Read Story Starter – Part 1 | Find the other Parts | Other books by this author

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

If you didn’t get an alert about this new post in your email, it’s because you are not subscribed to this blog’s email list. CLICK HERE to change that.

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

“Let Me Love You” is a tale of love and sacrifice and 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 in the old days, and then the entire book will be posted for 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, The Other Side of Love, She Works Hard for the Money & Ravenous)

Enjoy, Your Author, Sylvia Hubbard

start reading below

Read more: Let Me Love You – Chapter 67✍🏾📚❤️ #SylLit #WIP #livestory 📖💓 #marriedwife #demandedconsensual #darkromance

Author’s Note: as I fall into the humdrum of pushing Essence’s Divinity, I can get back to pushing chapters of this live story. Thanks for your patience/ We’re getting to the nitty gritty and most likely, I’ll hideaway for the last two weeks of January as I get the ending together and then make this available here on the website. So get your pesos ready!

The pain ripping through her temples seared to the back of her skull like someone had taken her brain out and put it back in. Iris’s consciousness was still in darkness, and moving her body hurt like hell. 

What the hell had happened?

One moment, she was going upstairs to enclose herself in the bridal suite at the bed and breakfast. When she arrived at the top of the stairs, the next thing she knew, a dark, painful cloud sank her into an abyss she couldn’t escape—or her body didn’t want to get out of because everything hurt. 

And she was cold! Freezing.

Iris knew coming to reality sucked, but she needed to. 

The first thing she realized was that her knees were squeezed to her chest, and her neck was in an awkward position, lying on the top of her knees while her arms were squeezed between her thighs.

She was in a rectangular box, and her body was stuffed in there.

A coffin for a child?… whatever she was traveling in had hit some pothole that hurt her whole body all over again. 

“I would say sorry about that because I know that hurt,” Blaque’s voice sang but slightly muffled from about a foot away. “It’s Detroit, and they’ve yet to fix the damn roads.”

Iris assumed Blaque had snuck into the bed and breakfast, kidnapped Iris, and drove them to Detroit.

“My big brother wants you, so I want you,” Blaque explained. “I’ve ruined your honeymoon but needed you back in Detroit as fast as possible.”

Honeymoon? How did Blaque know?

“There is the matter of fucking up El’s plans too. But fucking up my brother’s plans would be better first, and that means getting to your father. If that evil sibling of mine thinks he can get his hands on your father’s science formula first, he has another thing coming. As soon as your father sees you, he’ll spill the beans.”

Iris tried to cry out, but with her mouth covered, her protest only sounded like wailing moans. 

“I can understand your frustration,” Blaque said as if there was sympathy for Iris’ discomfort. “I mean, you had to endure years with Dwayne. That stupid son of a bitch was a joy to kill. He whimpered like a fucking baby. I can’t begin to tell you the fun I had. Well, you probably wouldn’t understand, but for every year of miserable life he had, he endured pieces of his flesh being ripped from his body.”

Iris was utterly silent, terrified. She could imagine hearing Dwayne’s scream while Blaque peeled the flesh from his body. Was this her fate, also? Was she going to end up like Dwayne?

“Don’t worry,” Blaque said. “No one will find all the pieces of him until another decade. I made sure, and El will never have to worry about him again.”

That wasn’t what Iris was worried about. 

She remembered walking away in the bed and breakfast from the attorney and thinking of going straight to El and demanding he explain what knocking her IUD out meant. He had been trying to get her pregnant? 

Whatever his plans had been, her body had another plan. Her period had started in the shower she had taken before walking down the aisle. As her fate had always been, she wasn’t worthy to carry a baby.

Sharp pains seared her from the outside in, and she had to hold onto the end of the banister at the bottom of the steps. The cramps she had been experiencing were worse than her normal cycle, but it was possibly due to all the stress she was going through. To face El could mean retribution. He could hurt her like all the times when she would try to stand up to her father.

Most of all, she worried she could lose Clem.

Iris needed a moment alone and thought of going to the bridal suite where no one could bother her so she could think all this through. Tyler’s words struck her hard because if El had thought to impregnate her to make her stay, why would he have to marry her? 

So many questions. So many thoughts. There was so much she needed to contemplate. 

Well, that was what Iris thought until she woke bound in a box, listening to a murderous craze psychopath drive her to her death.

What the hell vendetta did Blaque have against King?

And why did it involve her? On her honeymoon?

Iris struggled some more with her binds, but these were tight as hell.  

Think Iris, she told herself. It would be the only way to get herself out of this mess with Blaque Heart because she wouldn’t be strong enough to fight the mercenary.

