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If you’ve read the story starter – a very long Chapter 1 – and you’re ready to dive into the story with me, please continue reading.

About the story: (short description. Click here for longer)

“Let Me Love You” is not just a tale of love and sacrifice but also a poignant story of self-discovery, celebrating the human capacity to find love in the most unlikely of circumstances.

Please enjoy the current WIP of Iris and El. This will be published freely up to a point… like the old days and then the entire book will be posted for the full download. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. And don’t forget to check out the companion stories. (Wicked Chances, Dreams of Reality, The Convenient Wife & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

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Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 5 ✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

Dwayne greedily licked his lips as if he had received unlimited freedom. “And I can just walk away and go anywhere I want? No one has to know what she did for me?”

Why did it sound like it was all Iris’s idea to get Dwayne to lie about things when he, her dad, and Violet had devised the plan? Her so-called husband was throwing her under the bus so he could be free!

Eledumare leaned forward. “You can do whatever you want, but when you leave here, you’ll get no reference from us; you cannot work in Metro Detroit, and your wife will not be doing your job anymore. If I find out she’s doing that, I will make sure every employer for the rest of your life knows what you’ve done.”

“Can she at least help me with my resume?” Dwayne asked with a delighted chuckle.

“You can have it once I approve what’s on there, which will only be the truth.”

“Bet!” Dwayne happily said, as if he was being set free of the plantation.

The boss stood up slowly. “You understand, the debt your wife is paying off is yours, and it could take several years.”

“Like her sister said, she wasn’t doing anything else. She’s not about to leave that boy, and I have most of the custody, so she’s not about to leave me. She’s my wife; she’s supposed to help me, and I need help.” Dwayne shrugged nonchalantly. “She has to do whatever I tell her to do.”

Eledumare looked at Iris, who only stared at the floor but knew the boss was glaring at her again. “Third question, why must she do whatever you tell her?”

“Her Daddy said so. She’s paying off her debt to society.” Dwayne chuckled. “She’s a bad girl, Mr. O. A very bad girl; Killed her baby and dumped it. It was all in the papers, but no one knew it was Iris. Once her sister died, I needed someone to care for the boy. Her father was tired of her but didn’t want her to go too far, so he said the only way I could keep using her is if I married her.” Dwayne sucked on his teeth in disgust. “Lays like a dead cow and cooks like shit, but she keeps the house, does what she’s supposed to do, and takes care of the boy.”

“The boy, meaning your son?” 

“Yeah. She keeps him out of my way,” Dwayne answered.

Iris didn’t dare look up at Eledumare. Her shame burned her inside. Did Dwayne have to tell all her business? Eledumare was probably wondering how a bright, clever girl could be so weak.

“And she has to do whatever you order her to do?” Mr. Olorun asked, as if he needed to understand this better.

“Anything.” Dwayne continued. “I can understand you not wanting her to work for you now. Hell, I can barely stand to look at her, but her Daddy had me take the nut, and he wanted to make sure he could still have access to his grandson. She only got partial custody, though. I make all the decisions.” He said it as if he were king of the world.

There was a moment of silence, and she peeked up at Eledumare. His eyes had started to go brownish-red again. Something Dwayne had said had triggered his anger.

Of course, it was her past. How could it not sicken anyone?

“Which one do you choose, Mr. Folsom? Pick one. I don’t have all day,” Eledumare ordered.

“The second one,” Dwayne said, as if that was the obvious answer. 

Iris’ heart sank. Dwayne would have her pay off his debt while he went to find some stupid manufacturing job, knowing she would struggle alone with Clem. 

He’d most likely keep all the money to himself, barely pay any bills, and still think she owed him wifely services. 

And now that Eledumare Olorun knew her secret as well, he’d start to disrespect her, treat her like trash, and use her, just like all the other men in her life.

It took everything inside of her to not want to kill herself.

“Leave your employee badge and company phone in the chair, Mr. Folsom, and then go stand by that door,” the man who was now going to be her boss ordered her husband.

Dwayne jumped up, tossed the ordered items in the chair, and went over to the door to wait obediently.

Iris liked the power the man had over Dwayne. 

Eledumare came around the desk on the edge of the tape, staring at Iris again. “Do you understand you’ll be working for me, Iris?”

She only nodded.

“No one will know the terms of this arrangement. All they’ll understand is Dwayne quit for a better opportunity, and I hired you. Turn in a resume to me by tonight so I can put you on payroll tomorrow. I’ll still offer you benefits, and that will include your son. You’ll report to my office by seven thirty a.m.” He handed her a business card.

