“Lowville General Hospital.”
“Can you stay with her? I’ll be sending some people down, likely her son and his partner, who is a friend of mine and works in the Bureau. But it will take them time to get there.”
“I don’t know if he is the only one who means her harm, considering her neighbors ignored her cries for help. So even if I can’t stay here, I’ll have someone stationed outside her room.” The man paused before saying, “A warning—she is badly banged up.”
“I’ll let them know. And, Bennie, thank you for being there.”
“No problem. I wish your hunch of something possibly being wrong had been incorrect. Talk soon.” With that, Bennie hung up.
Killian stared, his expression through the call had turned from questioning to worry. “How bad is it?”
“Her damn husband tried to kill her.”
“Fuck,” the Siren hissed. “He’s still alive?”
“For now… Maybe the mother wasn’t involved, but I’m thinking the father was.”
“I found nothing on him… I’m going to be honest, I thought he may have died? The files for these settlements are usually woefully incomplete, and sometimes they never report the deaths to the government, local or otherwise.
“The last thing on him that I found was a surface level hospital record listed for him the day Seri was abducted. And then it was like he dropped off the face of the Earth. No job, no nothing. So, yeah, I thought maybe he'd died. Apparently not. I’ll start looking again.”
They both turned towards the outer office at the sound of multiple footsteps approaching.
Moments later, Seri rushed in, Skya strapped to his chest, with Severo on his heels.
“Is she here yet?” the Nymph asked, face looking so hopeful…
Cyrus winced. “About that…”
Severo glanced over at Seri. The Nymph was staring blankly out of the window of the car. The expression was one he’d kept through the whole flight there.
Reaching out, he took hold of Seri's left hand. “It’s going to be okay, Seri. Your mother is going to be fine.”
At least…he hoped. He wasn’t sure how bad of a shape she was in, but Cyrus’ friend warned it wasn’t good. Being a Water Nymph, at least, the woman would recover quickly, and hopefully without complications.
“Her own husband attacked her! And for what? Wanting to leave?” Seri rasped hoarsely.
“I…don’t know… But…I doubt it was just because she wanted to leave…” Severo said hesitantly.
Seri let out a bitter laugh. Looking over at him, his expression finally changed from the blank empty look. The Nymph's eyes were glossed over, his bottom lip trembling with emotion. “He didn’t care that she wanted to leave, it was the reason she was leaving that mattered, wasn’t it? He was involved in what happened. He had to be. Why else would he attack her?”
“It’s…likely the case.” He rubbed the top of the man’s hand.
“Is she awake?” Seri asked, looking away again.
Seri had been in no state of mind to talk to the officer who had saved her, so he had.
“The last I heard she was conscious, and knows we are coming.”
The Nymph faced forward on a frown, rubbing at his stomach. “I’ve felt off since Cyrus told us.”
“Do you want to stop somewhere and pick up some medicine?”
Seri sighed. “No. I'd rather just get there. And it’s probably just nerves. I am about to meet my mother… Also, Skya isn’t here so…”
They’d decided it was safer to leave Skya behind with Killian and Cyrus. Severo hated being away from her, and he knew Seri did too, but they didn’t know if it was safe or not.
Honestly, they probably shouldn’t have brought her with them to the office to meet Seri’s mother in the first place, but the thought hadn’t crossed either of their minds that it could be dangerous.
