WEIGHTED 13

Tyrone Robert’s POV

“Elize!’ I called as soon as I exited my office. ‘Claus, have you seen Elize?’ I asked when she didn’t respond.

‘Yeah, she was with the kids in their room.’ He said.

I climbed the stairs to their room only to stop when I opened the door. Elize was teaching Arcadia to walk along with Ethan. Each one of them was holding one of her tiny hands, and leading her forward.

It never ceased to amaze me how tenderly she treated our children, like they were the most valuable and precious thing there is. However when teaching them, she does it sternly especially when it’s about life and family.

She taught Ethan from a tender age to never trust anybody outside his family unless the said person earned it. She taught him how to protect his brother and sister with everything he has, even from themselves.

I heard her telling him once when Elton was only a year old, and I quote. ‘Never forsake your family for anything. Always be their pillar, and they’ll be yours. Never forgive anybody who harmed your family, they’ll do it again counting on being forgiven. Counting on that their mistakes will go unpunished again.’

At first I thought it was wrong to teach him not forgiving at such a young age, so I confronted her telling her to change her way of teaching our children such, especially since Ethan grew up taking his mother’s words to heart.

'I’m teaching him what life will do in the cruelest of ways if not prepared. People aren’t meant to be trusted. Family is all what a person will ever need, and I’ll make sure my kids have a stable and united family to return to in times of need. Even when we’re no longer here.’ That was her answer, and I’ve never questioned her ways of teaching ever after.

My boys shall grow up as excellent gentlemen, and my princess will grow as the princess she truly is protected by her brothers. For that I’ll forever be grateful for my wife, my Elize for treating our kids equally even though Ethan is not her biological son.

She made sure he never knew about it. ‘I’m his mother, I raised him from the very beginning and so he’s my son no matter what anybody will ever say. He’ll never call any other woman his mom, it’s my right. Only me.’ Those were her words when I asked her when she’ll tell him about that whore. I knew from then how possessive and protective she was of them, of Us.

Her family.

‘Daddy! Dad.’ The voices of my children calling me got my attention.

‘Hey, buddies!’ I High - Fived both of them.

‘Dad, I was helping mom teaching Arcadia how to walk.’ Ethan said enthusiastically.

‘Me too, me too Daddy.’ Elton said jumping up and down.

I smiled at them. They’ve been inseparable since Elton’s birth. Elton mimicked his brother in everything, he even told his mother to buy him the same clothes Ethan wears. If she brings anything to Ethan without buying the same for him, he would throw a fit, and goes on a hunger strike until she brings the same to him. Ethan didn’t seem to mind his brother mimicking him, he seemed rather happy about it.

Elize learnt from Elton’s first fit to not forget to buy each in everything in two different sizes for them.

‘You guys go play in the living room. Ethan bring Arcadia with you. Dad wants to talk to your mom.’ I said. Ethan nodded his head, and lifted his sister before heading downstairs.

‘What did you want to talk about?’ Elize asked curiously.

‘You tell me!’ I said.

‘Excuse me?’ She asked confused.

‘What are you not telling me, Elize?’ I asked.

‘What’s with this puzzle talk, Tyrone?’ She asked annoyed.

‘Explain this.’ I shoved the phone in her hands.

She took the phone, and switched the video only to stop it after a moment when she realised what it was.

There was a smirk on her face before vanishing like it never existed. ‘What do you want to know?’ I thought she was going to deny it, or starting beating around the bush before finally telling me what was going on.

‘Every single thing, starting with why you’re treating me this way.’ I said.

‘You know why I’m treat…’

‘No, the real reason.’ I cut her off.

‘Claus, that son of a bitch!’ She mumbled to herself.

‘It’s not Claus wh…’

‘Don’t you even bother.’ This time she cut me off.

‘Well?’ I urged.

She sighed.’ Because I needed time to understand everything. I needed to make them believe they have the upper hand in this.’ She replied confusing me.

‘Them who?’ What time are you talking about?’ I asked.

‘That’s a conversation for another time.’ She said.

I was about to argue, but I bit my tongue.

‘Okay, then. You said in the video that Angela tried to ruin us thrice, what do you mean by that?’ I asked instead of arguing. I was thankful that she’s talking to me after a whole freaking year.

‘You remember the accident you had before the incident with Angela happened?’ She asked.

I cracked my mind until I remembered being in the hospital for a whole month because someone crashed into my car while I was going to work. ‘But the police concluded it as an accident. The driver of the other car even surrendered.’ I argued incredulous.

“Well, it wasn’t. They’ve planned it in order to kill you, disguising it as an accident. They even paid that driver to surrender in order not to rise suspicion.’ She informed.

‘What the hell!’ I exclaimed. ‘How did you know?’ I asked.

‘I’ve never believed the police when they said it was an accident. The driver had a smug expression on his face as if he was happy to be imprisoned, so I did my own investigations.’ She said shrugging.

