"me and mrs. jones
we got a thing going on
we both know that it's wrong
but it's much too strong, to let it go now" .

iman and roman returned to new york friday evening after the six day trip in montego bay. when they came back, they were told about a housewarming party jey was having at his brand new home. jey and his family had moved into a thirty two million dollar penthouse in soho throughout the week they were gone and it was weird to roman, very weird.

"iman I have a question to ask you" roman began to say.

"what's up?" she answered.

"don't you find it a little weird that jey and his family moved into such an expensive penthouse so quickly? like a week ago he was still living in harlem and now he's living in soho, how does that work?" roman wondered.

"baby that's how moving works...." iman said, very confused at what he even meant. "you buy a new house and then you move out of your old one, it's not that hard hun".

"jey has never once talked about moving, not once. are we really supposed to believe that he was able to buy a million dollar penthouse on such short notice and then move in so rapidly? he has a whole family to pack up, how did they do it all so fast? you buy a penthouse in the matter of a week and move in THEN have a housewarming?!" roman continued to explain.

"he was probably moving in silence, wanted to keep it a surprise. it's not as far fetched as you think roman" iman scoffed. "why are you so concerned anyways? you sound obsessed".

"cause shit is weird, like where did he even get the money to buy a penthouse?" he asked again.

"i'm pretty sure you out of all people know the answer to that" iman scoffed.

"no I actually don't because if he was gonna get a penthouse he would've gotten one years ago" roman said. "shit is all just suspicious that's all".

"you're really mad that your cousin was able to move out of harlem to live in a better environment for himself, his wife, and his kids. hater and bitter behavior" iman said as she rolled her eyes at her husband being a clear ass for nothing.

"ain't nobody a hater" roman groaned. "here you go being dramatic per usual".

"and here you go being an asshole per usual" iman groaned. "after the amazing trip we just got back from I thought you would be cool but of course you're back to your old ways".

"iman I really don't feel like arguing with you over my damn cousin, please get out of my face so I can finish getting ready" roman spat at her.

iman grabbed her birkin bag and walked out of the wardrobe room. she was so irritated with roman, him being a hater over a penthouse was definitely turning her off. also him being an asshole towards her after weeks of him being on good behavior was upsetting her. it was like they were back at square one, and she hated it so much.

once roman was done, iman got jianni out of her room and the three left to go to jey's.

about twenty minutes later, they arrived at jey's penthouse building. it looked to be newly built, meaning that jey was living in a brand new penthouse. the building wasn't super tall like theirs but it still looked nice.

"momma is this uncle jey's house?" jianni asked iman.

"yes jianni, he lives in here and we're going to see it" iman told her. "doesn't it look like ours?!".

"it's big!" jianni exclaimed, meanwhile roman rolled his eyes. iman couldn't stand him right now.

they walked into the building and went up to where jey's home was. jianni was running ahead of iman and roman while they were walking in silence. they barely spoke in the car and they weren't speaking now.

"don't be asking a million questions trying to be an asshole while we're here okay?" iman told him.

"i'm gonna ask and say whatever I want" roman spat at her.

"fine, just don't be around me when you do" iman told him.

"oh my fucking god" roman mumbled under his breath. he hated whenever iman was acting "dramatic", and this was one of those times.

iman rung the doorbell and a few seconds later, jey's wife takecia came to the door.

"hey y'all!" she exclaimed as she saw them.

"hey T! how are you girl?!" iman said as she gave takecia a hug. "congrats on the new place!".

"i'm good and thank you! I love it here so much, these past few days have been great" takecia told her.

"hi auntie!" jianni said to her.

"hi jianni! how are you sweetie?!" takecia said.

"good" jianni smiled.

"good, your cousins are here. nani and braelyn are in the back and they've been waiting for you" takecia told her, referring to her two girl cousins.

"yay!" jianni exclaimed as she ran inside very excited to play with them.

"that's all she was asking when I told her we were coming, she loves hanging with them" iman chuckled.

"the girls are so cute, I love it" takecia smiled.

"hey roman".

"hey takecia" roman said to her, giving her a side hug.

"y'all come in" she said, leading them into the penthouse. "we're about to start eating".

walking in they went through a hallway and then arrived in the living room where some of the adults were. they were sitting down on the sofas or on the chairs. shea butter baby by ari lennox and j cole was playing in the background as people were conversing in conversations. iman and roman greeted the family and friends that they knew and then proceeded to the kitchen where everyone else were.

iman was pretty impressed with the penthouse, it was very nice and she liked the wooden interior the house had, it reminded her of a modernized log cabin. meanwhile roman was still trying to figure out why and how jey got a penthouse so quickly, he was never gonna let this go it seems.

in the kitchen, there were some of roman's closer cousins along with the twins and jimmy's wife naomi. naomi was a sweetheart so her and iman were very cool with each other, same with takecia. they all mutually respected and loved each other so whenever they all got the chance to link, it was always a good time.

