Broke? Eve and Jack? How odd. Of course, the recession had affected everyone differently, she knew that Vernon had been stressed about it when they were together. It was certainly some motivation for Eve to act the way she was acting; a life insurance policy would allow her to maintain the lifestyle it seemed she was on the verge of losing.

They were almost to the back door when the sound of a car pulling up cause them to stop. Madeline frowned, biting her bottom lip. They could still make it out if they hurried, assuming whoever it was that was coming home choose to enter through the front door. Quickening her step, Madeline led Gavin back through the kitchen. She gently pulled open the door, just as the sound of car doors slamming shut reached them. Adrenaline pumping, Madeline quietly shut the door behind them and moved as quickly and as quietly as she could away from the house.

Once they reached the main road she slowed, looking back over her shoulder to see if anyone was following. She was glad she had left the car a block or so away – any closer and it might have been noticed.

As she climbed in and headed back towards the hotel, she looked back to Gavin. “Well, that was close. But successful at least. Now we get back and prepare for tomorrow. We need to finalize how we're going to kill Jack.”

Tomorrow would be the gala and their trip would come to a close, for better or for worse.

Gavin still kept checking behind them- just in case. He sighed at Madeline's statement. He wasn't sure how to kill the guy either. He thought back to his earlier options and pursed his lips.

"Well... I think you have to go to the damn gala, even though it smells like a trap from a mile away. That's your whole "reason" for being here. If you cut town before that, it's suspicious as hell no matter what the death looks like."

Gavin checked the mirror again. No pursuit. Good.

"I hate to say it, but I think we've got to walk into the trap. We'll keep an eye out for an opportunity- and if none presents itself, we can either try to run him off the road and make it look like a car accident. Or we make it look like we left town and lay low for a while, then hit him."

“I agree, as frustrating as it might be. I must be at that Gala, there’s no other option. Eve knew this would be corner I would be backed into. The key is having an escape planned, one she wouldn’t expect. She might have been following me but that doesn’t mean she really knows me or what I do or the resources that I have at my disposable.”

Madeline might have been trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince him. Eve had obviously been planning this for some time and Madeline was starting to doubt herself. After all, the other woman had managed to carry on an affair with her husband for nearly her entire marriage and Madeline had been none the wiser.

“I just want to do this and go home. This town has been nothing but misery since the day I was born.”

Gavin grinned reassuringly.

"Well, we can burn it down on the way out, if you'd like."

After a while he sighed.

"Shall I attend the gala with you and stay close? Or do you want me to show up and start roaming around on my own? Think too many people have seen us together?"

Madeline laughed softly, shaking her head. "I think it would be very suspicious if we burned the entire town down. I really really think that would be connected to me." 

She pulled into the parking lot of the hotel, responding without hesitation. "Together. They wouldn't expect it and I want to keep them on their toes. I will call Nikolas and have him come into town, keep close by in case we need him. But they'd never expect me to show up at a gala dedicated to my dead husband with another man by my side. Even if they have seen us together, etiquette would say that I would go alone. That's what they will be expecting, so we're not going to do it that way." 

Gavin smirked.

"It's a date, then."

Heading into the hotel room, Madeline pulled her hair down and shook it loose, sinking into the chair. She glanced over at Gavin, a small smirk on her lips. This whole trip had been focused on Madeline's past and all the memories and horrors that she'd lived through here. But she was going through this with someone she would never have met if these things hadn't happened. 

"A date huh? Just be careful, your other girlfriends might get jealous." Her eyes twinkled slightly as she teased him. Well, half tease, half question. "From what I hear, you're quite popular with the ladies. One or two in particular." They'd never really talked about other people in their lives, and really, Madeline had never cared much; still, it would be a lie to say she wasn't curious. It was always better to know then to be surprised later. 

Gavin laughed softly.

"Keeping tabs on me, Mads?"

He shot her a look out of the corner of his eye- both amused and curious.

