Chapter Six

1. “It’s almost that time,” she heard him whisper. Carmen nodded her head, but didn’t respond verbally. His comment was sincere although she knew deep down that he was hurt. They might have renewed their vows, but she still was about to give birth to Jay’s baby. “Are you happy?” he asked. – It was always my plan to have Carmen pregnant with a baby by Jay while still trying to maintain her relationship with Kane. The child symbolizes the everlasting connection they (Carmen and Jay) will have. While it may appear that Jay is somewhat acting as a surrogate for them that was never my intention. It’s just the way the cards fell. In this scene, Kane is bothered by Carmen’s pregnancy. He asks her if she’s happy although he knows she is and he isn’t. His wife’s pregnancy is only a reminder that he is sterile.
2. Before responding, Kane stuck both of his feet into his Timberland boots without bothering to lace them up. – I figured since the setting was New York, it was only right to have Kane putting on Timberland boots versus a different kind of shoe.

Chapter Five

1. Blu wasn’t necessarily ugly, but he had distinctive features. He was extremely tall, approximately six-seven, and had a butterscotch complexion. His large nose was crooked and had been offset by deep, sunken, brown eyes. – This description of the book’s villain and even the storyline between Blu and Kristian was inspired by the Phantom in the Phantom of the Opera. While Jay describes Blu as not being necessarily ugly, I think if someone describes someone as being a “skinny ogre,” (which Jay does in this scene) you get the picture that the person is somewhat grotesque.
2. “We haven’t blessed the food.” – Jay said this when Blu tried to eat a piece of his fruit without praying for his food. This is during their initial meeting. I tried to put little things like this in all my books with Jay so you know he does believe in God even if he isn’t a practicing Christian.
3. 

   justfab.com

   Carmen rolled her eyes at Kane’s timing. She had been waiting on his phone call for several hours, and then he called right when her team was about to start pressuring her into doing a shoe line. – This part of the storyline was thrown in after Kimora Lee Simmons landed the job as President and Creative Director of JustFab, Inc. I figured since Carmen’s fashion career is highly inspired by Kimora, I could throw in some stuff about shoes, too.

1. Carmen looked back inside of the box, spotting a black velvet bag in the upper right-hand corner. – This line is from the scene when Cathy, Carmen’s receptionist, comes in her office with a package. Inside that package is a floor plan of Flame and a black velvet bag filled with diamonds, which were sent from Jay. The whole velvet bag thing came from watching the movie Cradle 2 the Grave with DMX and Gabrielle Union. In the movie, DMX plays Anthony Fait who is stealing diamonds for a Frenchman. When he and his crew go to The Diamond Exchange to steal the diamonds, they find black diamonds in a bag. I don’t know for sure if the bag is velvet, but it looks like it. I figured; if Jay is going to give out diamonds, he might as well put ‘em in a black velvet bag like in the movie.
2. He grabbed her arm, turned her around so that she was facing him, and then gave her stomach a slight caress. – This gesture is made to Carmen by Jay when we’re at the park. Although they aren’t together and Carmen is very much legally married to Kane, she still has this strong connection to Kane. In the book, I tried to have scenes where Jay and Carmen touch each other in some kind of way so the readers can see that there is still an attraction there.

Chapter Two

A brownstone

1. Blue Magic was housed in downtown Brookstone about three blocks away from Flame. It sat on the corner of 34th and Pendleton in a building that favored a brownstone rather than the traditional restaurant. – Most of us has have seen at least one episode of the Cosby show. Typically during an episode, the camera will cut to a shot of the family’s brownstone. I’ve seen this shot plenty of times and always pictured it as the way Blue Magic would look. Take a peek at the shot enclosed.

Takers

2. Rico and Jerome McFadden were his stepson’s best friends. He saw them on a regular basis for four straight years back when they were arrested for fighting, truancy, or selling dope. What he was seeing now was very different from the roughnecks they used to be. In fact, they both looked like executives who were ready for Wall Street. – This line is from the scene where detectives, Kane and Sanders, start investigating Jay. They are outside of Blue Magic, watching as Jay and his men leave after a meeting on the future of the cartel. I think most people picture drug dealers as being dudes on corners who are wearing sweatshirts, jeans, Timberlands, or sneakers. When you think of mobsters, you probably visualize a man in a suit. With Carmen being a fashion designer and a person who styles Jay, I figured it would be good to have him and his men dress alike. Therefore, the idea was born to change everyone’s dress to a more professional look. The movie, American Gangster (2007), shows Frank Lucas (played by Denzel Washington) in the same kind of look. In addition, this is also shown in Takers (2010) except with bank robbers. While I didn’t get my idea from these movies, it is good to see that great minds think alike.

3. “Sometimes, these things take time. There could be three thousand other high school seniors trying to get in. – Carmen makes this statement during dinner to Kristian and Akaila who are waiting to hear back regarding their acceptance to Copperfield University. When I was a senior in high school, I applied to college much later than most people do. I hadn’t heard back from Winthrop so I talked with my guidance counselor about it who told me that the school had probably already picked their freshmen for the year. He then reminded me of all the students across the world who were applying. I thought this experience fit well in this scene since it drew from a real experience.