Chapter 80
Emily
I related my body in the hot bath Alessio had prepared for me. He sat beside the tub, running a brush gently through my hair after washing it. It was a sweet gesture, one no one had ever done for me before.
He even brought me a plate of snacks and let me rest without disturbing my peace. All his actions were completely different from the heartless man‘ who was out to avenge his uncle.
AsTrested there, my mind wandered back to the conversation we had about Jason. He was going to kill him, and I was not allowed to interfere. There was nothing about that, that had to be difficult–yet it was.
I was going insane thinking about the reasons why he hadn’t shared his plans with me, and this time I had come to another conclusion. Maybe it was because I hadn’t given him any reaction when he had promised to kill him.
At that time, I was too shocked to respond. Especially since those words had left his mouth so easily.
Was my silence causing him doubt not to share anything with me?
Did he see me as someone who couldn’t handle the idea of revenge or the harsher realities of his world?
“Ales?” I called out softly, asking for his attention.
“Yes, babe?” he responded with a hum.
I sighed, jumping right into the subject we had both been avoiding. “I want you to know that I stand behind you, and whatever Jason got coming for him–he deserves it.”
It was a step toward trying to get him to talk about the revenge, and when I repeated it in my head I really meant it, but now that I had said it out loud–it was hard to believe in the statEmilyent I had just made.
Was I really condoning him killing Jason?
“Thanks? What made you say that all of a sudden?” Alessio asked, curious.
I shrugged, though he couldn’t see it with my back to him. “I just thought you had to know that,” I replied, trying to sound more convincing than I felt.
I looked back for a split second, seeing him nod. He had taken in my words, but speaking about the revenge was still a no–go. That’s why I decided to let it go for now.
“Also, I want to thank you for not making it weird when Naty called you Daddy. That was sweet of you.”
He let out a low chuckle and kissed my wet hair. No words were needed in that moment for him to explain and for me to understand how he felt.
If he wanted to, he could’ve told me to have a talk with her to put things straight in case she would call him Daddy again, but he didn’t.
He had fully accepted Naty, even while knowing that her birth father was a monster who had killed his uncle, hurt his brother, and nearly killed his
dad.
As I thought about all these things, I felt like it was the right moment to tell him about one more fucked–up aspect of my life. At this point in our relationship, there was nothing that could scare him away anymore.
“My mom’s name is Daisy–Mae,” I finally opened up about the part of my past I had been trying to avoid before Jason. “She drank a lot, and if it wasn’t alcohol, it was drugs.” The words were heavy, but I didn’t beat around the bush.
“Daisy–Mae, you could’ve fooled me. I would’ve never thought,” Alessio laughed a little. He grabbed my chin for a second, most likely to see if I had the features of someone with a Mom called Daisy–Mae. He then let go of me.
“Does this mean you’re ready to talk about your family?”
“Yeah,” I murmured, my thoughts still with my mother. “She came from a poor family, grew up in a small town in a trailer park. That’s where I grew up until we had to move down the street because she got pregnant with baby number six,” I spat out everything all at once, unaware of how good it would feel. “Then baby seven, then baby eight, then nine… with not even a single dollar to take care of any of thEmily.”
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“I like your name too.” Alessio added. “Not a big fan of a deadbear, her you name it’s benefit, sure you
“Thanks,” I chuckled. “I had always felt like I wasn’t good enough. I wasn’t at close to my things like they all stereoting my mom used to treat me like an alien, an outsider.” The dark mEmilyories of my childhood flooded my brands reality help that I looked differem from thEmily and school school was hell.”
Sharing all of this with Alessio, I realized how much I had borried up, how much I had to endure alone because I was too Embarrassed to tell anye Not even Pilar knew about my past before Jason.
But everything with Alessio was different. I felt comfortable sharing my past with him because he felt like my new home.
“I thought you said you were popular in school,” Alessio recalled.
“I was, yes, in high school”
I cleared my throat. “I fell in love with the school quarterback, who I thought could never like someone like me. I was afraid of getting bulled, so I stuck with him–and when I found out our families were equally as horrible, I grew attached to him, thinking we were the same.”
“Jason?” Alessio’s voice was just above a whisper.
I swallowed my breath. “Yes.”
Anyone hearing my reason would’ve called me insane on the spot, but it was much deeper than that
“At first we got along so well and he was so nice, maybe not to others, but to re–and then. I got pregnant.*
The silence that followed was tense. So tense Alessio stopped brushing my hair. I turned to meet his eyes which were full of understanding and
sadness.
At that time, my attachment to Jason wasn’t only because of the love I thought we shared. It was also because I thought he was the only person capable of loving someone like me.
Someone with a shitty life loving another person with a shitty life. Back then, it made so much sense.
“Your family wasn’t there for you when you got pregnant,” Alessio concluded, his voice filled with disbelief
I shook my head, the image of Mom’s disapproving face looming in my mind. “She was so against the idea of me being pregnant, and she told me we wouldn’t make it—so I stuck around with Jason because I wanted to prove her wrong.” I felt a lump form in my throat.
My desperation to show her that not all relationships ended tragically like hers had completely backfired.
I worked so hard to prove her wrong, and in the end, she was right.
Chapter 80
Jason’s transformation from a high school sweetheart to an abusive partner happened overnight. By the time I realized what I had gotten myself into,
it was too late to run away.
“He rejected his scholarship to earn money in construction, and that changed him. He became abusive, and I accepted all of it because I had nowhere to go I spoke with a sad smile. “He often threatened to take Naty away from me and would say that I wouldn’t get her back because I had nothing. I
was nothing”
Being able to share all of this without shedding a tear was satisfying. Thinking about it had always made me an Emilyotional mess
Alessio pulled me closer from behind, wrapping his arms around my body. I closed my eyes, leaning into his Emilybrace. I couldn’t be any more grateful for his presence and his patience as he listened to my story.
“How is your bond with your family?” He suddenly asked. “You still talk to thEmily?”
“Oh, hell no,” I clarified. “They all live their own lives and check up on me like once a year.”
“And your biological father?” Alessio knew better than to refer to him as my dad. “Have you ever thought about finding him?”
“No,” I stated, ending it right then and there. “He left me with a drunk addict, I have no interest in getting to know him.”
The idea had crossed my mind when I was younger, but as I grew older I erased it completely. That man fled from Mom, which I understood–but he didn’t care to take me with him. Mom was horrible, the absolute worst- but she had done way more than he ever could. I was barely putting any effort to keep in contact with her, so why would I try to find him?
“Anyway, Daisy Mae sounds like a real fucker, and your birth father is something,” Alessio whispered into my ear, holding me tighter.
“Yes, tell me about it,” a laugh escaped from my lips.
“You don’t ever have to worry about family anymore, because now you got more than enough.” His reassuring words healed my somewhat broken heart.
“You and Naty. I’ll take care of both of you, I’ll protect you until my very last breath.”
