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"𝔈llie!" Luke breathed out a sigh of relief, clutching his wife to his chest as her fingers dug into his shoulders. "Thank the gods. Are you alright? Is everything okay? Beans? You? Cai?"
"I'm so glad that you're safe." She replied, curling further into his hold as he kissed her forehead. "I was so worried when they took you. I...I didn't know what to do."
Luke pressed a soft kiss to her lips, before he pulled away so that Ellie could grab onto Ethan and Alabaster and pull them into a tight hug. Looking up at the house, his eyes narrowed at the sight of his father in the doorway. He didn't know what he'd been expecting when he'd prayed to Hermes, but one bit of him had hoped that Hermes wouldn't actually show up, and just send something or someone in his place. Luke wasn't too sure whether he was actually ready to see and speak to his father.
"We should talk," Luke nodded at Hermes' words, shooting another grin at Ellie, before walking back into the house with Hermes by his side. His entire body was tensed, ready to run. "Her family turned up today."
"They did what?" Luke's temper flared once more, and he clenched his fist at the audacity of these people.
"They showed up," Hermes rolled his eyes, before leaning against the counter top. "Turns out that they're the ones who hired the private investigator..."
"It was Kronos."
"What?"
"The detective, it was Kronos." Luke replied, looking up at his father. He was too tired to argue with the man now about all of his failings as a father. He just wanted Hermes gone so that he could spend that time with his wife.
"Why? You and him are on the same side, I believe," Hermes cracked his knuckles, as Luke looked back towards the door, where Ellie, Ethan and Alabaster stood, talking in hushed tones.
"We tried to leave, he wouldn't let us. This is his way of showing that he still has power over us," Luke shrugged, before shaking his head. "Look, thanks for looking after Ellie, but that's all you had to do. You can go. We'll handle it for him."
"Luke..." Hermes placed a hand on the adult's shoulder, sighing as the boy tensed up and shot him a foul glare. "I know that I don't deserve any father of the year award, but let me at least try and help."
"What could you do to help?" Luke hissed, quickly glancing to see if Ellie was near to hear him. "You didn't help when I was on the run at age nine, or all those times when Mum went into one of her crazy states and I had to hide in a fucking cupboard to get away from her, or when Thalia got turned into a tree, or when we were almost killed by cyclops, or when I got sent on a quest and mauled by a dragon! What makes this different? What reason would you have for helping me, now, or my children or wife! You make such little effort with your own children, why the hell would you care for your grandchildren?"
