Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series Read online

  Carl sat back and studied her for a moment. “We found Julie’s things at his storage facility north of the lake. Soon, we’re gonna find out what he did with her.”

  Melinda’s gut twisted in agony, picturing the torture the poor girl had probably endured. “You think she’s dead, don’t you?”

  “But you aren’t.” Carl rose to his feet. “That’s all that matters.”

  “Maddie!” a voice yelled from the hallway outside.

  Melinda sat up and saw Jack running toward her. Before she could get a good look at him, his arms went around her and yanked her up from the sofa.

  She could smell the world outside on his clothes and feel the strength of his arms. For a moment, she believed she was still inside her prison and only dreaming of him holding her. But when he leaned back, Melinda took in his hazel eyes, deep dimples, and bright freckles, and she realized this was no dream.

  “I should have listened to—”

  Jack cut her off with a long kiss.

  “I guess I’ll leave you to it, Jimmy,” Carl’s voice cut in, interrupting them.

  Jack broke away from her lips. “Thanks, Carl. I’ll take care of Maddie from here on out.”

  “I let your momma know how everythin’ turned out.” Carl’s brown eyes shifted to Melinda. “You’re a brave girl, Maddie.”

  After giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, Carl Bordonaro strolled out of the penthouse and quietly shut the front doors behind him.

  “When Carl called me and told me what was going on, I jumped in my car and got here as soon as I could,” Jack whispered, holding her close.

  Melinda smiled at the sound of his voice. Then something he had said registered in her mind.

  “What car?” She stood back from his embrace. “You don’t own a car, Jack.”

  “Actually, I do have a car. Two, in fact.”

  Melinda gaped up at him. It was then she saw his outfit. Dressed in a pair of casual slacks and a pale blue, long-sleeved shirt, he was no longer the frumpy boy she had known. Gone was his five o’clock shadow and disheveled hair. He was the handsome man she had seen at the party, and nothing like her Jack.

  “This may take some getting used to.”

  “I was in a meeting with my mother’s attorneys this morning when Carl called me,” Jack told her. “Hence the outfit.”

  “Why were you meeting with your mother’s attorneys?”

  “After the party, I started thinking about what you said about my needing to grow up. You were right. Lately, I’ve been taking more of an interest in my mother’s business dealings. I want to learn more about what I will have to take over one day.” He gazed about the penthouse and his eyes settled on Nathan’s collection of artifacts on the wall. “I need to get you out of here.”

  When they reached the front doors, Melinda’s fear returned. “You’re not taking me back to my apartment, are you Jack? I can’t go there.”

  He slipped his arm around her, encouraging her to the elevator. “No, Maddie. I’m taking you home with me. I’ve got a new place close to Jackson Square. There’s plenty of room, so you can stay as long as you like.”

  She tucked her head into his shoulder. “Thanks, Jack.”

  He gave her a wary side-glance as they approached the elevator. “That’s a first.”

  “What is?”

  Jack pressed the call button. “You didn’t argue with me.”

  Melinda heard the elevator car rumble upward. “The damsel in distress is never supposed to argue with her knight in shining armor.”

  He grinned, showing off his dimples. “I’m your knight in shining armor?”

  She nodded her head as the silver elevator doors opened. “You are now.”

  * * *

  Jack’s new place was in the historic Pontalba Apartment Buildings surrounding Jackson Square. Built by the Baroness Michaela Pontalba in 1850, they were the oldest continually rented apartment buildings in the United States.

  “My mother keeps the apartment for guests coming to the city.” Jack pushed open a white cypress door. “The city owns most of these apartments and leases them only to their political friends.”

  “I didn’t realize your mother was so well-connected.”

  Jack flipped on the overhead light and a nine-tiered brass chandelier came to life in the eighteen-foot, plaster-inlaid ceiling.

  “All it takes is money to be well-connected, Maddie. I’ve spent years watching my mother rub elbows with every slimy politician in this city.” He dropped his keys on a black cast-iron table by the door.

