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“He said that if I tell, he’ll hurt Mama and Jojo like he hurt my heaven papa.”
“If you tell what?”
Theo looked away.
“Baby boy, how did Mr. Veeny get inside the Maui house?”
“He climbeded through my bedroom window.”
Joel swallowed a litany of curse words and used divine strength to keep his expression neutral. “Theo, did Mr. Veeny ever touch you? And I mean anywhere, like on your arm, your leg, or,” his voice shook, “inside your underwear?”
Theo circled his fingers around his neck. “Like this. He pickeded me up, and he said that if I screamed, he would drop me outside on the ground so I could break into a million pieces.”
“Did he touch you anywhere else? Hurt you? Scratch you? Pinch you?”
“He showed me his gun, and he said he would use it to shoot me and kill me and make me dead.”
Joel’s rage grew until tremors moved inside him. “Theo, when was the last time you saw Mr. Veeny?”
“Before you stayed with me, Mama, and Jojo, and me and Mama got the fluenza. I forgot about him for a little while, and I never thought about him, not even a little bit, but then I dreamed that he was in our Sweden house, and then I remembered.”
“And Mr. Veeny,”who’s a dead motherfucker,“said he knows about your heaven papa?”
“Uh, huh. He said he killed my heaven papa, but I don’t believe him. Mama said my heaven papa was a hero, and he protected my uncles, and that’s how come he went to heaven because he’s an angel.”
“And your mama’s right.”
“Daddy,” the tears returned, “I’m scared.”
“I know, and it’s okay to be scared. I was scared when I couldn’t find you, but I’m angry too. I’m angry at Mr. Veeny for hurting my little boy, so you know what I’m going to do? Me and your uncles are going to make sure Mr. Veeny doesn’t ever lay a,”fucking,“hand on you again, Theo. I promise. Until I’m infinity years old, I’m going to take care of you, Jojo, and your mama.” He turned around and patted his shoulders. “Come on. Hop on up.”
Theo climbed onto his back.
“Hold on tight.”
Theo’s chin moved against his shoulder.
After ensuring everything was closed and locked up tight, he headed upstairs. While camping was fun, for Theo’s peace of mind, they needed to sleep somewhere not as open or vulnerable as the multi-pane glass-covered back patio.
He set Theo down on the mattress and climbed into bed. Theo immediately latched onto his left side, and he wrapped an arm around him, locking him in. Then, when he was confident Theo was asleep, he texted Ayesha.
Joel
Hey, beautiful. You up?
Ayesha
Right back at you, handsome. I’m way up. How’s boys’ night?
Joel
How do you feel about you and Josiah coming tonight?
His phone rang, and he cursed. He’d texted because he had no idea how he sounded. Inside, he felt ready to commit murder; she would waste no time picking up on that.
“Joel, what happened? Is Theo okay?”
He wasn’t ready to tell her what he knew. If he did, she’d have to live with the knowledge that this man had been in her home. She’d realize that this Mr. Veeny had been in her baby’s room and had managed to bypass Julien’s security system, which meant this wasn’t some average fuck, not that it mattered in the grand scheme of things.
