading me over to the car and not fighting it as he brought me to the front seat.
Opening my door for me, I slapped him away as he tried to baby me with my exhaustion hitting me in waves, but I would be good for long enough to get us to wherever it was that we were going.
Long enough to make me feel a little more in control again, even if it was just temporary.
"Madelyn." Imani called out right before I moved to step inside of the vehicle, my arm resting on the door as my eyes shot back up to the twins on the driveway.
I felt a lot of respect for them as I met their gaze, looking between the two people who were as lethal as they were admirable.
Even in the short time I've known them, they've become really important people to me, even if in reality we were virtually strangers to one another.
I suppose I didn't even know their last names.
"Kara and I had been hired to watch you the night you were taken." Imani says as her head tilts up just slightly, a little bit of her hardness from earlier fading away. "It's our fault you were kidnapped, but we won't let it happen again. We promise your safety with our lives, but we need you to fight too, okay? Not for us. Not for your father, Caleb, Xavier, Alec, or him." She shoots a pointed glance at Lev. "Fight for yourself, even if it's one sliver of a piece at a time."
_____
Imani and Kara didn't try to stop me as I left.
They didn't tell me I was a prisoner.
They didn't tell me I wasn't feeling well—that I simply needed some rest and that I'd be thinking straight again soon.
They didn't tell me I wasn't enough.
They didn't tell me I was irrational or emotional or stupid.
They told me to fight, trusting me to do it on my own and come to them when I was ready to seek help should I need it.
It made me breathe a little easier as Lev remained in the passenger seat beside me, gripping his still bleeding leg and likely getting blood all over the poor person's taxi he stole this from.
That was a problem for another time, though, because right now, I was free. My hands began to shake slightly against the steering wheel as my grip tightened at the realization, but I was outside and I got to choose where I wanted to go.
Even if it was just an illusion, I was able to inhale air that felt fresh, and there wasn't going to be a damn person in this world who could stop me from taking more.
"So what exactly was it my father wanted, then?" I ask Lev for conversation sake as I offer a side glance in his direction, figuring it would be best to get this chat out of the way now while he couldn't evade my questions.
Seeing him look back at me in return, he groaned as he shifted in his seat, wiping a hand down his face.
"He said things about how I was to make sure you were safe and how he didn't mean to make you feel so restricted back at the Keep." Lev says, turning down the radio a little bit as he straightened his spine. "Look... it's fine, but shit kind of went south the night you left." He continues, causing me to look over at him more intently.
"Like?" I prob, taking a deep breath and refusing to let anything sour my mood now that I was here.
Maybe Imani was right.
I've spent so much time fighting for other people that I've somewhere along the way forgotten about myself in the process. I didn't want to think about the fact that Alec had said something so similar to me when I was still handcuffed to his bed frame.
"I don't know the specifics, but something bad happened at the Keep behind your father's back. Now he has everything on lock down." Lev informs, making me stiffen at the reminder of what bad thing very likely caused this.
Just thinking about what happened to Nina makes the hairs on my arms rise all over again, forcing back down the memory of the panic I'd felt on that airplane over here.
"If you ask me, I'm pretty sure he let you leave San Diego, knowing you'd be safer anywhere else."
I was freer here, yes, but was I truly safe?
That was a question I was still debating on as I continued to drive as per the directions Lev was calling out along the way, my father apparently having arranged a studio apartment for me here earlier this morning.
He truly wasn't fighting my leave, and while I still had every intention of calling and talking things through with him in the morning, right now I was being offered a bed and a warm place to stay in.
After all that I've gone through this last week, I think I at least deserved that.
My body was shaking with exhaustion by the time I actually arrived at the small building just within the borders of the city, my trip getting inside fairly easy considering I had no belongings to carry with me.
Lev had already managed to take care of his wound for the most part during the short trip as I slipped out of the taxi, taking the keys with me and tossing them to the limping Russian on the other side.
Even that felt like a weight being lifted from me, my feet dragging as I offered him just a little bit of support considering I was the one who cut him, even if he deserved it anyways.
"Come on, slow ass." I groaned as we eventually reached the front entrance, moving inside and taking the very extensive staircase up multiple floors before we finally got to mine. My hand then reached out to snag the key from Lev's fingers.
When he moved quicker, lifting his arm up and away from him, I was just about ready to punch him in the balls just to make things go along just a little bit quicker.
Sensing my rapid change in mood, he made sure to quickly unlock it for me, swinging open the door but not moving inside at all.
Good, because I don't think I would've had the energy to shove him out again before dozing off into a sleep that will hopefully last a minimum of twelve hours.
Just barely do I manage to turn back around to face him after noticing all of my stuff from the Keep—which still really wasn't a lot—had been transferred over here too. Leaning against the wall, Lev places the key to my room in my hand, my eyes narrowing slightly as a second is placed along with it, identically cut to the first.
"I figured you'd like to know that you're the only person who has access to this room now." Lev shrugs as he takes a step back, noting my surprise considering I had a feeling Marcus had specifically given him one to keep an eye on me.
Instead, and likely going against orders, Lev gave both over, the act almost seeming kind if I didn't know him for who he usually was around me.
Not really good with my words, I simply settled with a small nod of respect for him as my fingers clasped shut around the two keys, the cool metal biting into the settling warmth of my skin.
"I guess you'll finally be able to drop my ass like you've been praying for these last multiple of months." I offer a hint of a grin as he takes another step back, clearly planning on leaving to god knows where for the night right about now as well.
While Lev didn't show it, I can imagine he was exhausted too, drained from whatever it was he got up to before coming to find me.
I'd figured my words would've been ones of understanding and farewell considering I was quite literally swaying against the wall for support, but Lev's appearing smile had me knowing what he was going to say before his lips even parted.
"Oh, I think you misunderstood this whole situation, Adams." He smirks. "I'm no longer your bodyguard, but also your neighbour."
I slammed the door closed only a second later, the sound of his laughter echoing all the way down the hall.
- End of Chapter 14 -
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