‘What happened to the driver?’ I asked.

She looked at me like I was a mentally handicapped man or something.

‘Seriously?’ She asked.

‘I heard he suddenly disappeared from prison, but I decided against digging into it.’ I said.

‘Why do you care what happened to him anyway, he tried to kill you if I must remind you!’ She exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.’

‘Because he was a human, and humans commit mistakes.’ I defended.

‘Well this one did it willingly because money was the reward of his sin.’ She said angrily. I’m not sure if she’s angry with me because I’m defending someone who almost killed me, or because she’s remembering his deed.

‘And to answer your question, I killed him.’ She declared.

‘Why?’ I asked disbelievingly.

‘Because he dared to harm my husband and almost orphaned my children. No one messes with my family, and gets away with it.’ She answered. ‘Can we please move on to the next question.’ She asked getting tired of discussing the same topic.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ I asked.

‘Tell you what? That I’m chasing those who harmed our family. Those who threatened my children trying to get to me through them?’ She asked rhetorically. ‘Don’t you already know why?’ She asked.

‘No, I don’t. I’m supposed to be your husband. It was my duty to dispose of those people.’ I said.

‘How were you planning on disposing of them? Will you torture and kill them like I did.’ She asked her voice raising with each word.

‘There must be other ways. Legal ways of doing so!’ I exclaimed frustratingly.

‘I thought so.’ She mumbled.

‘What do you mean by that?’ I asked.

‘You’re too soft and straight to handle those with criminal minds.’ She said. ‘That’s why I never told you because I believe in fighting evil with evil and wickedness. I like beating my opponents at their own Games.’ She added.

‘You can never win against a devil by being an angel. You’ll die before even playing the first round, and I can’t afford to lose, not when my family members’ lives are the ones at stake. So I embraced the darkness within me, and allowed it to consume me wholly that way I’ll outsmart them at their own fucking game, and show them how a fucking wrong move they did when they played with my family.’ She said.

‘What would you do then? Keep killing them? Do you even know who they are?’ I fired question after another.

‘That’s for me to know, and for you to find out. But one thing for sure is that I’ll never allow any more harm to reach you guys. Even If I have to die doing it.’ She said.

I was immensely happy that she just included me in there.

‘When did you become so Ruthless? So heartless? I’ve never seen you like this before.’ I asked.

‘The moment they decided it was okay to use my husband and kids as chess pieces in their Sick game.’ she replied.

I Approached her before I pulled her into a hug, and mumbled. ‘I’m so sorry you had to go through all of this alone.’ In her hair.

‘From now on I’ll have your back, I’ll always be there for you even if it means I’ll have to dirty my hands.’ I promised.

‘You’ll do no such thing.’ She said sternly. ‘I don’t want you coming into the life I spent my whole life running from. I don’t want my children to grow in this kind of environments. I want this home to be a place where we all will come back to at the end of the day to find happiness and to talk about happy topics with our kids at the dinning table not about murder and those gruesome things. I want my children to grow up being proud with their father. Their Parents, not shameful of their deeds.’ She added. ‘I’m more than capable of finishing this game alone.’ She concluded.

‘As you wish.’ I said hugging her tightly to me, glad that she was my wife, our children’s mother. Proud of her, and how much she was willing to sacrifice for her family. I was happy that I made the right decision of marrying her.

‘I’m sorry I spent more than a year pretending to be mad at you, but it was to keep you out of this.’ She said after a while.

‘You Don’t have to ever apologise about anything to me. I can never stay mad at you even if I tried.’ I told her.

‘But you know what?’ She asked.

‘Hmmm?’ I hummed still not believing that she was letting me hug her, and she was hugging me back while conversing with each other. A normal conversation rather than a fight after a whole year.

‘I would do it again in a heartbeat if it meant I could protect you from whatever plan they were brewing.’ She admitted.

‘Well, I’m glad the cold shoulder treatment is finally over.’ I said.

‘Me too.’ She said.

‘Tyrone?’ She called.

‘Hmmm.’

‘How come you didn’t find me repulsive or hate me when you saw how cruel I can be?’ She asked.

‘Because I love you more than anything that everything you do only serve to intensify my feelings for you more and more.’ I admitted.

‘I’m so forever sorry for treating you like that, and hurting you for such a long time.’ She said apologetically.

‘Then, start making it up for me from today on.’ I said.

‘I will, but after I solve a problem at work, then I’ll come back to you and do whatever that is you like.’ She said breaking the hug before kissing me on the cheek and heading out while typing something on her phone.

Soon she dialled a number before putting the phone on her ear.

However from the smirk on her lips, and the words she said to the other person on the other side of the phone. I knew it is not work that she needed to attend to.

‘Do it.’ She ordered before cutting the call, and closing the door behind her.

The ambulance should be kept on speed dial, she thought.