by Calinda B
Dana is laughing at us, while Dad and Veronica’s laughter can be heard from the living room. We join the others in the main room and I go right to my father. Andrew isn’t a man of many smiles but when I see him, sitting on the sofa with a grin as big as the moon, my heart is pleased. After Mom died, he lived a solitary life where he avoided feeling too much. Once a heart is broken, even with the pieces glued back together, it stays fragile. Scared.
“You do look tired.” He chuckles. “Nice work last night,” he adds in a whisper when I get closer, and I nod in return, not needing to elaborate.
“I got a new job.” Even though I have no clue what it entails, I’m excited to start.
“Really? You’re not going back to that club, are you?” He readjusts himself in his seat, clearly worried over the type of work I’ve found.
“Nothing like that, Dad. TJ asked me to help at his office,” I squeal in delight.
“Congrats. A real nine-to-five job? You’re going to have to get used to that. My little owl is going to need sunglasses for the daylight,” he teases, and I can hear the sound of Veronica and Dana chuckling around us.
TJ’s arms wrap around my waist. “And a large supply of coffee. I’m thinking of buying a Keurig for the office,” he confides with a small peck on my neck and a squeeze in his arms.
“That’s a good investment. You should keep a large stash of French Vanilla cups on hand to make your employee happy.” A day without French Vanilla coffee is a day waiting for disaster.
“I plan on doing everything I can to keep her happy.”
“Ew, you guys need a room.” Veronica recoils, laughing.
“You guys need to stop with the insinuations,” TJ groans, embarrassed.
I follow with unstoppable giggles. My nerves about tonight, our families getting together, doesn’t help with the giggles. It’s the anxiety getting the best of me.
“Come on, babe, I thought we were a team. Now you’re encouraging them,” TJ groans at me with a touch of humor and sending Veronica into full-on laughing mode. I have to bite on my lip to control myself.
I look at my dad, who’s wearing a huge grin, and Dana behind him with her hand on his shoulder. There’s something magic about tonight. All the years Thomas and Dad wondered how it would be to put our family together, and now, it is happening. I understand Dana’s concerns, but I think she is seeing us as normal people, regardless of what we do when the sun is out. It’s sad that Thomas isn’t here to witness it, but perhaps that was part of his plan. To ensure we all came together so we could grieve, and heal. He was a smart and thoughtful man, after all.
The Diamond Club Website
A Last Letter
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TJ,
If you are reading this letter, it’s because you managed to get your hands on the diamond. Congrats. If you are as stubborn as I am, I bet you didn’t follow the plan I gave you. That’s okay. I gave you a plan to guide you, but I never thought you would use it. You take after me, son.
Before my passing, I wanted to be certain the future of my family was safe from financial issues. The Club has taken care of the transaction, and the money has been transferred to an account for you, Veronica, and your mother.
Thank you for jumping on the wagon. I know it wasn’t how we raised you, but we are all allowed to have secrets. I wish I had shared mine with you sooner, but as you probably know by now, your mother didn’t agree with the thieving lifestyle. Take care of your mother and sister for me.
You’re a good man, Thomas. I’m proud of my son.
I love you.
* * *
The end
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Thank you so much for taking the time to read my novella from The Diamond Club!
All reviews are appreciated.
If you would like to read more from The Diamond Club series, please click on the link below:
The Diamond Club Website
About the Author
Jude Ouvrard is an author who writes from the heart, and reads with passion and devotion. Jude enjoys stories of drama, true love, tattoos, and everything in between. While writing is her therapy, reading is her solace. Life doesn't get better than books and chocolate, and maybe a little bit of shopping.
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A romance lover, Jude writes about love, pain, heartbreak and matters that will challenge your heart. A book can tell an unexpected story, no matter which directions it takes. Jude embraces words that have haunted her for years.
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Jude is a working mom who dedicates her time to a law firm and writing books. She has an energetic superhero son, and a supportive boyfriend of many years. Her family is her rock; she could not survive without them. Born a country girl, she transformed into a city woman who now lives in Montreal, Canada. Although French is her first language, Jude decided to write in English because she liked the challenge.
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"Drama, true love, tattoos...and everything in between!"
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www.judeouvrardauthor.com
www.facebook.com/judeouvrard
Cigar King
The Maji Series
LaVerne Thompson & Phoenix Daniels
Prologue
15 years ago
The divers broke the surface and there was something between them. From the shape, it appeared to be a body. Water dripped off the remnants of ripped water-logged clothing that once covered a person. The men on the boat assisted the divers in getting the body on board. They placed it in a tarp and carefully wrapped it up. The camera was unable to get a clear shot but from the half a leg left, it confirmed it was indeed a person, but unclear at the time if it was male or female.
Ruby and her parents looked at the television screen watching the scene with horror. The reporter on the six o’clock news came on and stated the footage had been taken earlier that morning, and the body pulled out of the river had been identified. Celeste Reid.
“Oh my God!” her mother wailed.