Iris quickly thought about her new circumstances. She could drop Clem at school in morning care and then come right into the office. She would stay away from Dwayne all day doing something she enjoyed for a gorgeously handsome man. What more could a girl ask for? Out of all the plans she had dreamed of trying to get a better life, she couldn’t have come up with this solution, but this was the one she needed despite the servitude and debt it had put her in. In a way, the whole idea of being at this man’s beck and call made those flutters return to the pit of her stomach, and she had to fight, not placing her hand there to calm herself.

Again, she nodded to let him know she understood.

“Come here, Iris,” he ordered.

She rose from the couch and approached him. Her heart lurched on each step, praying she wouldn’t pass out from embarrassment.

Eledumare looked disgustedly at Dwayne. “You lay one finger on her, or if she comes into this office with a split end, I’m coming after you, Mr. Folsom.”

How did he know?! Iris hadn’t said a word. Looking up at Eledumare, he looked down at her to hold her gaze. 

Just like that night, she could feel something was happening between them again. Her whole body felt like a gigantic magnet was intensely pulling her towards him.

“Until tomorrow, Mrs. Folsom,” he whispered, pressing the card in her hand. And please, no more empty Ziploc bags in your purse. Take care of yourself.”

She nodded again, holding onto the card, relishing that their hands had touched briefly.

Eledumare moved around the desk again and looked at Dwayne. “I’ll also expect your resignation letter by midnight, Mr Folsom. I’ll even allow your wife to write it for you.”

“Yes, sir,” Dwayne said, making a comical salute, itching to get out of that office. 

“You’ll come to my office tomorrow and join your wife and me for lunch. My lawyer will be here to assist in signing NDAs. I do not want anyone to know about this arrangement.” He sneered in disgust. “No one has to know you are making your wife pay your debt.”

“Thanks, Mr. O,” her husband said, relieved. 

“Thank you,” Iris said gratefully, not making eye contact with her new boss.

Eledumare, still very displeased, slammed the financial report on the desk. “The both of you may leave the property immediately.”

Iris kept her back straight and refused to look at the boss as she walked out of the office, but she could feel those intense eyes all over her. Her mind was going on a dizzying realization. 

The company paid for all of Dwayne’s lavish trips. He had a company phone, and she suspected all those expensive suits he’d charged to the company while telling her that’s where his money was going. 

‘You’re going to have to work harder!’ he’d say when she wanted to give Clem a nice birthday or Christmas. 

Iris had done so foolishly because she believed it took money to make money, and Dwayne wouldn’t refuse to buy gifts for his son – his only living heir.

What had Dwayne been paying for other than utilities? The double mortgage on the house because he made her take out another loan to cover roof repairs? His office redecoration and his man cave that he never let her go in that part of the basement to see? If she wanted any extra money, she had to go online and do random freelance accounting things and sell Aunt Rose’s natural wares. Still, even then, Iris had to give some to him to help with the personal credit cards that were in her name because his credit was terrible, and, of course, he told her he never had any money to pay them, all the while spending the max.

As Dwayne happily drove home, questions swirled around in her mind. “That was some intense shit!” he said in relief, throwing his tie off in the back seat. “Imma leave you at your old man’s with Clem.”

“Can’t you take us home?” she asked.

“Nah,” Dwayne said. “You can catch the bus. I got things to do.”

“It’s almost five at night,” she protested. “We won’t get home until nine, and I’ll still have to feed Clem and put him to bed; write my resume and your resignation.”

Dwayne only shrugged, stuffing nicotine gum in his mouth. “That man could have served to jail. You know that, Iris? Fuck! Almost half a million! We would have gotten at least twenty-five to fifty. Damn, Violet and your Daddy’s bright ideas,” he grumbled as if he had only been a pawn in the plan like Iris.

He wasn’t cursing back in the day when her sister and he were rolling in the dough while Iris worked her butt off.

Iris looked out the passenger window. Instead of serving them up to jail, she was saddled with Dwayne’s debt. It wasn’t as if she had been living in the lap of luxury. Dwayne barely shared anything with her. If it weren’t for Clem, Iris would scarcely eat.

Dwayne pulled up in front of her father’s house. “Get the fuck out,” he ordered. 

Reluctantly, she did so, and before she made it to the berm, Dwayne took off. She watched the new black Jeep that Dwayne had recently bought with her name and checked another thing off the list he had tricked her into buying.

