Love Crimes

By T. Moniz

Emerald is in a therapy session with Dr. Maureen, working on getting to the root of her insecurities. After years of seeing her sisters in toxic relationships, she too has finally received the taste of betrayal.
As Emerald talks with her therapist, she begins to open up about her older sisters, Diamond, Ruby, Garnet, Pearl, Sapphire, and Crystal. She describes what she refers to as “love crimes” and the experiences that led up to these heartbreaking moments, changing their views on relationships forever. Along the way, she hammers out twenty-one rules, that serve as a list of dos and don’ts for a healthy relationship.
In this novel, a young woman working with her therapist uses her sister’s experiences to formulate rules to embrace self-love and have a healthy relationship.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 1, 2019
• ISBN: 9781532073311

T. Moniz

T. Moniz currently lives in Tempe, Arizona. This is her debut novel.

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Copyright © 2018 T. Moniz.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-5320-7332-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5320-7331-1 (e)

iUniverse rev. date: 04/29/2019

CONTENTS

Emerald

Diamond

Ruby

Garnet

Pearl

Sapphire

Crystal

Therapy

EMERALD

This was not how I was humanly designed

Every relationship started, ends with a crime

Wanting to be filled with love, but instead infected with lies

I have too much pride to allow you to just let me cry

I will not walk away until you feel what I feel inside.

Emerald flicked her lighter and lit a spliff as she sat there calmly on her elegant all-white banquette in her patio. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled all her nervous tension. Her lounge area faced a landscaped outdoor modern pool view. White lounge chairs were set up around the pool area, complimented by Palm trees perfectly placed parallel from each other. A spoon like fountain ran water directly into the pool resembling a waterfall. It was an oasis in her backyard, a royal retreat, set up for peace and love.

Her glossy lips hit the spliff multiple times as she laid back with her sleek, dark hair flowing freely past her shoulders. Her black, velour sweat suit was steamed to perfection without a piece of lint in sight. Emerald’s therapist, Dr. Maureen, sat across from her on a cushioned patio chair with her legs crossed, wearing a casual business outfit and her brunette tresses pulled softly back into a ponytail. She had taken her sandals off to not defile the white fabric padding on her chair and set her mini tape recorder and her bottled water on the rose granite table beside her.

Dr. Maureen: How’re you doing today, Emerald?

Emerald: Things can always be better, but I’m good. And you?

Dr. Maureen: I’m well, thank you. I like that you wanted to meet outside today. Were you tired of being in the same old room?

Emerald: No…it’s just too nice out today to be inside. I think we both deserve to enjoy it. And honestly, I like to smoke and relax at home.

Dr. Maureen: I understand. Last time we were talking about your sisters and what they went through in their relationships you used a specific term…

Emerald: Love Crimes.

Dr. Maureen: Yes, Love Crimes. I’m not familiar with that term, what exactly is a love crime?

Emerald: A love crime is a moment. The moment love brings you pain mixed with anger. In this moment you retaliate and behave out of character. Love crimes will psychologically rupture the way you operate with every person after that moment. A bad dose of betrayal topped off with vindication. It’s like a bird with a broken wing, attempting to fly. It remembers what it’s like to fly; it knows how to flap its wings, but the injury is more severe than what the bird wants to believe… so every time the bird attempts to fly, it can’t.

Dr. Maureen: It sounds like being instinct injured by one’s own self-deception, because sometimes we’re stronger than we believe. We just forget that working through an injury is never going to be painless and it’s the only way you make your wings strong enough to fly again.

So, these love crimes your sisters were in have seriously affected them. I know they’re older… Was your concept of love based off of the dysfunctional relationships they participated in?

Emerald nods her head yes as her eyes start to water.

Dr. Maureen: Take your time…

Emerald: The older I get, the more I realize how much of me functions just like them. I always thought I was smarter, but I wasn’t. I got played too and it fucked with my head in the worst way. It was hard for me to accept someone intentionally hurting me. I was broken, depressed with no appetite, and stuck trying to find the answers to everything I couldn’t control. The same man promising to love me was the first one to find a way to shake up my peace. After the first taste of betrayal I was never the same.

Dr. Maureen: How did you feel during your first love crime?

Emerald: I was livid…disappointed, spiteful, vindictive… I asked him so many times to leave me alone if he couldn’t be faithful. I made myself so clear….and he still chose to lie. I gave him choices, options, and fair agreements and he looked at me every time and said, I promise, Emerald, it’s just me and you. I wouldn’t do you like that.

Dr. Maureen: How did that love crime effect you after it was over?

Emerald: I leaned more on the negative side…cynical. I doubted everything a man said to me; I trusted no one; and to top it off, my insecurities were hitting the ceiling.

Dr. Maureen: Have you been able to climb out of that space yet?

Emerald: I think I have; for the most part, but I’m not really sure if I’m 100 percent, if that makes sense.

Dr. Maureen: It does. Let’s start where we left off last time. You were beginning to tell me more about your sisters. Why don’t you tell me a little bit about what their relationships were like while you were growing up?

Emerald hit her spliff and she slowly nodded her head in approval. She exhaled and looked at Dr. Maureen.

Emerald: Would you like a glass of wine?

Dr. Maureen: I have water with me, but thank you.

Emerald: Well, I’m grabbing the bottle and I’ll bring an extra glass just in case you change your mind.

Dr. Maureen smirked at Emerald’s persistent generosity. She could tell Emerald was preparing herself for a long talk and for those reasons she made room for her vulnerability. Emerald came back with the two glasses and a bottle of Red Burgundy, a 2003 Grand Cru Corton she had been saving for a special occasion. She sat down and poured her first glass and let the wine breathe for a minute on the table beside her.

Dr. Maureen: (turning on her tape recorder) Whenever you’re ready.

DIAMOND

Have you ever come down from a high that you thought would last a lifetime?

We lived freely; we loved insanely…until you betrayed me.

We crashed into reality and no apologies could tame me.

Diamond and her friends stepped out of the house with looks that could kill. They all were dipped in black from head to toe, showing off their chic outfits and hairdos as they walked into the annual All Black Party at Club Heat. The club was lit up with