I was a cognitive behavioral therapist. Italkedthrough trauma and issues with my patients. If she didn’t speak, how could I possibly help?
“Anything else you want to know?” Lykos demanded, and I shook my head. “Then let me show you to your room.”
I followed him back out, astonished and distressed. I started to wonder if maybe—just maybe—it would be kinder to let the woman find peace in a psychiatric unit where each day would be the same as the last. It could possibly be that people and events happening in this house were triggering her violent behavior.
“How long has she been this way?” I asked, following him down the stairs.
“Forever?” He let out a sardonic, tired breath. “Her condition started with small things that seemed off but were insignificant enough to ignore, but once she gave birth, the condition worsened progressively.”
“You mentioned before that she had been committed to a clinic. How was her behavior during her treatments there?”
“The doctors always said she was doing really well, especially in recent years. They continuously recommended bringing her home because of it. All her rage was aimed at me and our son, which is why I was a bit leery to listen to their advice.”
“Then why risk bringing her home?” I questioned.
His jaw clenched. “Like I said, the doctors at the clinic have been recommending it for a while now and admittedly, I wanted… hoped… my children would get to experience what it’s like to have a mother around. And fuck… I was lonely too.”
I swallowed, guilt swelling inside me. I didn’t think he aimed those words at me to make me feel guilty, but he didn’t need to, because I’d felt guilt from the moment I’d handed him my baby. It didn’t matter that I did it for her protection. The guilt was always there, my constant companion when it came to giving my own child away and my sister’s kidnapping.
“I thought she’d gotten slightly better in recent years,” he repeated, almost as if he were speaking to himself.
I focused on him rather than dwelling on my own inner turmoil.
“It could be that a stable environment in the clinic, where each day is the same as the last, helps her state of mind,” I stated slowly. He tilted his head, listening and considering my words, never pausing his stride. “Any potential items that could trigger her would probably not be around in an environment like that.”
“Wouldn’t the children’s and my visits to her in the clinic be something outside the norm?” he questioned.
“Maybe.”
“Then your claim doesn’t stand,” he replied. “For the past year, each time we visited her in the clinic, she was lucid and spoke more. She even communicated with Dimitros and Aria. So, I brought her home, wanting a better quality of life for her. Even the doctors there recommended it. I really thought she was better, but then?—”
He stopped abruptly and I put my hand on his shoulder. He stiffened for a moment, then the tension slowly eased out of him.
“But then?” I encouraged him to finish the statement.
“But then she tried to kill my children.”
FIFTEEN
LYKOS
“What?” she breathed, staring at me wide-eyed. “She tried to hurt Aria and Dimitros?”
“Yes.”
“How? When?” I could see wheels working in her mind and realization flashing in her eyes. “Dimitros’s cut on his face…”
She didn’t seem able to finish that thought, so I did it for her. “Amara cut him. It will be a scar that will forever remind him of her.”
Violet opened her mouth, then closed it, no words coming from her. She didn’t need to say anything, because her horrified expression said it all.
I resumed walking, and she followed in silence until I got to the guest room intended for her. After my conversation with Salvatore, I had one of my men go to the hotel and retrieve all her belongings. Hopefully she would be pleasantly surprised by that.
“This will be your room,” I said, opening the door to the guest room nearest my own bedroom. Of course, she didn’t need toknow that. She hesitated, flicking an uncertain glance my way. “What? Is it not to your standards?”
She tilted her chin up, glaring at me.
“The room is fine,” she snapped, then walked in. “Company is debatable. Shut the door behind you.”
