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“Kelan, promise me you won’t do anything to upset Prince Naseer. I’ve known him longer than you think, his reaction to your prank will be a sledgehammer to kill an ant. Promise me, Kelan.” I could tell my request fell on deaf ears.

“It will be fun, Mariam.” He laughs like it would be the best prank. I’m not exactly sure what he’s thinking. Is he trying to save me or is he trying to prank Naseer? His motive certainly isn’t clear.

“I’d listen to her if I was you,” Naseer says sternly behind us. I didn’t know he’d return, holy shit, how much of that conversation did he hear? Where the heck is Lucy today? Kelan is startled though he tries to hide it.

Naseer moves closer to him, and he jumps right out of the chair putting some space between them I rise quickly to get between them, Naseer puts his handout to stop me and turns to Kelan. “If you put your hands or lips on Mariam inappropriately, I can assure you, you’ll be activating you fucking life insurance.” Each word was stated with intent to action it.

Kelan’s eyes widen. “I’m sure you don’t like other men touching your wife inappropriately, in what world did you think it was okay for you to touch mine.” His voice roaring.

Kelan looks like a scolded child, and Naseer turns to me. “I forgot to give you the code to the private elevator. Your driver already has the address. He handed me the card. I took it from him.

He pulls me into a hug. I want to pull from the hug, but I realize holding me is his way of calming his anger. When he finally pulls out of the hug, he kisses my lips and leaves.

I looked at the card he gave me, and the code was our wedding date. My legs feel weak, so I move to my seat.

“Do you mind if I take a quick break?” Kelan says. I nod, not acknowledging him. Naseer keeps surprising me.

Lucy comes in shortly after. “Sorry, Mariam, I had a wardrobe malfunction on my way this morning. I had to quickly rush back home to change.”

“No worries, hope everything is, okay?”

“Yeah, glad I caught it before everyone arrived. It wouldn’t have been fun doing a peekaboo of my panties to the entire office.” I smile.

“Can you please reschedule my meeting with Kelan for tomorrow?”

“Okay.” She turns to leave then stops. “Mariam, do you mind if I leave early today, Traci invited me out for drinks.”

“Sure, have fun.”

“Thanks, Mariam”

I turn back to my work; I can’t work. I might as well rip off the band-aid of not going home to Knox tonight, so I call him. He doesn’t answer. I then sent a text to him that I won’t be back tonight. He replies, ‘Okay’. I don’t like it, but I can’t say more.

I head over to where Kelan sits; when I get to him, he quickly mutters, “I’m sorry, Mariam.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I feel like I did, I shouldn’t judge and for that I’m sorry.”

“We are good Kelan, but can we finish up tomorrow.” He nods. I leave him and head back to my office.

I can’t work. My mind is on Naseer. It’s still early in the day. I can still get Tito. I call her and she answers on the first ring. I didn’t tell her why I left Naseer until after her wedding. Which was when Taimani and I met again. Now she knows and I’ve been quiet lately on all that’s been going on, especially with her rough pregnancy.

“Hey, Jade”

“How is my baby in the bun?”

“She’s very good and pretty demanding.” She laughs making me laugh too. I can hear the tiredness in her voice.

“Tell me something interesting, now that I can’t do anything but move like a super stuffed turkey.”

“You are almost there, Tito, just a few more weeks and you will be back in shape.”

“Sweet lies.” We both laugh. I can’t tell her what I’m about to do, she would worry but talking to her makes me feel better. We talk about everything and nothing before I finally hang up. Now I am a bit relaxed after speaking with Tito. I’m able to get some work done. I texted Naseer.

Me: I’ll be leaving in ten minutes.

Gent: Okay, I’ll see you soon.