Angel (Damiano David & Victoria De Angelis)

Chapter 24

"Victoria, you are fucking nuts...you can't put him through that!", Ethan burst out the next day, as soon as he heard about their plan. She stared at him, not backing down: "I know it's gonna be hard but it's the only way. Don't you understand? Without evidence, we can't do shit about her and she will keep coming back over and over again, hunting us down and targeting Damiano even more. The police needs to actually see it when it's happening." Ethan glared at her:" I know, you think you're doing the right thing but that's fucking sick, Victoria. You can't possibly think that's a good idea." She felt her stomach cramp, having hooped for a bit more support on her band member's end, but still, she kept her cool: "No, Ethan, I don't think it's a good idea but it is the only chance we have. Think realistically. We live in a society in which male victims of rape aren't believed. If we want to have any fucking chance of freeing him from this fucking nightmare, the police need to catch her red handed. That is the only fucking way." He shook his head: "I understand where you're coming from but there has to be another way." She furrowed her eyebrows:" Well, there isn't. Tomorrow night, we're gonna go meet her and bring this to an end, once and for all." Ethan stood up, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath: "Okay...okay, you're right. I don't necessarily agree with you but I know you're gonna handle it somehow. Up to now, you always managed to do the right thing for him and I trust you to be able to do the same now. If you really want to do this, we'll make sure that everything is safe and ready for you to come home afterwards." She felt like a weight was lifted off of her shoulders: "Thank you, Ethan...really. We'll need all the help we can get." He nodded:" Okay...what should we prepare?", he asked, sitting down on his bed again. She looked towards the door, hoping Damiano would survive another ten minutes without her. She now sat down next to him: "I need you to make sure there are no sharp objects anywhere. We keep the knives locked up from now on. Only you, me and Thomas can access them. We also need to remove the keys from every room, so he won't be able to lock himself in. He's gonna relapse for sure, so we need to be extra cautious. And we need to establish a routine. I think giving him a sense of normality will help him a lot." Ethan nodded: "Okay, well, I agree with most things but I don't think we should lock the knives away...if he wants to hurt himself he's definitely gonna find a way." She sighed...she knew he was right: "Yeah...well, we're gonna look what happens and decide the best way to handle it then." He seemed to agree: "Yeah...well...that has always been the best plan till now, hasn't it?" She was a little confused at that: "Uhm...what do you mean?" He chuckled but it didn't sound like a happy chuckle...it was more like a really sad try to lighten the mood: "During the past months...everything you did was unplanned and it all worked out just fine...in the end, we have no idea what's going to happen, so it's best to just go with the flow. People like Damiano...I mean...people who have issues like he does can be very unpredictable. There is no way of finding out how or when or even if he is going to hurt himself, panic or anything of that sort...reacting to the situation as it comes might just be the best thing you can possibly do."

That night, she didn't sleep well. Her thoughts were tormenting her and she could feel that it wasn't any different for Damiano as he was constantly rolling around next to her. They didn't speak though. She didn't mind...actually, she preferred it that way as she wouldn't have known what to say to him. She probably wouldn't be able to assure him right now...hell, she wasn't even able to assure herself that she was doing the right thing. What if everything went wrong and she wouldn't be able to convince the police that it was in fact abuse and not just a weird kink of the now ex-couple? Maybe they wouldn't believe her and that would certainly make everything way worse. Maybe it had been the wrong decision...maybe they should have stayed hidden...or maybe they should have even gone to a completely different country to hide out for a few weeks, moths or even years. But would that have changed anything or made anything better? No, probably not. Carla had managed to track them down everytime up to that point so what would stop her from doing so again? No, it had to happen...and it had to happen the following night...there was no use in pushing it back or trying to avoid it. It was their only chance of getting back to a somewhat normal life.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hey ;)

First of all, thank you for all your kind messages and comments. I am really greatful for every single one of you, especially because I never thought anyone would like to read what I am writing.

Anyway, what do you think is going to happen in the next few chapters? Will her plan work and they can finally start his recovery or will it fail? Is he going to get hurt? Let me know what you think in the comments :)

One last thing: Next week, I will post the Q&A. Thank you to everyone who submitted a question via comment and also via Private Chat. I appreciate your interest and I will get to your answers next week. If you haven't submitted a question but would still like to, you can do so in my previous Chapter titled "Q&A". 

As always, thank you for reading.

- Thalia :)