  Melinda surveyed the hardwood floors and white french windows facing the balcony. Decorated with walls of golden saffron, the smattering of furniture appeared cozy against the sunlight streaming in through the windows. Melinda stepped over to the pale yellow sofa and fingered the plush fabric along the arm.

  “There are two bedrooms.” Jack motioned to a darkened hallway off to the side. “You can have the one on the right. You’ll have your own bathroom.”

  “I’ll have to get my stuff out of that apartment,” she mumbled, and went around the sofa.

  “I’ll make arrangements to get your things. Perhaps you should just take it easy for a while.”

  Melinda plopped down on the sofa. “I’m not some fragile wallflower, Jack. I won’t fall apart because of what he did to me.” She pounded her fist into the sofa cushion. “If anything, I want to kill Nathan Cole.”

  Jack chuckled and sat beside her. “Stand in line.”

  “What do you think Carl is going to do to him?”

  Jack took her hand. “You know what he’ll do, Maddie.”

  “Do we stand by and just let that happen?”

  Jack nodded. “Yes, we do. And if you ask me, it’s no less than he deserves after what he did to you and that girl.”

  “But we don’t know what he did to Julie.”

  “Carl knows. I think he has suspected Nathan for some time. When he called me this morning, he made it very clear you were going to end up like that girl unless we stepped in.” He ran his hand over his face. “My godfather may be many things, but he has never been one to let innocent people suffer.”

  Melinda found it amazing that the man she thought she had known all those years was suddenly so different. For the longest time, she had believed Jack was like a stray dog, hoping for someone to care for him. But the man standing before her was strong and resilient, nothing like the lost street urchin he had once resembled.

  Jack raked his hand through his thick hair. “I should have stopped you from going off with that lunatic from day one. This is all my fault.”

  “No, it’s my fault, Jack. I was so determined to have a certain kind of life, I never thought about the consequences. With Nathan, I only saw a man who could give me what I wanted, and not the kind of man he truly was.”

  Jack tugged her shirtsleeve back, exposing the bruises on her right wrist. He lifted her wrist to his lips and gently kissed it.

  When his warm lips touched her skin, Melinda pulled her hand away, uncomfortable with the feelings his kiss elicited.

  Jack peered into her eyes. The hurt Melinda saw there tore her apart. “I’m sorry. I just need some time to let everything sink in.”

  “I understand, Maddie. I want you to know you can trust me.”

  “I thought I could trust Nathan, and it turned out I couldn’t. I guess I’m just … afraid.”

  He rested his hand on her shoulder. “That’s why you’re going to live here with me. I’m going to take care of you and keep you safe, so you’ll never have to be afraid again.”

  “Are you sure? Maybe we should take some time to think about this. I don’t know if I can be what you want, Jack.” She looked down at the bruises on her wrist. “I’m not the same Maddie you remember.”

  He circled his arms around her. “You’re still my Maddie. Nothing will ever change that. Let’s get you better and then we can tackle the subject of us. When you’re ready, I’m ready, Melinda.”

&nbs
p; Melinda rested her head against his chest. “How can you be so sure I’ll ever be ready?”

  His hand gently rubbed up and down her back. “Because we are meant to be.”

  “Did you see that in your visions?”

  He kissed her forehead. “No, I saw it in my heart.”

  Epilogue

  The summer sun was bearing down on the French Quarter with its relentless rays, making the cobblestones around Jackson Square shimmer in the heat. But Melinda did not feel the steamy air around her; she was too busy taking in the profile of the very attractive man sitting at the small table with her.

  “You keep gawking at that man like that, he’ll run away from you,” Ellie muttered from her table.

  Melinda turned to see her friend’s shocking pink hair being tossed about by a light breeze. “I don’t think he minds, Ellie.”

  Jack focused his hazel eyes on Melinda. “Minds what?”

  “That I stare at you.”

  “I love it when you stare at me, Maddie.”

  Ellie snorted with disgust. “I think I liked you two better when you fought all the time. You were more fun then.”

  Melinda rested her head on Jack’s shoulder. “We haven’t argued since we moved in together two months ago.”

