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CIARA HAD TRIED TO rush off to see her mother, but Kellan had stopped her. He had claimed she couldn’t go see her mother in the clothes she was wearing.
And he was right.
Ciara wasn’t sure how much of the blood was Zach’s, how much hers, and how much was Jesse’s. But there was a lot of blood. The nauseating smell of her blood-soaked clothes overwhelmed even her own senses.
Liam took her to the safe house she had been staying at, but they both stayed silent. Her thoughts were jumbled, and Ciara struggled to make sense of them.
She had to go one step at a time.
First step was to change clothes. She did that but didn’t bother to shower, despite the blood in her hair. Even with the clothes, she needed Liam’s help, so she didn’t want to know how hard showering would have been.
She needed to see a doctor because of her broken ribs and the split lip.
That was where Liam took her after the quick stop at the safe house. She refused to leave until the doctors had checked on Liam as well. Neither one had to stay at the hospital, but they got medication—mostly healing potions—for the pain and to enhance the healing.
As Ciara had expected, she had broken ribs and lots of bruises. She was told to rest for the next month.
There was no way she would, though. Not with Theo gone.
Liam led Ciara to a hospital room where her mother was sitting on a bed. Mary was also there, keeping Sarah company.
Ciara’s mother, Sarah, burst into tears the moment she saw her daughter. Ciara did too and rushed to hug her mother. She hissed in pain when her mother hugged her back. Her ribs still hurt.
Her mother almost asked about it, but Ciara was faster with her answer. “I’m fine. Just a broken rib.”
It was actually more than one broken rib, but the details didn’t matter. What mattered was that she finally got to hug her mother. And that her mother was safe.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“Hi, Mum.”
They both cried, but there were also happy tears. Especially on Sarah’s side.
Ciara wasn’t so sure. Not after she had lost Theo and killed Jesse.
It should have felt like a victory—at least a small one—but Ciara didn’t remember hitting such a low in her life ever before.
She shouldn’t have killed Jesse. She should have put him in prison. Nothing had forced her to kill him.
Jesse’s parents would take the witch hunters’ side if they already hadn’t. His death could inspire more people to help the witch hunters, and it was her fault.
Except, most of that wasn’t true. Jesse had been too far gone for a long time, and his parents had likely already taken a side.
“Ciara?”
She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at her mother. “Sorry. It’s been a long day.”
“I understand, but I’d like you to meet someone if it’s okay.” Her mother gestured behind Ciara, and Ciara turned around.
A man in his fifties stood in the hospital room’s doorway. He had light brown olive skin. His black hair was long enough to be pulled back with hair gel. His beard—longer but groomed—had light grey streaks here and there, like his hair. Parts of him looked Italian, but Ciara could have sworn he also looked part-Greek.
“I’m Enzo.” The man offered his hand, and Ciara shook it.
“Ciara.”
“I know. Your mother talks a lot about you.” Enzo smiled with genuine warmth, and Ciara had a feeling she would like the man.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“You too.”
Ciara glanced at her mother. All she saw on her mother’s face was love when Enzo and her mother looked at one another.
Her mother had been happy in Italy—happy with this man called Enzo. But that didn’t mean he could be trusted.
What raised alarms in Ciara’s mind was that Enzo hadn’t been killed or kidnapped.
“Where were you when they killed Ian Connell?” Ciara asked him, her tears fading in an instant.
Enzo’s face lost all warmth and colour. For a moment, he seemed like he would throw up. Dead people didn’t seem as mundane to him as they did to Ciara. “I-I was picking up groceries, so I wasn’t at the house. I found the house empty, except Ian was...d-dead.”
Ciara nodded. “I just had to ask.”
“Of course.” Enzo nodded too. The warmth didn’t return to his face and even when he tried to smile, it didn’t quite reach his eyes.
He wasn’t the bad guy; he had just been extremely lucky. The witch hunters would have killed him if he had been at the house with Sarah and Ian.
Sarah introduced her husband to Mary and Liam next. Soon after, Mary and Liam left. Enzo claimed to need another cup of coffee too, so Ciara got a moment alone with her mother.
––––––––
ALL THE ROSSLERS WERE taken to their house to see the damage. Ciara wanted to go there after the hospital, but images of Jesse’s corpse running through her mind made her stop.
She couldn’t go back.
With nowhere else to go, she ended up sitting in her office. Alone with her thoughts. It wasn’t smart because her own mind was slowly driving her insane.
She had lost Theo to the witch hunters again. There was no way to tell if he was even alive anymore. An uneasy feeling lingered in Ciara’s chest. She suspected Elliott wouldn’t make his next move—not even with Theo—before he had an audience of witnesses.
That didn’t comfort Ciara. It was more of a warning that something horrible was going to happen.