Page 5 of Watch Her Bleed
“I paid and tipped her well then told him to let her go home. He did what I asked but said after tomorrow she’s my problem. Called her needy,” I say. I know I have to appeal to his bank account, not his empathy. He doesn’t have empathy. “If that bottle had busted and she got cut or something…”
“She could sue us. I know,” Dad says. “Well, she’s about to be working at the office. We can keep her happy to avoid her going to the labor board. That’s the last thing we need.”
“Exactly,” I say, rolling my eyes.
“So, fire his ass and just promote Maria,” he sighs. “I’ll see you at the office tomorrow. Come see her after her interview. I assume she doesn’t know who you are?”
“No, Maria said she had no idea who I was.”
“Yeah, come see her so she knows. I’m going back to bed,” he says as he ends the call.
“I’m definitely going to come to see how this goes down,” Luca laughs.
We follow Aurora to an apartment building blocks away. It’s not a terrible place but it’s not in the safest neighborhood. I don’t like that she’s walking alone in the middle of the night like this. I’m glad she’s coming to work for me. I can keep an eye on her better this way.
We wait until the door is secured behind her before we pull away. “I just pulled her file,” Milo says.
“Go on,” I say.
“Aurora Anderson. She’s twenty-four with a bachelor's degree in business administration. She’s worked for Vita for two years. She’s never been late or called out before.”
“I know Dad pulled more than that,” I say and he laughs.
“Her parents are Rita and Paul Anderson. They own Anderson and Sons. She has an older brother named Enzo. He is set to inherit everything.”
“They own a food distribution center, don’t they?” I ask.
“They sure do,” Luca says.
“And that’s why he hired her. He found out who her parents are,” I say. “Why does it feel like this is Dad conspiring?”
“Because that’s all Dad does. He conspires against everyone and fucks everything with a heartbeat,” Luca says bitterly.
Luca isn’t Dad’s biggest fan. Not after he found his fiancée bent over his desk getting railed three days before their wedding. He didn’t want to think that Allison did that willingly, but she did. Luca was standing in the doorway in utter disbelief. She just smiled at him and then came for the entire office to hear.
“For his sake, let’s hope he’s just conspiring,” I say. “Anything else? Why isn’t her parents giving her anything?”
“No idea. I’ll do more digging.”
When I get home I spend a while looking at Aurora’s social media. Looks like her best friend's name is Kaia. They’ve known each other since they were little girls. If anyone gives any pushback, it’ll be her.
Chapter Three
Aurora
Have you ever tried to get yourself off but it just wasn’t good enough? It didn’t take away that ache? It’s missing that… human touch. Sure, I can give myself an orgasm. I can take away the immediate pressure but nothing beats having another person do it for you.
It’s been so long since I’ve had sex that I’ve almost gotten into online dating. It doesn’t help that I dreamt of that man from last night bending me over the table and fucking me. I woke up edging an orgasm but couldn’t get myself there when I tried to finish myself off. I know better than to try and start a relationship with anyone. It will only end in literal pain for me.
I groan in frustration and give up. I get up and get ready for my interview. I need this job. I’m sick of being a server and not using my degree. I didn’t kiss my parents’ ass for no reason. They have no idea I was a server. They think I was just taking time away from school before I got a job. I would rather them bitch at me for thinking I don’t have a job at all rather than getting lectured and saying that I’m disgracing them by being a server.
My parents are the type of rich people who give the rest of them a bad name. They are selfish, self-centered people. Unfortunately, my brother is the exact same way. Their favorite thing to call me is useless because I refuse to work for the family business. I don’t want shit just handed to me because I want to make my own way. I want to learn how to run a business from the bottom up because you can’t be a good boss unless you can be a good employee. If I’m not willing to get out there and do the same thing that I’m expecting my employees to do, I have no business running the company.
I served the owner a few weeks back and he asked me about myself. I told him the basics and he said “Now, tell me why would an Anderson kid be working as a server.” I explained that I wanted to do my own thing and my parents didn’t like that. I didn’t directly tell him that my parents gave my inheritance to my brother when I refused to work for them. I left out the part where all of my trauma is my brother's fault. I don’t tell him the number of times my parents caught my brother raping me only to walk away and leave me to get assaulted. I didn’t dare tell him the real reason is that I fear he will have more opportunities to get me alone than he already does.
I’ve done well with avoiding being alone with Enzo for six months. There are some things I can’t avoid, like holidays and birthdays, but I try to bring Kaia with me. Kaia is a tiny little firecracker that would go toe to toe with a grown man without so much as flinching. She doesn’t know that Enzo raped me more times than I can count, but she knows about the molestation and how it started when I was nine. She knows how my parents didn’t care when I told them. She hates that I still involve myself with them, but supports me anyway.
Tonight is one of those nights that I know I can’t avoid him doing something. It's easier to just let him get off so he will go away. Fighting just pisses him off and I end up with a bruised cervix. I have to go to Enzo’s birthday dinner tonight and Kaia is coming with me. My family hates her and always has. I’m pretty sure that they intentionally distract us so that Enzo can get to me. It always feels like a setup when he gets to me.
