1 - Epoch

“I hope my 4th book becomes a best seller all over the world one day” said Tom. “Because people deserve to know the real truth. They deserve to know how low some people and their families are willing to stoop to in this world”.

Sam Raha was a criminal and con-artist that targeted people for money. Nobody could ever imagine it. That a 21-year old girl was capable of doing that.

That some people were willing to lie and hurt others for their own perverted motives. That they would never realise how much they had hurt others even after being given thousands of chances to change.

Tom had tried his best to make Sam understand that what she was doing was immoral and cruel. That she was destroying the best chance of happiness in her life. Unfortunately Sam did not listen and take that chance. Instead she chose to destroy Tom’s life as well as her own.

She knew very well she was wrong. That she was the world’s biggest hypocrite, liar and manipulator. But she clearly knew she had to lie to people in order to frame her husband.

Tom forgave Sam for everything. The verbal, mental and physical abuse. The torturous situations. He tried to understand why Sam acted that way. But he couldn’t forgive her for one thing.

Cheating.

When a wife crosses this line, what else is there?

“I always was the kindest person to you. I wanted you to be on the right path. Not destroy your life like this. You never listened to your own husband. As if that was a crime. I wanted to be your best partner. Not someone who would say yes to everything even if it was unfair or immoral. But someone who would bring out your best and forget your mistakes in the past. But how could you be so cruel to me, Sam? How could you lie so much?” Tom asked her after she was extremely abusive to him. “If your family still supports your crimes, and lies the same way you do, you’d be destroying our marriage. Please don’t do that. Please don’t be so inhumane”.

Even after going through so much together, a shameless liar like her felt no remorse. Because that was always her plan. To marry for money. Enjoy the wealth and expensive materialistic things. And then to divorce after a few months. Only someone as disgusting as her could use a sacred thing like marriage like that.

Sam Raha would regret lying and abusing her husband, Tom. She would regret forever for destroying the one chance she had at living a peaceful and happy life. Her husband never wanted to give up on her. But she was an exact replica of her father. She would cheat on him and abuse him constantly. And then cunningly play the victim.

She used the one person who genuinely wanted her to be a good person. She lied about him constantly but eventually the truth would come out. Unfortunately, in this generation, the world would turn out to be a messed up place. Even after cheating on her husband while being married, she would try to get sympathy from her “friends”. In reality, these people were not her friends. A real and honourable friend would never support Sam Raha for the crimes she committed. Instead, these “friends” would do what they could to separate Sam and Tom. It was to their benefit as destroying her marriage would mean that Sam would choose the immoral and hypocritical path that they chose.

Her family were the same. Sam and her family shamelessly only used Tom for his money. Nothing else mattered to them. For them, marriage was just a game, not a responsibility. It meant very little to them. She and those around her had badly and cruelly betrayed Tom and his family. Even after everything Tom and his family did for Sam, she cheated. And hypocritically played the victim.

She was a chronic liar. So was her family. Just lies and violence surrounded them. Sam’s ego and arrogance meant more to her than her own marriage. Rather than apologise for her cruelty and criminal activities, she threw away the one chance she had for a peaceful and decent life.

And she was supported in this sickness by her family members and a few of her relatives. Sam and her family had intentionally targeted Tom and his family only for money. It would take Tom a long time to realise this disgusting truth about them.

All the pejoratives in the world would not be adequate to define what Sam had done. That the people surrounding her would be able to make her do the most grotesque of things. But it was true. She was a cunning manipulator.

And she would have at least a dozen victims. But one stood out among them. Tom. Because he was the one who would finally end her streak.

She would be exposed for all the lies and betrayals. Her time playing the victim in order to garner sympathy from people would backfire badly.

She broke every single vow she made to Tom. She didn’t care. She was stolid and apathetic. And nobody stopped her. In fact, everyone around Sam wanted it to happen from the very beginning.

Sam thought there would be no consequences for her corrupt and immoral actions. She thought she would get away with betraying others. In time, she would realise that she was badly mistaken.

Tom was sitting in his chair that revolved as slowly as his own thoughts. He was contemplating how he could’ve been fooled so easily. He was the most careful person he knew. Always analysing his surroundings, verifying information, being kind and polite to others yet at the same time not affording others the chance to take advantage of him.

The draft of his book lay on his table. He couldn’t quite finish it as his thoughts ran around inside his head. He knew he was actually right. His intuition was always spot on all his life. No matter how absurd it seemed to others, what had happened was actually true.

Tom’s book was about himself. It was a culmination of harsh realities, tears, doubt, joy, and this air of equanimity that the voice inside his mind forged him to have. That of an unshakable belief in him, that his story needed to be shared all over the world. That it was a powerful message that reminded others that the truth is not always what it seems.

Rewinding two years back into the past, Tom was a small-time writer trying to make it. He was a gifted student, doing well academically all his life. Tom was trying to choose becoming a writer as a career. He would read lots of books, trying to take in knowledge as much as he could about the world. Many of his friends would make fun of him about being glued to reading books but they all had an assurance that whenever Tom was around, he’d be the calm head to lead them.

Tom knew the value of hard work. Tom knew that some people shared completely different perspectives on life than he did. But he never could have imagined that he’d soon befriend someone exactly like that.

Someone who did not share his views on honour, integrity and honesty. Tom could not have foreseen the events that were about to be that would change a lot of his thought processes in the years to come.

Sam was one of the readers of Tom Hope’s first book.

That’s how he first heard of Sam Raha. The con-artist who was about to trap Tom.

Sam was a 19 year old back then. It was August 2019. Tom had no idea who she was. Truth be told, he actually would never have believed who she was even if someone from the future told Tom about her.

Because almost no one knew. Tom would realise though. But it would be at least 2 years before he would realise the truth about Sam.

How she was cunning, perverted and a manipulator that used people for money. Her family was as cunning. And their only motive because of their beggar mindset was money,

She would try to portray herself as a victim. And fool every single person around her.

Of course, Tom was fooled as well.

Why else would a calm, polite person who only wanted to help people and do good for the world be paired up with a perverted individual who had a history of hurting others and then playing the victim?

It was the most disappointing thing. For Tom to move his pen and put words on paper. His book would be called “Tom’s Journey”.

But he felt pity. Pity that the person, Sam, could have been an exemplary person. She had that potential. Because Tom believed in her. But she would throw it away even after being given thousands of chances.

And that would be Sam’s biggest regret for the rest of her life. Even though Sam wouldn’t realise it at the time.

But one day she would. She would contemplate why she would hurt, torture, abuse and betray the one person who chose to believe in her. The one person who chose her.

Tom.

TBC.