Paradise: The Masters of The Order Novel Two

by Verne, Jillian

  Jacques Meszaros was nobody’s fool and he had a point. One key fact, a fact that the opposition had conveniently overlooked, could end the lawsuit, but Sabin wasn’t deterred as he engaged Jacques for the umpteenth time.

  “I disagree. Let them dig their own graves. The farther we go with this litigation, the deeper they dig. Then we’ll step it up. By the time I’m through with Joe Lee and Blake…”

  Jacques cut him off. “You’re letting this get too personal, brother.”

  “It is personal, Jacques, damn personal. The day they hurt Lily, they made it personal. That bastard and his bastard son called down the thunder and now they’re in for a real shit storm.”

  Reminding Jacques of what happened to Lily always tipped the scales in Sabin’s favor. Both of them were hard wired to protect the people they cared about and they both cared about her. Were duty bound by the honor code of the Order to care about her actually. Lily was the innocent victim in their war with the Hartnells. Hell, Lily was an innocent victim. Period.

  “I’ve got your back, Sabin, in everything, but you don’t always have to be the champion.”

  Really?

  Sabin didn’t see it that way. It was too easy for people to ignore the evil in the world, wrap themselves in their sugarcoated illusions and pretend the boogieman would magically go away. Somebody had to fight the good fight. Somebody had to stand up. And his mama raised him to be one of those somebodies.

  That’s why he launched his crusade against the oil industry. “Gonna save the planet,” had become his mantra and the harder those fat cats down in Texas fought him, the harder he fought back. In the beginning, it wasn’t personal, only his brand of fun and games, but when Blake Hartnell threatened Lily, it became more than personal.

  It became a war.

  Jacques’s voice broke the trail of his thoughts. “We’re revisiting this plan after tomorrow’s meeting,” he begrudgingly agreed, “but don’t lose sight of the big picture here, Sabin. The longer we dawdle in litigation, the longer operations are shut down. Getting the New Mexico facility up and running is the best revenge.”

  “I want more than revenge, Jacques. A judgment in our favor. A smear campaign in the press. Their company in bankruptcy. I’m gonna take it all from them. Mark my words, the Hartnells will have nothing, do you hear me, nothing, when I’m through.”

  “And what will you have then, Sabin?”

  Well that question was unexpected. Not.

  Of course Jacques would pull the papa routine. There was genuine concern in his voice, but Sabin was in no mood to have this conversation again. So what if he hadn’t found his paradise the way Jacques had. He wasn’t looking for love. He already had more than his share of people to take care of and, damnation if no one believed this, he did not need someone to take care of him. He was doing just fine on his own, thank y’all very much.

  “I’ll have everything I need, Jacques,” Sabin said, shutting down the discussion of his love life or lack thereof.

  “That’s exactly what worries me, brother. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  After he hung up, Sabin turned back to the business at hand.

  “Alice, can you bring Rosehill’s files….”

  Before he finished the sentence, a manila folder appeared in his sight line as if his assistant had been standing there the entire time.

  Sabin opened the private investigator’s file and scanned its contents. Big cigars, overstuffed shirts, everybody sucking off the Hartnell tit. Nothing he didn’t already know about Buddy Rae Simmons and his partners. In fact, he could add a few things his PI had missed. These men were nothing more than dirty deeds plotted in back rooms cloaked behind the cigar smoke of southern society.

  “Anything else?”

  “One more, sir.” Alice handed him another folder marked, Doctor Marcus Raffle. “Oh and the lead associate will be Mr. Alex Girardi, but we don’t have a file on him yet.”

  “I thought that new partner, Brad Somebody, was handling this.”

  “It appears that he’s been replaced. Mr. Rosehill said he will get you a file on Mr. Girardi as soon as he can, but Mr. Simmons only notified us of the change an hour ago. He said there was an illness.”

  Sabin raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Change lead counsel two hours before the first show down?”

  “Apparently.”

  “I don’t think so, Alice. We're talkin' about Buddy Rae Simmons here. If that man's mouth is movin', he's lyin'.”

  Alice’s cheeks flamed when she recognized her naiveté. “I’ll call Mr. Rosehill and tell him you would like to expedite his investigation of Mr. Girardi.”

  “Thank you, Alice.”

