James Deville sat at the head of the table, his eyes narrowed as he looked around at the faces of his family. His brother Miles sat to his right, a stack of papers in front of him, his daughter Marilyn commonly known as Madam sat on his left lounged in her chair, her arms crossed over her chest, and his niece Fatima sat quietly next to her cousin, her fingers tapping on the table.
They had all gathered in James' house, the place where they held their Sunday dinner which was also the time to discuss family business away from prying eyes and curious ears. It was a family tradition to meet up at least once a week for a sit down meal and this usually fell on Sundays. The house was Mediterranean style with high ceilings, natural stone floors and warm earthy coloured walls. The furniture was expensive and modern, and the walls were adorned with art that James and his wife Stella had collected over the years.
James cleared his throat, and everyone turned their attention to him "I'm sure you all know why we're here," he said, his voice low and menacing. "We've been getting a lot of attention from law enforcement lately and they're starting to get too close for comfort."
Miles shuffled his papers, his brow furrowed. "I've been trying to keep things under wraps, but it's getting harder and harder to do. The real estate business is doing good and maybe a little too good for it to keep being a good cover, I don't know how much longer we can keep up the charade."
Madam snorted. "And my strip club isn't exactly subtle. But it's been bringing in good money, so I'm not about to shut it down." On paper, Miles was a Real Estate Developer, and Madam and Fatima owned Club Eden a high end strip club.
James leaned forward, his hands clasped together on the table. "We need to come up with a plan. We can't afford to have any more slip-ups. One mistake could bring down the entire operation."
There was a moment of silence as everyone considered their options. "What if Tima took a step back from the club?" Madam spoke up.
"What?" Fatima was confused at her cousin's words, ever since she could remember they had always been partners since they were children. They had grown up together and shared everything, they were as close as sisters and had always been there for each other through everything. Their partnership was solid, they understood each other and they balanced each other as well. They had put in so much time in getting Club Eden to where it was making the kind of money they had always dreamed it could. They both practically lived in the club working 6 days a week and the club had always been hers just as much as it was her cousin's. This didn't make sense.
Madam smiled at her cousin cause she could see her mind working and could tell she was getting ready to argue, "Hear me out, with everything that's been going on I think we need you away from the day-to-day of the club so your talents focused elsewhere,"
"Mar, you're talking in fucking riddles and you know I hate when you do that," Fatima says not following her cousin's logic
"Language young lady," Miles chimes in and Fatima just rolls her eyes
"Get to the point sport," James says looking at his daughter
"I'm saying Tima can go back and finish law school, she only needs a few more credits and the bar exam to finish,"
James raised an eyebrow. "Law school? What good would that do?"
"Yea, how is law school supposed to help us?" Fatima asks
"You finish law school and become the family lawyer," Marilyn says "You would work behind the scenes, fix problems before they become too big to handle. It would give us a layer of protection that we don't currently have."
Miles nodded slowly. "That could work. And it would give us someone on the inside who knows how the legal system works."
Fatima looked skeptical. "But we already have lawyers,"
