Page 18 of Romancing the Omega

“I understand, officer, but we must be certain,” she said firmly. “Mr. Cook, would you please come with us? You don’t have to, but it might reassure you.”

“Yes,” Yeo said. “Um, let me tell Amy.”

Bennett followed on his heels. As his belly got bigger, Yeo’s friend got slower. “What the fuck is going on? Your apartment is gorgeous. I’m coming with to keep an eye on her.”

“Amy, I have an emergency to deal with. I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Yeo said. His voice trembled and he hated it. He didn’t have anything to hide, but he loved Summer and Linc more than anything in the world. The idea of losing them made him want to hide in his room and cry.

“Sure thing,” she said, worried. “Anything I can help with?”

“No, but thank you.” He walked back to Tanner and Ms. Butler. “I’m ready if you’ll follow me. We can use the interior entrance if you’d like.”

“You have two entrances?”

“Yes. One right here,” he said gesturing to the locked door at the back of the store. He unlocked it and they started up the steps. “The other is at the back of the store. Each of the buildings on this street have upstairs living space, so they all have a back entrance. It’s a nice neighborhood.” He told himself not to ramble. Less information was better.

She took notes as they walked. They reached the door and he unlocked it, walking in. “Papa!” Linc poked his head around the couch. He held his stuffed rabbit in his arms. Huckleberry hopped beside him as he slowly headed toward Yeo.

Caden looked over from his spot on the couch. His laptop sat on the coffee table. “Yeo? What’s wrong?”

“Social Services has a court order to look over the apartment,” he said, voice breaking at the end. Caden jumped up and ran over.

“May I see it? What are the allegations?” He stared Ms. Butler down. She simply handed him the pictures and walked around the room, taking notes.

Yeo bent to pick up Linc and told Caden what she had said. “Someone sent them out-of-date pictures,” he whispered. “Why would they do that?”

“To cause trouble,” Caden said, voice hard.

“You have nothing to worry about,” Bennett said. “Your home is just fine, and you take good care of your kids.”

“I’m going into the bedrooms now, alright?” Ms. Butler stood in the kitchen. Sassy sat at the woman’s feet, panting happily as she followed the stranger around.

Yeo rushed over. “Okay. Yeah.” He followed her as she looked at Summer’s room first. His sister wasn’t exactly a neat freak, but he did make her pick up her room once a week. Luckily it wasn’t too bad.

“This is Summer’s room?”

“Yes,” he said, managing not say anything else.

Ms. Butler took notes, nodded, then went to Linc’s room. Yeo’s son had a ton of toys, but they weren’t strewn about the room. Today. His bed wasn’t made, but the sheets were clean. “He just started sleeping in a big boy bed a couple of months ago,” Yeo said. Bennett pressed his hand to Yeo’s back, and the warmth seeped into his cold body.

The woman again took notes then went to his room. The master bedroom was brightly decorated and relatively neat. Yeo had a new desk pressed against the window overlooking the streets, a gift from Bennett. His bed was huge and unmade. He had an ottoman at the end, and Magnolia stretched out across it, sleeping peacefully. She looked over his bathroom, then went back into the living room.

“Alright. That should do it,” she said. She watched Yeo, face grave. “Obviously, these allegations were false. I’ll speak with my supervisor, Mr. Cook, and you shouldn’t hear from us again. I am sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s okay,” he said, voice full of relief. “You have to do your job.”

“Yes,” she said. “I’ll show myself out.” She turned and quickly left, making sure Sassy was inside the apartment before she shut the door.

“Oh my god,” Yeo said, wailing. He clutched Linc to him and cried into his son’s silky hair. Caden’s arms were around him in seconds.

“It’s okay, angel. The woman had to treat this like any other investigation. You’re fine,” Caden said.

“Who sent those pictures?” Bennett looked over his phone. “I took pictures of them, but they just look like pictures.”

“CPS isn’t allowed to reveal who made the allegations,” Caden said. He shook his head. “Let me talk to a few people.”

“Anyone who lives in town would know this place was renovated,” Tanner said. He ran his hands through his hair. “Why would they want to do that to Yeo?”

Yeo grabbed his cell and thumbed through his contacts. “It might not be someone from town.” He hit speaker phone.

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