What A Lie Looks Like | ✓

2.28: hayes

"Where is she?" I demand to know stopping at the front desk where a nurse is staring at me as if I'm a crazy person. I probably look like one, but I don't care at all. I just have to find her.

"Sir you'll need to calm down, I'll need a name."

"S-Sephine Montgomery. I got a call ten minutes ago saying that she was here, and I need to find her."

"Are you a family member?" She asks, typing into the keyboard.

"Yes, I'm her husband, Hayes Benson."

It's the first time I've said it to someone other than Seph, but I never imagined that this would be the situation I would say it in. The nurse smiles sympathetically at me, "You'll need to wait for the doctor before you can see her, please take a seat, and they'll come find you when they can."

It's been an hour since Sephine left, but I haven't been able to leave because every time I manage to slip away from a conversation, I get caught by someone else. My phone has rung a few times in my pocket, but I haven't been able to answer it, let alone check it because I don't want to risk pissing off one of the board members.

But then it rings again, and while I could push it out of mind the first few times, there's the off chance that it's important.

I excuse myself from the conversation I'm in to answer, "Hi, this is Stacy from Bellevue Hospital, I'm looking for a Hayes Benson?"

"This is he, can you wait one moment?" I ask while trying to find a quieter section of the hall as my heart beats rapidly in my chest. "What happened?"

"Sephine Montgomery was brought in from an ambulance fifteen minutes ago with extensive injuries. We found your number on her phone."

My heart drops to the pit of my stomach, and the only thing I can choke out is, "I'll be there as soon as possible."

Ollie's been pacing since he got here, and they gave him the same answer they gave me. I'm just in shock because I don't know what happened. What could have happened that we end up here of all places?

"Are you okay?" Ryan asks quietly, and I don't answer. I just keep staring at the same spot on the wall that's been recently patched over, waiting for Grayson, who should have the answers. He always has answers.

So I keep waiting and waiting to see who comes first: Gray or the doctor?

Ollie is going nuts, not knowing anything, and from the time I've spent sitting here staring at the wall, he's probably paced around this room at least a hundred times. I've also noticed the nurses whispering and pointing at me, no doubt figuring out who I am, but it's not as if I'm trying very hard to hide it, considering I'm still in a full suit from the fundraiser.

My phone is on for the sole purpose of waiting for what Grayson is going to tell me, and I've been ignoring every other call that's come through. They're just not important right now.

Sephine is.

It takes another thirty minutes for Grayson to get here, yet he still gets to us before the doctor does. I can tell by the grave look that it's not good news whatever the hell he found out.

"What happened?" I ask my voice hoarse from not saying anything since I sat in this goddamn chair an hour and a half ago.

Grayson sits down next to me, and he takes a deep breath, "It was Sascha Petrov. They brought him in for questioning, and he broke within seconds considering her..." Grayson trails off, and I don't stop staring at the patched hole.