Art of Deception (The Black Diamond Series Book 4)

by D. Camille

  "I've got this Sean," Jordan said before leaving out the door.

  Sean shook his head. "Okay Jordan."

  Sean pulled out his phone and called his wife who answered on the first ring.

  "Hello my love."

  Sean smiled. "Hello beautiful Lily."

  "What's going on?" she asked.

  "I need you to do something for me."

  Lily smiled at Sage and headed out of the room for privacy. "Of course, what is it?"

  "Can you stay at Sage's and spend the afternoon there with her?"

  "What's wrong?"

  Sean laughed. "I'm trying to avoid a homicide."

  Lily laughed. "Is the potential victim Jordan?"

  "Of course."

  "How long should I stay?" Lily asked.

  Sean sighed. "Until he gets home, I'll be there to pick you up."

  "Okay my love. I'm sure you'll tell me what this is all about when we get home."

  "When we get home, talking about Jordan is the last thing we're going to do."

  Lily smiled. "Hmmm, what are we going to do?"

  "I'm going to explore my Goddess' kingdom; climbing her hills and entering her heated valley. Then I'll place her on my throne and allow her to shower me with her precious jewels," he told her softly.

  "This Goddess will sit on the warrior's throne and allow him access to freely roam her kingdom. The warrior will be free to travel deep into the valley to claim his reward."

  Sean smiled. "I love you Lily."

  "I love everything about you Sean, especially the way you take care of me and everyone else. I'll see you later handsome."

  "Yes, you will beautiful. Thank you."

  Sean disconnected the call and smiled. He looked at his watch. He figured if Sage was occupied at home there was no way she could possibly run into Jordan while he was out working his Black Magic on another woman. Thinking about his own wife Sean glanced at his watch again. Jordan had better hurry his ass up.

  *********

  Ray drove Isabelle to her apartment and settled her inside. She kicked off her shoes sitting on the sofa and he joined her before taking her hand.

  "Are you going to be alright?" he asked concerned.

  Isabelle shrugged. "What if they go to the police?"

  "If they were going to the police they would have done that already. They want to see what you're going to do," Ray told her. "If anyone contacts you, call me. Don't talk to anyone about this."

  She nodded slowly.

  "Who else knows this?" Ray asked.

  Isabelle lowered her head. "No one," she answered quietly.

  Ray raised a brow. "Your father and sister?"

  "No," she answered softly. "Isis only knows of the attack."

  "Sean and Jordan?" he asked confused.

  Isabelle shook her head. "No."

  "Why didn't you tell them?"

  She looked into his eyes. "I didn't want to involve them."

  "They would have taken care of you Belle. You shouldn't have gone through this all alone."

  Isabelle squeezed his hand. "Please don't tell them."

  Ray touched her face. "They care about you Isabelle. They would want to know if someone's hurt you."

  "I'm ashamed. I don't want them to look at me differently."

  "They won't. I promise you."

  She closed her eyes then felt Ray's lips on hers. Slowly she wrapped her arms around his neck as he deepened the kiss. Isabelle submitted to the pleasure of his mouth as his strong arms enfolded her. As he devoured her mouth, she forgot about all of her problems. Her focus was this incredible man and how he'd come to her rescue without a moment's hesitation.

  Ray ended the kiss and stared into her eyes. "I'll be back later," he told her. "I need to handle some things."

  Isabelle touched his face. "Thank you."

  "No one will get away with hurting you Belle, believe that."

  She nodded and he stood. "I'll see you soon Isabelle. Lock the door behind me."

  Helping her up he walked to the door and she followed. Ray left the apartment and headed to the security car that was waiting for him. He instructed the driver to take him to the museum. His first order of business was to check the security cameras before paying a visit to Ralph Benson. This dude wanted to smash Isabelle and planned to blackmail her to do it? Oh hell nah...

  *********

  Jordan entered the restaurant where Shana worked and headed straight to the Manager's office. Without knocking, he entered and closed the door before taking a seat. The manager looked up in surprise at the man who had just commandeered his office.

  "May I help you?" he asked.

