Page 55 of Watch Her Bleed
“If I wouldn’t comply with whatever Enzo wanted or if I tried to avoid him, they would trick me or distract me so that he could get to me,” I say. “When I went to college they would either get me to come to the house or they would come to campus with Enzo.”
“We were roommates,” Kaia says. “Is that why you always asked me to not be around when they came by?”
“Yeah. I saw the way Enzo looked at you, so I didn’t want to chance that they would drag you into it also.”
“As an adult, how often did it happen?” Celina asks.
“When I was in college, once a week. Sometimes every two weeks. After… every few days. About six months ago, I started avoiding him.”
“How?” she asks.
“I noticed a pattern of when he’d come to my apartment. I would always make sure his car wasn’t there before I went in,” I say. “He never came over in the middle of the night, thankfully. I avoided going to Paul and Rita’s. When I did have to go, Kaia went with me. That worked until the other day.”
“What happened then?” she asks.
“I went for his birthday dinner and Kaia came with me. I knew my luck had run out and for whatever reason, I decided to tell Kaia. Before we went in I asked her to help me not be alone with Enzo. I knew they would distract her or just in general make sure that Enzo could get to me,” I say. “I ended up yelling at Enzo and said that the customers at the restaurant didn’t hurt me and That’s why I didn’t want to work for him. I knew it would just give him unlimited access to me. I ended up running to the bathroom to calm down. I didn’t want to just leave the house because Kaia was still there. When I got out…. I’m sorry.” More tears fall and this time I can’t stop it from consuming me. Matt wraps his arms around me and hugs me. I turn my chair to bury my face in his chest and he holds me while I cry.
“Shhh. You’re okay,” Matt says softly, stroking my hair.
“I wanted to fight, but I didn’t,” I cry.
“You did fight, Aurora,” Matt says. “You kept yourself as safe as possible, even if it wasn’t by choice. You are fighting right now by telling your story. You survived him, tesoruccia.”
I pull away and he wipes my face. “He’s going to come after me for talking,” I say.
“Do you remember what I told you this morning?” he asks.
“Yeah,” I smile.
“I promise, I will do everything within my power to keep you safe, Aurora,” Matt says. “Okay?”
“Okay,” I say with a small nod.
“Keep going. You’re almost done, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I say before taking a deep breath and turning back to the detectives. “Enzo grabbed me when I tried to get past one of the guest rooms and locked me in there with him.”
“Then what?” Josh asks.
“I started to fight him, but when he threatened Kaia, I just froze. He started by touching me as he always does. I guess it’s his sick version of foreplay,” I say. “Then he started to rape me. I almost always end up disassociating. Like I know where I am and what’s going on, but I feel separate from my body. It’s like my brain knows when he’s done because I come out of it and he gets off of me.”
“When he was done, what happened?”
“Do you want his exact words?” I ask.
“If you remember them,” he says.
“He said ‘If you ever fight me again, I’ll fuck your best friend bloody in front of you. You’ll always be mine, Aurora. You can’t get rid of me. No matter where you go, I’ll be there to fuck all your little holes and remind you that you are nothing without me.’ Then he thanked me for his birthday present and left the room.”
“What the fuck,” Kaia says.
“Yeah… So, as soon as he left, Kaia came in and locked the door behind her. She helped me get dressed and we got out of there.”
“I should probably mention that I threatened to gut him,” Kaia says and Matt laughs.
“She’s leaving out the part where he stood up to block her and she grabbed a knife from the table to protect herself,” I say.
“You scare me,” Milo says to Kaia and she grins. Josh stops the recording and sits back in his seat.
