Laura was getting restless inside her bedroom in the manor.
Her husband has not visited the manor for five days already!
He never did this before, that is why she was getting worried.
"Where are you Graven!?" she spoke aloud in the room. Tears shimmered in her eyes.
There was a soft knocking on the door.
"Daughter, it's me," Rosa said.
Laura opened the door and allowed her mother to come inside.
The women lowered themselves on the bed.
Laura looked at her mother. "I'm scared of what happened to my husband, Mother!" she said on the verge of sobbing.
Rosa sighed and rubbed her daughter's back. "Shh...don't think of negative things. Your husband is not a mere human being, nothing bad will happen to him. Maybe he had an important mission or project that he was currently working on that occupied much of his time and after he finishes it he will return home..." she said trying to lighten the worries that her daughter is experiencing right now.
Laura shook her head. "Mother, I know Graven well... no matter how busy he is at work he won't forget to pop up here once in a while. He will always return home even for a few hours so that I don't have to worry about him. But this time...he's not coming home yet. I dunno what to do and think anymore!"
"Don't worry the men will come at least once a week to deliver food supply to us. We will ask them if they have news about Graven," Rosa said.
Laura glanced at the window. "I have a bad feeling about these..." she said, biting her lip in absolute worry.
Rosa continues rubbing her daughter's back. "Let's go to the garden for your morning exercise. Don't worry too much because the baby will get affected inside your tummy," she reminded her.
"Okay, Mother," Laura replied.
The women exited the room and went downstairs to go to the garden located at the back of the house.
...
Meanwhile...
Terros visited the headquarter to have a talk with Horace regarding the letters. He was getting worried about Laura's situation since she was heavily pregnant, it's not good for her to feel any stress.
Horace looked at Terros worriedly. "Grandpa, should we give the letter now to Laura?" he asked.
Terros nodded his head. "Yes. I will visit Laura today at the manor. I will give her the letter myself. I will explain to her everything. What you need to do is hand the letter to Cooper first, and after he reads the letter ask him if it's safe to inform his father about what happened to Graven. If Sir Nicholas is not feeling well, it's not safe to give him the letter. Cooper knows when is the right time to give the letter to his father. As for the letter to Luke, keep it with you for safekeeping since we don't know Luke's whereabouts right now," he said.
I got it, Grandpa," Horace said. He took the letter addressed for Laura from the drawer and handed it to Terros. "Here it is..." he said.
Terros accepted the letter and looked at it for a few seconds. "I will teleport to the manor now," he said.
"I will also go to Sir Nicholas's mansion to deliver the letter for Cooper," Horace said.
The men went their separate ways to hand Graven's letters to his loved ones.
...
Terros teleported into the manor. He landed in the living room.
That was also the moment when Rosa and Laura entered the house fresh from their morning exercise.
Laura's eyes brightened up and rushed to the old man's side. "Grandpa, thank God you're here! Do you know Graven's whereabouts? Why he didn't come home for a few days now? He never did it before!" she bombarded him with questions. "I'm so worried about him," she added.
"Calm down, Laura. I'm here for that matter," he responded and lowered himself on the couch.
Laura sat on the couch facing the visitor. "He mentioned to me a project that you work on together. Is the project the reason why he wasn't able to come home in the past few days? Where is he right now? Is he okay?" she inquired.
Terros took a deep breath and cleared his throat. From the worried and anxious expression he witnessed on Laura's face today, for a moment, he was tempted to fabricate a lie to soften the impact on her, but if finding Graven will take a long time, Laura needs to know the truth the earlier the better. Trying to twist the truth to protect Laura from stress won't be beneficial for her in the long run.
Terros took a deep breath. The sooner Laura will know the truth about her missing husband, the better she can cope with the situation.
He took the folded brown envelope from the pocket of his trousers and handed it to Laura. "Graven instructed Horace to give the letter to you just in case he can no longer return. The letter explained what happened to him," he said sadly.
