Wrong Turn, Right Path

Chapter 27 - Jemma's POV

I woke up the next morning weak and more tired than when I'd fallen asleep. I tried to get up to go to the bathroom and halfway there ended up falling to my knees and crawled the rest of the way.

"Mommy, I don't want to stay here. Can we go back home, please?" Maddie whined from the front room as I was finishing up in the bathroom.

I didn't look in the mirror, if I looked half as bad as I felt I'm sure the sight would give me nightmares. I wanted to go back, I wanted to apologize for acting so impulsively, to beg them to take me back but if this is what they really wanted then it would hurt even more than this when they turned me away.

"Please, I want to see Daddy and Papa. I don't want to be here." her whining was starting to hurt my already pounding head.

"Maddie, please quiet down I have a headache." I say as I make my way to the kitchen by leaning on the walls and towers of boxes.

"I hate this place." she says with a huff as she pouts on the couch.

I thought I knew heartbreak before but that was nothing. That was like comparing a paper cut to a gaping wound. Now I knew how someone could die of a broken heart because I felt like I was dying, and I only have myself to blame. I lean against the counter as I get myself a glass of water. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast yesterday but the very thought of putting food in my mouth makes me want to vomit.

"Do you want eggs for breakfast?" I ask Maddie.

"I want to go home!" She yells back from the couch.

"Well that's not possible right now so do you want eggs or not?"I fire back getting frustrated with her attitude but also realizing that she's had a lot thrown at her this last month as well and she's taken everything in stride staying upbeat and happy. That was until I ripped everything that she ever wanted away from her based on the words of someone I didn't even know.

"Fine, I'll have eggs." Maddie is still giving me attitude but I don't have the energy to continue fighting with her.

I turn and grab a pan out of the cupboard and the eggs from the fridge. Thankfully this is a breakfast that I could make in my sleep because I felt like I'm dead on my feet. By the time I finished making Maddie's breakfast and placed it on the table I was wiped out again and ready to lay down and take another nap. All I want to do is sleep. At least in sleep my heart doesn't hurt as much.

The more I thought about Layla the more I doubted what she said. I feel like an idiot for not talking to Nick and Nate about it. For just making the decision to end us without even giving them a chance. I feel like the biggest idiot in the world, but an idiot who's stuck with the choice she made.

Nate's POV

That was the worst night of my life. I didn't want to sleep in our bed without Jemma, but I didn't want to go back to my old room so instead I ended up hunting around the pack house looking for clues as to where Layla may be hiding. I went to her room and all her clothes were gone. All the furniture had been destroyed, the walls had been torn up by her claws and the curtains shredded. The place looked unrecognizable. Aside from showing her rage there were no clues, no scraps of paper, no address written down, no notes or letters, nothing but destruction.