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As Eden watched him, she couldn’t speak. Too many thoughts raced through her head. Is she who he’s with every Thursday? How long has this been going on?

Jermaine noticed the silence and with obvious concern asked, “Babe is everything ok?”

The tone in which he spoke made another surge of sickness race up Eden’s throat. It truly sounded like he cared about her wellbeing. That thought was funny. Eden swallowed the sickness and tried to bring some normalcy to her voice.

“Yeah, I’m good. I just wanted to see how the meeting was going. Eve and I are on the way to Ribeye’s. I wanted to know if you wanted me to pick something up for you,” She lied. She shocked herself by the calm way that she spoke.

“Everything is good. You don’t have to get me anything. My secretary got my specialty order, so I don’t need anything,” Jermaine lied unaware that he had been caught.

Eden shook her head. She smirked as she watched him hold the phone to his ear while he walked out of the restaurant hand in hand with her sister. He was so caught up in his lie that he didn’t even notice that she was parked directly beside him. Nor did he realize the large dent in his driver’s side door.

“Well babe, I don’t want to intrude. Try to make the best of your night and I’ll see you when you get home. Bye.”

“Bye?!” Jermaine repeated. The simple word with lack of emotion stunned him.

They never ended a call or conversation without expressing their sentiments. They both knew it.

“What happened to I love you?” Jermaine asked as if he was offended.

Eden ended the call and scoffed. She wasn’t surprised to see The Husband flashing on the screen. Unlike the times in the past, seeing his moniker filled her with hate.

“He has a lot of fucking nerves?” Eve said as she tapped the red button on Eden’s phone.

“What could I have done to make my husband fuck my sister? Most men have affairs with random women. A bitch from Facebook, a gas station, shit a coworker. What did I do for him to have an affair with my sister?” Eden asked as she slapped at the tears that rolled down her face .

The last thing she wanted to do was cry over someone that could betray her like this. The rage outweighed the pain. She couldn’t stop the tears even if she wanted to.

“You are not about to blame yourself for the actions of a whore and an undisciplined man. Men that have no boundaries are not men, they’re little boys dressed up in a man suit. Envy has always been a bad apple. She goes out of her way to make everyone’s life miserable. So, to answer your question, you didn’t do shit.” Eve said as she watched Jermaine exit his Bentley and walk into the Red Roof Inn.

Eden threw her head back and laughed.

“Longhorns and the Red Roof Inn. Envy probably thinks she hit the jackpot tonight. She’s always been low budget. It’s been a long time since I had to turn on my knuck if you buck. Let’s go.” Eve said as she watched her little sister traipsing into the $50 a night hotel like the queen of the universe. The sight in front of her made her sick to her stomach.

“Give me five minutes,” Eden said as she watched her husband comfortably scroll into the budget hotel.

Of all the things she expected to see today, seeing the man that begged her to start a family less than an hour ago, walking into a cheap motel with her flesh and blood was not it. If someone told her that she’d discover her husband having an affair, she would’ve called them a liar.

“Five minutes?!” Eve shouted in disbelief, “Edy you had laser surgery, so I know you’re seeing what I’m seeing. What are you waiting for?” Eve was appalled.

At the first sight of Envy and Jermaine together, she wanted to shake shit up. She couldn’t understand what Eden was waiting for. She couldn’t understand that Eden’s internal dial was moving slowly but steadily to the bad side.

Her actions were calculated and deliberate. She knew what she needed to see and why. This was her marriage. Her methods weren’t meant for Eve to understand. This was her situation, and she’d move in five minutes when she was ready.

When she was ready, she grabbed her purse and exited her car. The sliding glass door chimed alerting the clerk on duty that another guest had entered the establishment.

“Why are so many people coming here tonight?” The front desk attendant thought.

She had taken the job at the hotel because the foot traffic was so light that she could study in peace and still collect a check. But tonight, she had to earn her check because more than twenty people had already checked in during her 3-11pm shift.

She was irritated, but instead of showing her frustration, she stood, closed her Accounting Systems textbook, and smiled. Her smile didn’t waiver even though she could see that the woman that stood before her was not in a pleasant mood.

“Hello Ma’am. Welcome to the-”

“I’m going to make this easy for you Richelle,” Eden interrupted as she read the clerk’s name tag. “Jermaine Shelton and Envy Merci. What room did they check into?”

Richelle was caught off guard by the woman’s straightforwardness. She could tell that she wasn’t one to ask the same question twice, but she didn’t want to get fired for giving out private information. She needed this job.

“Ma’am, I’m sorry. I can’t give out customer information. It’s against our policy.” Richelle said as she backed away from the desk.

Eden glanced down and saw the textbook. She smiled a little because it wasn’t too long ago that she was behind a hotel desk, studying from the same book. She decided to take a different approach and take some of the hostility out of her voice because Richelle wasn’t the person that had done her wrong .

“Richelle, let me apologize for my demeanor. You didn’t do anything to deserve that. That’s a gorgeous pendant of you and your sister,” Eden complimented.

“My daughter,” Richelle said as she absent-mindedly grabbed the custom-made pendant that cost her two paychecks.

Eden smirked inwardly because she knew the girl had know idea that she gave her the information that she needed.

“Richelle, my name is Eden Shelton. I’m the Investment Banker for Rashid Zayed International Banque,” Eden said as she handed the young attendant her onyx business card.

