Page 71 of Collin: Episodes 13-15
Collin tried to raise an eyebrow.
Damian patted him on his good shoulder. “I think that look will work better in another week. Right now, it just looks weird.”
“Hey, green and purple are the new fashion colors for spring,” Collin retorted.
Damian shook his head. “Maybe in shapes other than swollen and lumpy. Get better soon, sir, little brother. I hate sleeping at The Residency on my own. And now I need to go talk to Émeric.”
“Any chance they can move him to this hospital?” Richard asked.
Damian shook his head. “I advocated for that, but none of you look like you’re going to need long-term intensive care in the hospital, so there’s no good reason to slow down your healing by potentially moving you, only to move you again and send you home in twenty-four to thirty-six hours. Émeric’s surgery went flawlessly. Hypatia says he had the best surgeon in the city. And unlike the two of you, that was the worst of what he had. The rest was bruises and contusions. His hearing is coming back without complications.”
They went home to The Residency Saturday evening. Émeric was already there, sitting in his usual chair, wrapped in a heavy housecoat. His face was viciously bruised. If anything, he looked worse than he had during the initial video calls from the hospital Wednesday night.
Home didn’t mean privacy. Collin curled up in a chair across from where Mr. Reevesworth had been helped onto the couch and watched. There were so many people in the room who weren’t their inner circle.
Collin met Émeric’s eyes for the first time—in person—since that moment before Richard had ordered them to look down. An ocean of things rose up and filled Collin’s mouth, choking him with emotion. Some things couldn’t be expressed in front those who didn’t know. Now was not the time. Even Émeric’s eyes were saying the same thing, now was not the time.
But soon.
He dropped his gaze.
The nurse who would be staying in one of the visitor rooms in the housing tower checked on each of them. Mr. Reevesworth directed the mobile bed he had been brought in to be left in the master bedroom, and two of the assistants who had helped get him from the hospital followed through on that. Security cycled through. Ellisandre appeared with warm drinks and real food.
“I’ll just give you all some privacy,” the nurse said, finishing up. Collin still didn’t know his name. “All of you have the call button for me. Press it at any time. I’ll be just downstairs.”
Security started to take their leave. Collin grabbed one of them by the arm as they passed. “Is Holden okay? I haven’t seen him since Wednesday.”
“Holden was guarding the back entrance of your floor, sir,” the man replied. “He’s recovering back home.”
“Will he be okay, though?”
“He got hit with tranquilizers. Bit rough, but he’ll be fine.”
“I’m sorry.”
“He got off lightly, sir. And he will be fine.”
The door closed behind the last of the security, and that left only Richard, Émeric, Damian, Ellisandre, and Collin.
Ellisandre locked the door and did a check of The Residency, then came back with Maribel on their heels and Artemis in their arms. The black cat jumped down and padded to Collin as soon as she saw him. She jumped up on his lap, sniffed him, then moved on to Richard.
“We’re clear,” Ellisandre said. They pulled up an ottoman and sat down, crossing one knee over the other and folding their hands together in front of them. Today they had on an oversized pantsuit and nude ballet slippers, their nod to the no-shoe policy. “You are all tired, and the doctors said to make sure you keep resting, so I’ll go through the news quickly.
“Alice and Dana are with Hypatia and Matthew in Michigan. Damian”—Ellisandre nodded toward him—“already arranged contact between Alice and authorities. She won’t be charged for defending herself from Barker. Barker is recovering under arrest for murder and kidnapping. He’s going to be able to stand trial if he doesn’t plea deal out, which he may.”
“How’s Alice doing?” Collin asked.
“Good. Ash talks with her and Dana a couple times a day. Hypatia got them laptops, and Alice and Ash have been teaching Dana to play some sort of farming video game that all three of them are in. It’s too early to tell what’s going on, but the initial CPS assessment is that Linda and you, Richard, are Dana’s closest known suitable and living relatives. They’re still exploring the mother’s side. Paulsen says there are one or two potentials, but there’s a lot of inter-family alienation and complications. Dana doesn’t know any of them. So, if you ask to become her guardians, good chance you’ll have it.”
“Poor girl,” Émeric murmured.
Ellisandre went on. “Collin, Ash is coming over in the morning so you can talk to your sister. Right now, we don’t have a threat assessment we trust, so we’re going with over-cautious. Mikhail’s involvement moved us up from regular sabotage to potential nation-state players.”
“What’s our timeline moving forward as you know it?” Richard inquired.
Ellisandre tapped their fingers together. “That largely depends on all of you and how well you follow doctors’ orders. We can probably get Alice and Dana here within a week. But all three of you have a good two weeks of healing to do before Linda is signing off on any of you going into the office. Bruiski has agreed to be an informant if any of you show your face there.” They smirked.
Damian cleared his throat. “Hypatia says Dana has imprinted on Alice and that it’s probably kinder to keep them together. There’s no reason to rush unless, Collin, you really need to see them. Hypatia got lucky and found someone to cover her for surgeries.”
