Slow Release (Ebony and Ivory Book 1)

by Steele, Suzanne

  “Isn’t it funny how fate intervenes at the most opportune times,” she gloated.

  “I’m still not convinced you’re half-sisters.”

  “Why would I lie about something like that?!” I found it humorous how Kiara was behaving like she was angry. I’m sure it was all just part of her act.

  “Because you get off on stirring shit up; we both know this is right up your alley.”

  “I have no problem with providing a DNA sample. I have no doubt she and I are blood related.”

  “Good,” I answered, pulling out the swab my personal doctor provided. She took it from my hand and swabbed the inside of her cheek as if this wasn’t the first time she’d been subjected to this sort of thing. She handed it back to me, and I tucked it safely away into the container provided before putting it inside my jacket pocket. It was best to deal with women like her immediately and, if possible, when they were agreeable. I knew if I let her out of my sight, she would just try to play games with me. Now, the only question was where the father was. I wanted to know if he was the one threatening Skye.

  “So, just where is daddy dearest and, even more importantly, what’s the story on him after he abandoned his wife and kids?”

  “I think you’re being just a tad bit dramatic, Damon.” She cocked her head as she eyed me. “It’s understandable how the ladies tend to fall for you. You are a very handsome man.”

  “If this is your way of hitting on me, understand it’s never going to happen.” I wondered why she chose to veer so far off the issue at hand. What the hell did my looks have to do with anything?

  “I wouldn’t be interested in you anyway. You’re a little too alpha for me. I like my men a little more biddable.”

  “I never would have guessed.” I rolled my eyes at her, getting more and more annoyed that she wasn’t answering my questions.

  “Daddy wanted a better life. I can’t say I blame him for leaving Haiti and the poverty-stricken life he suffered there.”

  “I get that. What I don’t get is how a man can abandon his wife and kids, leaving them to endure that level of poverty on their own.”

  “In our family, mother holds the purse strings, and she wasn’t about to pay for daddy’s past mistakes. Daddy is well aware of who wears the pants in their relationship.”

  “So, what did he change his name to?” All I needed was a name. With that and her DNA, I would know where the guy bought his boxers by the time Marcus finished getting the down low on him.

  “Daddy changed his name to Jack Baptist.”

  “How ironic. Why didn’t he just go with John? I assume he changed it in order to hide from the family he abandoned.”

  “I don’t think you need to be such a smart ass. His first and last name just fit his personality, and they were what he chose. As dramatic as you’re being, you’d think him starting over was a mistake of biblical proportions. It’s not that big of a deal, Damon. Anyway, you got what you came for, so I’d say this little discussion is over. Toodle-oo, and do tell your girlfriend I look forward to having lunch with her.”

  I resisted the urge to laugh out loud because we both knew she would do no such thing. As far as Kiara was concerned, there was nothing wrong with her; it was everyone else who had the problem. There would be no love for her half-sister, if that even proved to be true. Kiara would only set up a lunch date to start trouble with Skye or to fish for personal information. If the woman thought I’d allow Skye to have lunch with her alone, she was insane. I didn’t want Skye anywhere near her evil half-sister, but on the off-chance Skye chose to meet with her, I’d make sure I was there as a support system. Even though Skye was a strong, confident woman, she was no match for the treachery Kiara was capable of unleashing. Skye was a good person through and through. Her half-sister, on the other hand, was evil and rotten to the core. No amount of reaching out to connect with her was going to change her innate malicious nature.

  I had what I came for and felt like I was one step closer to finding out the identity of Skye’s stalker. I doubted it was her father because I honestly didn’t believe he could pull something of this magnitude off. If what Kiara said was true, the man wouldn’t be able to get out from under his controlling wife’s thumb long enough to stalk my girlfriend. Also, if Kiara’s mother controlled the finances, Skye’s father wouldn’t have access to the kind of money it took to pull off a scheme like this. It takes a number of things to stalk the object of one’s obsession. You need to have money, connections, and the freedom to manipulate your own schedule. I was still inclined to believe that whoever was harassing my girlfriend was an enemy of mine, not hers. She just happened to get caught in the crosshairs of a very sick individual.

  Skye

  I didn’t like Damon going to lunch with Kiara alone for a couple of reasons. One reason was that I was jealous, not because I thought he was in any way attracted to her, but because I hated the thought of anyone seeing them together. The last thing I wanted was people thinking Damon was back on the market. There was also a part of me that was scared Kiara was plotting something against Damon. One thing he did have going for him was his street smarts, and I’m sure he would need them when he dealt with her because she loved stirring shit up. She was as addicted to drama as a junkie was to drugs; the only difference was her drug of choice. Fucking up peoples’ lives and relationships was a form of entertainment to her. I cringed at the thought of being her half-sister. We were as different as night and day, and I found myself hoping Damon got the swab of DNA he had gone for. Hopefully, it would reveal we were not blood relatives because if it turned out otherwise, I knew she would use the results as an excuse to insert herself into my life simply because she knew I didn’t want to be around her. I wondered about people like her, people who enjoyed the discomfort and downfall of others. They had to have psychological issues to enjoy hurting others so much, feeding their need to cause chaos and catering to their emotionally sadistic tendencies.