"I know that you'd never be jealous, right? And regardless of who else I may or may not be seeing, I'm not breaking anyone's trust. There are a few people that I have fun with. A few of them are more special than others... I'm not really sure what the future holds, if I'm being honest."

He shrugged.

"What about you? I'm sure you've got a stable of willing guys on call."

"It's curiosity is all." Madeline had zero reasons to be jealous; she had never had expectations with Gavin and even if she felt closer to him then had anyone in a long time, she still had no expectations. "I can admit I would have some disappointment if you were to suddenly become off the market. I enjoy the time we spend together, that's all. So I guess, if that's a possibility, maybe just....give me a heads up?" She shrugged softly; she knew this was an odd time and place to be discussing it, but the future was just as important as the past. She'd given him insight into her life, her real life, and that was a big deal for her.

Kicking off her shoes, she laughed softly at his question. "I tend to make it a habit not to see guys more than once. New York City is a big place."

Gavin shrugged off his jacket and tossed it on the chair. In his normal interactions with Madeline, he would be ribbing her mercilessly in a discussion like this. But with how tough this whole trip was... well, this was different.

"If my market status changes, I'll let you know. The real interesting part of your statement, to me, is this talk of your habits. Can't help but notice you've broken that habit for me. Feel like breaking it again? Or do we need our rest tonight?"

The question was phrased almost innocently. His blue eyes caressed her, but he made no other motion- other than the smirk that flashed in the corner of his mouth.

"I suppose I left myself open for that one, didn't I?" Madeline smiled, glad to have this distraction from the heaviness of the past few hours and the letters she had found in that house. "I don't know why I broke my usual for you. Don't let it get to your head."

Leaning back in the chair, she curled her legs under her and smiled. "To answer your question, rest is for the weak. But I'm not letting you off the hook that easily mister. Or maybe I should just be more direct myself? I'm not used to having these kinds of conversations you know." 

What she really wanted at that moment was a stiff drink. That always seemed to help. "Some a few more special than others you said. So there is a chance you could be off the market soon?" She wasn't sure why she was pushing the subject, but she wanted to know. 

Gavin reclined on the bed, facing Madeline as she curled up on the stair. He couldn't help but glance at her legs before she tucked them underneath her. He was smiling, but his voice was serious.

"It's not a secret, and I'm sure you could find out... but I'd ask for your confidence here- to keep this to yourself? I'm not going to kiss and tell any details, and this isn't anything you couldn't hear elsewhere, but I'd still appreciate it."

Madeline nodded, "Of course."

"You should know that I do consider you special. There's also Isabella Luciano, from Detroit. We started having a fling and... I'm not really sure how that's going to end up, but it's more than a fling. Stella DiVasio, from Vegas, is also someone who has been important to me for a long time. There's a woman named Evelyn in Chicago, a waitress who... well, you don't need to know the details."

He smiled.

"What about you? You've got to have at least one other habit-breaker? Or a potential one?"

"As for the future... I honestly don't know. I try not to worry too much about that, try to live in the present... I suppose I'll see what happens, but I suppose I could be off the market. Just seems strange to say it."

Madeline nodded at his words, taking a moment to let them settle. She was glad that she knew the possibilities, although there were more then she had thought. She couldn't help but tease him slightly with her words, her voice light "So a special lady in just about every major city then?"  She knew it wasn't that simple, but it amused her nonetheless. “Except I haven’t heard one from your own hometown.”

He asked again about her and Madeline simply shrugged. “I told you already. I’m a one-night kind of girl. I mean, I was gone by morning the first time I met you, remember?” She wasn’t really embarrassed by this fact, although it was less typical of a woman than a man. Madeline was who she was. “I don’t do well with attachments. What happens when people start asking questions? Where I grew up or what kind of childhood I had? It’s not exactly every day that I can go around telling people I murdered my first husband after he routinely beat the shit out of me and killed my dog.”

Madeline hadn’t mentioned Sadie to Gavin, not yet, but the point still stood. Madeline had no past, so it was hard to make attachments with other people. Gavin had never asked about her past before this trip and maybe that was one of the reasons they had come together again. 

