Madeline

I came into my room after taking care of the chores for the day and after making sure that the two siblings are asleep after clearing out the differences and the fight between them. Kyle and Kendall never misses a chance to go head on head but also it doesn't take them forever to change their tunes back to normal.

It was midnight and the time for my favourite vice.

I opened the drawer of the shelf where the picture frame was still standing like new—our wedding photo. We were staring at each other, grinning like never before, promising to be together, forever.

I scoffed, shaking my head.

What a joke!

I pulled out the packet of cigarettes and the grey lighter, and walked out towards the small extended balcony in my room, guarded with white railings.

The darkness had already engulfed the sky, tucking itself in the horizon. The crickets were out for their daily job, chirring and chirping, keeping the eerie silence at bay.

I couched myself in the arm chair placed at a corner of the small balcony and lit my cigarette. As the flame touched the tip of the cigarette, a hissing sound mixed with the calm night soundtrack surrounded the house, illuminating my face and the palm of my hand. But the red ashes soon extinguished, loosing it's strength and dying out, leaving the burning tip in a dark shade of grey as the fumes raised to the sky.

Every time I exhaled the smoke, the dense cloud of nicotine covered my sight and blurred the present near me, taking me to that moment where he made a promise.

----------------------------------------------------

Past Scenes:

It was an evening marked by a grand charity ball. A large banquet illuminated with dominating yellow lights, reflecting off the golden plates. Floral motives covered the whole interior, moving from the staircase to the pillars, to the paintings of flower arrangements on the walls.

The more sophisticated were the guests though, showing off their branded clothings and their glittery accessories. While some stood in groups, others casually grooved to the soft jazz that echoed through the hall—the big fat arses's event.

We were invited as well—of course. Rex or how everyone knew him, Jackson Claros, was someone who never missed a chance to serve directly or indirectly to society. He had secrets to keep, but that could never dominate the humility in that man.

As we engaged in formal greetings, he casually held me by my waist. While we stayed within the crowd, Jereff, my brother-in-law, was by the bar, getting himself a drink, scanning the flashy gathering with a subtle smile painted on his face. Even when we attended the most casual events, we could never let our guards down.

I was casually scrutinizing my surroundings, when my eyes fell on Kyle, who was just six, and his two-year-old sister. Both of them devouring a huge piece of cake. Their clothes were completely soaked in chocolate, while they dug into the cake as if they were lost inside a candy factory.

Leaning on Rex, keeping my eyes on the children, I asked him, "you did that?"

Rex turned his gaze to me and then looked at the kids. "Yup!"

"Do you even know what that amount of sugar is going to do to them?" The subtle sternness in my voice was clear to him, but he never seemed to get bothered.

"Nothing other than drench them completely in chocolate." He shrugged.

"Rex!"I called him out playfully.

"What?" he responded in a similar tone, grinning.

"I've said many times that they don't need sweets treats. Not like this. Look at them! They're devouring like little chocolate demons."

Rex took a look at them and smiled lovingly. I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes at his blinded love expression—but neither could I hide the smile that spread across my face.

"Just look at them," he commented, pointing at the kids"Look at those happy faces!"

"I know!" I exclaimed,"but now you gotta help me to clean them up."

"Okay!" he sighed.

We walked up to them, and I realised that the faraway sight was much better. They had chocolate smeared everywhere. I threw a death glare at Rex, and he tried hard to keep himself from bursting out into laughter.

"Dadda, choccket, goooooddd!" Kendall exclaimed in gibberish.

Rex crouched down beside her and placed a kiss on her delicate, chubby cheek. Kyle looked up at me and grinned from ear to ear, showing his chocolaty teeth, moving his head to the sides humming in complete bliss.

While we were cleaning the kids with tissues, Jereff called out Rex. A low yet grave tone leaving his mouth as his eyes moved through the crowd.

Rex looked at him out of the corner of his eye and then glanced at me before standing up and walking towards his brother.

Rex replied, brushing his coat, "coming."

"Jack, something's wrong."

Rex stopped what he was doing and looked up at him. "What do you mean?"

"There are some faces I don't recognize. It seems like they're keeping an eye on our movements."Gesturing with his eyes while brushing his beard casually, he added, "like the one sitting at the bar."

Rex gazed at a man who was drinking like a loner. His eyes did a short scan of the surroundings and fixed somewhere behind his shoulder.

Jereff continued, "Jack, I suggest you get out of here."

"What do you mean by 'you get out here'? If we go, we all go. If we stay, we all stay."

"If we all go together, they could trail us all down to our houses. You have to protect Madeline and your kids, if something goes wrong..." letting out a shaky exhale, " Marc and I can stay and take care of the scums." he added in a deeper and calm tone.

Letting out a huff, Jackson announced, "Okay, I'm sending Madeline and the kids back home, but I'm not leaving my men here and hide like a coward."

"Jack, it's..."

"NO! Let's dig in further."

Just as the brothers strolled towards the center of the ball, my eyes fell on the hanging chandelier, shimmering in the air, slowly closing it's distance from the ground; accelerating it's pace, racing down towards the marble floor. Just below the chandelier, was them.

My heart fell to my stomach. A scream left my throat.

"REX!! WATCH OUT!!"

The two men flounced at my direction—just like everyone else there— as I rushed towards them and pushed them out of the trajectory of the huge lamp. I didn't think, just acted, letting the adrenaline running through my veins take control of my body.

Within seconds, the chandelier crashed against the floor, shattering with a huge thud, echoing in the hall. All the guests started to run frantically, scared, in search of a way out.

