Chapter 36- Certified Revenge- Final

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Hey Cianna. If you're seeing this, it means I finally had the courage to send the letter I rewrote about a hundred times because you wont answer my calls or texts. So here we are, going back to good ol' letters.

Well if you hadn't already crushed this paper and you are still reading, then um, thank you. I just wanted to make a few things clear. I didn’t like how things ended between us Cianna, so you had to know the truth.

I admit, I did cheat on you. At first it was because the woman, Mia, was sweet and kind and she wasn’t supposed to be more than a one night thing. You and I were like best friends, and the last thing I wanted was to hurt you.

I know how sensitive you are about cheating Cianna. I listened to all your stories of how you hated what your mom did to your dad. I knew deep down that there was a little warning in your stories, as if telling me not to. But ah I'm a man. I was having a rough day and I saw this 'pretty blonde' and thought it couldn’t hurt.

Man I was a dick. I should've come straight home to you and have you instead. But I'm human. I messed up. And it was my worst decision yet.

The next day I woke up and tried to leave, but Mia was acting so odd. She started crying, saying things like men always use her for sex and leave. I tried to let her down easy, and I told her that I had a girlfriend. She asked me to be friends, and I thought it couldn’t hurt.

But she would call me over and over. She would show up at my workplace with lunch. She was just being crazy. It went on for three months, and I got sick of it. I told her it had to stop and she should stop telling people at my workplace that we were together.

She got mad, and I didn’t see her for three days. She then returned with a ring on her finger, claiming to be engaged to me. I even woke up with a ring on my finger too! I then realized that she needed help.

I reached out to her younger brother, and I learnt that she had Limerence. It makes her obsessive and she doesn’t make the effort to try and get help. But then Cianna, she threatened you. When I refused her again, she said that she had to get rid of you. I didn’t want to take her seriously, but how couldn’t I? She was determined and always ended up in my house uninvited. I couldn’t take that risk.

You think that night when you 'caught' me cheating was by chance? I purposely did that so that you would leave me. And I knew that if you were the one who left, you would've stayed away for sure. That was why I didn’t do it myself. If I broke up with you for no reason, I know you would've come around and demanded a reason.

So, when I took you to dinner, I had Mia come there. I kept her close, knowing you would've come looking for me. I know this all sounds crazy, and I could've simply told you what happened. But I was a coward fool and I didn’t know how to tell you that I had sex with an obsessive woman, and now she's threatening your life.

In all honesty, I thought at the time that letting you catch me cheating was better. But then I realized how much I hurt you. As much as you were safe away from Mia, which was my goal, I had to tell you the truth for your own peace of mind. My plan was to get Mia the help she needs, and then try and get you back.

But I know that will not happen. I hurt you and I'm sorry. But since you're not answering my calls and blocked me from text messaging after sending that very wordy text, this was the only way I thought I could've told you the truth.

I really am sorry Cianna. I'm so sorry.

I hope that when you're past your initial state of hatred for me, we could go out sometime? Get coffee? We can try to be friends. Only friends, seeing that I betrayed your trust twice.

So you can call me when or if you want to. I'll be here waiting.

I love you Cianna. I know we weren't really the 'coupley' type of couple, but don’t ever for a second doubt that I did.

I hope to hear from you soon.

-Sheldon.

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That was the letter that I read over and over again all night last night. My dad had found the letter the very night he went to Sheldon's apartment, and for some odd reason he took it home. Apparently he didn’t see it fit to give it to me until now, only Heavens know why, but I wish he had earlier.

I guess if he did, it would've revealed the truth earlier and that's what he was avoiding. So odd how it all worked out just the same.

Of course, it broke my heart. Just to hear Sheldon's view made me feel awful. I bad-mouthed him so much, and he didn’t deserve it.

Yes, he did cheat. But hey, everyone makes mistakes. I just wished I had known...

There wasn’t anything else I could do about it now, right? I was just happy for the clarity and closure. My dad knew that I needed this much for me to move on and be happy completely. Maybe that was the reason why he took it that night when he went to Sheldon's apartment to kill him. Maybe he had it on his table by the door, waiting to take it to the post office. My name, after all, was written on it in bold. So my dad's eyes must've caught it.

