Poison Ivy | Jordan Poole

thirty one.

Wonder if it's all because of you
Are you close to giving up?
Somehow, it's all because of you

Ishmael paced the expanse of his office as he looked out on Alameda Island. It was one of several homes and properties he owned. In recent years he'd settled here in an attempt to clear his mind. He'd taken a back seat in his pursuits like he had promised and in that time things had changed. He'd narrowly escaped incrimination following the exposure of Sean Combs, his friend and business partner who was now disgraced. Preserving his name had cost him greatly – his wife, his children, and his freedom to an extent. Ishmael's business was still afloat but people talked. Despite his evasion of the courts, many people suspected he had played a much larger role in Diddy's operations than he'd heftily paid his lawyers to portray. Of course, they were right, but Ishmael was a smart man. So, after denying and distancing he landed on his feet, took his riches and moved out of the public eye.

Still, things would never be the same. The implosion of his life began that fateful night in the club and only intensified amidst the past scandal. He'd left Ivy and Isla to fend for themselves and his sons were on their own paths. Isaac had taken over the business like he knew he always would and hadn't made one mention of the girls since that fateful night.

Ishmael wasn't surprised, Isaac had always been his image. If it wasn't for him, Ishmael wasn't sure that everything he'd worked for would have survived. Although Ishmael was tainted, his son was clean. Isaac was carbon; non-malleable, hard, and reliable. In contrast, Junie was copper. His spirit bright and imagined possibilities endless. He was easily bent, bad under pressure and he became accustomed to things quickly. He'd grown fond of the idea of having sisters but the story behind their existence had soured his outlook on his own upbringing. Who exactly had raised him?

Reconciling the docile disciplinarian who'd raised him with the monster Elizabeth described had proven to be too much. Consequently, Junie had held Ishmael at a distance since the night everything had been revealed. Determined, he tried to prove he was a man who could build himself up without daddy's help. He'd gotten into Dental School at Howard University and was currently in his final year. The only thing he'd sent his father in the past four years was a photo from his white coat ceremony. It had been signed Ravi Arjun.

Ishmael shook his head and scoffed at the thought. Taking a strong swig of his cognac he let out a rough laugh.

If only Junie knew, he'd never be anything but a Singh. Throughout the years, it was Ishmael who had ensured that he didn't fall on his face too hard. He'd phoned in to his connections and made sure the Biophysics degree he paid so much for wouldn't go to waste. He'd place the right people in the right places while remaining invisible as his son succeeded 'without him'.

Nonetheless, his daughters were a different story. They didn't want anything to do with him and there was little he could do to infiltrate or influence their lives. Despite his predictions, they didn't crawl back. Still, he'd never left them and they'd never left his mind.

A knock resounded at the door taking him out of his thoughts as he looked up only to meet the eyes of his secretary Leon. The young man looked around nervously before facing him.

"Yes Leon?"

"Mr. Singh, I have the bi-monthly report on your daughters and how they're doing." Leon explained, shuffling in with two separate manilla envelopes; the names of each girl written on the front respectively.

"Very well, let me see."

Leon brandished a printout of each girls' Instagram before pulling out photos taken by the private investigator. They'd captured shots of Ivy snuggled up to her daughters and Isla out on the beach with her family.