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The house was deathly quiet now that they’d finally managed to successfully dispatch Selene... hopefully for the very last time, thanks to a favor called in from the wife of their old golfing buddy, Dallas Johnson.
Mia had pulled out all the stops to provide an ironclad divorce and custody agreement on Boxing Day, of all days, and Selene had grudgingly signed it in return for Kyros not pressing abuse charges against her.
Ky rubbed his hands over his tired face. “I just asked her to do as Selene said and keep away from Kira until we got everything sorted out. Although I’m surprised she didn’t show her face when Kira started screaming bloody murder at her mother like she did.
“How is Kira?” Xander enquired, the sympathy in his voice laced with fury at the afternoon’s events.
“She’s okay, I think. No real damage done, but she’s understandably subdued and is refusing to talk to me right now, though God knows what I’ve done to piss her off. I thought she’d be pleased to see the back of Selene. It’s not like there’s any love lost between them.”
“She’s been through a lot,” Xander commiserated patting his friend on the shoulder. “Em will soon have her straightened out. A little of her unique brand of TLC and we’ll all be feeling better.”
“Umm... that might be a problem,” Coll said, striding into the room. “She’s gone.”
“What do you mean, she’s gone?” Xander asked, jumping up out of his seat.
“I mean gone,” Coll replied, bluntly. “As in packed up, not here, and a shipping trunk in her room with her parents address on it.”
Ky and Xander ran to Em’s room to see for themselves, as if they thought Coll might be mistaken, but everything was just as he’d said.
“What the hell did you say to her, Kyros?” Coll demanded, standing in the doorway of her room with his arms crossed over his chest like a deadly sentinel.
Ky fisted his hands in his hair and pulled. “I don’t understand,” he answered shakily. “All I did was reason with her, I swear, and ask her to keep away from Kira, like Selene asked. Just until we got things sorted out. Why would she leave?”
“Because you told her she had to do what Mama said,” a tearful voice accused from the other side of the door. “And Mama said she was fired.”
Two streaks of blond raced into the room, their little fists beating against Xander and Coll. “And when Emie asked Uncle Coll if you and him agreed, he said yes!” Axel shouted, furiously.
Ky’s eyes widened in horror, and he paled despite his Mediterranean complexion. “No!” He exclaimed hoarsely. “That’s not what I meant. I didn’t know Selene had said that to her!”
“Fuck!” Xander spat the word like a bullet.
“You said a bad word, daddy,” Alex commented, pulling away from Coll.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Xander said again, despite the presence of the children.
Coll was the only one who seemed to retain any presence of mind. “We’ll put your dad on the naughty step, later,” he told the twins, crouching down to their level. “Now, do any of you know where Emalee went, so we can try to fetch her back?” He looked at Kira to include her in the question.
“She’s not fired?” Alex asked quietly.
“No, she is definitely not fired, that was just a misunderstanding. But now we have to find her so we can tell her that, or she’ll be sad.”
“She left in an Uber,” Kira sniffled, taking a conciliatory step towards her father who engulfed her in his arms and held her tight.
“Call the company,” Xander instructed. “Threaten them, bribe them, do whatever you need to find out where they dropped her. I’ll start checking the flight information for her parents’ place. Coll, do you have her brother’s number? It should be in the file as an emergency contact.”
The three of them mobilized like a slick machine, and the children trotted along quietly behind, Kira holding on to Alex and Axel’s hands as they quietly allowed their fathers to track down Emalee.
It didn’t take nearly as long as they’d expected. And nor did it take any bribery or threats.
“The hotel,” Ky shouted triumphantly. “The Uber took her back to the hotel.”
“Of course,” Xander exclaimed. “She was still booked in there for another few days. Come on!”
He looked over his shoulder at Coll. “You’d better message your parents and ask them to keep hold of Nicky for another couple of hours,”
“Already done,” Coll replied gruffly.
EMALEE LAY ON THE BED staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t believe she was back here again. Had it only been a matter of days since she first checked in? It seemed like a lifetime of the most intense happiness, pleasure, and grief had passed since then.