"wassup y'all!" jimmy exclaimed as he saw iman and roman.

"hey" iman said as she greeted them, roman did the same. "congrats on the house jey, it's so nice".

"thank you iman" jey grinned.

there was a bit of awkward silence as some assumed that roman would've said something to compliment jey and the house, iman even looked at him to see if he was gonna say something. he looked down at her and realized her little signal, so he just decided to speak up.

"yeah.... nice place, dope" roman added. "tryna be like me now I see".

"I guess..." jey nervously chuckled. "thanks though".

yeah there was still some awkwardness, and roman's backhanded compliment didn't really help. iman sighed as she already knew what kind of time roman was gonna be on tonight. she was definitely not feeling it.

"y'all ready to eat right? i'm about to get everything together" takecia said to everyone.

they all nodded and takecia ordered them to leave the kitchen so she could get it ready. iman and roman separated and she went off with naomi and he went off with the guys. that was probably best for the both of them as of right now.

"so iman, how was jamaica?" naomi asked iman as they were currently eating. she was with naomi and takecia and the ladies were talking amongst themselves.

"it was amazing, definitely one of the best trips i've been on" iman told them. "such a great place, we had fun".

"we saw on instagram. roman giving you a surprise party then a surprise trip, pretty good on his part" takecia said.

"yeah.... he's been great" iman said with a slight smile. if only he remained great instead of going back to his old ways.

"but takecia, you have to give me a legit tour of the house when we're done eating. it looks great I can only imagine what the rest looks like" iman told her.

"oh of course! i'm literally in love with it" takecia gushed.

"it's so dope, I need to live in one. y'all make them look all snazzy and shit" naomi said.

"y'all townhouse is practically a penthouse! it's nice" iman said.

"plus at least you and jimmy live in manhattan, i'm just now getting here. y'all know I was trying to get out of harlem for the longest. i'm just glad the kids don't have to go to sleep to gunshots anymore" takecia said.

"of course, that's the best thing of all!" iman added.

"yes" she smiled. "the boys start at the calhoun private school on monday and i'm so excited. a fresh start at a school with good education".

"calhoun? I was looking into that school for when jianni starts kindergarten next year" iman said. "that tuition is on college levels though, like fifty k a year ".

"it's not like I don't have it" takecia shrugged, very similar to what iman says herself whenever people question how much she spends on things. "the boys got a scholarship anyways, jey got a connect and put it together".

"i'm sure he did" iman said in her head, and then she smiled at takecia and took a sip of her drink.

"maybe I could tell jey to contact his connect for jianni if you're still considering enrolling her for next year!" she suggested.

"i'm still looking at other schools, i'll let you know though" iman told her, and takecia nodded.

she wasn't gonna use jey's "connect".

after eating, the guys went to hang out in jey's man cave. a college football game was playing on the flat screen and most of the men had beers in their hands as they were either watching the game or playing cards around the poker table. roman and the twins were playing cards.

"jey how you let your nephew punk you out at poker?!" roman teased as jey just lost a round.

"the same way you let YOUR nephew, as in me beat you two weeks ago" jey said back.

"chill on that uncle nephew shit" roman warned, which made the twins laugh cause they knew he hated it when they called him uncle.

"but I gotta admit uce, this is probably the best room in this whole penthouse. i'm impressed".

"thank you, you know I always wanted a man cave" jey said. "now that's one thing that I got that you don't".

"my man cave went away when I hired julianne and you know this" roman scoffed. "I miss having one though".

"talk to the misses, maybe you can upgrade to a newer penthouse like mine" jey chuckled.

"speaking of this "new penthouse"...." roman began to say. "how did you get it so fast?".

and here we go!

"what do you mean?" jey wondered, confused at what smartass shit roman was about to say now.

"I was only gone for a week and you already in a brand new place, I never even knew you were trying to move. like one minute you're in harlem and the next you're in soho, it's funny" roman chuckled.

"well i've been looking at this place for a while and i've been saving up my money to get it so I got it and moved in right away. it was a pretty smooth process" jey explained. "just kept it all a surprise from everyone".

"oh.... this place was probably real expensive though, surprised you wanted it" roman said. "I thought you liked harlem".

"I can afford this" jey said. "you be acting like i'm broke".

"I can't be curious? it's just that I was gone for a week I just wanted to know what was going on" roman said. "don't get all defensive".

"well don't be underestimating me and what I do" jey shot back as he now started to get annoyed.