Clem came running out and gave her a big hug to show how much he missed her. His five-year-old eyes were just like her own and gleamed with love.

“Auntie Iris, Granddaddy Arum said I’m a good scientist like he used to be when he was my age,” Clem said proudly.

She wondered what her father was trying to teach Clem. Her father hadn’t used his chemist’s degree since they were young. Arum had gotten in a lot of trouble on the streets applying his degree to street drugs. He switched to maintenance and got out when all the other street chemists he’d associated with went to jail. “You’re smarter than him, at least,” she whispered, kissing her nephew’s cheek. Her only reason for living was in her arms. Clem didn’t judge her. He just loved her. “Go get your things. We have to take the bus home.” 

Clem looked around. “Where’s Daddy?”

“He had to go do something important,” she said, hiding her grimace from Clem. “Hurry and say bye to Grandpa so we can take the bus.”

Her nephew rushed back into the house, and she sat on the porch waiting for him, not wanting to say anything to her father.

Heavy footsteps came behind her, and Iris could feel her father’s ominous presence in the doorway. “You know, if you treated that man just a little better, he’d treat you better.”

Iris pursed her lips. “Thanks for the advice, Daddy,” she said, sounding grateful but not feeling any of it. “I’ll do better.”

“Just stupid,” Arum hurled. “If you want to make a man happy, just do what he says and what he wants. You’ll never learn by running that damn mouth of yours and putting your nose in a fucking book, girl. Violet didn’t read, and she got herself a good man. Now he’s yours, and you don’t know what the fuck to do with him. Ungrateful and sassy – just like your ugly ass mother, but that’s what you get, huh?”

Iris didn’t respond. Her father had always been cruel to her, perhaps because she was a spitting image of her mother, but Violet looked more like him. Arum used Iris and then traded her like property.

She wouldn’t tell him about Dwayne losing his job and getting caught -not yet. Mr. Olorun said something about an NDA; she could be violating things if she said something to her father. 

Changing the subject, Iris asked, “Teaching Clem some of your old tricks?”

Arum snorted. “Boy gotta learn something to make money on these streets, and you teaching him to put his nose in a book ain’t helping.”

Looking over her shoulder at the older black man, worn and torn from years of unhealthy eating habits and trying to hustle, she responded, “Clem is going to get a legitimate degree and be smarter than all of us. Keep that to yourself, or I’ll stop dropping him off.”

Again, her father snorted, knowing that was an empty threat. As long as she was with Dwayne, she had no control whatsoever. “Big players are moving in town, and I need to improve my skills. Clem walked in on my lab I got in the upstairs bedroom. Worry about you, and stop trying to push your guilt on my grandson. He didn’t kill a baby; you did.”

Clem came out with all his stuff, and her father closed the door behind them. 

Composing herself from her father’s harsh words, Iris looked around the corner and saw her broken-down Toyota with weeds. Her father had promised to fix the car a year ago when he broke the drive shaft. Dwayne wouldn’t get it fixed and would remind her she should have kept her father from borrowing the car. 

It had been Violet’s car before her sister died, and Arum would work on it whenever Violet asked him to. When Iris asked, her father mumbled a promise to fix it.

“Let’s go,” Iris said, faking a smile at Clem and skipping with him down the street to the bus stop.

Clem was always able to keep himself busy with his backpack full of toys, drawing pads, crayons, books, and a digital pad. If he wasn’t reading a book, he played with his toys or drew on his paper. During the bus, the silence gave her time to think about what was to come for tomorrow.

Instead of depending on her father, she decided to see if Aunt Rose could watch her Clem. The bus ride would be torturous, which was why she would succumb and allow Clem to be around her father.

Iris would be working for a very high-stressed man. Although his enterprises consisted of him buying and selling businesses, this man kept a very private life. She didn’t need her father to know all this or suspect the truth and then blame her for all that had happened.

“Clem,” she said to her nephew. “I got a new job, so you’ll spend considerable time with Auntie Rose.”

He stopped playing instantly and looked up at her. “You won’t be working at night anymore?” he asked excitedly.

“No, I’ll be working during the day to tuck you in at night most times. There are sometimes, though, when I’ll be out of town, and Aunt Rose can look after you, since your father will most likely also be working.” 

Clem reached over and put his hand over hers. “You’re going to be fine. Can I help make you a lunch like you make my Daddy a lunch?”

She almost wanted to cry because Clem was honestly happy for her. “Yes. While I make dinner, you can make our lunches, okay?”