***

When he walked in with the proprietor, El was reluctant to leave her, but right after the rundown about the rules, he received a call from Alejandro Bellini. A sense of dread that Russell and shady Ernest had gotten something more over him again passed over him, but he confidently took the call, prepared for anything.

“I don’t know who the hell that little lady is, but you can bet your ass she won over Dalton Bellini.”

“What happened?” El asked.

“Dalton came to me this morning to get the details of the deal I made with you and to talk me out of it. At the same time, I spoke to Peterson McKnight, who used to be a strategist for the City of Detroit in the seventies. The man knew anyone and everyone and had connections so deep in the city that I was on the phone speaking to several community groups around the city in a team call in less than thirty minutes. By the end of the call, they had Dalton drooling. We will work with several minority real estate companies and groups to invest in the residential area while buying various businesses and transforming them into affordable, upscale apartments. In two years, for less than we would have bribed our way in the city, we’ll make ten times as much with teamwork.”

El was also flabbergasted, but he sheilded his shock. Instead, he repeated the notes from Iris’s proposal: “As you can see, there’s more to Detroit than downtown, which was all Wexford and the councilman could offer. The wealth inside the residential areas is a better investment in Detroit.”

“You’ve got your inside into our family business, El, just like you’ve dreamed about. Dalton wants to meet with you next week. Straighten all your shit out, and we’ll sit down with you to take care of those other properties and businesses,” Alejandro encouraged. “You will be a wealthy man, Mr. Olorun. And that little lady deserves a big hug from me.”

His line beeped to notify him he’d gotten a text. “Thank you, Alejandro. I’ll talk with you next week when you’re in Detroit. And I’ll deliver any hugs to her. You don’t need to.” He could hear Alejandro chuckle, amused by his agitation at the thought of someone else touching Iris. “By then, I’ll have all my shit straightened out.”

After disconnecting the line, El opened the message. 

Tyler texted, “Be there soon with the paperwork. Tell her everything, or I will.”

Stuffing his phone away, El proceeded to the car to retrieve his bride-to-be. HIS.

He never wanted to lose her, but his manipulation had gotten in the way. If he had not interfered in what fate brought him, everything would have worked out perfectly. She agreed to marry him without a fight. She would have probably stayed if all he had done was ask. 

Now, El would never know. Once she knew the truth, he could not make up for what he had done, And there was nothing he could do or say to make her stay after she discovered his treachery.

Possibly impregnating her and knowing every time would increase her chance of being pregnant over and over again to make her stay—lots of babies. 

And El knew every time! Her body could receive him to the hilt. Fuck! Just the thought of remembering how he could press his shaft until their bodies melodies together made him shift in his pants.

Calm down. After the ceremony. Once you get married, she won’t walk out; if she tried, he could guilt-trip her into staying.

That is probably why she never walked out of the marriage with Dwayne. 

She liked the control, but once she saw how he felt about her, El’s control over her would override her feelings for leaving.

Why didn’t he wait?

“Did you tell her?” Tyler asked when El showed up at the podium.

“She’s marrying me,” he only answered.

Tyler was about to say more, but then his eyes went past El. Turning to see her walking down the aisle., El thought his heart dropped to the floor and hit the ceiling all at the same time. The simplicity of the dress highlighted her voluptuous curves and ethereal appeal. Damn, she was an angel on earth, and he needed to make her his wife no matter what.

El kept the little secret. She would only be upset for a small while and then forgive him. He was serious in his promise to make her happy. Anything he had to do, he would do! And they would live happily ever after.

Or so he thought. Tyler looked agitated when he returned to the solarium and didn’t see her. El asked his lawyer, “What did you say to her?”

“I only told her about the provisions in the contract because of the possible pregnancy that-“

“You fucker! You deliberately said something! “

Tyler followed El as they headed to the bridal suite. “I thought she knew. I assumed you wouldn’t get me out here to witness an official ceremony if she is marrying you on a foundation of lies. You knew I would disapprove.”

“How the fuck are you going to develop a conscious on my wedding day?” El knocked hard on the bridal suite door, cursing under his breath.

“It’s a fucking contract! I take my job seriously, El,” Tyler said. 

El was about to haul off and punch Tyler in his face until he saw the older woman running up the steps. A look of dread was on her face.

“She’s not there! She’s gone. I’ve looked everywhere for her,” the woman said.

Where the hell had Iris gone?

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) 2025 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.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only.  This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people.  If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.  If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please go to the author’s website book page and purchase the book.  Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Don’t forget to subscribe to the site for further updates!