  “Yeah, about that. I think you should wait a little while longer before getting married.” Ellie pointed at the two-carat, princess-cut diamond ring on the third finger of Melinda’s left hand. “Just to make sure you don’t kill each other.”

  Melinda and Jack stared at Ellie in utter disbelief.

  “You were the one who was always pushing us together,” Melinda balked.

  “Yeah, you kept telling me I should chase after Maddie,” Jack griped.

  Ellie gave a deep chortle. “Hell, since when have either one of you ever listened to me?”

  “I can assure you this is right, Ellie.” Jack took Melinda’s hand. “I’m going to marry this woman in September, no matter what.”

  “I hope so,” Melinda confided. “If you don’t, your mother is going to kill you. I think she’s looking forward to our wedding more than we are.”

  “No, my mother’s looking forward to grandchildren.” He looked to Ellie. “Every morning when I walk into the office, she asks me when we’re going to start a family.”

  Ellie grimaced. “I don’t know what’s worse: the idea of Jack having a job or you two breeding.”

  “What’s wrong with us having kids?” Melinda ranted.

  Ellie rolled her blue eyes. “I can’t imagine you two having a baby. Poor kid will probably glow in the dark while channeling Elvis or something equally as frightening.”

  Jack laughed and Melinda heard music in his voice. It had become her favorite sound on earth.

  “Ellie, I think there is no pleasing you,” Jack remarked.

  Ellie surveyed the tourists gathered in Jackson Square. “Yeah, my husband says the same thing.” She glanced back at Jack. “I’m going for coffee. You guys want some?”

  “Black, two sugars for me,” Jack told her.

  Ellie raised her eyebrows to Melinda. “And you?”

  Melinda shook her head. “No, thanks. I’m good.”

  Jack patted her arm. “The coffee keeps her up at night.”

  Ellie’s features darkened with worry. “You still having those nightmares, kiddo?”

  “Every now and then, but they’re not as bad as before,” Melinda admitted.

  Jack put his arm around her. “She’s gonna be just fine.”

  Ellie gave her friend a reassuring smile. “With all the speculation going on in the newspaper about Nathan’s disappearance, it’s no wonder you’re still having nightmares about the man. When his face fades away from the front page of The Times-Picayune, you’ll sleep right as rain again, Melinda.”

  “I know, Ellie.”

  “He probably got knocked off by some jealous boyfriend,” Ellie suggested, walking away.

  As her friend ventured down the cobblestoned street toward Café Du Monde, Melinda posed, “Do you think she knows what Carl did to Nathan?”

  Jack gave her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “We don’t even know what Carl did to Nathan.”

  Melinda traced her fingers along the green silk fabric covering their table. A vision from the past flashed across her mind. “I know what Carl did to him.”

  “How can you possibly know, Maddie?”

  “I picked up something when Nathan took me to the Market Street property. I thought it was someone who had been buried at the site, but it wasn’t the past I saw, it was the future.” She turned to him. “It was Nathan’s body buried in a corner of the property beneath a bed of weeds.”

  “Maddie, that could have been anyone. Besides, you can never see things related to yourself, remember?”

  “If I had paid attention to what I saw in that apartment, Jack, I could have known what he was going to do to me and stopped it.”

  “Maybe what you picked up on was that woman, Julie McNeil. Maybe that misty figure, the music, the voice telling you to run, could have been her trying to communicate with you. Just like what you saw at Market Street could have been someone else trying to warn you about him.”

  Jack’s words made her doubt the certainty that she felt. Was he right? Had she misread the signs?

  Glancing down at the engagement ring on her left hand, Melinda trembled. “Are you sure you want to marry me? I know you said you were willing to wait until we were married to … sleep together. But I’m not sure if I will ever be ready.”

  “Hey, there. None of that, Maddie. I’ve told you before, I’m in no rush. We’ve got all our lives to enjoy each other.”

  She rubbed her damp palms together. “I just wish I could get over what happened to me.”

  “You will. I promise.” Jack rested his hand over hers. “I don’t want you to think about Nathan Cole anymore. He’s behind you.”

