“Can you get me physical copies of everything?” Severo pushed.
Until they knew for sure that Preston’s people were all cleared out of the CEB, he’d get everything dealing with this case printed out, with multiple physical copies. He refused to let Preston get away with what he had done to Seri, to other people. The bastard was going down.
The nurse went to say something but hesitated, face pinching.
“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t necessary.”
“I…can make copies…it just may take me a bit,” she admitted.
“Please. And…can you get his discharge papers as well, and maybe some clothes? Unless there is more they need to check?”
“No, he should be good to go. The doctor does want to set up physical therapy sessions, but that can be done over email or phone. I’ll get his papers and a set of clothes for him to wear.”
“Thank you,” he said with a forced smile.
When she left, he went to explain, “I only asked because?—”
“I know,” Seri cut him off. “I know why you asked. You have nothing to explain.”
Severo rubbed the Nymph’s back. “Are you in pain?”
Seri smiled warily up at him. “No.” His bottom lip wobbled. “I just want to be held right now. Well, I want to get out of here, and I want my baby, but if that’s not happening yet, then at least hold me.”
“Whatever you want, Seri,” Severo murmured, holding on to him tightly as he carried the Nymph over to the chair. Sitting down, Severo arranged Seri onto his lap facing outward, encasing him in his arms.
He looked down when Seri leaned his head back against his chest, eyes closed.
“Preston was arrested tonight, you know that, right?”
“Was he?” Seri asked, voice sounding too nonchalant.
“Yes…” he said slowly. “You don’t sound like you believe me.”
“How long…before he is free?”
Ah, that was why… “He won’t be getting free. We have too much on him. Any judge that would be willing to grant him bail will find themselves arrested as well.”
The man frowned, eyes still closed. “Isn’t that illegal?”
“Not when the judges are in Preston’s pocket. Because no judge worth anything would give a man as rich as Preston the option of bail with the number of charges he is facing. Any judge who comes near this case will be flagged, their background raked through, their financials dissected… If they are connected to Preston, we will know before any decision is made. All legal under Universal Statute 613. And we've got the best prosecutor in the CEB on the case. The man is like a shark when it comes to corrupt judges. The minute one shows their hand, they will find themselves in deep shit. Part of the reason it took so long for us to get here was all the paperwork we had to get in order.”
“He is going to try to say I snapped and that I am lying.”
“And we know you aren’t. I have the original paperwork for the murder investigation. I left it in my car, which I left at the airport I flew out of originally. Though that was not the only copy. And with the photos of your injuries, not to mention the internal ones just taken now, we have proof of long-term abuse. We can also prove that there is no way you could have been standing fifteen days ago for your ‘marriage’ announcement. It won’t be hard to argue that it wasn’t you.”
“I didn’t sign anything.”
“He forged it,” Severo huffed. “Don’t worry, I already have someone working on getting that annulled. To add, what you told that officer, or should I say, soon to be former officer, was correct. Your official documents now say male. All notes of changes were removed months ago.”
Seri sighed. “Thank you… But ugh, those fuckers.” The Nymph sighed again, more heavily this time. “I need to get all my swearing out…before I see Skya.”
Severo chuckled. “That you do.” He pressed a kiss to the top of the man’s head. “Rest. We’ll be leaving soon.”
Seri grimacedas he sat down in the wheelchair that Severo had run in and gotten for him. The man started to push him towards the building, not that he needed to. Unlike the one in Preston’s house, this one did hoover and had controls.
He eyed the CEB building. The massive, many floor structure appeared to be formed by four large silver rectangular pillars of different sizes, merged together so they all looked to have one of the top corners cut off.
The shortest slanted on top to the left, was partly extended out in front of the tallest pillar. The tallest shooting up in the sky cut slanted to the right, as did the third and fourth pillar next to it. But the third was noticeably shorter than the tallest, the fourth continuing that pattern, looking like they’d been pushed together. Coming up from the first pillar was a large black ring that curled around part of the tallest structure. Honestly, the shape of the pillars reminded him of French fries.
