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After getting off the phone with Landon, I took the back roads to João’s house because I knew that I’d miss all the red lights and I could whiz through most of the Stop signs around here. Besides, most of the cops weren’t out this far into the slums.
When I reached João’s house, Kai and Landon stood outside in the cold with Ana, who was barely sleeping in Kai’s arms. I parked the car and hurried out, slamming my door and running toward them. Kai’s face was completely void of any emotion, the mere look terrifying, while Landon’s face was whiter than I had ever seen it.
“No,” I whispered, not needing to hear them say anything. “Where is he? Where’s João?”
“In the house.”
I sprinted to the front door and yanked it open, rushing into the room filled with shrill sobs. Shivers ran down my spine, tears pricking the corners of my eyes again. I needed to be strong, if not for myself, then for João.
João hovered over his mother, who lay on the couch, his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders to pull her closely to his chest. His body heaved back and forth, his cries becoming louder. “Mama! Mama!”
“João,” I said, hurrying over and stopping behind him.
He clutched on to her desperately, fingers digging into her shoulders and tears streaming down his cheeks. “Mama! Come back. Come fucking back to me, to Ana. She needs you. I can’t do this by myself. I can’t—” His voice broke, body trembling harder. “I can’t do this without you!”
I crouched down behind him, wrapping my arms around his torso to try to keep him steady. I couldn’t tear him away from his mother, couldn’t stop the tears from streaming down my own face. Instead, I pressed my lips together and looked away, pressing my head against his shoulder and trying hard not to let out a sob.
She was gone.
She was fucking gone.
“João,” I managed to say, holding on to him tighter with every second that passed.
His grip began slipping from his mother’s corpse, his body struggling, twitching, trembling in my hold. When she slipped from him completely and fell back against the couch cushions, João collapsed back on his ass and back against me, completely torn with trembling lips and bloodshot eyes.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, gently stroking his hair in one hand and rocking us back and forth. “I’m sorry,” I whispered into his ear, letting him tremble even harder. “I’m so sorry, João.”