  There was also the issue of possibly having to face an estranged father I believed I would never see again. How was I supposed to wrap my brain around reconnecting with him when he abandoned us with no thought? If Kiara truly was my half-sister, then that meant my father wrote us off to start a new life with his new family, and that wasn’t an easy concept for me to understand.

  I looked up to see Damon coming through the door.

  “What, you’re not stalking me today?”

  “I’m always keeping an eye on you.”

  “Did you get what you went for?”

  “Sure did, and I dropped it off at the doc’s on the way back.”

  “Do you think she’s telling the truth, Damon?”

  “As much as I want it to be a lie, I don’t think it is. She’s the type who loves being the bearer of bad news, and there isn’t anything she would love more than to rub your face in the fact that she has something you don’t—a father.”

  “Why does she hate me so much?”

  “She’s jealous. A lot of models are insecure, no matter how beautiful they are or how much work they get. They are in constant fear of losing it to the next it girl. You are the newest it girl, and that scares the hell out of her.”

  “Those things don’t last. Things like money, power, and beauty, they fade with time. The things that matter are the bonds we forge, not how famous or how rich we are.”

  “That’s why I love you. You’re not just beautiful; you’re smart and insightful.”

  “Well, you have to be able to think things through when you come from a background like mine. If you don’t, it will change you, and I don’t mean for the better.”

  “Honey, you’re more woman than Kiara could even think about being. On another note, you’re going to have to prepare yourself that your stalker could be your estranged father.”

  “Do you think he is?”

  “No, but that doesn’t change the fact that he could be.”

  “If he married Kiara’s mother for money, it would give him access to
the funds he’d need to pull it off.”

  “Oh, she was quick to inform me that her mother was the one holding the purse strings in that family.”

  “Why am I not surprised? Like mother like daughter, huh? I’m sure her mother is a piece of work too.”

  “Well, let’s determine if there is a biological connection first, and then we’ll go from there.”

  “I’m on pins and needles, just dying to know,” I sarcastically told him.

  “I just know you are. Regardless of what the outcome is, I’m here for you, Skye.”

  “You better be. I’m in too deep now. I may need someone to pull me out of this muck and mire. To say I’m in unfamiliar territory is a vast understatement. I am so far out of my league I don’t know where to begin to make sense of any of this mess.”

  “You don’t have to, baby. That’s why I’m here.”

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Skye

  Damon opted for a quiet dinner at home, but even as lovely as the setting was, I could sense something was on his mind.

  “Okay, spill it. What’s up?” Much to my surprise, his response was immediate.

  “Jerome seems to think I should allow you to be used as bait to catch your stalker.”

  “Allow me?”

  “I’m standing my ground on this one. Yes, allow.”

  “I know I’ve said it before, Damon, but you’re incorrigible.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I am, and you are not going to change me.” I watched as he neatly folded his linen napkin. He placed it on the table, and I could tell he was getting ready to say something serious.

  “Talking to Jerome spurred me to do some research. I wanted a clearer understanding into the psyche of a stalker, and what I found out is troubling at best and downright scary at worst. These guys who stalk convince themselves they have a relationship with their victims. Even if this guy started out with a vendetta against me, he has now escalated and is directing his attentions towards you.”

  “If he’s enamored with me, then why the fantasies about killing me?”

  “I believe he is getting off on making me worry. The problem is that it’s when a stalker is rejected that things start to go awry. The longer he’s left to his sick demented fantasies, the more he escalates and the more dangerous he becomes. Right now, he hasn’t been able to get to you because you’re always with somebody. This has put me in a difficult position and has forced me to make some hard decisions. I can’t, with a clear conscience, allow you to be used as bait which, in turn, is going to make him escalate.”

  Before I answered, I reached over and covered his hand with mine in an attempt to assure him that I understood.

  “You’re taking this on like it’s your responsibility.”

  “You are my responsibility.”

  “Okay, maybe I need to reword things. You are making his psychotic behavior your responsibility. It isn’t your fault that he’s behaving the way he is.”

  “I don’t know that, Skye. I’ve been pretty cutthroat in my business practices.”

  “No, you’ve been shrewd. There’s a difference. You haven’t stolen accounts, nor have you lied to women and told them you would give them jobs in return for sexual favors. If anything, you’ve been brutally candid. If someone mistook your brusque mannerisms for betrayal or dirty dealings, that’s their altered perception.”

  “That’s more than likely the problem, Skye. Whoever this is probably saw my everyday behavior as a personal attack towards him.”

  “I think you and Jerome need to be asking yourselves some different questions to find this guy. You need to go back over the last few years and think about who you’ve hurt, even if you didn’t intend to hurt them. Look at things like careers that haven’t gone the way the model anticipated, agents who lost a model to you, or other things like that. Whoever this is, it’s someone who either feels betrayed by you or has lost something that meant a lot to them.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Because they’re targeting your emotions. It must be someone who wants to cause you deep emotional pain. If it was just a business deal gone bad, they would be trying to hurt you financially. This is someone who wants to hurt you and then watch you live with the pain they inflict. That tells me you took something that meant much more to them than money.”

