Iris settled comfortably on the bed. She was drained even though it was noon but thankfully it was a weekend and she didn’t have work so she was going to spend the day sleeping. As she wanted to close her eyes and fall into a beautiful slumber, she noticed her phone blinking from where she had placed it on the bedside drawer. The call disconnected just as she grabbed a hold of the phone. “How did I miss these?” She gasped when she saw the four missed calls from her mother in law. She dragged her notification bar down and slapped her forehead lightly when she saw she had put the phone on do not disturb mode earlier and forgotten. Just as she made to call Evelyn back, the phone began to ring again and she quickly picked up the call. “Hey, Mom. I’m sorry I missed you calls” Iris apologized quickly, hoping Evelyn was not angry with her but her laughter glided through the speakers soothing her nerves “Not at all, dear. I was calling to check up on you. Are you okay, my dear? Luca told m

Something was off and that was why Iris’s eyes flew open at 3 am. She lay in bed a bit disoriented, trying to figure out why she was forced awake. She turned to her side where Luca should be fast asleep, but it was empty, and she was lying on what should have been half of his side of the bed. She reached out to touch the empty bed and it was cold. He had been up for a while. She couldn’t go back to sleep knowing that Luca was somewhere awake, and it bothered her that he had been gone for a while and didn’t tell her. Her mind began to wander against her will and she began to pick up on his weird behavior these last few days. There was something odd about the way he seemed cautious like he was hiding something, and she didn’t know if she felt good or bad about it. She shook her head to clear the thoughts that wanted to make her suspicious. She couldn’t doubt Luca and she didn’t want to.“Maybe he went downstairs to work. He complained earlier he had a lot to do” She muttered to he

Iris felt the colour drain from her face as soon as she heard those words. She saw the regret in his eyes immediately the words slipped but it didn’t matter. Didn’t they say one said things they truly meant in the heat of the moment? Was this how Luca thought of her? As nothing more than a pretender? Everything she thought had been a lie?“You are hurting me” She whispered instead of voicing out the numerous things she wanted to say. “Luca, let go of me.”Her voice came out stronger and more demanding, enough to get him to loosen his grip and she stumbled out of his reach.Her lashes fluttered to stop the tears were quickly flooding her eyes, but she couldn’t stop them.“Iris” Luca called with a strained voice and tried to walk towards her, but she held out her hand to stop him before he could approach her.“It’s fine. I understand my place now” She choked out, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.“No, Princess. That’s not what I wanted to say. I was angry and you kept pushing me.

“Mrs Rutherford” Josy called, pulling Iris out of her head again for the seventh time in the last ten minutes. “I’m sorry. Tell Mr Henry that I’ll see him next week to discuss the progress for the new book in the series” she told the young employee who gave her a curious stare before she left the office. Iris let out a shaky breath and sat back in her chair before she placed her hands over her eyes. Since that day when she had followed Luca, she had grown more curious about the topic of his discussion with that stranger. Not just curious, but a sort of fear had also taken over and it was messing with not only her head but her daily life. She would spend the day lost in her head because she was trying to put the half pieces together so they would make sense. She got so lost in her thoughts that she would forget where she was or even end up not doing things she was supposed to be doing and her employees were starting to notice. There was no amount of critical thinking that could

Luca was avoiding her again, not that it should be any surprise to Iris. It was Luca’s go-to behaviour to avoid her whenever he was angry.Iris was buried in between files while Luca was in his study. She wasn’t going to push him any further this morning.She could still feel the brunt of his harsh words last night and while she was trying not to be angry at him, it didn’t mean she wasn’t affected by those words last night.Iris heard footsteps approaching her in the library and she lifted her head to see Loren. Iris's eyes zeroed in on the envelope in her hand and she felt a chill creep up her spine.It was a similar envelope to the one with the October 13th note and she did not like the feeling at all.That meant that the woman knew where they lived, and she was not comfortable with that information.“This came in for you just now,” Loren said, placing the letter in her outstretched hand.“Do you know who delivered it?” She asked, inspecting the sealed envelope but not opening it.S