  "I know that Shana White is here today. I want you to get her and send her in here so I can talk to her," Jordan told him.

  The manager looked confused. "She's with someone in a private room right now."

  Jordan sighed before pulling out his wallet and dropping several large bills on the desk. "Now move."

  Picking up the money, the manager stuffed it in his pocket and scrambled quickly from his chair heading out the door. Jordan leaned back in his chair and waited. He didn't have to wait for long before Shana appeared. She entered the room and gave him a sexy smile. Taking the chair across from him, she crossed her legs, showing him a lot of thigh and breast.

  "Hey Jordan, I knew I'd see you again," she smiled.

  Jordan smiled in return giving her a slow once over with dark eyes that made her smile even more.

  "Hey Shana. I wanted to apologize about that little scene with my wife," he told her.

  "Yeah, she was tripping."

  Jordan laughed. "Yeah, she does that sometimes." He leaned forward giving her a dark penetrating stare. "You know I still want to help you out."

  Her eyes lit up. "Really?"

  Jordan shrugged. "Of course, we go way back."

  "Yeah, we do." She placed a hand on his leg. "If I'd known you'd turn out this handsome and rich, I would have given you some attention in school."

  Jordan smiled as she continued. "I mean I should have known considering how fine your Daddy was."

  Jordan frowned. What the hell? His Daddy? If his father had messed around with Shana, that was something he was sure he did not want to know.

  He smiled again. "What did you need the money for Shana?"

  She shrugged. "Just stuff." She flexed the hand on his thigh.

  "I can still give you the money." His dark eyes held hers. "If you want it…" He licked his lips.

  Shana gave him a look. "Yeah Jordan, I want it."

  He lifted a hand to her face gently caressing her cheek. "If I give you something Shana, I'll expect you to give me something in return," he told her softly.

  "Oh yeah baby, I've got something for you." She moved her hand higher up his leg.

  "You know what I want?" he asked taking the hand that was moving too close to forbidden territory.

  Shana smile naughtily. "You can have whatever you want."

  Jordan smiled wickedly and leaned to whisper in her ear. "I want to know who the hell is putting you up to this."

  Shana's eyes widened before she went to stand; Jordan's hand tightened on hers holding her in place.

  "Where you going baby?" he asked.

  "Let me go Jordan."

  Jordan shook his head. "Nah, not until you give me what I want."

  Shana pulled at her hand again to no avail. She turned angry eyes to him. "What the hell do you want?"

  "Just tell me who told you to come and ask me for money."

  Shana turned to stare at the door.

  "No one is coming in here so the sooner you talk, the sooner you can leave. If you tell me something worthwhile, I may still just give you the money."

  Shana turned back to him. "I don't need your damn money!"

  Jordan looked around the room they were in. "Then why the hell are you serving in a restaurant?"

  Shana laughed. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

  Jordan lifted a brow. "Oh, so y
ou want to play? I'm not that dude Shana."

  Shana sighed. "This would have been so much easier if it would have been Sean."

  "Oh, so your plan was actually to blackmail Sean?"

  Shana leaned back with her hand still being held. "Don't try to think Jordan. Everyone knows Sean is the smart one."

  Jordan smiled. "And everyone knows that I’m the one that kicks ass! Now answer the damn question because we also know that while your appeal included brain, it wasn't the one in your head."

  She smiled. "Sean told you about that huh?"

  Jordan sighed. "Can you even tie your own shoes?" he asked amazed.

  "What?" she asked confused.

  Jordan pulled her closer as the door opened and both looked up as the manager stepped into the room. Jordan frowned at him.

  "Sorry. Shana's father has been waiting and he says he needs to see her right now."

  Shana's eyes widened in fear and Jordan looked from her to the manager.

  "Tell Shana's father to join us," he instructed.

  "No!" Shana yelled. "Tell him I'll call him later."

  Jordan looked at her. "But he needs to see you Shana." He stood holding her hand and pulling her gently from her seat.

  Jordan looked to the manager. "Where is he?"

  The manager looked uncomfortable. "He's in a private room."

