29

Victoria

I had just finished taking a shower and decided it was time to look at my body. The bruises and hickeys were gone, and the bite marks had healed, leaving behind faint scars. As I stared at my reflection, the memories came back. I had to look away and quickly wrapped a towel around myself. I needed to get away from Michael once and for all. But how? Michael would find me no matter where I hid; he had already proven that twice.

It would be difficult to escape with a four-year-old with me and even more difficult to hide. My only option was to kill Michael. Could I live with myself if I murdered him? How would I even get away with it?

I took a deep breath. I needed to come up with a plan. I knew that I would need to start working on getting Michael's trust, and I would have to open up to him slowly. However, I needed to ensure I kept my guard up; I couldn't risk falling for his charm as I had so foolishly done so many times. Michael would hit me and then act sweet and apologetic afterward, causing me to forgive him and fall back into his arms.

How was I such an idiot?

I will start today. The sooner I began working on my facade, the sooner I would gain Michael's trust. I would need Antonio's help; he was still cold towards Michael for hurting me, so I needed to talk with him about being nice to Michael.

I looked at the clock and saw it was almost time for Antonio's nap. I quickly dressed and headed to his room; Antonio was already lying in bed. I covered Antoni with his blanket, kissed him on the forehead, and turned off the light.

"Mommy," Antonio called as I was headed for the door.

"Yes, sweetie?"

"When will you be okay?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're not okay. Daddy hurt you, and you're still sad."

Well, this opportunity came sooner than I expected.

I turned the light back on and sat on Antonio's bed.

"Do you remember when one of your classmates was bullying you?" I asked.

Antonio had been bullied for a short time in school. I managed to get a hold of the kid's parents and threatened to press charges against their son for assault and report them for neglect and child abuse since their kid had some bruises. The bruises were actually from baseball, but the report would cause some drama. I also may have taken a baseball bat to their car.

"Yeah."

"Remember I helped you, and he never bothered you again?"

"Yes."

"I need your help. I need you to be nice to Daddy."

"But he hurt you!"

"I know, but it'll help me if you're nice to him. Do everything you did before Daddy hurt me, okay? Do you think you can help me?"

Antonio let out a sigh and looked away from me.

"Antonio, I'm not saying you have to forgive Daddy; I just need you to be nice to him. It'll help me a lot if you can do that."

"Okay."

"Thank you."

I leaned down and kissed Antonio on the forehead.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

I slowly closed Antonio's door and let out a yawn. I was ready for a nap, but first, I needed some water.

As I poured myself some water, I heard the front door open. I continued drinking my water when I heard Michael walk into the kitchen.

"You're home early," I said.

"Yeah. The deal went smoothly."

Pity.

"That's a surprise. Usually, the Russians are brutal."

"They're all depressed because they lost their leader. He tried to murder Adam Carter during a transaction, but that plan went south."

"Who in their right mind would try to destroy the king like that?"

"Someone hungry for power. Don't worry, though. I'm being careful, and I won't make any rash decisions. I'm thinking everything through."

Please don't. Please make a stupid mistake that puts you in a grave so I don't have to.

"I got these for you," Michael said as he stood beside me. I looked at him and saw him holding a bouquet of roses.

I looked up at Michael and softly said, "Thank you," as I slowly took the roses from him.

"I know I've been an asshole. Not just recently but the entire time we've been together. I want you to know I'm going to change."

I looked at Michael in shock. I couldn't hold myself back from saying, "How?"

Michael took a deep breath and said, "I signed up for therapy and anger management."

"Therapy?"

"Yeah... I did some thinking, and I realized that you were right. What happened to me wasn't punishment for being bad. I think I always knew that, and I was in denial and didn't want to accept the fact that I was molested and raped."

"Well, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks. I also signed us up for couple's therapy."

"WHAT?" My eyes grew wide. "Why?"

Michael sighed, gently put the roses on the counter, and took my hands in his.

"Victoria, I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you; I always have. I understand that I've fucked up, and I don't expect you to forgive me anytime soon. However, I want us to be able to work things out. If not for us, then for Antonio; he's gone too long without me in his life, and that's not healthy for him. He's going to start school soon, and I can't imagine how he'll feel seeing all his classmates have perfect happy families. What do you say?"

I looked away from Michael. I had no choice but to comply with Michael's request to get his trust. However, a therapist could tell if I wasn't interested in working things out with Michael. Perhaps I could convince the therapist that I actually gave a shit about Michael.

Great... Now I'm the one who's a manipulative sociopath.

"Okay," I said as I looked Michael in the eyes.

Michael smiled and kissed me on the forehead.

"Thank you. I promise I won't let you down."

Oh, but I'll be the one to let you down when I stab you to death.

I returned Michael's smile and turned away to grab a vase for my roses.

"So when do we start therapy?"

"In two weeks. I want to enroll Antonio in school next week. Once he's settled and gotten the hang of things, we'll go while he's in school."

"When do you start anger management and therapy?"

"I start anger management tomorrow and therapy on Thursday."

"How often will you be going?"

"I'll do anger management on Mondays and Wednesdays and therapy on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"How often will we be doing couple's therapy?" I asked as I arranged the roses in the vase.

"Once a week on Fridays."

Thank God.

"Okay."

I threw out the wrapper from the roses and washed my hands. As I dried my hands, I felt Michael's arms wrap around me. I managed to keep myself from trembling, but when Michael began to kiss my neck, I flinched and practically pushed him away.

"I'm sorry," I heard Michael say. "I got ahead of myself."

"Can we take things slow?" I asked.

"Of course," Michael said with a look of sincerity.

I gave Michael a small smile and headed to my room to nap.