131
Chapter 12
“It‘s a miracle. We did it. You‘re healed, Carlos. You can start living your life once again,” Sergio said, smiling.
“No. I can‘t start living my life until justice is made for me. I am going to help the police solve the crime that was committed against me. I went through the worst moments of my life because of those bastards, and I didn‘t do anything wrong to them or to Constantine. All I did was to try to stop him from hurting people. If he‘s angry with me for that it‘s his problem.”
Carlos packed up his stuff that day to go home. His parents, Lorena and Ignacio Roman came into his room. After what happened to him, they felt that he couldn‘t be home alone anymore. He had to go live with them for a while, until his tormentors were captured and couldn‘t hurt him or anyone else.
“Carlos, we decided that you‘re moving back in with us,” Ignacio said.
“Dad, I have my…”
“I know, I know, you have your own house and recently, you paid it off and you have to make no more mortgage payments. It‘s yours and no one can take it from you now. All you have to pay is the taxes and the insurance once a year. You‘re a grown man and you‘re independent, we get that. We know how that feels. We were the same way when we were your age, until we met a year later and married two years after that. But son, you have to understand. We don‘t want you to get hurt again. You‘re not safe living alone. We and your younger brothers will protect you.”
“I don‘t…” he took a moment to choose his words carefully to not offend his loving parents. “I don‘t think I need anyone to protect me. I‘m going to be fine. I got caught off guard and I couldn‘t defend myself because I was dealing with someone like me, but it‘s not going to happen again. I‘ll be more careful from now on.”
“You‘re right, it‘s not going to happen again because you‘re coming with us, and you‘re not going back home until your aggressors are behind bars, for the rest of their lives. Now, let‘s go,” Lorena said.
Ignacio carried Carlos‘ belongings to the car. Carlos was walking with his mother, and she had his arm around him. She wanted to grab him and never let him go because she was so close to losing him. In a matter of minutes, they got to the parking lot, placed Carlos‘ belongings in the trunk, and Ignacio got in the driver‘s seat and Lorena in the passenger‘s seat. Carlos sat in the backseat. They had him sit in the back just in case he still was a little tired and wanted to lie down. Then, after a long moment of silence, Carlos commented, “You‘re right they‘re going to be in jail for the rest of their lives. They‘ve done horrible things, Mom. No one has any idea.”
“I do. I‘ve heard things about them. I‘ve been investigating them since I found out what they did to you. They‘re monsters. It makes my skin crawl just thinking about the things they‘re capable of after they did this to you.”
Forty-five minutes later, Carlos, Lorena and Ignacio arrived home. Carlos‘ younger brothers, David and Elmer were waiting for him outside to help him get to bed to get his rest. Robinson‘s car pulled up in the driveway as well.
“Well,” Carlos said, surprised, “I feel like I went to Europe, lived there several years, and I had just come back.”
Ignacio laughed. “Oh, son, we love you and we‘d do anything for you. Your brothers were thrilled when we told them you were moving back in with us.”