The place became a complete chaos and soon gunshots resonated in the air.

It was an attack.

"F*CK!" exclaimed Rex.

All of them pulled out their guns while I ran towards the kids. I held Kendall tightly to my shoulder and pressed Kyle as close I could to my body.

I looked up to the gallery surrounding the place. It was filled with gun men. I ran as fast as I could to keep the children safe from the attack.

I rushed towards the nearest wall, beneath the gallery frame that seemed like a blind spot, taking a deep breath before I made my way towards the main door.

As I was running, I could feel the shadow above my head gradually falter, leaving me and the kids vulnerable in the middle of the hall. A sudden rush of fear took over me, but soon I felt Rex moving closer to shield us.

Soon as we reached a door, that was attached to a gap between two beams. He pulled me up to the corner of the beam and used himself to shield us away from the hall. He looked around and then glanced at me.

"There's a small hidden doorway walking down these stairs," he said, pointing towards a closed door beside me, "you'll reach the lawn." He took a deep breath and continued, "I've contacted Raven, she'll be taking you and the kids out of here."

"I'm not leaving you alone!" I almost choked on my words as Rex stared at my startled and sweaty face___ least expecting my response.

"You heard me right. When Raven gets here, I'll let her take the kids out of here, but, I am not leaving... Not without you." My voice quivered.

"Maddie, you can't do that! We both can't be here, someone must take care of the kids."

"But..."

"Amore, no!" Rex cupped both my cheeks and spoke in a gentler tone, "if the kids didn't exist, I would not have asked you to leave. But, they need a mother before anyone else."

"Rex, I dare you say that again," I couldn't believe he was asking me to leave him. "I won't. I will never leave you."

He broke, I could see it in his eyes. He turned around, getting out of his hideout to check for possible threats and then spoke,, "wherever I am, I will always find a way back to you. Always."

"Do you promise?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I immediately regretted it. A visible sheild of Guilt covered his face, but he concealed it in no time.

Rex leaned towards me and pressed a soft kiss on my lips, whispering as he leaned his forehead against mine, " I promise!"

We had never made a promise. He said, his life was too short to be promised upon. But today he did, locking his eyes into mine. I could feel a twirl in my stomach and a fear rising up as bile.

He kneeled down to face Kyle, who had no idea what was wrong, but the panic was reflected off his face.

Rex delicately held him by his shoulder, talking to him in a sweet tone,"you're the strongest boy I know. I want you to take care of your mom and baby sister. Okay?"

"Where are you going?" Kyle muttered as his chin trembled.

"There are some men here who are trying to harm us, son. Dad can't let that happen, right? But, I can't do this alone. I need your help. Raven will be here in no time, you just have to do what she says. Can you do that for me?"

The kid silently nodded, meekly announcing his assent. But the paranoia in him was written all over him.

Rex ruffled his hair and said, "go home!"

"Won't you come with us?"

"... No.. Kyle, I can't." taking a brief painful pause, "Will you take care of mommy and Kendall if something goes wrong?"

Kyle struggled to nod his head this time, while his eyes struggled to keep back the tears, that were struggling to escape.

Rex read his expressions and covered his face with kisses, trying to convey the love and pride he felt, trying to assure him that things would be alright. As he stood up, he placed a delicate kiss on Kendal's forehead as he ran a hand through her hair.

He shifted his gaze towards me, and smiled, covering a visible guilt—and pain.

"I love you... Please, be safe" he whispered before running towards his men.

I couldn't move my eyes from him. Something in me was not allowing me to let him out of my sight. He had been to missions after we met and after we got married, but this fear was different. The fear of the emptiness I was experiencing, as the distance between us grew more and more. My guts were telling me that this time I might lose him forever. That maybe this was the last time I was seeing him. I tried to wave that off. But couldn't.

We managed to get out of there, and as I reached home, I put the kids to sleep and let myself fall in bed, curling up in a corner.

I didn't know how long I had been in that position, staring at a blurred distance, when the loud ring of my phone snapped me out of my numbness.

Jumping out of bed, I placed my phone against my ear. I could hear my heart beating out of my chest as sweat dripped off my palm.

I expected it to be Rex, but it wasn't.

It was Marc.

"Hello!" I gathered my strength and breathed out.

"Madeline, Jack..." he paused, I didn't dare utter a word in response. I was starting to prepare myself to hear the hard truth, "We can't find him. There has been an... explosion and he... he... was in there. We found a piece of the fabric of his coat, but he is nowhere to be seen....Madeline!..... Madeline!? Are you there?"

The phone slipped from my hand as he kept calling out my name from the other end of the call.

I slumped down on my knees.

Promises are made to be broken, they say. He made a promise for the first time, and he broke it along with me.

Marc's words still shudders to me to the core.

As I deeply looked into the picture, absorbing in every detail of his happy face, of his smile, of his love, of everything that I lost, forever, I remembered his words. Tears began to roll down my face.

Yes, I ran. I ran to save the last bit of strength that was left in me. I ran without turning back.

This dark side of his world took away my mother from me, my brother, and the love of my life. I couldn't let it take away my kids too.

Maybe, my approach would have been different and less selfish if it wasn't for my children, who had absolutely no idea that they had been born to walk over hayfire. They, who have no idea, that paradise for us, is just a delusion."

I was done losing people. If lying to them kept them safe, then I would lie. I couldn't lose them. They were my babies, the only thing that kept me connected to Rex. They were his memory. . They were my only reason to keep moving forward, to survive.