Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129571 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
What other war books have you read, Sophia?
“I considered this Equinox Garden Party as a great big opportunity. I’d never considered Jasmine as someone you would be interested in. Other rich men, sure, but not you.”
“Why not?”
“Jasmine was too much of a book nerd. Too book smart for her own good, not enough street knowledge to walk down a block by herself at night.”
“She’s smarter than you think,” I insisted.
“We agree to disagree.” She waved my comment away. “Benny decided to leave for business that morning. I’d already been spending the night at his place. All seven of my guards had actually spent the night with Jasmine ... and that white girl. They did a big Barbie slumber party all with nail painting, tons of ice cream, and Disney princess marathon. That was what Jasmine considered a fun Friday evening. No, I didn’t think she could keep your attention.”
The more she downed Jasmine, the more a bad taste coated my mouth.
“I took the invitation from Benny’s place. He’d thrown it in his office’s trash can. After putting it in a new envelope, I took it right over to Jasmine’s house, brought it right to the roommate like I’d grabbed it from the mail, picked up my grandkids, and left.”
“How did you know they would go?”
“I didn’t. I just seized the opportunity. If it didn’t work, then something else would have come up.”
Shocked, I shook my head. “This can’t be right.”
“Now you have to remember something. The successful way to living life is planting seeds. Every day, you plant several of them. Good ones and bad. Fruits and trees—”
“You’re losing me.”
“The invitation was just a seed. I didn’t think it would grow into anything interesting, but you just never know. In the end, Vivian spotted the invitation and told Jasmine about it. Broke college kids love free food, and the high-end tasting piqued my daughter’s love for the extravagance. They went, and again, I had no idea if anything would happen. But it did. Benny showed up to the party several hours later. The white girl texted him that she was there, and he lost it and showed up just to watch over them.”
“I remember the moment Benny walked in, he wore a scowl the whole time and wasn’t dressed for the event. By that time, he saw me watching Jasmine, and told me not to even think about it.” I picked up my drink. “But it was already too late, I’d called Lucy and told her to hire someone that could research Jasmine’s entire family.”
“How did that research go for you?” She winked at me.
“You hid your true self very well.”
“Maybe. Or perhaps you were so desperate to have a real woman, you might’ve looked over the fact that she was from a rough neighborhood with a messed-up family. You’d lost three girls by then, and believed that one of your current women at the time was killing them. You were vulnerable. It all happened perfectly.” She finished her wine. “When did you find the birth certificate? I didn’t think you’d find that out. It never crossed my mind. That might’ve been my biggest slip up.”
“Lucy brought it to me. She tried to convince me to not go after Jasmine, but—”
“You were already watching her. You were already hooked.” Her smiled widened so hard, I thought her whole face would open and spill out her head’s insides. “Months passed. I moved on to other things. In fact, I’d forgotten about the whole party and you. Other things had my attention. Then Jasmine called me one day, and said that she had a big interview at Stone Industries.”
Sophia laughed. “I figured you had something to do with it. She believed Benny had recommended you. I knew better. However, I still wasn’t sure about you two. I called and called her after her interview. She never answered. I left all types of emergency messages. I doubt she ever heard them. Days passed and she never responded. Then finally, my little princess decides to answer that morning and explain that she’d been in Paris.”
“So you asked her for money?”
“Yes, the electricity bill. She wouldn’t answer the phone so I decided to make it an emergency. I didn’t pay my bill.”
A bad taste hit my mouth. “You test her like this a lot?”
“Sometimes. And it was a test for you. I figured if you really liked her, you would help her. Maybe not this bill. But one bill, some emergency off in the future, you would take the bait. You would want to be the hero.”
“I would want to be a hero?” I said through clenched teeth.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Benny told me a lot about you. Your father, his friends, and you, he hated rich, powerful boys.”
“And so you listened?”
“That’s what smart women do. They listen.” Her cheeks lifted into the cruelest smile. “I used to listen to your father, too.”