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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 17✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

Just in case it wasn’t mentioned, Kenneth Bianchi is part of the Bellini Family. He married into the family early in their legacy, but recently, he and Kelsey Bellini—adopted by Antonio Bellini—divorced. He high-tailed it over to Detroit earlier than planned to recover emotionally since Kelsey slept with his partner, and they are due to have a baby together. He does make an appearance in The Other Side of Love.

Anyhoo, in this episode, yes, I introduced a new character, but a secret was revealed, and Iris needs to investigate.

And btw, if you are heavily invested in this story, please share with an office mate, reading buddy or just a friend, so y’all will have something to discuss. If you’re not, please tell me why in the comments.

Enjoy, Your author, Sylvia Hubbard

El had used the back office exit to leave the building an hour later and only informed her through a text. This access allowed the office staff to remain unaware of whether he was in the office. He chose this building as his permanent office space because of its features. Today was perfect for people not to know if he was in the office because HR had sent out pink slips, and floor supervisors were calling people to let them know they would be out of work by four pm. 

Iris had yet to receive the list of who would be fired, although she hoped Lester’s name was on it. She was a little upset with herself for not discussing Lester with El, but she had felt too overwhelmed by El’s presence to say much of anything.

El had her concentrate on the necessary department reports, which needed to be formulated, printed out, and emailed to him by the end of the day. Iris was also rescheduling his clients to next week around his travel schedule and had the entire department reports compiled and ready for Monday. 

She started that colossal job a while ago because she assumed Dwayne would be asked to do it. 

With her free time, she had the opportunity to examine El’s upcoming venture. A chill swept through her, but she decided to push her personal feelings away and concentrate on the task at hand, as she would always do. After spending most of the morning researching, she started her breakdown of departments, and what she could find prompted her to start making an electronic document as she was discovering more information about the company. 

Unlike most analysts who depended on business news, Iris loved to delve deep into the owner’s personal life. She reasoned this because she believed she had no life or wasn’t allowed to have a life. 

Yet, when it came to Russel Wexford, even if she had the chance to look into him before this, Iris wouldn’t have chosen to do it willingly.

After her talk with Kenneth last night, Iris felt a little stronger. The past was the past; the only way to start healing from it was to forgive herself and move forward. She would have to thank the lawyer when she had dinner next week for the advice that helped her.

During her search, Iris discovered something new about this entrepreneur. During her search, she found that Russel Wexford had been involved in an investigation with his stepdaughter, but authorities dropped the charges shortly after his stepdaughter’s suicide. 

Iris had never known about the daughter, and she had to wonder, did the daughter know about her before the suicide? The last time she’d set eyes on Russel Wexford… She pushed thoughts away to keep the chills from running through her veins.

Digging deeper, Iris found the daughter’s social media page and scrolled through it. Although the page had been immortalized due to her death, her public posts and photos, which chillingly looked like Iris when she was younger, were still available. Iris saw her style of clothes in the daughter, enjoyed the same kind of entertainment, and was optimistic they’d never met, but they would have become the best of friends.

“That doesn’t look like work,” Lester sneered over her shoulder. 

Iris bookmarked and closed the page before turning to him, trying her best to hide her disgust. 

“New job, new car… what else has the boss given you for that big ass of yours?” He leaned in close, so close over her, she could smell he had garlic for lunch, and some food was still stuck in his teeth. “You know Mr. Olorun uses people like chess pieces, moving them to get what he wants. Don’t let his handicap fool you. He’ll put up with you to get the information or things he wants out of you, then toss you aside like trash.”

Lester didn’t know she was used to people treating her like that and did not need his warning. “How about I ask for more money when I tell him you blabbered what was in petty cash to Dwayne?” she snipped.

The color drained from Lester’s face, and he became so angry that he almost looked purple. “You wouldn’t dare!”

Standing up and towering over the short, beady-eyed man, Iris said, “Get the hell away from me, Lester. You stink inside and out.”

“Betraying your kind for some half-white man? That’s what you’re going to do? You know his black momma couldn’t stand to look at him when he was born. Bet your daddy will beat your ass if he knew you were on the wrong side.”

The foolishness he was speaking increased her disgust for this man. Narrowing her eyes, she reiterated, “Stay the hell out of my business, Lester, or you’ll be sorry.”

He stormed away, and she sat back down. 

Nosey prick! Probably mad. Hopefully, he received a pink slip, too. 

Watching him return to his desk, an HR manager approached Lester and ordered him to follow her into a conference room. A security officer stood with the manager and followed them, too. Lester looked over at Iris as if she could help him.

Iris diverted her eyes and smiled in gratefulness. Good. She hoped they threw his ass out immediately.

Re-opening the social media page, Iris continued to scroll down and read the posts a month before the daughter’s suicide.

‘My brother hates me!’

‘Why can’t I love who I want to love?’

