Imbalance

▪︎Chapter Forty Five▪︎

THANA

Treading down the dimly lit hallway of the club en route to the back office, a gust of wind caused my bone straight hair to temporarily float behind my ears as Matthews stormed passed me in a hurry. Catching a quick glimpse of his face before he disappeared entirely, the lividity smeared across it was crystal clear. My pace quickened as panic settled in, I was instantly concerned about what had transpired between him and the man I had grown to love.

Initially we had tag teamed to get back at TJ, however, in a weird and unexpected turn of events I had ended up falling for the murderous soul. I saw him not as a menace to society as some might've deemed him but rather a highly misunderstood man. Despite his obvious contempt for women, he had somehow managed to make room in his heart for me. He showered me with a love that failed to manifest during my time with TJ.

"Babe, you good?" Once inside the office, I waltzed over to him and acquainted my backside with his lap. His arms instantly encircled my waist.

"Yeah, I'm cool." He responded in classic nonchalance. I had never seen him break a sweat, even in his anger which was sometimes unnerving as it made him unpredictable. However, I had yet to fall victim to his wrath. Not that he had a reason to snap considering that I was a doting partner who hardly opppsed him. I was blinded by love, conditioned to believe that revenge and malice were the answers to my problems. When the opportunity to ruin TJ's life presented itself I didn't hesitate to seize it.

After all he had ruined mine. He'd gotten to live life while mine was stagnated. Unbeknownst to many, Amalie hadn't been our first child. At a mere twenty years I had conceived our first child which posed as a minor set back but we managed to persevere nonetheless. We both continued to pursue our tertiary education and for a while everything was fine. However, just a few weeks shy of my first trimester I miscarried. My emotional and mental stability went careening downward. I ended up dropping out of school, all while TJ continued to excel.

He had tried his best to be a source of strength for me, and for a while we were actually okay again until he graduated. Initially I was proud of him for being able to secure a coveted job fresh out of college but once he started advancing I began seeing less of him. It didn't help our cause once I became pregnant again either. Internally I resented TJ and was dying for an escape route out of my marriage.

Once Amalie was born and that route was found a few months later, I took the first thing smoking. However, as the years rolled by I started missing my baby which was why I nearly leapt for joy when I was instructed to essentially stalk TJ, inconspicuously of course. My discreet pursuit led me to uncover much more than I'd expected. I was honestly taken aback to discover TJ was on drugs, but my initial shock was trumped by elation. I knew for sure how I'd slither my way back into his life.

Even after I'd gotten to TJ, my obsession waxed stronger as I set my eyes on another target, Ms. Londyn Jordan. She had managed to secure TJ's heart and totally charmed my daughter which infuriated me. I had almost blown my cover one day when I had seen her at Duu-B's with Amalie, looking very much like mother and daughter in their identical dresses. My breaking point peaked once I'd heard my baby girl call her mommy. I stormed out of the restaurant and sped to Kaz's location, and all but begged him to accelerate our plan which subsequently set things in motion. Given that TJ was on drugs, and with Detective Matthews' help it was an easy feat framing TJ.

The night's happening had been orchestrated days prior, all parties involved were briefed on the importance of their role. Bumping into the couple at club's entrance hadn't been purely coincidental. The young man, whom I only knew as O, was a friend of Kaz. The only unfortunate and clueless soul in the grand scheme was the woman he purported to be his girlfriend. In fact however she was just a pawn in the game needed to seal TJ's fate.