Dark Perception: The Corde Noire Series (35 page)

* * *

Carl was staring up at Nathan’s
collection of old chains, collars, and shackles when Melinda walked
in through the penthouse double doors. She had hurriedly dressed in
a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved turtleneck Nathan had selected
in order to hide her bruises. As Nathan led her into his penthouse,
Carl noticed their intertwined hands.

“
That’s some sick shit,
Nate.” Carl pointed to the rusted relics on the wall.

Nathan let go of Melinda’s hand. “They
were found when I was doing renovations to the
building.”

“
Then why put them on your
living room wall?”

“
To preserve them,” Nathan
coolly replied.

“
Or perhaps you enjoy
lookin’ at things like that. Might make some people suspect you’re
into that shit.” Carl turned to Melinda. “Nate told me you were
under the weather, Melinda, but I hope you’ll forgive my intrusion.
I’ve heard so many good things about you from Jimmy that I wanted
to test your gifts myself.” He took her hand.

Melinda noticed how Carl’s eyes
spotted the bruises on her wrist. She quickly pulled her hand away,
acutely aware of Nathan’s hovering.

“
Jack exaggerates, Mr.
Bordonaro. Surely you already know your godson has the gift as
well. He would have been the better psychic to consult with. My
abilities are rather limited.”

Carl observed her through his
black-rimmed glasses. “Yeah, Jimmy has had the dark perception
since he was a kid. He got it from Denise.”

Melinda’s jaw dropped slightly. “How
did you know it was called—?”

Carl waved to the sofa for Melinda to
have a seat. “Denise was always tellin’ us the future when we were
young.” Carl grinned as Melinda slowly sank into the white leather
cushion. “She was pretty good at it, too, but not as good as
Jimmy.” He took a seat next to her and then looked up at Nathan.
“Nate, why don’t you get me and Melinda somethin’ to
drink?”

Nathan’s irate eyes shot to Melinda.
“What would you like, darling?”

“
Coffee, please.” She
smiled demurely. “I didn’t get my coffee this morning,” she
added.

“
A mornin’ without coffee
is like torture to me,” Carl chimed in. “Make that two coffees,” he
said to Nathan. “I take mine with two sugars.”

Nathan gave a perturbed smirk and
strutted toward the kitchen.

Melinda watched him walk away and felt
the tension she had been carrying in her shoulders ease.

“
So,” Carl began. “I was
wonderin’ if you could tell me about Nate’s Market Street deal. Do
you think it’s a good investment?”

Melinda pondered the man’s round face
and pasty complexion, trying to detect what he was really up to.
Then an image of Jack popped into her head. He was standing next to
Carl, nodding reassuringly. Melinda’s eyes searched Carl’s and he
gave her playful wink.

“
Ah, Market Street?” she
said with a knowing grin. “Yes, it’s going to be a very lucrative
investment for all involved. I think Mrs. Becnel would benefit
greatly from signing on with Nathan.”

Carl eased back on the sofa. “Did you
hear that, Nate? Your girl thinks Market Place is goin’ to make us
all rich.”

Melinda noted how Nathan was keeping
an eye on her from behind the breakfast bar. “I always knew it
would,” he remarked.

“
That’s why you hired this
lovely lady, isn’t it, my friend?” Carl went on. “You wanted to
have a personal psychic.”

Nathan began filling the coffeemaker
with an aromatic blend of ground beans. “Can you blame me, Carl?
You know I never like to leave anything to chance. Melinda has been
my good luck charm with this deal.”

“
And your very special
friend, too,” Carl proposed.

Nathan peered up from the coffeemaker.
“Can you blame me? She’s a beautiful woman. Any man would want to
possess her.”

Melinda cringed as he spoke the
words.

“
Yes, you do tend to have a
rather discernin’ eye when it comes to the ladies.” Carl heartily
chuckled as he stood from the sofa. “I remember when you were with
Julie. I thought she was the perfect match for you, and then I
heard it was all over. I was real surprised by that.”

Nathan’s face fell and he snatched up
the coffeepot and went to the sink. “Julie turned out to be
something of a disappointment to me.”

Carl took a step toward the kitchen.
“I can imagine. Findin’ out about her and your security guard must
have been a real blow.”

Nathan’s back arched as he switched
off the water. “Did she tell you that?”

“
Yeah. Right before she
disappeared, she came to me wantin’ protection from
you.”

Nathan set the coffeepot on the
counter beside him and slowly faced Carl. “She never needed
protection from me.”

“
That’s not what I heard,
Nate.” Carl glanced back at the instruments of torture on Nathan’s
wall. “She told me quite a bit about you … and all about your
interests.”