Laura looked at the letter and accepted it with a trembling hand. Fresh tears emerged in her eyes. She looked at the old man in the eyes. "Grandpa, please tell me... that he's still alive! Where is he? Bring me to him now!" she demanded in a hysterical voice.
Terros closed his eyes for a few seconds and opened them again. "Laura, please read your husband's letter first. He will explain everything to you in his own words," he urged her.
Laura was shaking her head as fresh tears fell from her eyes. "No, I don't want to read it!" she began sobbing hard fearing that what she's going to discover in the letter will kill her hope.
Rosa took the envelope from Laura's hands and opened it slowly. "Daughter, you have to read it. Do you want me to read it aloud for you?" she offered.
Laura looked at her mother and reluctantly began reading the letter in silence. While reading, torrents of tears rolled on her face.
Rosa continues rubbing her daughter's back to comfort her.
A few minutes later, Laura finished reading her husband's letter. Tears never stop falling from her eyes. She let out heart-wrenching sobs and hugged her mother.
Simon and Sofia descended on the staircase and rushed to Laura's side.
"What's going on here?" Simon asked and saw the letter on the center table. He picked up the letter and began reading it.
A few minutes later he finished reading the letter, teary-eyed.
Sofia snatched the letter from his father and starts reading it.
Simon released a deep sigh. He looked at Terros. "Is Graven still alive?" he asked. He wants to know the odds of his son-in-law's survival since it will be detrimental to Laura's health and condition.
Terros took a deep breath. "I can't guarantee you anything but deep inside my heart I'm feeling hopeful and I believe that Graven is still alive. We are currently tracing his whereabouts. Rest assured that we will do everything in our power to find his body, dead or alive!" he assured them.
Laura looked at Terros, her eyes swollen with crying. "Grandpa, I want to leave this place to help find my husband!" she declared.
"No, no! You can't do that, Laura! It's dangerous for you to go out, the enemy might be nearby, lurking, waiting to see you and snatched you. Please, listen to me. Before these things took place, Graven told me that you are not allowed to leave the manor, especially that you are pregnant. Leave everything to us! We won't stop finding Graven for you. The best thing you can do is to stay strong for the baby and pray every day for your husband's safety wherever he is right now," Terros said. "Don't worry I will come here regularly to bring you news, okay?"
Laura nodded her head. "Grandpa, please don't stop finding my husband! I believe that he's still alive!" she insisted.
"Yes, I will! Rest assured that I will spend the rest of my life finding him. I won't give up finding him," Terros said in a determined voice.
"Thank you so much, Grandpa," Laura said, she picked up the letter and hold it in her hands.
Terros stood up. "I won't stay for long. I need to go back to my place and make a solid plan on how to find Graven. Please take care of yourself and the baby. I'll take my leave now," he said and looked at Simon, signaling him to follow him outside.
He walked towards the door and exited.
Simon followed Terros outside.
The men talked.
"Please... don't leave your daughter alone in the room from now on. Make sure that she had company either her mother or sister, day and night. The worst thing could happen, Laura leaving the manor to find her husband outside and we will have two missing people to worry about," Terros warned him.
"I understand. No matter what happens, we will not allow Laura to leave the manor alone on her own especially during these dangerous times," Simon assured him.
"Good! I'll take my leave now. I will come for a visit maybe two days later. Our priority now is to find Graven, as long we have some news about him, I will come here right away," Terros said.
"Thank you," Simon said.
"I'll take my leave now," Terros said and teleported back to the headquarter.
Simon returned to the house. When he went back inside, he saw the three women already climbing the staircase. He followed them upstairs to instruct his wife and Sofia to keep a tight watch over Laura, starting today.
He began reciting a prayer to God in his mind, asking the heavenly father to keep his son-in-law safe wherever he is right now.
...
Terros landed back in the headquarter. He waited for Horace's return from Sir Nicholas's mansion.
He and the boys will be discussing their plan in finding Graven.
They should start searching for Graven's whereabouts at the soonest possible time!
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