  Sabin was tempted to call Alice “Moneypenny” like he usually did, but he swallowed the joke. She was in no mood to flirt. Alice held herself to very high standards and even though her quick read of the situation impressed him, she was annoyed with herself at having missed the strategic ruse.

  The men he was dealing with may be dirty, but that didn’t mean they were stupid. Staying one step ahead of them was a challenge, even for him, and Sabin combed his thoughts for the reason they’d made this supposed last minute change. It certainly wasn’t because Brad Somebody had the flu. There was a motive, one that was formulated long before today, and it wasn’t a good one.

  Alice interrupted his thoughts. “The car arrives in one hour. I called Aeron and told him to be here twenty minutes ago.”

  “Then he should make it before the car arrives.”

  “Precisely.”

  Alice’s humor was still absent and that wasn’t okay. Sabin adored the female smile. They were far too rare and he took every feminine frown as a personal challenge.

  He leaned forward and peered at Alice over steepled fingers. “The timing gives us a few minutes alone. Have anything in mind, Moneypenny?”

  Ah, there it was: the perfect curve of a genuine smile.

  She rolled her eyes. “Good luck, Mr. Timonen.”

  “Luck has nothing to do with it, Alice,” he said with his naughtiest grin and she swayed her hips as she left his office.

  *****

  Alessandra declined the invitation to join the men at lunch - it wasn’t real anyway - and made her way back to her office.

  The first round was a knock out and she was a little proud. Okay, a lot proud. As soon as she closed the door, she threw both fists over her head, dancing around the office like Rocky in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

  Flying high now, her inner geek sang.

  Dancing in stilettos. Very professional, killer, the high-priced lawyer sneered.

  Her too damn repressed psyche may be a joy kill, but she was right. The real fight began this afternoon and round two would be no walk in the park. Preparation was the best offense. Alessandra actually heard the starting bell ring in her head as her fingers ran over the manila files in her Redweld, looking for one in particular.

  “There you are, Mr. Timonen.”

  She’d read this file countless times, could practically recite every word written on the pages, but Sabin Timonen couldn’t be reduced to words on a page and she knew it. Sensed it. This man was an enigma. To get a true read on someone like him, you had to experience him in person.

  The thought made her pause. Why did she find the prospect of meeting Sabin Timonen so intimidating? She wasn’t exactly the type to be intimidated. If she was, she wouldn’t have made it as far as she had. Still, what she knew about Sabin pulled at something she kept hidden from the world.

  Just thinking about him made her feel vulnerable, a feeling she generally loathed. It wasn’t the fact that the man could be a model, or his fortune, or his crusade for a cleaner environment, which despite her role in this litigation, she actually admired.

  It was one inescapably intriguing paragraph in his file.

  Personal Life: Mr. Timonen has been romantically linked to several women, but no one in particular. He belongs to a group who refers to itself as the Order, a secret
society with origins tracing back to Victorian era British aristocracy in Europe and pre-Civil war southern gentry in the United States.

  All known members are men of extraordinary means and talent. Their connections to one another vary, extending into business, politics and philanthropy, but there is one common factor.

  All indulge a BDSM lifestyle.

  Sabin Timonen was a sexual Dominant.

  And the fact that Alessandra struggled to focus on any other fact about him pissed her off.

  *****

  “Christ Almighty, Aeron. I said make them uneasy, not to come dressed like a porn star.”

  Aeron raised his arms to display himself and did a quick spin for Sabin. His brown leather suit was supple and tailored to leave nothing, absolutely nothing, to the imagination. The pants were tight and low, low, low cut. The jacket was fitted and exposed more of his chest than it covered, but it did hide the scars.

  “I’ll have you know, nasty one, that porn stars do not wear Prada. This little ensemble set me back a few more Benjamins than you seem to appreciate. Besides I look awesome even if you can’t handle it.” He threw his long hair over his shoulder with a flick of his head, striking a pose.

  Sabin laughed with a shake of his. “Oh I can handle it and you do look awesome, but wow-wee. Shame we can’t put a hidden camera on you to get a picture of Joe Lee’s reaction.” Then he got all nasty again, “But I insist you put on a shirt.”

  “It was worth a try. I have one in my bag,” Aeron mumbled making no attempt to hide his grin.

  “And make sure it hides the nipple rings.”

  “But the suit was made for mesh.”

  “Opaque, Aeron, and no holes.”

