Okay, this is chapter is kind of sappy, but I love it! Haha.

Chapter 18- Survivor

Willow looked into Sam's eyes as she knelt beside her. Jax joined Drew on the couch and sighed heavily. While it helped mountains knowing that it wasn't Danny who raped her, she was still in pain and didn't even know how to begin telling her parents.

"Were you able to find him?" Drew broke the awkward silence.

Sam shook her head.

"I was out looking for him too," Jax said. "Spencer came over earlier and the things he said… Willow, I'm so sorry."

Willow lowered her gaze.

Drew cleared his throat. "Why don't I go check on Scout, give you guys a chance to talk?"

Sam gave Drew a small smile and mouthed, I love you. It was obvious to Willow that they must have worked things out because the tension between them was gone. Drew smiled at Willow and reassured her that everything would be okay, then he headed out. And for the first time ever, she felt like he wasn't just Sam's husband and Danny and Scout's father, but he was her stepdad. He cared about her.

"Willow, honey," Sam softly. "I want you to know, we know who gave you those bruises."

"But we're not going to push you to talk to us about it until you're ready," Jax said.

"We won't let him get away with it though," Sam added. "And we're going to be here for you no matter what."

"I—I'm ready…" Willow said, swallowing hard. If anything, she had to do this for Charlotte. For Scout. Anyone else that Matteo could potentially hurt. Charlotte was still a teenager, but Willow was the adult, as weak as she felt. She had to step up.

Sam smiled slightly, squeezing her hand. "Take as much time as you need to. You can tell us anything."

Jax nodded. "We're listening."

Willow chewed on her dry lip. "Drew said… he said that you know that he isn't… that D-Da…"

"He's not Danny." Sam nodded, her eyes welling with tears. "And I never should've let him in the house. I am so so sorry."

"It's not your fault," Willow said, tearing up.

"And I should've checked this guy out," Jax said. "I shouldn't have taken him at face value."

"What did he do to you?" Sam asked.

Willow stared down at her pink blanket and she fidgeted with it nervously. There was an awkward silence as Jax and Sam waited patiently for her to speak.

"He… he…" She finally looked up at Sam, then at Jax, and back to Sam. "He raped me."

Sam went whiter than a ghost and Jax punched a cushion.

Sam sat in the chair with Willow, not saying a word, and wrapped her arms around her.

Jax rose to his feet and gritted his teeth. "I'll kill him!" He stormed from the house, shutting the front door behind him.

"I don't want him to be thrown in jail!" Willow said frantically.

"Listen," Sam said, pushing away Willow's tears with her thumb. "Whoever that guy is that posed as your brother, deserves anything your dad does to him. I'll talk to Nikolas, and Jax will be protected. That's if I don't get to this bastard first."

Willow wrapped her arms around Sam's waist and leaned against her chest, crying.

Sam stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head as she cried with her. "Did it happen the night you took Franklin for a walk and returned with this jerk?"

"He—He gripped my arms so tightly… tighter than anyone has ever gripped me and… he tried to kiss me that night… and the first night he stroked my hair and said I have gorgeous blue eyes…" Willow cringed. "I thought I imagined it…"

"That's why you rushed to your room? I knew you seemed off… I should've checked on you…"

Willow swallowed hard. "I didn't sleep that night… and when I heard Scout scream… I thought he was hurting her… but then you rushed her off to the clinic…"

Sam placed a hand over her mouth. "We left you alone with him…"

"He looked across the hall at me… and smirked… and I knew he was coming for me… I tried to shut the door, but he was too strong and… and the door knocked me to the floor. He told me not to act to scared and said what are siblings for… I said not this… then he yanked me up… I broke free from his grip and tried to run… but he grabbed me…" she choked up. "…and pulled me close to his body."

"Did you at least know he wasn't Danny at this point?" Sam asked.

Willow shook her head.

Sam let out a soft sob.

"He said surely you've felt the connection between us… and he nibbled on my ear… I tried… I tried… I tried to get away… but then he forced me to kiss him. And I wanted to throw up… but it was like I froze and couldn't do anything when he pushed me on the bed… he massaged my hand… then dug his nails into me and he said Mom and Dad won't see… and then he pinned me to the bed and kissed my neck… he asked if I love him…" She cringed again. "I begged him to stop… I kicked, I pushed, but I couldn't get him off me… he slid his hand down my pajama pants and ripped them and my underwear off…" She cried into Sam's chest before continuing. "And then he kicked me hard down their and the bruise is really bad now… I tried… I tried to press my legs together, but he pulled them apart. Then he jabbed his elbow hard on my stomach causing another bruise… and he kept his elbow there while he unzipped his pants… and pulled off his underwear… then… then… then… he jumped on top of me and… I couldn't stop it…"

"Oh, baby, I'm so sorry…" Sam said barely above a whisper and kissed her temple.

"I—I should've fought harder… if I was stronger like you, I could've stopped him… I could've stopped Shiloh… You wouldn't let someone do that to you… You wouldn't be fooled by Harmony… I let her back on this island and I just realized she's working with him…"

"Hey, hey…" Sam lifted her chin, then cupped her face in her hands. "None of this is your fault. You are strong. Do you understand me? Don't let this jerk make you think otherwise. You are still a strong person even when people hurt you or get you to believe lies. For years I believed that mobsters were good people. I believed that Jason loved me. I was even obsessed over him for the longest time, but he never put me or his kids first. He's changed now and I've changed, but the point is I have fallen for things that aren't true. I've been duped by people. I've been manhandled and beaten. Do you remember Franco Baldwin?"

She nodded.

"When I was married to Jason, he made us think… though at this point Drew was switched out for Jason… he made us think that he raped me. And I even believed for the longest time that he was Danny's father."

"Really?"

"Yes. You see, he trapped Jason or Drew in a room and drugged me. He did all of this on camera so Jason would watch and laid me on a bed and took his shirt off. He was playing a mind game with us to get to Jason's head. He placed his shirt over the camera. But then he played the real footage in front of a room full of people… I was so humiliated. It showed that he left the room and didn't actually rape me. But to this day I still question whether he bodged the footage to make the town believe he's redeemable… What I'm trying to say is… baby, you are a strong person. You've been through one of the worst things a woman can go through… twice… and what's worse, you believed that Danny did it to you. That doesn't make you weak. You are a strong person. You're a survivor. Especially because you spoke up. We're going to get through this together, okay?"

Fresh tears streamed down Willow's cheeks. She nodded and hugged Sam again." I thought I was destroying your family."

"Never. And this creep won't even destroy our family."

Willow smiled a little through her tears. "It's Matteo… Matteo Marchesi pretending to be… Danny."

"How do you know that?"

"He… he… raped someone else too. She confirmed it's him."

"Who else did he rape?" Sam asked.

"I—I can't betray her confidence…"

Sam nodded.

Willow looked up at her. "Mom?"

Sam looked down at her.

"I'm so glad that you're my mom… not just because you're not Harmony. But because you're imperfect, but so strong. You always put us first… And I love you so much."

Sam beamed and kissed her forehead. "I love you more."