Dear Laura 2

Epilogue

After being released, I went home to take a two-hour bath, scraping and scrubbing prison dirt. I had had it with the cold showers. I felt good as new, ready to reclaim the life I deserved.

But before I left the country, I needed to do one more thing; visit Abdul in prison. I wanted to talk to him before we parted ways for good.

When I arrived at the prison, they ushered me to a sterile meeting room. The walls were blank, the table scuffed, but the look on his face was worth every inconvenience. Defeat. Fear. He knew I was not there to make amends.

"This is what's going to happen," I said with a calm voice, "here are the divorce papers that my lawyer drew up. And you are going to sign them, transferring ownership of everything you own to me. Consider it a parting gift." I placed the thick packet of divorce papers on the desk that was dividing us and slid them towards him with a slow, deliberate motion.

"Are you kidding me?" A bitter laugh escaped his lips, "You are out of your damn mind! I will lose everything. Isn't it enough that they gave me fifteen years in here?"

I leaned back, twirling the pen in between my fingers.

"That's kind of the point. You get fifteen years and reflect on your choices while I get your belongings. Duh." My lips curved into a smirk.

"But since you are being a baby about it, I will be kind. I don't usually do this, so consider yourself lucky. I will take eighty percent. But I want all the houses you own in Cape Town and New York. Is that kind enough or do you want the head of your brother as an incentive?" I threatened with an emotionless face.

"You're insane," he hissed, but his hand was already trembling toward the pen.

"Wait till you hear that I am planning on liquidating your companies and keeping the profits." I laughed but he did not seem too amused. Talk about a lack of sense of humour. "It's not insanity, it's called being strategic. You are a businessman; you should know all about this."

"Why did you lie to Laura? You did not spike my drink that night. I was about to call my sister to tell her about your fake identity and that you are a runaway fugitive in the US, and you stabbed me because I was about to expose the truth about you."

"Who do you think they'll believe? The damsel in distress or you, the rapist and abuser?" My lip curved into an evil smirk. "As far as the judge is concerned, I poisoned you to weaken you because I was terrified of you after a year of constant emotional and physical abuse."

"You conniving bastard. Why are you doing this to me? I did absolutely nothing to deserve this?" And there it was, the question they always asked. As though my actions were about them. Self-centred much?

"You were just a means to an end Abdul, don't overthink it. You had one move, and you messed it up by wanting to tell, now it's my turn. You will regret trying to betray me. I don't play nice."

"Did you even love me?"

"Love?" I laughed, the sound cold and hollow, "Aw you poor thing. Love is for fools. It's a leash that holds you stagnant. It makes you weak and vulnerable. I mean, look at you. You are beholden to the person you love, and they can use it against you. Pretty much like I did with you. Yikes! I would not want to be in your shoes."

His pen scratched across the page, anger spilling into each stroke. When he was done, I gathered the papers with a smile.

"See? That wasn't so hard."

"Laura believed that I hurt you. You managed to convince everyone that I isolated and abused you. You ruined my life, you framed me, and now you are taking everything that I worked so hard for." I chuckled darkly, recounting my manipulation with a sense of twisted pride.