Dad glanced at the kids I was staring at. “I promise, Tan and I will take good care of them, Oak.”
“I know you guys will, that’s why I asked you.” I glanced at him and took a breath. “I know a lot of the kids, actually, from when I… well, you know. But… but Isidore and Reef, they… they’re my best friend’s little siblings. Coral died a long time ago, but I’ve always…” I shook my head and swallowed, meeting his gaze. “I tried to find them after… after I came to live with you, but they were gone. The whole cult was missing, and I couldn’t…” I trailed off, and I knew my eyes were getting watery. “I wanted to save them, and I couldn’t.”
Before I could start bawling, Roman came over and wrapped an arm around me, holding me against his side as he kissed my hair. In my head, I heard,“I’ve got you, babydoll. You’re okay, and so are they. None of this is your fault.”
“I… I know it isn’t.”Didn’t stop the guilt, though.
Dad surprised me by cupping my cheeks so I’d look him in the eye again. “This isn’t your fault, kiddo. None of it is.” He searched my eyes for a long moment before nodding. “Tan and Iwill care for them like they’re our own, alright? And since you’ll be home at the tower, you can come visit all the time. Right?”
I sucked in a breath. “I… yeah… yeah, of course.”
He smiled and kissed my forehead. “Good. This is perfect timing, honestly.”
“What do you mean?”
His gaze softened. “Tan and I have been talking about adopting. You just gave us a reason to jump in feet first.”
He seemed… really happy about this, which eased some of my guilt. Part of me felt like I should be the one to take the kids in, but honestly, I knew my dads would be so much better for them.
I was still figuring my own shit out, and Roman and I had only just become a couple. Bringing kids into the picture right now would’ve been difficult, and the last thing those kids needed was difficult.
When I glanced back, I saw Daddo already talking to Isidore, Reef, and Blossom, and my eyes watered. I had amazing parents, and I had a feeling my dads were gonna fall in love with those kids.
They were saying foster right now, but maybe… maybe adoption would be brought to the table soon.
Dad: Can you and Rome come up for lunch today?
It’d been three weeks since we’d taken down the trafficking ring, and Roman and I had been busier than ever.
Most of the victims were brought here to the tower and given condos to share with a few other victims—there were far too many people for everyone to get their own. But we’d made sure everyone had a real bed, clean clothes, food, and otheramenities to stay safe, clean, and healthy. We had a whole team of therapists as well, which was very helpful and necessary.
Since then, we’d been processing everyone, gathering information, and when it was safe, we helped get these people back to their homes, if that was what they chose to do.
Unfortunately, there were way more cases than I expected where their families either sold them for money or traded them to pay off a debt. It was… horrific, but we were doing what we could for everyone.
In those cases, we were planning on letting them live in the tower for however long they wanted or helping to set them up somewhere else. We wanted these people to be truly free and make their own decisions, but we also wanted to make sure they were going to be safe wherever they landed.
It’d been a very long week, and Roman and I were taking the day off. Or at least, we were trying to. We’d already helped process two people when we got a phone call bright and early this morning from someone on the recovery team. Apparently, we were never allowed time off.
But it was nearly lunch time, and we were doing what we could to stay away from work for a little while.
I glanced at my viramore. “My dad wants us to come up for lunch. What do you think?”
He shrugged from his spot on the couch. “I’m fine with that.” Before I could respond, he gestured to the TV and yelled, “Oh, come on! You can’t possibly think that bowl was used for an ancient ritual! It’s a freakin’ chamber pot!” He looked at me. “They’re gonna display a chamber pot in a museum instead of that priceless cup they dismissed five minutes ago!” He looked genuinely angry, and all I could do was grin.
“Why do you even like watching this show? All you do is yell at it.”
Every time we sat down, he put this show on. Clearly, he loved yelling at the archeologists on ParaHist. It was hilarious.
“I don’t like it. I’m only watching it because you are.”
“Uh, if you remember correctly, you’re the one who turned it on and still has control of the remote. I had nothing to do with it.”
He scowled. “I put it on because you like it.”
I laughed. “Liar!”
Before he could argue again, my phone chimed.