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Damon

  I left Skye to get ready for finishing off a quiet evening at home with me. Maybe we’d watch a movie if it was possible to get through one evening with no outside drama. While she was changing into something more comfortable, I would take the time to check in with Marcus.

  I opened the basement door and made my way down to the apartment I had especially set up for Marcus. With all the technology it had, it was a geek’s dream come true. He teased me at times, telling me I would never be able to get rid of him now. With all the skills I had access to that he spent years honing, I didn’t want him to go anywhere anyway.

  “What’s up, boss? I was just getting ready to call you.”

  “The mark of a good boss is being able to sync with his employees.”

  “I may be able to accuse you of a lot of things, but being a rotten boss is not one of them.”

  “I’m glad to know I have your mark of approval.”

  “How could I ever say otherwise?” He swept his arms through the air in a dramatic manner as he continued, “You have given me paradise.”

  “Good, maybe you can repay me by giving me some answers to this chaos Skye and I have had dumped in our laps.”

  “Well, I just got the results of the DNA testing back from the doctor, so we’ll get that out of the way first. Jacque Baptiste’, aka Jack Baptist, is definitely Skye’s estranged dad. He came over to the good ole USA and got a job bussing tables at a local country club where he met Kiara’s mother. Nine months later, she gave birth to the daughter of the devil, as you two say. It looks like he led a double life for a while, going back and forth from the US to Haiti, before he finally decided to stay here for good with Kiara’s mother.”

  “What in the hell would a woman with that kind of social standing and money see in a guy like that?”

  “Don’t know, boss. Maybe daddy’s got game.” I laughed when he waggled his eyebrows.

  “Anyway… evidently, after remarrying, his new wife wanted him to cut all ties and had him change his name. After that, he just kind of fell off the grid. He doesn’t even work a job. I’m guessing that being his new wife’s bitch is a full-time occupation.”

  “Well, if she’s anything like her daughter, it’s no wonder the poor guy kowtows to her. I’m certain she is just as deceptive as Kiara, and that is fucking dangerous. He’s probably terrorized into obedience.”

  “I’m almost certain this guy is not your stalker. He’s got no motive, and he damn sure doesn’t have the means, not with those two monitoring his every move.”

  “Yeah, makes you wonder if it’s even worth the money to marry a woman like that.”

  I watched as he leaned back and eyed me. I could tell by his demeanor that he was getting ready to say something I wasn’t going to like. “I’m beginning to wonder if the only way you’re going to catch this guy is by letting him think he’s getting close to Skye.”

  “Are you suggesting I use her as bait? Why does everyone insist on putting my woman in danger?”

  “In a sense, yes. Just hear me out. The only thing that’s going to knock this guy off his game is his obsession with your girlfriend. If he thinks he’ll be able to get her in his grasp, it will overshadow his rational thinking, and he’ll make a mistake. What if you let him contact her and have her set up a meeting place? Then, we can swoop in and take him down.”

  “He’s never phoned her.”

  “He will; it’s only a matter of time. He’ll escalate because they always do.”

  “That’s the problem, Marcus. As they escalate, they become more dangerous.”

  Chapter Twenty Seven

 
Damon

  I sat in my chair, smoking a cigar and nursing a bourbon, as I watched Skye sleep in the pale moonlight illuminating the room.

  I had to give it to her. What she said over dinner made sense. This was a vendetta that went far beyond business. I had worked with thousands of models over the years, and I was going to have to go back through my archives to see where they were now. Just the thought of it was overwhelming. Now, this stalker wasn’t just costing me sleep by making me worry about Skye. No, he was costing me time and money as well. This wasn’t the kind of job I could just pawn off on Marcus. I would have to be personally involved because I was the only one who would remember what issues each of the women might have had with me.

  How fucking ironic was it that, for all these years, I went out of my way to be straight up with the women I slept with, and now that I was finally ready to settle down, my past was coming back to haunt me. Go figure.

  At times, the industry I worked in could be a revolving door. So many women had come and gone it was impossible to keep up with them. Unless they ended up doing really well in their career, the memories just didn’t stick. It all became a blur, one model after another and all looking the same, until it was a sea of unknown names and faces. That was the primary reason I hired Skye. It was because she was different that she seared my soul with those blue eyes the second I saw her portfolio.

  Modeling was as much a game of chance as it was about looks or talent. You could have everything that was needed, do all the right things, and still not make it in the industry. Then, there were situations like Skye’s where the first agent who saw you recognized your potential and turned you into a star.

  I knew that if anyone could help me figure out the identity of this guy, it was Marcus. I didn’t just want to know who was doing this; I also wanted to know why. I wanted to make damn sure I didn’t make this mistake again. Maybe Skye was right. Maybe I was trying to rationalize something that couldn’t be rationalized.

  “Hey, what are you still doing awake?” Her sleepy voice informed me she had just woken up.