Deposit Paid; Daughter? Kidnapped.

WYNTER

Relief, I was learning, never stayed long enough to unpack its bags.

“What did you say?” I wasn't sure why I was whispering but it felt illegal to say the words out loud.

“You heard me perfectly well, Wynter.” I swallowed.

He didn't want to help.

Wynter, wasn't it clear enough to you already? He was tormenting you just how you tormented him.

“Kill…”My voice trailed, spots suddenly appearing in my vision. 

I gasped, forcing loads of air into my lungs but instead, they seemed to repel it.

Damn! I need air. I really need to breathe.

“Wynter?”

“I…,” More intense breathing, “I..I need…”

My head suddenly felt light, my knees wobbling.

I couldn't stand properly anymore.

I groped around for something to hold onto. And just like always, there was nothing. Nothing but air.

That avoided my lungs by the way.

What was wrong with me?

“Wynter!”

“Shut up,” I spat drowsily, my knees hitting the ground, “I'm just…I'm trying to breathe please.” 

That was the last thing I remembered saying before darkness seeped into my vision.

~

Beeping. Loads of annoying beeping.

That was the first thing that registered, steady and irritating, dragging me out of whatever black hole I had fallen into.

My eyes felt glued shut, my throat dry like sandpaper.

I tried lifting my hands to my head because for some reason it hurt like hell and there was extra weight there.

Extra weight.

I jerked up, immediately, sitting upright. There was a drip syringe attached to my veins.

"Easy now." A soft, feminine voice called out. For a moment, I thought I was in heaven and that voice belonged to an angel.

Nope.

I forced my eyes open, blinking against the harsh white light above me.

A nurse stood over me, adjusting something on the IV drip attached to my arm. 

Her badge read Nurse Titan.

"Where—" My voice came out cracked, barely above a whisper.

"You're still at the hospital, dear. You passed out last night. Low blood pressure, exhaustion, dehydration, the whole package." She said it so casually, like she hadn't just described the physical toll of my entire life falling apart in one phone call.

I pushed myself up, ignoring the way the room tilted sideways for a second.

I hissed as I tried to stay as still as possible for the dizziness to pass.

"Hazel." Her name flew out of me before anything else could.

“What's the time?” I queried, trying to stand up from the bed but she just held me down.

“Calm down, Miss. Your IV Drip is still—”

“I said, what is the time!?” I yelled, already yanking off the IV drip.

“It's 7am, Miss.”

It sounded like a bombshell had been dropped into the void, echoing sorrows and danger in my head.

I sprinted towards Hazel's ward.

My sweet baby girl. It was barely 2 hours before her surgery. Just 2 hours and I still hadn't figured out a way to pay the bills.

I wasn't sure how the call with Killian ended yesterday. Was he helping? Was he not?

All in all, it was safe not to assume.

As soon as I got to her ward, I pushed the door open.

The sheets were laid clean and my daughter? Not there.

"My daughter, where's my daughter? Is she—” 

I turned, my eyes darting around the empty room as if she'd magically appear from behind a curtain, from under the bed, anywhere.

"She should be here." My voice cracked, panic clawing up my throat. "She should be right here!" I screamed.

Just then, one of the doctors that was supposed to be in surgery came in with another nurse.

“Congratulations, Mrs Wynter. We're glad you were able to make the deposit. We'd be happy to get started on her surgery by 9am. Let's see, how is—” He looked at the bed and back at me in confusion.

His eyes held all the questions I was asking too.

“Where the hell is she? Where's my child? And what deposit?” I was running mad.

“Deposit was paid by one Alpha Killian.”

Killian! He did it! 

He…hold on.

“And my child?”

I could feel my wolf at the back of my head, threatening to take absolute control.

"Ma'am, you need to calm down—"

"Don't tell me to calm down!" I screamed, my whole body shaking now. "Where is my daughter? Where is Hazel?"

"She was taken for a scan about twenty minutes ago." The nurse said quickly, her hands raised like I was some kind of wild animal.

Taken.

The word sat wrong in my chest.

"Taken by who? I didn't authorize any scan. I'm her mother, nothing happens to her without my consent. You said surgery and that's what she's supposed to be preparing for."

"Well, your husband, Mr Silas said—" Everything in me went cold at the sound of his name.

"Silas was here?"

"Yes, he came in early this morning with hospital transfer papers, and said he was taking her for additional tests before the procedure. We assumed since he's the father—"

"Transfer papers?" My knees threatened to give out again, tears sliding out of my eyes as I began rummaging for my phone, "You let him take her out of the hospital?"

The nurse's face drained of color as she realized, in real time, exactly what she'd done.

"He had documentation, they were signed and legal. We had no reason to—"

I didn't hear the rest.

I was already running, bare feet slapping against the cold tile, blood dripping out of the IV mark slightly on my arm, as I began dialing Silas.

Hazel.

He'd taken my daughter.

Two hours before her surgery, Silas had taken my daughter.

He finally picked up on what felt like the 100th ring.

“Silas, I swear you—”

“Wynter! I knew you were lying and stalling the divorce. Hazel looks fine! So you can take it that I kidnapped her and I will not release her until you sign the divorce papers. They've been mailed over to you.”