  Melinda turned her attention to the crowds around them, and then she saw him. Her breath caught in her throat as the faint shadow from beneath the Pontalba Apartments balconies came into focus.

  A man was leaning against a pole with his arms folded in front of him. He was dressed in a gray suit with a cream-colored tie, and staring at her with intense, dark brown eyes. His thick brown hair was lightly touched with gray, and he had a cruel grin across his thin, red lips.

  “I don’t think Nathan wants me to stop thinking about him.”

  Jack turned to her. “What are you talking about?”

  She kept her eyes glued to the apparition below the balcony. “I can see him. He’s under the balcony in front of us.”

  Jack furrowed his brow and searched the shadows. “I don’t see him.”

  “He’s there, watching me.”

  Nathan Cole nodded at Melinda, and then she heard his velvety voice in her head. You will always be mine.

  “There’s no one there,” Jack insisted. “He’s gone, Maddie. It’s over.”

  She let out an uneasy breath as a shiver slid down her back. “He’s not gone, Jack.” Nathan’s ghostly figure faded away. “And it’s not over. It’s just beginning.”

  The End

  Excerpt from Book 2 in the Corde Noire Series – Dark Attraction

  Coming 5/23/16

  “She’s doing better today, Mr. Reinhardt,” the pretty brunette nurse with the long ponytail said to him.

  How many times had he told her that his last name was Dane, not Reinhardt? Still, she called him by his stepfather’s name. Sebastian’s palms itched to correct the attractive nurse, but he refrained.

  “Has she woken up at all?” he anxiously asked.

  “Yes, she opens her eyes now and then, which is a very good sign. We should have her off that breathing tube in a day or two.”

  He followed her perfect profile. Sebastian thought her almost doll-like in her appearance. Even down to her porcelain skin and petite, almost little girl figure, everything about her reminded him of a doll.

  “Thank you, Sa
m. You’ve been so encouraging these past few days. I thought for a while she wouldn’t make it.”

  “I told you she would make it.” Sam pulled her pouty lips into an attractive smile. “I have a sense about these things.” As if hearing something in the outer hallway, she raised her uncanny blue eyes to the room door. “I’ll be back.”

  She was gone before he could ask any more questions. Sam always did that.

  It was as if she looked through him and not at him whenever he came to visit his mother. What he wouldn’t give to have her see him, to have the pretty little nurse with those amazing blue eyes see him for what he really was. Ah, but that was for another time and place.

  He walked closer to the hospital bed and held his mother’s hand. “I’m here, Mom. You’re doing better. Much better.”

  Then, he felt it. The slightest pressure on his hand, as if she had heard him.

  “That’s it, squeeze my hand, Mom. Let me know you can hear me.”

  This time, her grasp felt stronger and more deliberate.

  Sebastian wanted to shout out for the nurse, but she had told him his mother was getting better. Here was his proof.

  “We’ll get you out of here soon enough, Mom. Before you know it, you’ll be back at on your committees, planning all of your charity events.”

  Another squeeze and Sebastian swore her eyes fluttered.

  His heart soared with relief. It was a small step, but it was progress.

  “Looks like she’s coming out of it,” Sam surmised, entering the room again. She pulled a pen light out of her white jacket pocket and flashed the light in his mother’s eyes.

  His mother frowned.

  “Did you see that?” he demanded. “She frowned when you shined the light in her eyes.”

  Sam shrugged her shoulders, no seeming very impressed. “Like I said, Mr. Reinhardt, she’s waking up.”

  Her dismissive tone made that certain tingle come alive in Sebastian. The one he always got when he discovered a new … project.

  From New Orleans, Alexandrea Weis was raised in the motion picture industry and began writing stories at the age of eight. In college she studied nursing and went on to teach at a local university. After several years in the medical field, she decided to pick up the pen once again and began her first novel, To My Senses. Since that time she has published many novels. Infusing the rich tapestry of her hometown into her award-winning books, she believes that creating vivid characters makes a story memorable.