‘I’ll make him forget her.’

‘I can’t believe this is happening to me?!’

‘I’ll never live it down.’

Typing in the daughter’s name, Iris found a society article by a journalist, Sharlie Costello, who loved to tear down powerful men on her blog by revealing their personal lives. 

“In a sudden revelation by Damien Wexford, accusations of incest by his father, Russell Wexford, with his stepdaughter, Katrina Shore. Russell had only been married to Katrina’s mother, Deborah Shore-Wexford, for two years. Unfortunately, before the truth could be known, charges were dropped when Katrina committed suicide two days later, and mysteriously, Russell signed his entire company over to his son yesterday. Katrina’s story will never be told, but the writing is on the wall. Russell Wexford is an incestuous beast, and we hope he gets his just due.”

When Iris pulled up the last picture on the daughter’s social media of Katrina Shore taken at a country club, the young woman wasn’t looking up at the camera like the rest of her family. She was looking at Russell with love and admiration.

Katrina says in the picture’s caption, “No one will ever know.” She couldn’t have been much older than eighteen in the picture. Accessing all social media, Iris determined the daughter only had a few friends. In fact, in the condolences on her page, many school friends commented about how they only had a class with her or they barely knew her but were sad about her loss. 

Oddly, Iris felt a kindred soul in Katrina. 

A Jaclyn Porter had recently written on Katrina’s wall. “It’s been ten years, but you’re still missed. You will never be forgotten, and I’ll always keep your secrets and friendship forever.”

Iris sent a friendship request to Jaclyn Porter, who lived in Detroit and worked as a home care nurse. The woman was about as old as Iris, so most likely, the friendship request wouldn’t seem suspicious, but Iris hoped to get more information out of Jaclyn, possibly about “secrets” Katrina had been keeping.

Iris made some notes to investigate more and decided that if El had leverage in negotiations, she could help him.

Secrets… El told her not to lie to him, but what about secrets from the past?

‘You were drunk. You don’t know what happened!’ Iris remembered her father saying.

Iris pushed the thoughts of the past out of her head and forced herself to focus on the present. Katrina Shore was just a weak link with Russell Wexford and would help El with his deal instead of what Iris would have offered.

Needing to leave the office before Lester came out of the conference room, she took the elevator to the third floor, where the new office was located. 

Her work badge allowed her entry, and she was shocked at how small the space was compared to their current office. This space was likely just an office where clients could meet. El didn’t want to run or own anything. He liked being the middleman and making the deals. 

There was another office with the nameplate Guy X. It wasn’t as large as El’s, but it definitely was for someone else. She suspected she would meet this person soon enough.

She noted that furniture needed to be added for people waiting in the lobby area, made a list of required office supplies, and asked El if there were things she needed to do for him to make sure he had everything at the office. In her notes, she remembered that he demanded a standard office supply list, and she needed to inquire if it should be carried over. 

Iris walked around the rest of the office space, seeing a conference room for about eight people, another office marked kitchen but with nothing inside, and another room marked copier and supply closet, which also contained nothing.

If he wanted this office up and running by next week, she would have a lot of work to do, and her weekend would be packed.

Her phone alarm went off to remind her it was almost four. Upon her return, the office was oddly quiet. To her gratification, Lester’s items were gone from his desk, and she had to bite the inside of her lip to hide the satisfied smile, knowing he was gone. 

Many other people had already been escorted out, and the rest of the employees gathered in cliques, most likely to discuss everyone who had been fired. 

She didn’t get involved in office politics, especially since she wouldn’t be a part of this office. What they were whispering about really didn’t matter to her. 

Packing her bag to head to the restroom, Iris got a ping on her phone to show her friendship request had been accepted by Jaclyn Porter. Revisiting the woman’s page, Iris noted Jaclyn was throwing a birthday party this Sunday at Gates Mini Massage Parlor on the Eastside of Detroit. In her post, Jaclyn said, “Me and my bestie would have been celebrating our thirty-second birthday together! Come celebrate with me! I’m really bummed this year!”

Iris sent a note to Aunt Rose to have a birthday basket delivered to the spa on Sunday. Aunt Rose understood what this meant and replied with, “Okay. Be safe tonight.”

As usual, there were many heart and kiss emojis for Aunt Rose. 

Iris put her phone away and went to the bathroom to freshen up for the night. Once she was done, she remained at her desk, finishing up the order list for the new office. An account was already open at the office supply store, and she had access to order whatever she wanted.

El had predicted the questions she would ask and had a “new office wishlist,” which included the chair and desk he wanted, the extra refrigerator for his office, and other office furniture amenities. 

He really made her job very easy. She completed the list and scheduled a delivery time for early next week. 

Just as she finished, Iris heard the elevator ding, and the office became extremely quiet. Before he even appeared, she knew El was approaching.

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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