Taint Me More ☑️

PROLOGUE

The strong smell of coffee mixed with the smell of newly processed wood invaded my senses as I scratched down on the neat oak office table—my mother's office table. I could still see tiny bits of blood lining the insides of my fingernails. I couldn't control my leg as it bounced, it was the adrenaline and a little bit of anxiety.

I didn't know where was a better place to be at this very moment. Was it here at the police station, where my mother worked? At home, where the smell of blood filled the entire atmosphere. Or at the hospital where my dead stepfather and dead sister were? I held that thought just as my mother walked into the office in all her uniformed glory, pants, gun holster and all. She held a big brown envelope as she crossed the space of the office and went behind her desk but she didn't take her seat. She dropped the envelope right in front of me and crossed her arms but didn't say anything.

I looked down at the envelope and then up at her, waiting for her to say something, when she didn't still utter a single word, I finally broke the silence.

"Is that a warrant for my arrest?" I asked with a sigh as I dug a hole into the envelope with my eyes.

"Just open the damn thing, Ilaria." She said, speaking my name with venom and I clenched my teeth and took the envelope and opened.

Inside it were a few papers, some had my passport photograph on them and the others were documents that looked like IDs, one was my passport.

"There's no other way to deal with this mess, so you will take these new documents I had them make for you and you will leave Oregon before the weekend."

I stared wide eyed at my mother as she spilled those words from her mouth. "Mom, you can't." I shook my head repeatedly as I stood up to meet her eye to eye which was almost impossible, my mother was a tall woman standing at five foot nine, I wasn't nearly as tall as she was, she stood at least four inches above me.

"Yes, I can and I have made my decision." She said as she adjusted her holster, that was a move I'd always known her to make, my mom was a very proud lady and she loved her job so much that I feared that she loved it more than anything in the world, even her own family.

"I can't just leave Oregon, mom." I threw the documents on the table and they scattered around. "This is you trying to sweep things under the rug again, isn't it?" I asked with so much challenge in my voice I could barely recognise myself.

My mom scowled at me. "You know things could've been worse, right? hell you could be taken to prison and with my position here, I can't let a daughter in prison ruin my reputation. In fact, you should be thanking me for this." She said as she stepped out from behind her desk to meet me.

"Thanking you? Thanking you, mother?" I squinted my eyes at her as I spoke. "Oriana died last night, your husband murdered her and you want me to thank you for sorting a few documents to ship me out of the state to help keep your 'clean reputation'?"

"Oriana died of an asthma attack." She said cutting me off.

"Oh? Is that the story you're giving them?"

"Them who?" She asked, "I'm the chief of police and your sister died of an asthma attack."

I shook my head in disbelief, "you never liked Oriana, you neglected her because she wasn't yours but she was my sister and it's so fucking wrong that she'll get no justice." A strong wave of emotions took over me and my throat started to tighten.

"Mind your language, young woman and what justice are you talking about?" she spat.

I fell on the chair and rubbed my chest, trying to relieve the pain and pressure I felt there. Gathering myself together, I looked up at my mother and spoke again with a questioning glare, "if they decide to carry out an autopsy on her body and find the bruises between her legs and on her thighs? What will you do then?"

"That does not concern you." My mother said, taking a seat and waving off my questions. "But you on the other hand," she continued, "you have blood on your hands, worry more about that."

My heart dropped and then sped up again as I stared down at my hands. My breathing started to quicken, I blinked several times trying hard not to replay the events of the previous night in my head.

A hand fell on my shoulder, "hey Aria, it'll all be fine, I have everything under control." My mother spoke in a reassuring tone, "take the documents and get out of town, go to New York , go to college, get a job and start a new life away from this mess."

I looked up at her as she spoke with an attempt to sound soothing, it was nothing soothing for me. I hated her voice at that very moment and if I was gonna accept her offer, it was because I wanted to get away from her.

A single tear dropped from my eye onto my blood stained jeans, I watched that single teardrop as the fabric of my jeans started to absorb it. I didn't cry because I was sad or scared of what I'd done, no. I cried for my dead sister, I cried because she was only fifteen and had her life ahead of her but was abruptly cut short, I cried because there was nothing I could do. I cried because I missed my father, I cried for the family I once had.

But most of all, I cried because I had no other choice but to accept those documents and go far away and that was why I got on a plane that evening and never looked back.

Far away from the mess. In my mother's own words.