"alright can y'all not start? the family is here and y'all wives and kids are here.... chill" jimmy told them.

"... I gotta use the bathroom anyways, i'll be back" roman said, and then he walked away.

leave it to roman to be an asshole during a good time. jey was left annoyed but he was also a bit concerned that roman was kinda catching on to what he was doing. asking questions about his moving situation, and especially asking about the expenses of it all. this money didn't just come from being roman's lackey...

the real money is coming from paul, and it all started about a month ago.

September 22nd, 2020

jey arrived at paul's home for the meeting that was set up the other day on the phone. jey was pleased and excited that paul actually agreed to this, now hopefully paul can agree to letting him have that stake.

jey rung the doorbell and a few seconds later, linda showed up to the door. she had a glass in her hand and this time was wearing a fendi mini dress. this wasn't even a dinner meeting like the one roman had and yet she was still dressed up. she really liked looking good for the guests.

"hello you must be jey" linda said as she looked at him up and down.

"yes I am, is paul here?" he asked her.

"of course, he's upstairs in his room" linda told him. "upstairs second door".

"thank you" jey said as he walked in. looking around he was in awe. paul's house was huge and it reminded him of a mob boss. the nice shiny floor, a little waterfall with a naked baby statue spilling water into it, the classic looking stairwell. he definitely had that vibe.

"you know, you look like roman to me. that's one of his partners" linda said.

"i'm his cousin" jey told her with a bit of an attitude. linda peeped it too cause she didn't say anything and instead took a sip of her drink.

jey went upstairs and once he got to the door, it was obviously closed so he knocked on it.

"who is it?!" someone, obviously paul exclaimed.

"jey fatu, here for the meeting on what I offered" jey told them. a couple seconds later, paul came to the door and opened it.

"jey hello" paul said to him.

"nice to see you paul, can I come in?" jey asked him.

"yeah yeah, let's get to discussing" he said, and jey walked into the room.

the men were chopping it up as they drunk some beer and smoked cigars. they were actually more so having general conversation as friends rather than discussing business. roman wouldn't do this, when it comes to people like that it's business and business only. jey was not as reserved as roman so jey actually liked building solid friendships with people instead of being so stern and "business" all the time.

"I gotta admit jey, I never would've thought that you were this funny" paul chuckled. "like we are having great conversation right now".

"there's a lot that you and so many don't know about me" jey said. "like for instance i've always in the background of roman, no one ever knows the work that me and my brother put in".

"I always had a hunch on that though. I mean wasn't it you that I spoke to when I got back to doing the deal with roman?" paul asked him.

"yes" jey said. "roman wasn't at the warehouse, per usual".

"he doesn't show up often?" paul wondered.

"he's there but he be leaving throughout the day" jey told him. "like last weekend he took it off and was spending time with his wife and daughter".

"well that's not all bad" paul shrugged. "I would do that with linda and my kids when they were around".

"it's not at all but it was the opening weekend of us being in your club.... he should've been there" jey said, and that actually made paul think a bit.

"honestly, that did surprise me a bit. he didn't even come to the club at all over the weekend" paul said.

"cause he was fucking his wife instead, as he always does" jey thought in his head.

"yeah, and then he doesn't even take that stake when it's at the palm of his hands.... crazy" jey added to fuel more fire.

paul sunk in his chair and smoked a long puff of his cigar. jey really had him thinking about some things. paul still believed that the cartel was profitable of course but as for roman? paul was a bit disappointed, matter of fact he was very disappointed.

"I was so surprised that he didn't take it" paul said. "I thought he would've been trying to get more money, but I guess not".

"his stupid lawyer told him that he would be cheapening himself since he makes more than what you're offering" jey told him, exaggerating it a bit but that was the point. it worked too cause paul looked very offended.

"really? was my money not good enough for him?" paul said, taking a long sip of his beer.

"guess not cause roman listened, now he's not taking the money" jey shrugged. he was really talking shit to get his way, something that roman would do. wow.

"he did" paul said. "gave that man the world and he gave me nothing back".

"exactly.... I mean it's crazy. you invested so much into him just for him to basically shit on you" jey said, continuing to gas him up.

"hence why now you need someone else to take that deal.... someone like me".

"you really want this huh? you were so adamant on the phone and you're adamant now" paul said.

"cause I know how good this is. roman has no idea what he's missing out on" jey said.

"does roman know that you're taking this? I think he'd be pretty pissed if he knew" paul asked him.

"he shouldn't be pissed because it's not his money anymore" jey scoffed. "and he doesn't need to know my business, cause he sure as hell wouldn't let me know his".

"oh.... well if that's the case, he doesn't have to know then" paul smirked.

"bingo" jey chuckled.

