The minute that Greg started referring to Theo's father as 'gone', Theo was shaking his head in abject denial; Greg was right about the hold that Theo's dad had on him, but he'd lived for so long in fear of the man that the fear had just become as commonplace to him as any other everyday emotion, if not moreso. The way he was now he couldn't imagine how to live free of it.
He still shuddered when Greg spoke about it so plainly though.
"I'm sorry Greg, sorry, sorry, sorry..." he said, catching Greg's sadness and blaming himself.