SEQUEL: TWENTY-EIGHT

They settled for a small but high class hotel, settling in and for the very first time Madeline insisted on using a separate bedroom.
Alina had been really forward to spending some downtime with Madeline while they talked about other things or watched some shows to take their minds off what had happened at the clothing store so she was disappointed at this outcome.
It didn’t help that Madeline disappeared into her bedroom and didn’t come out afterward. If it were any other time, Alina would have gone right after her but at the moment she was stepping around Madeline, and after giving it some thought decided that it was probably best to give her friend some time alone.
She sat in the living room amongst shopping bags that smelled like expensive perfume. It wasn’t like when she had bought groceries, she couldn’t distract herself by arranging the things they bought because there was no telling when they would have to be on the run for their lives again.
Alina forced herself to face the harsh truth that Madeline might be rethinking their friendship due to all the danger she had been in recently. There was no doubt about it that she was Iyla’s prime target and poor Madeline had just been caught in the crossfire.
It had been years since Alina had had to worry about her safety, and even then, she didn’t really worry because she had Lukas, and her dad had bodyguards keep their eyes on her everywhere she went.
Now, she was forbidden from seeing Lukas - it wasn’t like Lukas would want to see her anyway - and she would rather die than go to her dad who never really cared to begin didn’t bother with bodyguards anymore after he got powerful enough that no one dared attack those affiliated with him.
Alina was used to a life of danger but Madeline was experiencing it for the first time, so although it hurt to think about it, she forced herself to accept that Madeline could decide to leave her anytime for her own safety, and she would have to let her go.
Madeline didn’t come out of her room until the sun started to set, she looked like she had spent the entire time crying but she tried to hide it behind a brave mask, a small smile on her face.
It broke Alina’s heart to see, “You know you can go home alone if you want?” She found herself saying even though the very last thing she wanted then was to be all alone. “I’ll be fine by myself.”
Madeline scoffed and curled up on the couch beside Alina - the shopping bags had been moved to a corner of the spacious room by Alina - “Like I’ll leave you by yourself,” She said dismissively, “We should just lie low for a few days until we get feedback from Peyton.”
Alina let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in, “Yeah, we should do that,” She smiled, “What do you want to eat? I’ll order room service,” She pushed up to her feet and headed for the room phone which was hung up on the wall.
“Cake!” Madeline cheered.
Alina did a double cake at this unexpected request but Madeline’s infectious excitement got to her, “Actually, yeah, we both deserve some cake.” She agreed, turning to the phone to order some truffle cake.
To Alina's surprise, the week they spent ‘lying low’ was really fun. She had been dreading it because she was convinced that it would only take a day or less for Madeline to change her mind and leave her but that never happened.
Instead, Madeline’s attitude changed completely, their relationship returned to what it used to be and although they were cooped up indoors for days, it was stuffy or boring.
By the end of the week, however, she came to a decision. “I’m sick of being cooped up in this hotel, why don’t we return to my estate?” She asked on the night of the seventh day while they were rolling around in Alina’s bed.
For everything that changed, the one thing that didn’t change was Madeline insisting that they stay in separate bedrooms. Alina was fine with that single change, as long as everything else stayed the same.
“But…” Alina started to protest, remembering what happened the first time she brought up that suggestion.
“It’s fine, Peyton has made some progress and if she does find her way to my house, it’ll save him the trouble of searching for her.” Madeline said flippantly, unbothered about Alina finding out what she wanted to keep hidden from her because they weren’t going to make it to her estate.
It was the reason she had spent a full week of misery entertaining Alina like she was some commoner, that would all change tonight, however. She had been meticulously planning for a full week and tonight, her plans would come to fruition.
“That’s great, as long as you’re fine with it,” She shrugged, a little hesitant still. “When will we head out?”
“Tomorrow I guess,” Madeline said slowly like she was just thinking about it, “Or… or we could go tonight?” She sat upright with a devious smile.
Alina frowned, “Wait, really?”
“I mean, it’s no more dangerous than in the day time, and this way we would have taken some precautions to make sure that no one follows us to the estate.” She made excuses, “But if you don’t want to go-”
“No! No! I don’t mind,” Alina said in a rush, her frown morphing into a vague smile.
Madeline smiled with her soft blue eyes, manipulating Alina was surprisingly far easier than she had been expecting. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get dressed, we can send someone to clear out our hotel room later.”
Alina rolled out of bed at this, she couldn’t say for sure what it was, but something felt off. “Hold on, Maddie, have you seen my phone?” She blurted out, realizing that she hadn’t seen it since the day before.
They had more or less cut contact with people outside and just enjoyed their time together so she hadn’t really needed to use her phone but now that they were leaving, she realized that she hadn’t seen it for a while now.
That must have been what was bugging her, although she was slightly troubled about Madeline suddenly deciding that they go over to her estate. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go or she had an issue with it but that she was worried that Madeline was pushing herself for her sake, she didn’t want that at all.

