I See Why He Didn't Say No (Marliza)

Angelica...

TRIGGER WARNING: TALK OF VIOLENCE, DOMESTIC ABUSE, RAPE

"Liza!" Angelica smiled at her sister as she stood in the doorway. She threw her head back into the house and called out, "Pegs, Eliza is here!"

The youngest sister came bounding over cheerfully. "Hey, Liza."

"Hi." Eliza tried to smile, but she was too heartbroken and worried.

Angelica instantly sensed that something was wrong, Eliza knew. "What's up?"

"Can I come in? I'll explain everything."

"Of course." Angelica and Peggy stepped to the side to let their sister in, matching looks of concern on their faces.

They all sat on the couch and Eliza broke down in tears.

"Elizabeth!" Angelica gasped, rubbing her arm. "What's wrong?"

Peggy jumped up and kneeled on the floor, hugging her older sister's torso.

"A-Alex had an affair! He published it in the freaking campus newspaper!" Eliza finally spluttered out

"Eliza, oh no!" Peggy cried, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'LL KILL HIM!" Angelica raged, her face forming a look of disgust and anger. 

"No!" Eliza wailed. "I already yelled at him and left him and it's over!" This just brought on a fresh set of tears. Everything with Maria had kept the realization away and it was all hitting her now.

"Well..." Angelica frowned. "Who with?"

"M-Maria Lewis..."

"Oh, god." Angelica covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my god. Oh no."

Eliza furrowed her brow in confusion. "What?"

"Did you go to see her?"

The middle sister nodded. "Yeah and we... talked. She told me that James, her boyfriend forced her. And that you have her number?" She spoke, conveniently conveniently leaving out the part where she and Maria had hot, passionate sex up against a wall.

"So she told you." Angelica swallowed. "Good."

Peggy looked back and forth between them, still kneeling on the floor. "What?" She was only fifteen and didn't always understand what her older sisters talked about. She was staying with Angelica (because Angelica was home from her trip abroad) in the city for the summer and this had made her understand them just a bit better. Eliza was five years older than her and Angelica was six years older. They babied and doted on her like big sisters did.

Angelica sighed and began to explain. "About a year ago I lived in the same apartment building as Maria. I used to hear screaming and yelling coming from her apartment and I'd get worried about her. One night I ran into her in the hallway, coming out of her apartment. She was sobbing, her dress was torn and there were bruises all over her." Angelica swallowed and looked down. "There was blood on her dress and a-a hole where she was stabbed."

The younger sisters gasped.

"I called 911 and they took her to the hospital. She almost died. When she came out of surgery I went to see her and she talked to me about it. About how he forced her to have sex with people to blackmail them. I never knew James was physically abusive. I just thought he yelled at her a lot, but... she told me that he hit her all the time. That night was the worst. She tried to leave him and he... he raped her and he stabbed her to get her to shut up."

Tears streamed down all three of their faces. Eliza was sobbing. She didn't know how bad it was. Maria hadn't really told her. She felt like her heart was being stomped on and it was so much worse than any pain she'd ever known. Way worse than finding out about the affair. "Did she go to the police? How is he not in prison?"