  “Wow, Sabin. You’re seriously uptight about this meeting.” Aeron leaned in so his lips were mere inches from Sabin’s, knowing that Sabin wouldn’t kiss him, but tempting him with the thought. “Anything I can do to ease all that tension?”

  As far as Aeron had ever seen, Sabin didn’t do guys. He had no problem with group scenes, but always went the traditional route for sex, if you could call any of the sexual escapades at his ranch “traditional.” Even if Sabin was bi, he would never kiss Aeron and that’s exactly why Aeron could be himself around Sabin. Sabin was safe. Hell, Sabin had singlehandedly saved his life.

  In a word, Sabin was his Godsend.

  “It’s not about the meeting, Aeron. It’s about who will be at the meeting. I hate these men and the idea of sitting in the same room with them for hours makes me sick. I will never forget the look they put on Lily’s face and as long as that look goes unavenged, I’m eaten alive.”

  “Me too,” Aeron said with a sympathetic thought about his lover.

  Sabin saved Lily too, even if he couldn’t forgive himself for what happened to her. The Order sent her to live on Sabin’s ranch. Sabin was her protector, but no one can protect a person from their nature. Lily was born a victim and Blake Hartnell had preyed upon that weakness, terrorizing her by threatening to rape her if Sabin didn’t end his effort to upend the American oil industry.

  “Lily supports what you’re doing, Sabin. She doesn’t blame you for what happened.”

  Sabin looked right through him. “I blame myself, Aeron. I blame myself,” he said before the weight of his guilt made his head bow.

  *****

  “What in the hell are you doing?”

  Alessandra’s head snapped up from the computer as Maria flew around her desk and started pulling her case files into a pile like she was dealing a deck of cards on rewind.

  “Simmons just called…”

  The meeting. 2:05 p.m. Holy heart failure, Batman!

  “…conference room…five minutes ago.”

  Being able to focus so completely was a good thing, except when it wasn’t.

  Alessandra snapped into action as if she’d been slapped. “I need the ones with the yellow stickers, that legal pad and that one, and my laptop.”

  Despite the frantic grab and go, everything moved in perfect syncopation. Maria had been with her since her first day at the firm and they knew each other’s rhythms.

  “Run until you hit the main reception desk, then stop, breathe, and turn the corner. Slowly. You are not flustered, Alex, not flustered at all,” Maria said like the mama hen she was, smoothing Alessandra’s jacket as she stuffed her swollen feet - damn sadistic spike toes - back into her shoes and took off at a full sprint.

  The neurons fired into overdrive as Alessandra raced down the hallway.

  Celadon carpeting with cream walls. So nineties.

  Brad Callahan’s office. Hate that guy, competitive prick.

  The library. As if anyone under thirty ever uses an actual book.

  Buddy’s office. The reason the firm pays NYC rent to house a bunch of dusty books.

  Main reception. Is everybody impressed with our unobstructed view of the Brooklyn Bridge?

  She turned the corner, gaining speed…

  Bang!

  White papers swirled through the air like snowflakes on steroids.

  Arms flailing.

  Falling backwards.

  An iron grip.

  Navy suit.

  Fuchsia tie.

  Surprised cornflower blue eyes.

  Oh. My. God.

  Sabin Timonen.

  End of Sample.

  Glossary of Foreign Words and Phrases

  Abuela, grandmother (Spanish)

  Abuelo, grandfather (Sp)

  Ami, friend (French)

  Au contraire encore une fois, on the contrary once again (Fr)

  Au contraire, on the contrary (Fr)

  Au natural, in the nude (Fr)

  Basta, enough (Sp)

  Bienvenue, welcome (Fr)

  Bonjour, good day, hello (Fr)

  Bonsoir, good evening (Fr)

  Borracha, borracho, drunk (Sp)

  Buenos días, good day, hello (Sp)

  Caliente, hot (Sp)

  Cariño, sweetheart (Sp)

  Casse-toi, piss off (Fr)

  C’est la vie, that's life (Fr)

  Chica, girl

  Chingate, fuck you (Sp)

  Cómo puedo rechazar, how can I refuse (Sp)

  Connard, idiot (Fr)

  Delicioso, delicious (Sp)

  Demasiado caro, too expensive (Sp)

  Desnudo, nude (Sp)

