"Except for being weak, she has completely recovered. If we have your consent, we can produce the discharge letter. She is free to go."

The doctor let out a solemn smile at Madeline and walked out of the room, after a regular check up. Madeline has now recovered enough, to gather the energy to sit on the bed. 

"Finally, out of this room." she breathed titling her head back at the headboard, "Trust me, seven days. It feels like 7 weeks. I'm done with it.

Jacob, who was standing beside her, facing the door, turned towards her with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" She questioned.

"Seven days? You kidding right?" peering at Madeline

Madeline shifted her gaze towards the left. Then she looked back at him , with questioning eyes.

Jacob sensed her confusion, and could not stop himself from laughing at her confused look. He composed himself, to some extent, before he continued.

"Honey, add two more days to that." 

"I wasn't asleep that long." she revolted.

"You were passed out."

" But, the wound is not..."

"You were put to sleep, to let yourself heal." he replied with a genuinety in his voice.

"Urgh!" she clenched her jaw.

"You're fine now. What else matters?" he chuckled, "But, trust me. You scared the shit out of me."

Madeline leaned her head over the headboard of the hospital bed and heaved.

Jacob patted her shoulder and stated, "I'll complete the formalities, then we are good to go."

"Can we go to the police station today?" her sudden change of tone and the question out of the blue, left him in a confused state for a brief moment.

"No." he rebuked in a kind tone, "We are going home, straight. And yeah, you are staying at our place, for a few days, until you recover fully."

Madeline closed her eyes and warily shook her head, "I'm fine."

"I know you are fine."

"No! I'm good enough, to return to my daily routine."

"Yeah right, you are." he remarked in a sarcastic tone and walked out of the room, partly to avoid any further discussion. 

Madeline groaned out of frustration

The next day;

Knock! Knock!

It was early in the morning, when Jacob knocked the door of their guest room. Although, Madeline refused, Jacob somehow managed to convince her to stay with them for a few days.

She refused to have dinner and locked herself up inside the room, for the evening, till now. After a few knocking at the door, she finally opened the door, fully dressed up, and Jacob stood baffled, "Wherrrre are you planning to go?"

Madeline walked up to the mirror, and spoke while brushing her hair, "In case you don't remember, I have given you a proposal, yesterday."

"You are staying back home today." he warned, "I promise to take you to the department, within a few days."

Madeline turned her heel towards him, "How can you be so casual about everything?"

I'm not taking anything casually. But, for now, you need to recover."

Madeline rolled her eyes and turned back towards the mirror.

"I am assassin, In case you forgot. These wounds are basic for me."

"Maddie, you had a high amount of blood shed. Even when, the wound is shallow, you are still weak from within."

"Just stop this rubbish, already." she exclaimed and turned on her heel to leave the room but Jacob followed suit, "You are not moving out of the house."

"Leave my way."

"I am not letting you out of the house at this condition."

"You can't stop me."

"Maddie!"

"Let me go."

"Listen.."

"I am going to let him live..."

"Can you stop being so damn stubborn?" his voice spilled out louder as he jerked her shoulders. She stood frozen, looking at him with terrorized eyes.

" Here I am trying to keep your ass off their radar." He continued in the same pitch, "Can you at least freaking co operate? For f*cking once?"

She let out a few sharp exhales, not deviating her eyes off him. After a brief moment, the trepidation in her countenance faded and she calmed down.

"You are mistaken here, Jake." she responded in a choked, quivering voice, "We are not  off the radar."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Everything that happened with me is the prove."

Jacob closed his eyes and composed himself, "He knew about you because, you were in the frontline. Mr. Alvarez has decided to senselessly put you alone in the job."

"No!" she shook her head, "It is much more twisted than you can ever imagine."

He peered at her, "What is that supposed to mean? Maddie, be clear with me."

"You'll learn about it sooner. For now, we need to go."

Jacob plunged down his shoulders, "You won't comply?"

Madeline silently kept looking at Jacob with pleading eyes.

"Always trying that out on me?" he complained, resting his hands over his hips, "Let's go!"

At the department;

"How you feeling, Madeline?"
"Like, a hard hangover."

It was almost afternoon. Mr. Alvarez kept seated in his seat, leaned forward towards Madeline, who was seated opposite him. Jacob sat beside her, resting his forehead over his palm.

"You should have taken a few days rest." Mr. Alvarez remarked.

"I told her." Jacob prompted in, closing his eyes, "No use."

Mr. Alvarez glanced at Jacob and looked back at her Madeline, who was having a stoic expression pasted over her face.

"You remember his face, completely?"

"I will never forget."

Mr. Alvarez looked at Jacob to find him almost piercing a glare at her head while Madeline did her best to avoid eye contact, with the angry officer sitting beside her. Studying through their silent war, Mr. Alvarez let out a heave and decided to play along.

" I have the sketch artist ready, as Jacob asked for. As, he gets ready, Clare will lead you there."

Madeline looked up at him and nodded.

After, fifteen minutes, Madeline entered the room and the session took almost half an hour to clear out a sketch of Jackson Claros over the white canvas.

"There you go." the artists exclaimed, almost admiring his own creation, "Is this what you asked for?"
"Absolutely."

Madeline twirled with her revolving chair to find Mr. Alvarez and Jacob standing behind her. While Mr. Alvarez was carefully scrutinizing the image, Jacob stood their gaping at the image.

Even though Jacob never met Rex in person, but he knew about him well through Madeline's excited talks and a few pictures she had shown him a couple of times.

As he shifted his gaze towards Madeline, she gave her a knowing look and walked out of the room. Jacob trailed.

She kept walking through the sectioned cabinets on her way out of the office as Jacob kept up with her pace.

"Are you sure about it?" Jacob questioned with a hint of worry in his voice.

"This was the man."

"This man is Rex."

"There was no Rex in my life, Jake." she snorted.

"You mean it was him the whole time? This. This is crazy!"

"Not crazier than my life."

Madeline stopped by the main entrance and turned towards Jacob, "I am not stubborn without a reason."

"I hope you are not mistaken, Maddie."

"He pointed a gun at me while he announced his name with a huge damn confidence. You need a better proof? There were his men along with him, surrounding me. I am pretty sure, one wrong move and they could have pierced all their bullets into me and he would be just standing there watching it all, enjoying it all." She chuckled unhumorously, " I can be mistaken once, Jake. Not twice. You know, this is a prove that being in love is not for me. First it was Corvett than it is him. I am done with this game. This is payback. This time they both go down."

Jacob kept looking at her eyes and took some time, before he spoke in a softer voice, "I'm sorry."

She sighed, "Should I be sulking for that a**hole, tsk!"

Jacob chuckled, "I am there with you. That's right! This time they both go down."

She passed a smile at him and walked out of the department.