TIT 4 TAT

Chapter 4

I poured the milk into my cereal, yawning and rubbing my eyes from exhaustion I thought back to the necklace that brought an unsettling feeling to my chest.

My phone pinged with a notification, I picked it up and began to reconsider my life’s outcome, Jeromy wanted Mandy’s custody awfully that he was willing to do whatever to win, I got a good lawyer with the tip I received from Roman’s appointment and the case was gaining progress, i didn’t have much connection as he did but I was willing to do what I could to get my daughter.

I glanced over at the message again, ‘sleeping around to get my child’s custody huh?.’ It was attached with a photo of me getting out of Roman’s car. I couldn’t believe I got with him in the first place, but then again having Amanda was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I met jeromy at a dinner party with a group of friends, he roamed the room with an aura that would make you freeze from nervousness, we got talking and I got to know him better, we got married six years ago and he was the sweetest and most thoughtful person I knew, he would set up dates, get me flowers, he would take me to visit new places on holidays and everything was going well, he used to be a character out of a romance novel, but a four years after we had Amanda, everything changed drastically.

He became distant and would often become aggressive and get physical with me, stayed out late, and would act like everything was alright in public. I was too afraid to speak up protect Amanda for the pain of not having a father, I thought I could change him back to the man I fell in love with and we would all be happy again but something’s just doesn’t change, I mustered up the courage with the help of Bonny and I filed for a divorce and ever since then we’ve been fighting for Amanda’s custody, it’s been two years now and the final courts preceding is in some weeks.

The last meeting wasn’t in my favour because my lawyer didn’t show up, it was clearly the handiwork of Jeromy and that was why I needed enough money to hire a better lawyer who wouldn’t cower at his commands.and that was why I needed enough money to hire a better lawyer.

Since it was a Sunday and Mandy was yet to return with Bonny, I decided to visit my cousin back at home, I had already pre-booked a flight to France. I would be staying till Saturday at the time Bonny and Amanda will be arriving. I packed my stuff and started preparing. I got to the airport thirty minutes before my flight. The wait was strenuous but afterwards I boarded for France. The flight was long and exhausting but thankfully I made it in time for dinner. My cousin Maria stayed with my aunt back in France, she was a great help during my divorce proceedings so I decided to visit them.

Maria came to pick me up from the airport, I settled in, and afterwards helped her prepare dinner.

“How is Amanda doing and how old is she now?, last I saw her she was two.” Maria started as she chewed on her bacon.

“She’ll be seven in February.” I swallowed my food.

“Bientôt we will be rejecting suitors.” Aunt Marilyn chirped, making me chuckle.

We all chatted for a while catching up on old times.

“I love you, mommy,” Mandy said over the phone, I missed her already

“Mommy loves you too my Angel, I’ll see you soon okay?” I smiled as tears threatened to fall.

I communed a bit with Bonny before heading to the balcony where Maria was watching the star-filled sky.

“How’s the case going?” Maria quizzed.

“All we can do is hope, Jeromy is making it difficult.” I sighed.

“Everything will be fine okay.” Maria reassured, we sat in silence for a while before calling it a night.

•Roman’s POV•

I saw the look of familiarity in her eyes, she knew about the necklace because it belonged to her, was she conning me, or did she genuinely not remember, she forgot the necklace with me right before the incident. All these thoughts were agitating and made me disoriented. I called Gobert to prepare a trip to France. I needed to be certain that she actually died and I was just overthinking.

I got into my plane and proceeded to make research on the day of the incident, I combed all the morgues around the vicinity, when I heard the news, I trailed all the hospitals for a burn victim but I couldn’t get any lead, i wasn’t sure of her name but the initials from her necklace had an ‘I’, it only indicated that her name began with an I.

All the connections I made led me to a dead end, it was nearly like she went off the radar after the incident, it could also mean the initials weren’t hers.

“Gobert, what was the name of that artist?” I asked.

“I think it’s Halle,” Gobert responded as he offered me a drink.

“Any lead yet?” He asked.

“It’s all a dead end.” I gulped, I proceeded to search yet again but with Halle’s name.

“Gotcha,” I muttered as I gaped at a location of the hospital that had a burn victim five years ago.

• Halle’s POV•

It was December and the air held a festive cheer. Maria and I blasted the house with music dancing to the rhythm of the song while aunt Marilyn made breakfast.

“I’m al-ready some-one else’s Babyyy.” Maria sang along as we laughed.

After our glee-some moment, Maria and I decided to shop for Christmas decorations for our houses since Mandy would love to set up the decorations, I got dressed into a jersey and denim pants. We drove a mile to the mall after having breakfast.

We got some groceries as well, while I walked past an aisle I saw someone who looked extremely recognizable.

“Now what is he doing here?” I murmured to myself as Roman looked up at me and raised his brows.

“I see you have a thing for inks.” He started looking at the jar of oil paint in my basket.

“Oh uh…it’s for Christmas decorations,” I said nervously.

He moved calculatedly towards me, his hand sliding up my arm until it arrived at my face, his face was dangerously close to my face as I stared in anticipation, he picked up a can of sauce behind and backed up.

“Have a nice day, Halle.” He said as he strolled away, What in the world just happened. Stumbling into him would have been the worst encounter I could have had if I hadn’t met Jeromy. Maria and I swung by a restaurant to get takeout for dinner as we headed home.