Better The Devil You Know

I Lose My Temper... Again

When Nathan opened his front door, he didn't know what he would expect. He hoped to see Aurora but he knew not to expect so much. And he was right.

The whole family was gathered there and the Castillos had left the day before to greet their boys back in Manchester. His mum and sister were eagerly waiting by the door, scared for what they would see.

All the boys had cuts and bruises, Nathan had been shot in the shoulder and Mateo in the stomach but both were still standing.

The Sicilian Mafia had called for surrender and now the Romano Mafia had an alliance with Italy and soon trade deals would begin. It was a success for them, but the novelty wore off as soon as Nathan walked in the door and didn't see his wife.

"Where's Aurora?" He questioned, after greeting both his mum and sister.

"She's in her room. She didn't sleep well, so we let her lie in." Izzy looked down at the floor.

"Oh. Cool, no problem." Nathan gulped slightly.

🖤

Aurora was watching out of her window, craning her neck to try and see the boys arriving. She didn't want to go downstairs, but wanted to check Nathan was there.

She soon gave up, accepting that she couldn't see the driveway and moved over to the balcony in the hopes that she would hear his voice.

"I've been gone a month, and you're still by that bloody window." Nathan's voice was cold, and for the life of her, Aurora couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Aurora turned around, taking in Nathan's arm sling, the cuts on his face and his bruised arms.

"You cut your hair." Nathan was stunned slightly.

That was Aurora's last breakdown. She had woken up three days ago, still drunk from the previous night, early in the morning. Her nurse wasn't in yet, so by the time Aurora had managed to get herself into her chair she was angry and upset at how weak she was.

So she stormed into the bathroom, tears streaming and grabbed some scissors.

When Emilia and Izzy saw it they immediately called the hairdresser, and soon Aurora had bobbed hair.

She actually kind of liked it, but it made a lot of hidden scars become visible.

"I needed a change." Aurora said bluntly, still absorbing the fact that Nathan was standing in front of her.

"Why didn't you come downstairs?"

"I didn't think you would want to see me."

"You're my wife."

"Not by choice."

Nathan sighed loudly. "I cannot keep doing this Aurora. I actually cannot. I don't know what you want from me. When are you gonna move on? When are we gonna stop with these petty fights?"

"I don't fucking know!"

Nathan leant against the door, rubbing his eyes. "No of course you don't."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means you jolly well know what the fuck your problem is but you won't tell me."

"My problem? My problem? You wanna know what my problem is? I cannot walk. I cannot move. I am stuck. I have too many scars to fucking count, everytime I close my fucking eyes I'm back in that fucking house, I can't sleep and I can't fucking look at you without wanting to fucking cry. I am so fucking tired and I am just trying to get through the fucking day." Aurora couldn't stop her voice breaking, but she couldn't care at this point, " and I blame you."

"You blame me." Nathan ran his hands through his hair. "You fucking blame me."

"Yes. Yes I do." Aurora was quiet.

"And what about Jack?" Nathan's voice was venomous.
"What about your ex?"

"How- how do you know?"

"I saw your doctor's files. Alex found photos of you two. I saw the CCTV of the club. Why the fuck didn't you tell me?"

"Because you would look at me like the way you're looking at me now."

"Jesus Christ, Aurora. Why do you do this to yourself? Why the hell do you put yourself down so much? It's no wonder people take advantage when you're so quick to tear yourself down."

"Don't you dare. You don't get to make me feel bad. You weren't there, you didn't know me. You do not know me. You don't know what I went through so you don't ever get to tell me why I stayed and why I left."

"I don't know you? We've been married for almost a year."

"And I've spent six of them stuck in this fucking chair!"

Nathan stopped.
"This was never supposed to happen."

Aurora stared at him. "I know," she whispered.

"You deserve so much better."

"Stop lying."

"You're the one person I don't lie to."

"Nathan... I don't think we can fix this."

"We haven't even tried."

"Every time we talk, we end up yelling at each other. I don't even know what we're doing this for."

Nathan straightened up. "Me neither."

As he walked out of the room, Aurora couldn't stop the tears as her hand clamped into her mouth.

Maybe she was just meant to be alone.