“Anyways, I’m not saying it’s off the table. It just hasn’t happened yet is all.” Mostly that was her own fault – she didn’t exactly leave herself open to men. Gavin had sort’ve snuck up on her, in an unexpected way. Standing from the chair she moved over to towards the bed, slowly unbuttoning her jumpsuit as she did.

“Like you said, what matters most is the present. We’ll make the most of the now and however, life unfolds well, I guess we’ll just have to make the best of it. For tonight, we can just enjoy one another." 

Gavin just smiled back at Madeline as he spoke noncommittally. 

"I have possibilities in Philly. And you don't need to remind me of our first meeting. It was quite memorable."

Faced with her questions, Gavin just shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe some people wouldn't care."

He paused as she continued, not wanting to interrupt a beautiful woman in the process of stripping, but feeling like he had to say something. He'd never had a pet- not really. He'd tamed a squirrel once a child, kept it secret for weeks, but his father had killed it in front of him. He was quiet as Madeline's perfect form slid into bed next to him, fighting between a desire to speak and a desire to act.

"I'm really sorry about your dog, Madeline."

As Madeline fit her body against his, his words gave her pause. She closed her eyes, fighting off the isn't feeling of tears that came whenever she thought of Sadie. She'd spent so many nights sleeping outside, curled up with just Sadie for warmth and protection. The dog never left Madeline's side, even as she grew older. 

"She wasn't just my dog. I know it sounds silly but, she was my best friend." Madeline's voice was just above a whisper; losing Sadie in that way, it was devastating to her, even all this time later. "She tried to protect me from him." That was explanation enough, she was sure, any logical person could figure out what happened after that.

Gavin listened to Madeline speaking, hearing the emotion behind her words. He was entirely torn between what to do to try to help. Normally, he'd just kiss her, distract her from whatever was bothering her. Instead he turned toward her and rested his head on the pillow, facing her, and ran his fingers through her blond hair near her temple, stroking her hair in the same, gently repeated motion. His voice was softer when he spoke again.

"What can I do?"

Madeline didn't like emotions. They were messy things that got in the way; she preferred to keep them boxed up and put away, especially things like sadness and pain. She especially didn't like vulnerability, but that's how she felt in that moment, laying there next to Gavin. The feeling of his hand stroking her hair was comforting, but it took a deep breath or two before she could respond. 

She opened her eyes and found his, hoping he could see how grateful she truly was. "You're already doing it, just by being here with me. I know I've said it before but I don't think I could ever have gotten through this by myself." 

Gavin kept stroking her hair, then leaned over and kissed her. Not as she expected, with passion and exploring hands, but softly- almost like the way he kissed her in the afterglow of sex. Still, he couldn't resist smirking.

"You're strong. You'd be fine without me. I'm just going to help you do it with style."

He always seemed to know just the right thing to say. Her eyes fluttered opened and she smiled a soft but genuine smile. Reaching out to stroke his cheek lightly, her voice was quiet as she spoke: "If it counts for anything, I happen to quite like your style." She leaned in and kissed him, gently at first and then more passionately. 

She knew then that she was growing real feelings for this man and while it scared her, it also thrilled her. She would deal with whatever tomorrow brought, one day at a time. 

The next morning, Madeline awoke with a new determination. The gala would be a splendid event and Madeline spent all day getting ready, as only a woman could do. While shopping the day before, Madeline had picked a truly appropriate dress – yellow, with layers of frill and a tight bodice. Yellow was an odd color for a dress, but it worked well with her tanned skin and her dark blonde hair. When it was finally time to for them to leave, she glanced over at Gavin. Slipping into a sexy southern accent, she grinned. 

"Ready to go?"

Gavin slipped on his suit jacket and fixed the sleeves on his shirt. Checking his cufflinks, he winked.

"Ready. Still going with "Let's Go Try To Survive This Shit And See What Happens" as our master plan?

He grinned at Madeline.

"You look great, by the way."