Goosebumps broke out on Melinda’s
arms. “You said she was living with her mother in Philadelphia,
Nathan.”

Carl turned back to her, smirking.
“‘Her mother in Philadelphia’? Julie was a runaway, Melinda. Sal
Cuccia introduced Nate to her about two years ago. She was Sal’s
girlfriend until your Nate stole her away.” He eyed Nathan. “She
was very skilled at pleasin’ men, wasn’t she, Nate? Sal’s always
wondered what you did to her.”

Nathan rested his hip against the sink
and folded his arms over his chest. “I didn’t do anything to Julie.
She left me and I haven’t heard from her since.”

“
Left you?” Carl made a
disquieting tsk-tsk sound. “Nobody just leaves you, Nate. I know
all about you, my friend. I did a lot of diggin’ into your past
when we first met. I know about the girls your stepfather had to
pay off to keep your little hobby under wraps, and about the
restraining orders your ex-wife has out on you. Why do you think
I’ve done business with you all these years? I had enough shit on
you to make sure you stayed honest with me.” Carl turned to
Melinda. “When Jimmy called me yesterday and told me what you had
been doin’ to this girl, I decided it was time to pay the two of
you a visit.”

“
You’ve been misinformed,
Carl,” Nathan stoically maintained. “I’ve done nothing to Melinda
that she didn’t consent to. And you can tell Sal I never laid a
finger on Julie.”

“
You know, I told Sal the
same thing, but go figure … he didn’t believe me.” Carl tossed up
his chubby hands. “He even went so far as to do a little snooping
in that storage facility you have north of the lake.” A slow grin
rose on Carl’s pasty face. “And do you know what he
found?”

Melinda’s eyes went back and forth
between Carl and Nathan.

“
Nothing,” Nathan announced
with a satisfied smile. “Sal found nothing there, Carl.”

“
He found a little more
than that, Nate, and you know it.” Carl chuckled while lowering his
gaze to the floor. “Now, I’d like to handle this real civil-like.
Sal insists I find out where Julie is. I wouldn’t wanna have to
force you to tell me what you know, but if you don’t cooperate, I
won’t have much choice, will I?”

Nathan’s face remained placid as his
eyes glared at Carl. “You can’t touch me, Carl. You know who I am.
I would be missed. Questions would come up and fingers would
eventually point to you.”

“
Nate, don’t ever threaten
me.” Carl’s voice sounded as deadly as a cobra’s bite. “You’re not
protected just because you’re a congressman’s son. This is
N’awlins, baby, and we’ve got our own way of doin’
things.”

“
What are you going to do
to me, Carl? Beat me until I talk?” Nathan sneered as he strolled
out from the kitchen. “If you know me, as you say, then you know
that won’t work.”

Carl waddled toward the front doors.
“Perhaps not, but it might make Sal feel a whole lot better.” He
reached the entrance and pulled open the double doors.

Standing right outside with a Smith
and Wesson .9mm pistol in his hand was Phil, the security
guard.

“
Take him to the car,” Carl
ordered.

Melinda stared dumbfounded at the
muscular security guard. “But he works for Nathan.”

Carl turned to her, smiling. “Nah, he
works for me. I wanted to get someone inside Nate’s operations
after Julie disappeared. I put Phil at my fitness club and told him
to get close to Nate. Turned out better than I
expected.”

Phil strode into the room. “When I
heard you and Nathan on the intercom this morning, I called Mr.
Bordonaro right away. I knew what was going on.”

Carl went up to Melinda. “Did he hurt
you?” He took her hands and inspected her wrists.

Melinda fought to overcome her
shaking. “No, I’m fine.”

Carl patted her shoulder. “I called
Jimmy when I got here. He’s comin’ to get you.”

Tears began to cloud her vision.
“Jack? He’s coming for me?”

“
Are you kiddin’? The kid’s
nuts about ya.”

“
You’re mine, Melinda!”
Nathan shouted, barreling toward her. “You’ll always be mine, no
matter what.”

Phil grabbed Nathan’s shoulder as he
jammed the gun into his side. “We’re gonna do this nice and easy,
Mr. Cole.”

Melinda’s trembling got worse as Phil
pushed Nathan out the penthouse doors. Once he was gone, she took
in big gulps of air and then collapsed on the sofa.

Carl took a seat next to her and
patted her hand. “He won’t hurt you anymore, I promise.”

Her quivering began to ease. “What are
you going to do to him?”

“
Does it
matter?”

“
It matters to
me.”

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.”