Madeline had her head in the wardrobe to pick out suitable clothes for leaving their hotel room, “What? Your phon- hold on, I can’t find mine either.”
Alina just shook her head fondly and went off to check the living room.
By the time they were ready to leave, it was a little past 8 PM and although Madeline quickly found her phone because she had used it to talk to her older brother, Alina still hadn’t found hers.
“Let’s just go without it, I don’t want us to be on the road too late.” Alina said halfway to the door to Madeline who was still helping her search.
“Are you sure though? We could always leave tomorrow instead to give us time to find it,” Madeline suggested, sweating a little at the possibility that she had managed to convince Alina to stay.
Alina chuckled, “Yeah, I’m sure, it’s not like there’s anyone I’m talking to anyway.” She said dismissively, opening the door.
Madeline could barely hold back her smile as she followed after Alina, there was in fact someone that she was supposed to be talking to. She had been keeping track of her friend’s phone so she knew the moment when Roman reached out to her to sign the contract, it was the same moment Alina’s phone had gone missing.
It was hidden somewhere in the house, she didn’t want Roman reaching out to Alina’s dad or something because he couldn’t reach her. To Roman, it would be like Alina was ignoring his calls and by the time anyone figured out what was going on, she would be long dead.
Alina laughed at something that Madeline said as they walked out into the parking lot. Madeline’s conspicuous car was sitting right in the well lit parking lot but there were other expensive cars around it so it didn’t stand out too much.
“Does Peyton know we’re coming back?’ Alina asked, getting in the passenger seat.
Madeline leaned closer to her and cupped a hand around her mouth, “Don’t tell Peyton this but he was the one that suggested that we come back.” She said conspiratorially.
Alina smiled at this, her expression distant. Madeline’s brothers were so nice to her but she got awkward around them because she never had siblings. And maybe it was a little weird but Madeline’s brothers felt like her siblings.
Madeline drove out of the hotel’s parking lot, they had told the receptionist at the counter in the foyer that they were leaving, and they also made sure to mention that someone would be coming over to get their things.
The receptionist had been very sweet and was sad to see them go. She also didn’t mention Alina’s title or even act like she knew them outside of them being hotel guests which was a breath of fresh air for Alina.
The night air was cool and a little uncomfortable against Alina’s face but Madeline insisted on driving with the top down everywhere they went so she kind of just got used to it.
“Are your parents back yet?” Alina asked to make conversation, feeling a little tense although Madeline had put on some music so that they wouldn’t have to constantly keep up the conversation and just enjoy the night drive.
Just as Madeline turned down the volume to respond a car seemed to come out of nowhere and ram into their car from the front. It was so quick and so fast that there was no time to scream, their airbags puffing up to protect them.
Madeline had been prepared for this so she had her seatbelt on, it was something she had done discreetly so Alina hadn’t caught on to it and was therefore without a seatbelt. So she took the hit harder, instantly getting knocked out by the impact.
Madeline felt dizzy but she was no worse for the wear, recovering quickly. She undid her seat belt and got out of the car, anger on her face as she studied her second totaled car in a month. Her dad might own a car brand but that didn’t mean she should trash her expensive one of a kind cars like they were paper bags.
“Who was the stupid fuck that crashed into my fucking car?” She cursed in anger, glaring at the men that came out of the other cars that had materialized around them.
The car that had crashed into them was empty, it was a decoy prepared solely to crash into them.
“Miss-“ One of them said in a placating tone, stepping forward.
Madeline didn’t let him speak, “Shut up! This wasn’t part of the fucking plan.” She cut him off coldly. “Do you know how much that car costs?”
“You were the one that said the target would be potentially wielding a weapon, I don’t like to put my men in danger.” The man didn’t back down.
“So you’d rather put the person who hired you in danger?” She cocked a brow, “Tell me, Pedro, Tell me exactly how you think because it’s clearly stupidly.”
Pedro had a weary expression on like he had dealt with several clients like this, “My deepest apologies, Miss, it’s just a bit of damage to the fender, a skilled mechanic should set you up quite nicely.”
Madeline just rolled her eyes, “If I weren’t so nice, I’d take it out of your pay.” She snarked, walking up to a car and getting in of her own accord.
While Alina had to be physically carried out of the car by two men, bleeding out of a cut on her forehead, still completely knocked out.
Madeline made sure that they were put in separate cars, she didn’t want to even look at Alina’s face or worse have a conversation with her when she came to.
This entire scene had happened on a lonely road that got even more desolate at night. Madeline had put a lot into the preparations by making sure that there were no cameras around. Besides the men she had hired and herself, no one would know of this.
And when the hubbub of Alina’s death had died down, she would make sure to find every single one of them and kill them off. ‘Dead men tell no tales’ and she was going to make sure of that because absolutely nothing was going to ruin the future she has worked so hard for.
The slew of black cars drove off silently, one of them towing away the car they had used to crash into Madeline’s car and even further down the road, there was a final car, a lone driver quietly tailing them from such a far distance.