  Dios mío, my God (Sp)

  Dominant, Dominant (Fr)

  Dónde está, where is it (Sp)

  El Mio, my man (Sp)

  Enorme imbécil, big jerk (Sp)

  Ese demonio, this demon (Sp)

  Esposo, husband (Sp)

  Estupendo, stunning (Sp)

  Et vie avec Isabella est le paradis, and life with Isabella is paradise (Fr)

  Fils de pute, son of a bitch (Fr)

  Fuego, fire (Sp)

  Gilipollas, bastard (Sp)

  Gracias a Dios, thank God (Sp)

  Guapo, handsome (Sp)

  Háblame, talk to me (Sp)

  Hermana, sister (Sp)

  Hermano, brother (Sp)

  Hijo de puta, son of a bitch (Sp)

  Hola, hello (Sp)

  Hombre, man (Sp)

  Hurra, hooray (Sp)

  Idiota, fool (Sp)

  Imposible, impossible (Sp)

  Isla paradisíaca, island paradise (Sp)

  Je suis votre Oncle Jerard, I'm your uncle Jerard (Fr)

  Jefe, boss (Sp)

  Jesucristo, Jesus Christ (Sp) (Sp)

  Joder, fuck (Sp)

  La Ville Lumière, the City of Light, Paris (Fr)

  Listillo, asshole (Sp)

  Lo siento, I'm sorry (Sp)

  Los cojones, bullshit (Sp)

  M regret, I'm sorry (Haitian French)

  Mademoiselle, miss (Fr)

  Madre de Dios, mother of God (Sp)

  Madre de Misericordia, Mother of Mercy (Sp)

  Maintenant, now (Fr)

  Maldita sea, damn it (Sp)

  Méfiez-vous, beware (Fr)
<
br />   Me quema, burn me (Sp)

  Merde, shit (Fr)

  Mi, Mis, Mía, Mío, my (Sp)

  Mierda, shit (Sp)

  Mon Dieu, my God (Fr)

  Mon, my (Fr)

  Monsieur, sir (Fr)

  Muchas gracias, thank you (Sp)

  Mucho mejor, very much (Sp)

  Muy sexy, very sexy (Sp)

  Muy, very (Sp)

  No esperes demasiado, don't wait too long (Sp)

  No es posible, it's not possible (Sp)

  No puedo, I can't (Sp)

  Non, no (Fr)

  Nue, naked (Fr)

  Nunca, never (Sp)

  Oke, okay (Haitian French)

  On verra bien, we'll see (Fr)

  Opa, cheers (Greek)

  Ora pro nobis, pray for us (Latin)

  Otra vez, again (Sp)

  Ou fou, are you crazy (Haitian French)

  Oui, yes (Fr)

  Paradis, paradise (Fr)

  Peligroso, dangerous (Sp)

  Pendejo, asshole (Sp)

  Pequeña, small (Sp)

  Perfecto, perfect (Sp)

  Perfectos juntos, perfect together (Sp)

  Por favor, please (Sp)

  Por supuesto, of course (Sp)

  Qué bien, very good (Sp)

  Qué hice, what did I do (Sp)

  Qué milagro, what a miracle (Sp)

  Qué vergonzoso, how embarrassing (Sp)

  Qué, what (Sp)

  Realmente, really (Sp)

  Sa sa’a ye, what is this (Haitian French)

  Sa’a pa bon, stop (Haitian French)

  Salaud, bastard (Fr)

  Salud, cheers (Sp)

  Salut, hello (Fr)

  Sancta Dei Génetrix, holy mother of God (Latin)

  Sancta Virgo virginum, holy virgin of virgins (Latin)

  Sayonara, goodbye (Japanese)

  Señor, sir (Sp)

  Señora, madam (Sp)

  Sí, yes (Sp)

  Siéntate, sit down (Sp)

  Son perfectos, they are perfect (Sp)

  Su casa es spectacular, your home is spectacular (Sp)

  Te amo, Mami, I love you, Mommy (Sp)

  Te amo, Papi, I love you, Daddy (Sp)

  Ten cuidado, be careful (Sp)

  Tenga misericordia, have mercy (Sp)

  Tía, aunt (Sp)

  Tío, uncle (Sp)

  Très bien fait, well done (Fr)

  Vamos a Barcelona, we're going to Barcelona (Sp)