Once they were home, she immediately went to update her resume on the Chromebook Clem had while Clem fixed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for her. Fortunately, he hadn’t picked up any of his father’s allergies to nuts or strawberries, but he had gotten Violet’s eczema.

While she searched her purse for Mr. Olorun’s business card, she looked behind her and noticed that Clem was engrossed in spreading thick peanut butter on the bread.

While the child wasn’t looking at her, Iris pressed the card to her nose to see if she could smell any remnants from the gorgeous boss.

Disappointed she didn’t smell anything, she still felt something powerful when she closed her eyes and thought about Eledumare’s proximity; looking up into his eyes and with her imagination, she could almost feel his kiss on her lips, his hands drawing her body to lie against his and then…

“Do you want strawberry or grape jelly, Aunt Iris?” Clem called from the kitchen. 

It took her a second to return to reality, but she cleared her throat and said, “Strawberry, please.”

After finishing her resume, she typed up Dwayne’s resignation letter because she knew her husband would rouse her from sleep to get it done. Knowing Dwayne’s password to his email, she sent his letter separately. Since she’d never been allowed to have an email, she utilized Clem’s school email address to send her resume.

Once she was done, she quickly made Clem a tuna fish sandwich and sliced up carrots for dinner, and added the extra to their lunches, along with apple juice boxes. 

While running Clem’s bath water, Iris went into Violet’s closet and found a simple black skirt and off-white blouse. Since Violet only wore uncomfortable heels, Iris settled for two-inch closed-toe sandals but packed some gym shoes to carry around with her. She placed everything, including Clem’s school uniform, on a chair in the living room, so they jump in their clothes in the morning to get out of the door on time. 

Once Clem was in bed, Iris went to the basement, past the door that led to Dwayne’s large man cave. On the other side of the dryer, where Dwayne never came, Iris had set up a small table and chair with natural ingredients, glycerin, shea butter, a roller, oils, and a double boiler. Rarely having the house to herself, she found she could indulge in making soaps. Initially, Iris made these for her sister when she was younger. Violet couldn’t have fragrant soaps, or she would break out because of eczema. Iris explored various books in Aunt Rose’s house and the library, eventually finding a soap that naturally had a fragrance. The hobby became a passion, and soon, she enjoyed creating a product but never ventured to do anything with it.

Shortly before Violet died, her sister had started selling the bars to friends, but nothing happened with that because once Iris married Dwayne, he put a stop to that enterprise.

Clem still needed the soaps, but he had expressed his frustration of smelling like a girl last year, so she’d found more boyish scents for him. She loved exploring beautiful scents for herself that clung to her skin all day and had perfected how to keep herself smelling naturally fresh without chemical perfumes.

After testing more scents and making a batch to inspire her for the day, she named the new fragrance: Work. Afterward, Iris selected a tea tree oil and honey soap bar to take to the bathroom.

While in the shower, Iris looked down at her handful-sized breasts, particularly her nipples. Taking a soft toothbrush, she carefully cleaned around the areole. The clear fluid occasionally leaked from there for different reasons since… Iris tried not to delve too deeply into the past because she’d be forever sad for the stupid things she had done.

The doctor said that was normal, and eventually, it should ease up unless she became pregnant again. The best part of the symptom was that it kept Dwayne from kissing over her and just getting to business when he was overthinking about Violet. It was never enough to soak through her bra, but she would still put small cotton patches over her nipples, so there were no stains on the inside of her bra. There was no period when that symptom would go away, and this was her way of being constantly reminded of the life she took.

She oiled her scalp and then re-twisted her very thick 4C hair. The follicles were pitch black, shrinking right past her earlobes, but she knew if she decided to pull it out, the length would be at least eighteen inches. The longer hair was more work, so she kept the short look, which was more manageable and cheaper.

Without Dwayne there, as the time went on to ten o’clock, she was in bed alone, which gave her a lot of time to think. Of course, her thoughts quickly drifted over to Eledumare Olorun, but Iris forced herself not to go into her perfect dream because the next day, this man was officially her boss. 

Despite her attraction, Iris knew now that he knew her secret. He’d treat her like Dwayne and her father. 

Still, she was doing work she enjoyed—something she wanted to do, but she never thought she could get a decent job in the field. The pay wasn’t what she desired, but once Dwayne’s debt was resolved, maybe her new boss would retain her and provide her with a proper paycheck.

End of This Chapter | Post your thoughts in the comment | Let the author know what’s going on in your head

Let Me Love You (c) 2024 Sylvia Hubbard All Rights Reserved

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual person, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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