“Jesus,” her father said, already rising and reaching for his phone.
Ruby didn’t stay to hear any more. Instead, she’d run out of the apartment up the backstairs to the family living area. Her father was the chauffer and bodyguard to the Reids. He would have been the last to see Celeste Reid alive, besides the kidnappers. The police had been questioning him almost every day for the last three days, to the point her mother had insisted he get an attorney. They’d tried to keep it from her, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew her father was considered a suspect. She had no idea now that they pulled Mrs. Reid’s dead body out of the river what it would mean for her father. She was terrified for him. But she was also worried about Lucian. He’d need her, his best friend, who wanted to be more.
She had no idea how she’d feel if it were her mother being dragged out of the river. She had to see him, had to be there for him. Even though he was two years older and her family worked for his, they’d always been the best of friends. In the last few months, some of that had changed. At least, on her part. But she knew he’d never see her as anything more than his best friend. She’d never gotten rid of her baby fat, and she wore glasses and had braces. She’d seen the girls he went out with. They looked nothing like her. They could have been models. But right now, she knew he’d want to see her.
She took the back way to his side of the house. No one was in the hallway, and she hoped he’d be in his room. She knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” came a muffled voice from inside.
“It’s me, Ruby.”
He pulled the door open and grabbed her hand, tugging her inside. He quickly shut the door and took her into his arms, crying into her shoulder. All she could do was hold onto him and cry too.
1
Lucian stood unabashedly naked as he inhaled the fresh scent of a morning rain that was typical of Miami in the summer. He looked down at the empty courtyard that cradled the Luxe mosaic pool and tried to remember if he’d had a chance to enjoy it before falli
ng into bed with his sleeping guest. For the life of him, Lucian couldn’t recall what had happened after leaving the fourth bar on his crawl down Ocean Drive.
He shoved his thick dark hair out of his face and rubbed his tired gray eyes. On behalf of his father, he’d travelled to the Sunshine State to handle a labor dispute at their tobacco farm just outside of Miami. However, once all labor issued were resolved, he made sure to indulge in everything that Miami was good for; food, booze, and women. And last night, he’d had his fill of all three. Unfortunately, it was time to put a cap on overindulgence and head back to “The Big Apple.”
Lucian looked longingly down at the clear blue water in the swimming pool one last time before turning away. He entered his posh suite in the luxurious Villa Casa Casuarina.
Villa Casa Casuarina was once the home of the late and beloved Gianni Versace. But after the famous fashion designer’s untimely death, the incredible Miami mansion had been converted into a posh boutique hotel.
With bare feet, Lucian shuffled across the cool marble floor until he was in the bedroom. He yawned, piercing the unusual silence of an ocean front hotel. For a few seconds, he stared down at the busty, young blonde that was sprawled out on the expensive cotton sheets and worked hard to remember her name.
He couldn’t.
But whoever she was, she was definitely a beauty. The sheet had fallen from her creamy skin and was barely covering her tight, round ass while the curve of one large tit, smooshed into the bed, provoking Lucian’s desire. Her full lips were slightly parted as she slept peacefully. Lucian’s cock jerked and tensed. He was seconds away from a hard-on. One more go with his overnight guest would have been ideal. Too bad, he would have to pass. Lucian had a plane to catch. So, instead of obeying his growing cock, he gave the woman a swift smack on the ass.
Instead of waking up, the woman grunted and turned her head opposite Lucian. Another smack on the ass did encourage a startle. She raised up on her elbows and turned in Lucian’s direction. After struggling to focus, she looked up with murky blue irises.
“I gotta catch a flight,” Lucian announced.
“W-what?” Her voice was hoarse, and she seemed a bit disoriented.
“Time to go,” Lucian informed her as he walked around the large California King-sized bed. “Have a good day.”
Once he made it to the doorway of the bathroom, he looked back and observed the blonde as she began to collect her undergarments.
“Oh, excuse me,” Lucian called to her back.
Hell, he still couldn’t remember her name.
Lucian couldn’t help his smile when she turned around and looked at him with a question in her big blue eyes, reminding Lucian just how pretty she was.
“Take your friend with you,” he said, pointing to the pretty, young brunette lying next to her.
2
Ruby turned away from the computer screen and watched as the setting sun turned the skyline of Manhattan red from her office thirty stories up. She never tired of the view, but it couldn’t soothe her. Not today. She’d read the files from the case she’d inherited for the third time and came away with the same sense of both foreboding and excitement.
Todd Croaker, the man being held for the death of Emma Taylor, might very well be innocent. After meeting with him in jail since yesterday, his story convinced her that the man’s proclamation all these weeks of his innocence was the truth. The circumstances were a lot like her father’s. Too much to ignore.
Todd had been with Emma’s family since she was born. He was hired to be her bodyguard since she was a year old. Her father made billions in the tech industry and he didn’t always deal fairly with his acquisitions. The prosecutors claimed Todd was bribed by Mr. Taylor’s rivals to take the girl, something had gone horribly wrong, and the teenager died in the process. The funny thing was he’d been taking Emma to what was supposed to be ballet classes since she was five. And yes, there was a ballet studio at the address where he’d take her, but she’d always been taken there a full forty-five minutes before her actual classes started.