  Jordan smiled. "Perfect. Let's go."

  Shana followed along slowly as Jordan pulled her behind him. They entered and Jordan looked at the man sitting in the room. He turned to Shana confused.

  "Milton Martin is your father?"

  ***********

  Ray arrived at the museum and immediately headed to the security office. He knew the placement of the cameras he had set up at the building so one of them had to catch whoever had left the note on Isabelle's car. She had not been at the office that long before she'd left the building this morning so it should be easy to identify who the perpetrator was.

  Ray took a seat at the desk and began typing into the system to pull up the footage. He watched as Isabelle parked her car then entered the building. He continued to watch as the screen jumped and now he was looking at Isabelle's car with the note on her windshield. What the hell, he thought.

  He rewound the tape and still he was seeing the same thing. He frowned and turned to the security agent seated at the desk next to him.

  "Why is footage missing from this morning?" he demanded.

  "There was a brief power outage for about five minutes this morning and everything was shut down," the security explained.

  "A power outage? I haven't heard about any power outages in this area," Ray barked.

  The security shrugged. "Somebody tripped something in the building. Like I said it was like five minutes and then everything was fine."

  Ray jumped up from his chair and headed to see Ralph Benson. At his office Ray knocked on the open door – hard. Ralph jumped as he looked up at Ray.

  "Mr. Parker. How may I help you today?" Ralph smiled.

  Ray entered the office and folded his arms. "Why didn't you alert us that you had a power outage this morning?"

  Ralph leaned back in his seat. "It was a brief thing. Someone tripped something. Not a big thing," he told Ray.

  "Please have a seat Mr. Parker," he invited.

  "No thanks," Ray replied.

  Ralph nodded.

  "Have you seen Dr. Martin today? I noticed that she wasn't in her office," Ray inquired.

  Ralph shook his head. "She was here this morning. Maybe she has meetings off site."

  Ray nodded.

  "Or maybe she was tired after last night and went home to rest?" Ralph said slyly.

  Ray raised a brow. "Are you trying to tell me something?" he asked.

  Ralph shrugged and adjusted his glasses. "Well I guess it's only fair to tell you that Isabelle and I will be seeing more of each other. Last night was just the beginning."

  "Really?" Ray asked.

  Ralph smiled. "Yes, I've noticed that you have some feelings involving her, so I just wanted to tell you man to man."

  Ray laughed. "Man to man?"

  Ralph stood and Ray watched him come around the desk. "Yes Mr. Parker. It's only conceivable that Isabelle would find a man like me more to her liking. We work together and have similar backgrounds and education."

  Ray rubbed his chin. "And Isabelle agrees to this?"

  "Of course."

  Ray nodded. "Okay Ralph. I'll see you soon."

  Ralph smiled. "Have a good day Mr. Parker."

  Ray turned and left the office. As he walked to the waiting car, he knew two things for sure. Someone associated with the museum was connected to the blackmail scheme against Isabelle; and he was going to beat the shit out of Ralph Benson.

  *********

  Milton Martin jumped to his feet as Jordan stared at him.

  "Jordan! What the hell are you doing here?"

  Jordan smiled. "I could ask you the same thing." He turned to Shana. "Is this really your father?"

  "You don't have to tell him anything!" Milton barked.

  Jordan's eyes narrowed. "This is your daughter? What the hell? Does Izzy know this?"

  "To hell with Isabelle!" Shana shouted.

  "Shana!" Milton roared.

  Jordan looked from one to the other. Not again, he thought to himself. Was everyone having illegitimate children in his neighborhood?

  "Daddy doesn't care about Isabelle. He loves me! He only married her mother because she was rich! Isn't that right Daddy?"

  Jordan looked at Milton.

  "Shut up Shana!" Milton yelled. "I knew you couldn't do this! Don't say another damn word!"

  Shana's eyes narrowed at his words. "Why Daddy, you don't want Jordan to know that you put me up to this? That you wanted me to break up Sean's marriage because he didn't want Isabelle and you were embarrassed?"

  "I never told you to go to Jordan. Now see what you've done!"

