Page 52 of Watch Her Bleed
“Well… That’s good,” I say. “I don’t really know what I’m supposed to do.”
“Just be blunt with them,” Josh says. “Paul, Rita, and Enzo have caused you a lot of trauma over the years. You have every right to be leery of them. I can tell you all day that they are good people, but at the end of the day, that is an opinion that you will have to come to yourself.”
Captain Sneed glances at his phone. “They are here. I am going to talk to them for a second before I bring them in,” he says. When he leaves the room, Matt puts his arm around my shoulders and squeezes me gently.
“What are you thinking?” Kaia asks.
“I… I don’t know,” I say with a frown. I hear talking outside the door and anxiety wells up inside me. “What if they don’t like me? Then I’ll be a disappointment to two sets of parents.”
“Hey,” Matt says as he turns me to face him. “You are amazing. They have no reason to not like you.”
“All of this… It’s just too much,” I admit.
“I know,” he says softly. “You’ve gone through so much in your life, but now you have a chance at getting little pieces of yourself back, even if you don’t remember them.”
“What if my biological brothers are like Enzo?” I ask.
“Then it’s just three more people to add to my list,” he says with a smile.
“I’ll just pretend I didn’t hear that,” Josh says. The door opens and I can’t bring myself to look over at the people coming into the room.
When I finally look up, the two people with Sneed instantly tear up. “Jennifer… David… Why don’t you guys have a seat?”
“Okay,” the woman says quietly. They take a seat at the table and that’s when she sees the blanket in my hand. She snaps her head to the detectives and they smile at her. “Aurora.”
“Yeah. I’m… Not really sure what to say right now,” I admit. “Do you want to see it?” I hold the blanket out for her and she nods. When She takes the blanket from me, more tears fall as she runs her fingers across the stitching of my name.
“Uhm…” Kaia says. “I don’t think you need a DNA test to prove she cloned herself to make Aurora.” Jennifer and David smile through their tears.
“So, guys, I could tell you what’s going on, but I think it should come from Aurora if she wants to delve into it,” Josh says before turning to me. “Do you want it to just be them?”
“I have brothers?” I ask my parents.
“Yeah,” my father says. “Nicholas is a chef and is twenty-eight, Sterling owns a construction company and is Thirty-one, and Daxton is a psychiatrist and he’s thirty-four.”
“What do you do?” my Mother asks.
“I’m a server,” I say.
“She’s an executive assistant,” Matt laughs.
“Oh, right,” I say. “So… I don’t know how to put this, but I don’t have the greatest experience with brothers. I am trying really hard to not judge them based on that… but I think they do deserve to hear why I am… well, the way I am.”
“Wait,” Luca says. “Nick Cooper?”
“Yeah,” my Mom says.
“Does he work at Ambrosia?” Luca asks.
“He does. He’s the Executive chef. Why?”
“Our family owns that restaurant,” Luca laughs.
“You know him?” I ask Matt.
“Nick? Yeah,” he says. “I hired him.”
“Is he…” I start to ask.
