When the Night Falls

JASMINE

Iris smiled, rising from her seat. Blake and the other man rose and stood before me. But they made sure that I had a proper view of Iris.

“Long time, Ms. Gibson. Hope you are doing well,” Iris said. My gaze went to the files she held.

I smiled back sweetly. “As you can see, Miss Iris. I’m well and happy. Hope you are not stressing over at your new job.”

I could see that she didn’t like my tone, and something flashed in her eyes, but then she smiled and shook her head.

“Happy to hear that, because anything can happen. And I don’t know if you could ever be this wonderful if something happened.”

I kept my face blank. “May I know why you are here? You see, time is running. I can’t be here all evening.”

She chuckled but narrowed her eyes a bit. “I won’t waste my time, Ms. Gibson. I’m just here to pass on a message from my boss.”

“Here,” she said, handing me the documents. Blake looked at me and I gave him a slight nod. He took the documents from her.

..

Iris raised her brow but handed the documents to Blake. “Hmm. I have to say, Ms. Gibson. You are something else. You know how to play your.cards and have men on your side.”

I clenched my jaw. How I wished I could punch her in the mouth as she smirked. I smiled back, pushing my hair behind my ear.

“You see, when the other person you play with plays their cards well, you have to level up and make sure that you have the right cards with you.

“That’s what I’m doing, Miss Iris. Got lucky and had the right cards…men…on my side,” I said, watching her smile fade

away.

I smirked before turning to leave. Blake and the other man started following. I didn’t turn around to look at Iris.

I reached our room. Blake and the man stopped as I turned to see them both.

15:02

I reached our room. Blake and the man stopped as I turned to see them both.

“Thank you,” I said, looking at them.

“It’s our duty, Madame,” Blake replied, handing me the files.

“Hello, ma’am,” the new man said.

“Hello, What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Michael, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” I nodded my head before entering the room.

“Everything okay?” Sherry immediately asked.

“Yes, everything is okay. Iris handed me these files. She’s a piece of work, but I gave her what she deserved,” I smiled at Sherry.

“Good that you gave her something in return. She is an as s.” We both laughed out loud.

“Why are you two laughing?” Thea asked. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw her.

“What did you do to yourself?” I asked between laughs.

“She was confused about what to wear. So she ended up wearing all the chains and bracelets from your collection,” Sherry replied.

“And you let her put all that on?”

“I didn’t have the heart to tell her no. And I made sure that she didn’t break anything.”

Sherry and I spent the evening watching Thea try on my things. I had no idea what the papers Iris had given me were.

***

Theo decided not to open the files and not to discuss Iris’s visit when he returned from work. We had dinner together and he spent some time with Thea before she fell asleep.

“You didn’t read the documents?”

“No, I waited for you. I didn’t know what they were about.”

“Iris didn’t say anything about them?”

“No.”

He nodded his head.

“Lana showed up at the office. She gave me some documents as well,” he said.

“What are they about? Did she say something?” I asked, eyes wide.

He sighed, licking his l*ps. “They’re for custody of Thea. She’s going to file them in court. She

has demands.”

“What demands?” I asked.

“These are her demands,” he replied, opening the documents.

I stayed quiet while he read the documents. I watched as his jaw clenched as he read,

“What does it say? What are her demands?”

“She wants to have Rio’s shares and the mansions that are in Rio’s name. She wants to be the Madame Miele of this mansion and Jefferson’s empire.”

He sighed. I felt a bit nauseated. I exhaled, trying to push that feeling away.

“I don’t want that to happen. Rio wanted everything of his to go to Thea. Lana wants to meet

Thea next weekend.”

“I have to talk with my parents about her. I respect her as my brother’s wife, but I cannot watch her plan things that would hurt my family.”

“You can’t stop her from meeting Thea?” I asked.

“No. The custody is in her hands. She didn’t want to take care of Thea all these years, so she left

her with me. Now she’s scared,” he said.

“Scared? Scared of losing Thea?”

Theo looked at me with an expression that I couldn’t read. “No, scared of losing the title to you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. She is scared that you would become Madame Miele. She’s wanted the title for years. She cannot watch you take away the title, so now she’s using custody of Thea as her pawn.”

“I don’t want her to harm Thea. If she wants the title, let her have it. Just tell her to keep Thea out

of this.”

“So you want to give up your place?”

I looked at him. “Thea is important to us. I don’t want my place or any title. Nothing is more important than Thea.”

He nodded. “Don’t worry. We’ll find a way. It’s not easy to take something from me. She should’ve known better than to start something.”

“What are we going to do now? She’s going to present the papers in court soon,” I said.

“I’ll talk to my lawyers tomorrow. I know they are working on it, but I need to personally meet them to know how things are going to work.”

I stood from the bed suddenly when I felt the strange nausea.

“Are you okay?” I heard Theo’s voice, but I rushed into the bathroom, closing the door.

A moment later, the door opened and Theo walked in.

“Should I call the doctor?”

“No. Just an upset stomach. I wasn’t feeling good when I ate earlier. I ate cherries, too, and I’m not a fan of cherries,” I said, flushing the toilet.

“If you’re sick to your stomach, let’s go to the doctor. Dr. Finley will check you out and give you something for it.”

I rinsed my mouth with water. “It’s fine, Theo. Don’t worry.”

“You sure?” He looked worried.

“Yes, I’m sure.”