Dangerous Liaisons [✗]

𝟐𝟒 | 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐥

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐘 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 | 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐑𝐄𝐘 [PART 2]

I REJECTED WHAT MONEY MY PARENTS HAD LEFT ME. It didn't entice me, so I let it rot in my bank account, accumulating interest while I paid for my expenditures using the money I made or whatever I could steal off my uncle, because he had also lost control of his assets to me.

He didn't realise just how much sway I had over his life and he wasn't at liberty to disagree either, when he was all but my puppet. I couldn't risk him getting out of line and knew that I had once found him at his weakest and swooped in to put my plans into motion, prepared to take and lose everything at the same time, no matter the cost.

It was hard to forget how tough it was to assimilate in Terence after graduating college, completing internships and ultimately ending up jobless. I was a STEM major and the market was oversaturated where I thought I could make a career. Until I eventually acknowledged that there was no space for me, the longer I stayed and tried to mould myself into somebody I couldn't be, I was depriving myself of the ties I had back home.

I had decided to visit my home town and do some soul searching, though I ended up staying longer than necessary, because Aunt Priya had passed away suddenly after being in remission and then there was the discrete matter of Alba's gradual decline in mental faculties after being diagnosed with an unexplainable genetic disease himself.

Astonishingly, he was determined to make a breakthrough without anyone knowing about it, even though his condition was only just beginning to spread, because deep down he knew it had been coming for him all along. It happened to be the cherry on top that before his utmost downfall, I stumbled across the documentation from clinics and private labs, what appeared to be my mother's journal in his possession and the ledger that had everyone's name but my parents.

My head was filled with vivid memories of our confrontation, thick misty autumnal fog shrouding as the evening drew to a close, questions pounding through my skull, and a sensation that felt a lot like vicious chaos traversing through my veins.

I didn't recognise each of the emotions flooding me, but I was able to piece things together as I hunted Alba down in his chair and made him face the music all over again, though he made excuses and tried to throw a blanket over the truth.

The revelation of what really happened the time of my parents demise. How quickly the law enforcement personnel dispersed. My uncle patronisingly arriving to save the night. The way he sifted through their possessions and walked away with files. His complete dedication to the Mayoral duty and lack of empathy towards me.

He hoped he would escape the repercussions for his sins.

Alba was wrong.

He didn't know that my mind had gotten sharper the more I lingered around and observed him, letting the realisation slowly sink in, that corruption simmered in the depths of Terence as a result of all these individuals on the ledger incriminating themselves. On my search for answers and clues, I decided I was going to stay longer and the next time I returned to the city I had gotten accustomed to, it was to pack my bags and return home permanently to achieve justice.