"you know jey, you're a lot smarter than I thought. not saying that you're not but I thought that roman was the brains.... it's really you" paul told him.

"i've been underestimated for so long and that's done. I want what I deserve, and that belongs with that stake. I want that money" jey proudly declared to paul.

"then congratulations my friend, you for it" paul smiled as he took his hand out to shake jey's hand. jey shook his hand and a smile crepted on his face.

"I think this is the start of a beautiful partnership".

"trust me, it will be" jey grinned, thinking about how good it felt to finally do what he wanted. he didn't even care or worry about if roman found out. he was just happy to get his own bag without relying on him.

as it was already feeling so damn good.

paul has been a major influence on jey getting a new home and moving out of crime ridden harlem. ever since their little alliance began, he's been influencing jey to "upgrade his lifestyle" and jey has done just that. paul was the one that found the penthouse for him and even got a furniture company to provide the family with new sofas, tables, beds, and chairs for their house!

paul was also the "connect" that got jey's kids into the private school. paul personally knows the dean of admissions and pulled some strings to get the boys full scholarships to last them as long as they were enrolled into the school. jey and takecia didn't have to pay tuition at all!

not only that but while roman was gone on vacation, jey was the one running the cartel. he was the man in charge and it felt so damn good. he was running the clubs, running the men, and making money moves with paul. jey was also getting richer than ever because of the stake he has in the company so everything in his life was coming into place. he was feeling like a king.

he was feeling like roman.

it was towards the end of the night and iman and roman were still at the house. the adults that were left were in the living room just chatting, as ones would do when it came to a function. just talking and chilling in the living room in the middle of the night.

"takecia I forgot to tell you earlier sis, I love this sofa! it's nice and long and I love how it goes all around" naomi told her.

"thank you! matter of fact, the furniture company we got it from provided most of the furniture for us. like it was already set up in the penthouse and everything" takecia explained. jey gave her a "stop talking takecia" look and she widened her eyes at him. roman peeped that and started looking real suspicious.

"damn y'all just have all the hookups don't y'all" naomi chuckled.

takecia didn't answer since jey gave her that look to stop talking. naomi was left confused but just left it alone and roman chugged his beer bottle down. he knew that something was up, and he just needed to figure out what it was.

"you really thought I was crazy too, like I know you saw the way jey looked at takecia when she said that they got furniture set up in the house. looked like he wanted to smack her" roman told iman as they were in the car going back home.

"roman I told you to stop and here you go" iman sighed. "why can't you just be happy for your cousin?!".

"i'm not being happy for shit! especially when I know he doing some sneaky shit!" roman exclaimed.

"you always talking about me being dramatic but you're the one dramatic" iman said. "give this shit a rest goddamn!".

"see you don't get it cause you're not around him all the time like I am" roman said. "I can read jey like a book, and I know he up to some shit. hell it's probably something behind my back since he's so discreet about everything".

iman just ignored roman at this point since she didn't wanna hear him bitch about jey anymore. roman was so sure about this though, and he was gonna find out what jey was up too, and fast.

meanwhile in long island, victor marshall was at his own warehouse devising a plan to get revenge on the ones that killed his OS13 gang. he had an idea of who it was, and was ready to take them down. they took down his own, and now he wanted to do the same.

"he's back in town boss, when do we ride?" one of victor's hitmen asked him.

"not yet" victor told him.

"not yet?! what do you mean not yet the guy's back now!" the hitman exclaimed.

"not yet because I told you so! the fuck you questioning that for?!" victor shouted at him.

"no- no reason boss" hitman quietly said.

"alright then" victor spat. "besides, i'm taking him down the smarter way. what's the point of killing him now when I can watch him spiral down first? I wanna see him in pain".

"so what are you gonna do?" he asked victor, who had a smirk already on his face.

"take away what he loves the most..... his money" he said.

a loud knock interrupted their thoughts and victor went to go open the door of his office. he was expecting company anyways, and he was happy about this company in question.

when victor opened the door, he smiled and greeted the man with open arms. he then sat him down in his office and the two began to discuss multiple things, including a proposition to not only sell in his clubs but to also take in some stake.

"I think this will be a perfect opportunity for not only me but for yourself, more money for all parties involved" victor told the man.

"I agree completely, plus with you taking in some stock, you'll be making major money. I just got this kid to do it and he went from living in rusty harlem to living in soho! just imagine what you'll get" the man said. "the clubs will do booming business, you'll get so much just off of the selling and your place in my company".

"exactly, see you have the vision. that's why I came to you" victor said. "we see each other".

"we definitely do" the man agreed. "can't wait to do business".

"same here.... cheers to good money and long wealth! forever" victor cheered, clinking his drink glass with the man in front of him.

that man being paul heyman.