Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (36 page)

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.”

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.”