Page 53 of Make Her Bleed
"I came to check on you. Coach Patrick told me you were here," I admit.
"Did Kai call him?" she asks.
I shrug. "Not sure. How are you feeling?"
She smirks. "The doctor has me on a cocktail of painkillers. I'm completely loopy. Almost doesn't bother me that my vision is messed up."
Messed up? Is that why she had surgery? That can't be. Her eyes are as beautiful and clear as ever. There's a small bruise on her eyebrow but not much more damage to her face.
"What's wrong with your vision?" I sit my hand on top of hers, gently squeezing her fingers.
"I haven't been able to see since I fell down the stairs," she admits. "At first, everything was completely black. Once Kai got me out of the house, everything was lighter, grayer with a few shade variations. Now, I can see color and shapes but everything is blurry, kind of like when someone wakes you up after a long day and you've barely been asleep for an hour, and your eyes refuse to focus on anything. You know what I mean?"
She squeezes my hand back, her voice breaking slightly. She needs someone to understand what she's going through. Aria is looking to me for that.
"Yeah, I get it," I say. "My dad … he's a real piece of shit," I admit and note the curiosity across her face. "Once, he beat me so bad I couldn't see straight for a couple hours. It was pretty freaky."
I don't talk to anyone about my dad, not since he went to prison. Things have been better since then but he left his scars on me and my family.
"That's horrible."
"Like I said, he's a piece of shit. He's been in prison for five years now. He was a terrible drunk, and he beat my mom so bad she fell into a coma for five days. When Kai found out, he returned the favor and pulled some strings to have him put away for the rest of his life so no one has to be scared anymore."
I was so grateful to Kai for that. I practically worshiped the ground he walked on, as did my mom and my sisters. What a bunch of fools we were?
A small smile plays on her lips and I'm not fooling myself to think it's because of my experience similar to hers. It has to do with Kai.
"He helped you?"
"Don't do that, darling," I beg, lacing my fingers through hers.
"Do what?" Her face twists, befuddled.
"Don't try to see the bright side behind his actions. Kai is more evil than my father ever has been. My father had an addiction that turned him into a monster. Kai is naturally that way. We all made the mistake of thinking the same way at first. That's how he gets you. He makes you think he's only dark to help those he cares about but it's only a facade. He does things to help you but it's only to drag you in and get you exactly where he wants you. He makes you feel grateful then gets you to take his oath then he has you by the balls until he decides to let you go."
She blinks at me a few times, shock on her face, but I can tell she's truly absorbing what I'm telling her.
"What do you mean by take his oath? What is that?" she asks, her voice soft and curious.
"He makes us give him a vial of our blood. At first, he tells us it's to prove we're willing to bleed for him, but it's all a lie. He wants it as leverage to keep us from challenging him, from running. If we go against him, he'll pin some horrific crime on us and have us sent to prison for the rest of our lives. It's his failsafe. We're his prisoners just as much as you are. The only difference being the pain he causes is emotional with us. His reach is too far for anyone to beat him. He has hundreds of vials with names on them. I've looked up every single one of those names. There's even one that works within the President's cabinet. All of these people will do whatever it takes to protect themselves from him, even if it means committing atrocities in his name."
She squints her eyes before looking down at my hand.
"I know he's a horrible person. I figured that out in that classroom," she admits.
"That's not even the start of it, darling. All he did was hold you down then. He's capable of much worse things." She needs to understand how much of a monster he is.
Her eyes flash up to my face, surprise across her face. "You don't know?" The words fall off her tongue, almost like a thought not meant to come out.
"Don't know what?"
Her expression turns dark as she bites her lip as if it's a nervous habit. "After you all left the classroom … Kai raped me himself. He said if I told anyone what happened in that classroom, he'd kill my dad."
My mind is blown. I can't even think of what to say about what she’s just confided in me.
Kai raped her? That's the last thing I'd expect to come out of anyone's mouth, let alone Aria.
"He raped you?" I ask, making sure I heard her right.
