Flash Forward

Reena held to her word. She had Douglas's child, Priya Patel, but did not marry either him or Antoine. She still obtained her MBA, but added a law degree onto her educational plate, still doing books for the Folly while graduating first in her class. And over the years, the Lancaster Law Firm became Lancaster & Hamilton, and then Hamilton & Patel, and finally was known primarily as the Patel Law Firm. Douglas still worked as of counsel, but the former focus of the firm on tort cases was replaced with a strong emphasis on sophisticated corporate law. Douglas was now a small sideshow in the thing he had created.

And Reena was not shy about dating men that interested her, resulting in Douglas and Antoine settling for weeks and months of jerking off while her relationships played out. She dated Donovan Hamilton for a few months, and had a longer affair with Rocco Ferrari, Douglas's longterm nemesis. She had five children, two by Antoine, two by Douglas, and one by Rocco, and Douglas had learned to develop domestic instincts he'd never had to develop with Elizabeth. She also had an on-again, off-again affairs with semi-retired actor Kumar, who divided his time between Los Angeles, Mumbai and South Carolina.

She was in her late 30s now, and the household functioned well, with Antoine as the general 'dad' figure, Douglas as the domestic support, and occasional help from maids and cooks. But it was her household, her rules, and everyone knew it.

Elizabeth was still owned by Broadus, having been bred four more times by her Master. Broadus had also been breeding his secretary, Betty, and Elizabeth was having to adjust to the reality of having a husband who was now openly keeping a second family. Broadus had found Elizabeth's eldest daughter, Emily, a job as a maid with an Arabic couple who were friends of his, members of the fabulously wealthy Al-Assaf clan, in Paris. Aaron was dating a much older Black woman, Bernice Robinson. And Katie, the youngest, had recently married the strong, stern, silent elder of the domino games, Curtis. But all of their sexuality had developed from what they saw -- being submissive and surrendering was the right option, and white inferiority was the natural counterpart to Black supremacy.

Meanwhile, Kendall was the Sheikh's favored concubine, well bred and well cared for. Faith, meanwhile, served as breeding stock for her owner as well, her mind and philosophy gradually warped by extended years servicing an open jihadist.