Richelle was stunned.

“Mrs. Shelton, I’m-”

Eden interrupted because she wasn’t interested in what she had to say.

“Richelle, when I was around your age, I sat behind a hotel desk reading that same book. Studying for the same test that you’re probably about to take. Back then I brought home $328 biweekly. That’s $164 a week. Not even $700 a month, not even enough to be considered pocket change.” Eden stated .

Richelle looked away because she was only making $100 more biweekly.

“By the way you diverted your eyes, I can tell that you aren’t making much more than I was nearly eighteen years ago,” Eden said factually.

“I’m not trying to get in your business, but when I was sitting behind a desk, studying for classes I prayed for a financial blessing every day. Maybe I can be that blessing to you. Jermaine Shelton and Envy Merci. What room are they in?” Eden asked as she opened her Chloe Bag and slid ten brand-new hundred-dollar bills over to the desk clerk.

Richelle’s eyes bulged. She had never seen $1,000 at once. She could smell the newness of the bills, and it was the most intoxicating thing that she had ever smelled.

“Mrs. Shelton. I’m sorry. But I can’t. Even though this job only pays me pocket change as you call it. I have my own responsibilities. I need my job,”

Eden pulled out another stack.

“Mrs. Shelton, I-”

“Richelle, I’m a mom. I know how beneficial two thousand tax free dollars can be. We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You can take the money and give us the room key. Or my sister can put the money back in her purse and I’ll knock you out and look the registry up myself. How would you like to handle this matter?” Eve asked as she slid the new bills in Richelle’s direction.

Based on the names alone, Richelle was able to put two and two together and understand exactly what was going on. It wasn’t her place to get involved in familial disputes. She didn’t get paid enough for that. Nodding her head she said,

“Envy Merci. Room 305. It’s across from the elevator,” Richelle said as she slid the room key to Eden as she pulled the money backwards.

“Thank you,”

Eden’s hands shook and her eyes twitched when she pushed the number three button to go to the third floor. The feelings that were taking over her body were new.

“You already know that what you’re about to see is fucked up. There’s no coming back from watching your husband having sex with someone else. Our sister, our enemy. Do you think you can handle seeing that?” Eve asked as the elevator chimed and stopped on the third floor.

“No, I won’t be able to handle it. But I need to see it anyway. It’ll justify everything that’s going to come,” Eden said as she stepped off the elevator and stepped directly in front of room 305.

Loud theatrical screaming and pounding could be heard as soon as the elevator door opened.

“It’s go-time lil’ sis,” Eve said as her nostrils flared.

Eden’s hand shook as she placed the plastic card in the door and watched the light turn green. She pushed the door with so much force that the cheap chain lock at the top of the door flew across the room.

“What the fu-”

Jermaine’s sentence was cut short when Eve and Eden burst into the room. His dark skin turned white as a ghost as he stared into his wife’s face.

Regret aged his face by ten years. His vocal cords seized as he fought for words.

Eve wasted no time. She wanted no parts of a stare off, she attacked Envy with the ferocity of a lion on a gazelle.

Envy screamed. The attack was so vicious that strangers would’ve never guessed that the two women were blood sisters. Envy tried to escape, but the sheets that she used to cover her nudity were wrapped around her legs .

Eden couldn’t even focus on the attack. She was too busy assessing her husband. The sight of Jermaine’s sweat covered chocolate body and the bible hiding his condom-less manhood. There was no putting Eden’s heart together. She had officially seen everything she needed to see.

“Eden, I’m sorry. This… This didn’t mean anything,” Jermaine stuttered as he looked down to the floor. He couldn’t even look at her.

There was no need to throw out the phrase, ‘It’s not what it looks like’ because it was very much exactly what it appeared to be. He had been caught with the very person that Eden feared their children would become. There was no greater betrayal, and he knew it.

“So, is this what a late night at the office looks like. After you fucked my sister, you planned to come home and do the same thing to me, right? Every Thursday night, you come home, you don’t even take a shower. You climb your foul ass in the bed and in between my legs. I’ma ask you again. Is my sister who you’re with every Thursday night?”

Jermaine trembled. There was no way he would answer that question. She had already seen the worst thing she could see, there was no need to admit anything else .

Eden shook her head and let out a dry mirthless laugh.

Jermaine stepped backwards. He had never heard such a sound coming from her. After seeing something so devastating, he expected Eden to spit on him, attack him, or stab him. The fact that she spoke calmly without attack, terrified him.

“Edy. Eden, Baby I-”

“Let’s go Eve. We’re done here,” Eden said as she turned to walk out of the hotel room. She ignored Jermaine’s stunned look.

“We’re done here?” Envy mocked. “Oh my God, you’re so lame. No wonder all of your exes practically lived between my legs. You have no backbone,” Envy laughed.

Envy didn’t care anything about the ass whooping she just endured by her older sister. Breaking Eden down was the highlight of her life.

“Y’all need to leave and close the door behind you. Jermaine normally busts two times. He only bust once so far. See,” Envy laughed as she reached between her cum drenched legs and wiped Jermaine’s seminal fluid on Eden’s face .

Eden lost it. The last thing she remembered before being placed in handcuffs was stabbing Envy with the hotel’s personalized pen.