If only things had been different, and I received it in the mail like Sheldon had intended for me to. But I had to accept it and move on. I saw that now.

And that was the exact reason why I was here. Unlike the first time I went to Sheldon's grave when I learnt how he died from Tristan, I actually got out of my car.

I could finally tell him goodbye. I could finally pay my respects as I was supposed to months ago. I was doing it now, and that's all that matters.

I placed a bouquet of roses in front of the headstone that had his name scribbled on it in italic.

*Sheldon Myers

Gone but not forgotten*

Indeed he won't be.

"I'm sorry I didn’t come earlier Sheldon. And I'm sorry for all the things I said to you." I mumbled as I ran my fingers over the damp stone.

The water splashed around me from the rain that chose to fall yet again when I came here, but I didn’t mind.

"I'm letting go" I smiled slightly as I rose to my feet again. Tristan wrapped his arms around my waist as I leaned into him. He used the other to hold the umbrella over our heads as I simply gazed at the grave as if he would speak to me.

Oddly, I found myself smiling. In no aspect was the setting funny or amusing, but for the first time since that day when officer Pam showed up at my house and arrested me, I felt as light as a feather.

I forgave Sheldon, I forgave my dad, I forgave Mia, and most important of all, I forgave myself. I forgave myself for being so oblivious, so selfish and so inconsiderate at first. I decided to let the past stay in the past and focus on my future.

I'll miss Sheldon and my dad dearly. Even though I can visit my dad anytime, Sheldon was subjected to the earth in an eternal sleep. Still, at least I had the peace of coming to his grave without feeling burdened, or having unanswered questions about what happened or what was going on in his mind.

He was right about one thing in that letter-- he was like a best friend to me even when we weren’t acting like a couple. In fact, we were more comfortable when we were acting neutrally rather than romantically. So even though I wasn’t short on love, I'd miss him as a best friend.

But this is life.

We lose people, we adapt and we move on.

The strongest people in life are those who use the past as a stepping stone. I was more than ready to try.

I smiled up at the man I loved and looped my arm in his as I turned to leave. I was happy that he came with me even though I told him he didn’t have to. But that's just the thing with Tristan. He was so supportive, so sweet and caring that I could never get enough of him. I loved that my future, wherever it will take me, will involve him. I didn’t see any other way to spend it.

"Oh and P.S" I paused as I turned back to the place where Sheldon rested. "There's a certain blonde over there with you. Just a heads up" I winked, playfully sending him a warning about Mia.

Tristan chuckled as he led me back to his car at the cemetery entrance. He helped me up before rounding the car and taking his side in the driver's seat. He then turned to me with a gentle smile on his face as he reached up to trail his cold finger over my cheek.

"You okay?" He asked in what sounded like almost a whisper.

"Yes" I admitted as a smile took over my lips. "I've never been better"

I reached over to capture his lips in one of our slow, tantalizing and heart stopping kisses. I could never get enough of him. Ever.

"I love you Tristan. Thank you for being my rock throughout all this" I mumbled against him. The distance between us felt too large, so I wobbled over the console area and onto his lap. His arms instinctively wrapped themselves around my waist as he buried his nose in my neck.

"I love you too Cianna." His arms tightened, and I could hear nothing but sincerity in his voice. "You came into my life and made me the happiest man alive. You're mine now. Forever"

"Forever" I agreed, the smile on my face stretching impossibly wider as I rested my head on his shoulder.

He was my home--my peace. What started out as mere physical attraction, blossomed into a flower of unequivocal love and admiration.

So no, I didn’t kill my ex boyfriend. Turns out, he wasn’t so much of an asshole after all. He didn’t deserve what happened to him, that I knew for sure. But in life, sometimes things happen that we can never deem as 'fair'. As they say, life isn’t fair. He was much of a victim as I was in all this. My dad, Mia, things could've gone differently for him.

It all was deemed as revenge that, in their eyes, was justified. It was their certified revenge.

But in some odd, messed up way, it worked out for the best for me at least. Because the incredibly awesome detective who was on his case, became the man of my dreams.

And quite frankly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The END.