“Where is he? What’s his name?”
“He’s in Texas and his name is Theo.”
“Last name?”
I turned my head to see Jae with his fingers poised over his phone ready to type this guy’s name into Google.
“I don’t,” I paused, lips parting, “Hang on. I actually might have a way to find him. She said his dad was running for senate.For Texas. Try Googling the list of Texas senators. Maybe he actually won.”
I stared impatiently at Jae’s phone, watching him scroll through a Wikipedia page.
“Maybe try—”
“You said Theo, like Theodore?”
I nodded, leaning over into his shoulder to read the screen.
“Theodore Walsh.”
My heartbeat pulsed in my ears. Theodore Walsh. Jae pulled up a new search, but the first page of results was all about his dad.
“Wait. Go back,” I said, using my finger to scroll back to the headline that had caught my attention. “New head of Reformation Church, Theodore Walsh, plans to expand church property.”
Jae scrolled through the article and my heart skipped a beat when he stopped.
The monster. He didn’t look much like a monster, but I knew you couldn’t judge a person’s character by their outward appearance. My dad’s work as a military special agent and the stories he told were more than enough to prove that to me.
I studied his face, committing it to memory so I knew who to picture every time I hit the bag wishing it was him. He looked older. At least ten years older.
Jae looked at me as I pulled away, unlocking my own phone.
“She’s been saying some odd shit lately. And now it makes sense. He was a pastor or whatever and must have been some crazy conservative Christian,” I said as I pulled up the church’s website.
I found the staff page and my stomach dropped.
There was Shiloh. In all her beauty. Red hair, freckles, hazel eyes…and short hair. But the words underneath were what had me nearly vomiting.
Theodore Walsh and his wife, Olivia Walsh.
Jae slapped my arm a few times and I sighed looking at him.
“What?”
Only, he wasn’t looking at me. The sound of Babushka’s voice reached my ears before I turned my head to see them, my family. My mom dropped her duffle bag on the concrete and raced towards where Jae and I were sitting on a bench. I was barely on my feet when her arms wrapped me in an embrace.
I sighed, wrapping my arms around her back and breathing in her familiar perfume.
“Hi, mom,” I said, kissing the top of her head before she pulled back, holding me at arms distance.
“My baby,” she whined with a pout, eyes bouncing up and down my frame. “Look at ya. Have ya been eatin’ okay? Your face looks thin.”
I chuckled and shook my head. “Yes. I’ve been eating well.”
My mom’s eyes narrowed, and my stomach dropped as I knew she’d noticed the marks on my neck.
“Enoch?” She asked with concern, reaching out to brush her fingers over the soft bruises.
“Hand necklace,” Jae said through an obvious fake cough.
