Page 72 of Watch Her Bleed
“Oh…” I say quietly. “I don’t know what to say to that.”
“You weren’t down long,” Mom says. “Dax is going to stay with you all and you can go home today.”
“Is there still a dead body in the house?” I ask.
“No,” Josh says from the doorway. “It’s good to see you, Aurora.”
“It’s over?” I ask him as he walks over.
“Yeah,” he says. “Listen… I’m sorry I didn’t call you soon enough. As soon as I found out I called.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “I don’t know when he got inside but it was inevitable.”
“I do need to ask you some questions. We can do it privately if you would rather,” he says.
“No. It’s fine. What do you need?” I ask.
“I just need to know what happened up until Matt got there,” he says.
“Well…” I say. “Right away, he gave me the option to either get on my knees for him… or he would take a video of him raping me and send it to Matt. I decided to choose what would not end in video evidence. Then he tied me to a chair.”
“What then?” he asks. “He just kept hitting me with that stupid stun gun. Matt called at one point and it was on speaker. I said what I could to make sure that Matt understood something was wrong. Luckily he understood and he was there in less than thirty minutes.”
“So he didn’t start cutting you until Matt was there?” he asks.
“Yeah. he just kept hitting me with that stun gun. He was also drinking some cheap whiskey, so he was pretty trashed by the time he stabbed me.”
“Yeah, he didn’t restrain me very well,” Matt says. “Once I got out of it, I waited until his back was turned and went after him. Unfortunately, he got a chance to stab you before I could get to him.”
“And you broke his neck?” I ask.
“I did,” he says. “I told you what would happen to anyone who hurt you.”
“I remember thinking that you kept your promise. That made me happy,” I say and he smiles.
“I love you,” I say.
“I love you too, tesoruccia,” he says before kissing me.
I spend the next few hours talking with my family while we wait for me to be discharged. Kaia is on edge but over time, she relaxes when she finally understands that I’m okay.
Nick and Sterling get there and just hug me for a while before they ever say anything. I have my brothers sit down so that we can talk through everything. I apologize to them for wrongfully judging them based on what Enzo had done to me. I expressed that I do trust them and the situation today only further proved that they are the family that I dreamed of for my entire life. I never thought that I would be here, but I feel so blessed that I am
For a brief moment, I wanted to give up. I didn’t want to live in a world where someone could stab someone just to step back and watch her bleed. I was so tired of the emotional pain that came with living, but waking up in a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses frantically addressing my wounds was a wake-up call.
Sometimes life is painful. Sometimes it’s more painful for others for no apparent reason. We can’t control the bad things that people do to us, but we can control how we react to them. I choose to use this situation as a way to get closer to my family. My real family. I lost so much time with them because of Paul and Rita, but now I have my whole life ahead of me to get to know my parents and my brothers. I have my entire life to live, knowing that I’m loved by the most incredible man that God could’ve ever paired me with. We are a match made in heaven, and I vow to spend the rest of my life showing him just how grateful I am to have him in my life.
Life might not be all sunshine and rainbows, but having hope is not pointless. Dreaming of a life where you have unlimited love and support is not unreasonable. It’s a goal that we should all strive for.
Ultimately, meeting Mattia Russo led me on a path that gave me the courage to finally fight for myself. Not only to fight for my survival but for my happiness. He is so much more than the love of my life, he is my happily ever after.
Epilogue
Aurora
Eight Months Later
“You may now kiss your bride,” the officiant says happily. Mattia takes my face between his hands and gently kisses me. Our family and friends erupt into cheers as we stay connected.