  Jordan turned to Milton. "How could you do this to your own damn daughter?"

  Milton turned beet red. "I didn't ask her to do anything that she hadn't already done. Besides, Shana knows I've always taken care of her!"

  Shana sneered. "How Daddy? By paying for me to go to school with my own sister and never acknowledging me? By shunning me because I wasn't smart and proper like Isabelle and your precious Isis? I did this to help you Daddy and you still don't appreciate me."

  Jordan turned to Shana. "Why are you working in a restaurant?" he asked confused.

  "Daddy owns this restaurant. I don't work here," Shana snapped.

  "So you two set all this up. It wasn't an accident that you were a server at Sean's party?" he surmised.

  Shana was livid by this point. "Wow Jordan, you finally figured it out! I was supposed to play on Sean's kindness and act like I needed money to get to him. He wouldn't see me so I used you instead."

  Jordan frowned. "You didn't use me," he corrected.

  Shana smirked. "Right Jordan, if your crazy ass wife hadn't shown up then I would have had your money...and you."

  "I was trying to be nice to your ass. I felt sorry for you," Jordan told her.

  "You wanted it Jordan," she said looking at him.

  Jordan smirked. "Now I know for sure you've seen my wife; pretty brown eyes, long dark hair, sexy as hell? Yeah, I thought so."

  "Get out of my restaurant Jordan!" Milton yelled.

  Jordan turned to Milton. "My pleasure." He pointed to Shana. "Stay away from my building."

  He turned back to point at Milton. "Your ass already knows that."

  Jordan headed for the door and Shana called his name. He turned back to her.

  "Tell Isabelle it was a pleasure taking care of Sean for her in school. I know how much she loved him."

  Jordan smiled. "I had no idea that Isabelle loved just about every damn dude in the school."

  He turned and walked out the door and both pair of eyes looked at him with hatred.

  Chapter 5

 
; Trent arrived at the airport and spotted Kent waiting curbside. He pulled over before jumping out of the car to greet his best friend. The two guys hugged and patted each other on the back. They stepped back and looked at each other.

  "Dude look at you, a mustache and a little Mohawk?" Kent said smiling.

  Trent smiled and ran a hand over his own hair. "Me? What's that on your head?" He said referring to his tiny locs. "You got dreads?"

  "They're locs dude," Kent corrected.

  "Uh, aren't they the same thing?" Trent asked.

  Kent shook his head. "Learn your culture dude."

  Trent smirked. "Okay just because you got into a HBCU don't start tripping."

  "Don't hate because I'm a proud black man."

  Trent laughed. "Who's light-skinned with green eyes."

  "Shut up dude," Kent told him grabbing his bag.

  Together they placed Kent's bags in the car and hopped inside. Trent took off merging into the traffic as Kent looked around the car.

  "Nice ride..." he commented

  "Yeah, my brothers are cool."

  "I know they're in the mafia. You can tell me."

  Trent laughed. "My brothers are not in the mafia."

  "Yeah okay," Kent replied and looked at Trent. "Dude are you living in the gym? You all swollen."

  Trent glanced back at him. "Yeah, I spend a lot of time there."

  "But you got a woman now." Kent stared at him. "You are hitting it right?"

  "Uh, personal," Trent warned.

  Kent looked shocked. "Personal? Since when? I know about every girl you've hit."

  Trent looked his way again. "Callie's different."

  Kent rolled his eyes. "I forgot. She's a damn shero."

  Trent laughed loudly. "Yeah, she is."

  "She must be dude. She had your ass at her crib crying like a baby telling her you love her," Kent cracked.

  Trent frowned. "I never said I was crying."

  Kent laughed. "I think...I'm in love with you Callie," he imitated Trent.

  "Do you want me to turn around and put your ass back on a plane?" Trent asked.

  Kent laughed harder. "Lotus was right. Your ass is whipped."

  "Lotus?" Trent asked confused.

  "Yeah, I met her in the airport in Atlanta. Her car was already here when we arrived. She said she'd see you at the party."

  "So what did you think of her?" Trent asked.