No one seemed to be able to explain why. Or why she was sometimes seen entering the building early but only coming to class on time. It was unclear where else she might have gone in the building, and Todd would only say he took her and stayed or sometimes stepped outside. Yet, that wasn’t quite true. He’d attended her classes and sat with the other parents and nannies. On the day Emma missed class, Todd wasn’t there either. The odd thing about it all, the building was the same place her father used to drop Celeste Reid once or twice a week. The ballet studio took up the third floor, but also ran adult yoga and Pilates classes from the fifth floor just as they’d done fifteen years ago. Celeste had also always been dropped off about forty-five minutes early for her yoga class, and no one seemed able care where she might have been for those first forty-five minutes. Not even her father. On the day Celeste had disappeared, she’d never made it to class…same as Emma.
* * *
During the police investigation on Emma’s case and even according to Ruby’s own private investigator’s report, nothing showed Todd ever having a hint that he was anything other than loyal to the thirteen-year-old Emma. The parallels to her father’s case were uncanny. They’d found five million dollars in a bank account Todd had apparently opened the day of the kidnapping, same with her father. An account he’d had no knowledge of and had never seen before. Todd claimed the same thing.
A shiver raced down Ruby’s spine. If their situations were the same, she had to act fast to make sure what happened to her father didn’t happen to Todd. Her father had died in prison in a suspicious death, one to this day that still hadn’t been solved. He’d been burned in his bed.
She’d tried contacting the lead investigator on Celeste’s case and was shut down. The Chief of Police had a talk with her boss. She’d tried getting a hold of Celeste’s husband. Instead, she’d gotten a response from his attorney to leave the man the hell alone. No one wanted to touch Celeste Reid’s case file. As far as the world was concerned, her killer had been caught and died for it. Even if not all the kidnappers had been caught, the main culprit had been. Her father.
Todd’s case was not considered to be the same, just merely coincidental. The COP had a list of five other cases with similar MOs, the key being none of them involved the same building Celeste and Emma had frequented.
Ruby had one shot, one more desperate thing she could do. She didn’t want to, but a man’s life was at stake. They’d been friends once, even though he’d come to hate her, but that was the hurt of a child. In some ways, she still ached for the children they were. They were both adults now, and she hoped he would at least talk to her. Listen to what she had to say. She remembered the things that he could do, the things he’d told her he’d inherited from his mother. Ruby wondered if Emma might have those same abilities. Were women like them being targeted by someone? Was Lucian himself in any danger? She had no answers but plenty of questions.
Turning away from the view, she continued working for several more hours. Most everyone had left by the time she turned off her light and took the elevator down to the lobby. She wouldn’t put it off any longer; she was going straight to the bar. She’d always known how to find him. His location was always fodder for the media along with his love, or rather, sex life. She’d just never had the nerve to reach out to him but neither had he reached out to her. She would be lying if some part of her wasn’t excited to be able to see him again. She’d missed him, her first crush.
Ruby flagged down a cab and headed for one of the most expensive real estates in the city. She raised one hand to further pull her coat around her neck. It was damn cold and windy. She glanced up at the sign that stood several feet before her: The Cigar King Cigar Club. Taking a deep breath, she pushed the heavy oak doors open and stepped in. She wasn’t sure what to expect, smoke for sure, but not sure what else since she’d never been here or in any kind of place where people were allowed to smoke to this exte
nt. Appalled by cigarettes, she never smoked.
She found herself pleasantly surprised when it wasn’t anywhere near as smoke filled as she thought it would be. Not once did she feel like coughing or gagging. The ventilation system in the room must have been excellent. Several booths ran along the side windows and two sectioned off lounge areas accommodated people who sat in armchairs or on couches, puffing away. The interesting thing and something she hadn’t been expecting, was that there was just as many women as men.
“How many?”
She’d been so engrossed in checking out the place she hadn’t noticed the woman in a red form fitting suit standing before a glass podium. Her lips were covered in a color to match the suit and her smile was wide and welcoming. Then again, it could have been because her platinum blond hair was pulled back away from her face so tightly her face was frozen in that position.
“Ah, just one.”
The woman glanced down at an electronic pad. “Would you like a chair in the lounge area, a booth or the bar?”
“Ah…a booth.”
“This way.”
She followed the hostess to a booth near the back at the window. It was a good place for her to check out the room. It didn’t take her long to realize the place was a lot bigger than she’d first thought. There seemed to be another room, maybe even another floor. She should have just asked to speak to the manager. She knew Lucian managed this place himself. It was the flagship club. The first one of many he’d started and had made quite a success for himself. But for all she knew, he wasn’t on the premises. Didn’t matter. She’d order something to drink and then ask her waiter if he was there and if would he speak to her.