Sacrifice: Book 3 of The Dark Paradise Trilogy

by Isadora Brown

  Andie was nervous because she knew Vanessa and Jack shared some sort of relationship that Andie knew nothing about. Jack had yet to go into details, and Andie hadn’t wanted to ask him. She didn’t want to come off as the crazy girlfriend who didn’t trust her partner. But at the same time, she wasn’t getting any sort of back story on this woman, and it bothered Andie that Jack had yet to tell her anything.

  “Excuse me?” Lorraine asked as she knocked softly on Andie’s door.

  All her thoughts vanished due to the interruption. Andie glanced up and swallowed her food before saying, “Yeah, come in!”

  Lorraine had smooth, dark skin and even darker eyes. Her short, black hair was pulled up into a bun that was clipped to her head, and her full lips were curled into a smile. The attire at Andie’s business was somewhat casual, so Lorraine had on nice, black jeans and a white and black t-shirt that buttoned up down the front. In her arms was an assortment of flowers – Andie’s favorite flowers, similar to the ones Jack had sent her last week. “I just got this in,” Lorraine told her boss and placed them on the surface of Andie’s desk. All three kinds were there; sunflowers, purple heathers, and roses. “No card saying who it’s from, but they’re addressed to you.”

  “Thank you, Lorraine,” Andie said, offering her a polite smile before tilting her head forward and inhaling the scent.

  Lorraine nodded before heading back out.

  “Oh Jack,” she murmured, her fingertip caressing a velvet petal that belonged to one of the roses. A delighted smile took over her face, and for a moment, she studied the flowers. The whole Vanessa thing might be disagreeable, but it certainly was bringing out the romantic in him. She was about to call him up to thank him when Lorraine buzzed her.

  “Andie?” the assistant said. “I have a Lucas Burr on line one. Should I patch him through?”

  “Yes,” she replied, and picked up the phone before pressing the appropriate button. “Hello, Andie Shepherd.”

  “Miss Shepherd,” a voice replied. “May I call you Andrea?”

  “Of course.” She wondered why Gabe’s father was calling her out of the blue. “How may I help you?”

  “Well,” he replied, and Andie could detect a slight smirk in his tone, “as it turns out, I am interested in helping you.” He paused here, allowing his words to sink in. “I heard that you recently opened your own animal shelter or whatever it’s called. I wanted to personally congratulate you. Sorry it’s a bit late, but you know, I’m very busy with work and everything.”

  “Oh,” Andie said, genuinely surprised. “Well, thank you very much.”

  “Of course, of course,” Burr conceded. “So anyways, the reason I called you is this: I heard you are having an annual pet day or something like that at your shelter, and I was interested in attending.”

  “Really?” Andie said in sincere curiosity. Now this was a surprising turn of events. “Oh, well it’s this weekend, Saturday, and it goes from nine o’clock in the morning all the way until six at night. There will be food, drinks, entertainment, and of course, pets to look at, interact with, and hopefully adopt.”

  “Right, right,” the man said, and though Andie couldn’t see him, she was certain he was waving his hand dismissively. “I don’t like pets… very much, but I do want to help your organization out. What about donations? Do you accept donations?”

  “Yeah, absolutely,” Andie replied, nodding her head though she knew the gesture would go unseen. “Anything you can donate would really help us out.”

  “Good,” Burr said. “Well, I should get going. I have a business meeting with some colleagues at the Four Seasons, but expect me at your little pet day thing, okay? I’ll be looking for you.”

  “Absolutely,” Andie said. “I’ll see you there.”

  Once Andie hung up the phone, she pressed her brows together. Well, that was an interesting situation. She frowned when she realized everything he had just told her. He would be coming to her pet day. Jack would be accompanying her there as well. Jack practically hated Lucas Burr, and she wasn’t sure, but she felt as though Burr felt the same way. And, knowing her luck, Vanessa would show up for whatever reason.

  Andie forced herself to stop the negative, though highly ironic thinking. Instead, she leaned forward and smelled her flowers again.

  Saturday would be interesting, if nothing else.

  The first thing that Jack saw when he watched Andie walk through the door was the flowers. His jade green eyes narrowed slightly at them, wondering who the hell had the gall to send his girlfriend a second bouquet of flowers. It wasn’t like no one knew that the two were together. In fact, everyone who read the paper, listened to the radio, collected magazines, went on various blog sites, and even entertainment television shows would show paparazzi-caught clips of them walking out of a restaurant or something. However, as he continued to think on it, he tapped the tip of his chin. Then again, those tabloids had come out, questioning the status of their relationship. Maybe someone thought they had broken up. Well, he would have to remedy that, and he would do so this Saturday, when he accompanied Andie to her first annual Pet Day being held at her shelter.

  When Andie saw Jack, her whole face lit up. “Hey, baby,” she said with a warm smile. She set down the flowers on a desk near the front door before walking over to him and pulling him into a tight hug. Jack’s lips curled up on their own accord as he wrapped his arms around her waist and returned the hug. His head tilted down so he could take in her usual scent – strawberries and vanilla, and there was a very small hint of his own cologne on her, a fact he was quite proud of. “I am so sorry I forgot to call you,” she murmured into his chest, resting her head where it seemed to naturally fit, “but I wanted to tell you…” She tilted her head and looked up at him. “Thank you so much for the flowers. They really brightened my day.”

  “Really?” Jack asked, pushing his brow together and regarding her with an inquiring gaze. “How was work, then? You usually don’t need an assortment of flowers to cheer you up.”

  “I know, I know,” Andie said, nodding her head in agreement as she pulled back slightly. “But I’ve just been stressed about this Saturday. When Melinda and I planned that second Christmas party, we really worked well together. I’m not saying my new assistant isn’t good at her job, but it’s going to take some time to get used to how somebody new works.”

  “If you wanted to borrow Melinda,” Jack began, curling a stray lock of hair behind her ear, “you should’ve told me. I could have lent her out to you for a couple of weeks.”

  “You’re talking about her like she’s some sort of car,” she drawled, looking up at him with those green orbs of hers. He always seemed to lose himself in those eyes of hers. “And anyways, this is my business. I want to do it independent of you, thank you very much.” She paused, before smiling up at him. “But actually, thank you for the offer.” She finally slid out of his grip and sighed. Jack could tell she was exhausted. “I’m going to change into my pajamas before having dinner, all right? I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

  “Do you need any help?” Jack asked, a playful twinkle embedded into his eyes as he watched her retreat up the stairs. He loved watching her body move, knowing full-well it was something he would never tire of. She was someone he would never tire of.

  At that moment, a muffled noise broke through Jack’s thoughts, causing him to turn his body in the direction of the sound. His brow furrowed as he found the noise-making contraption was coming from Andie’s purse, set next to that bouquet of flowers. It must be her phone. Jack toyed with the idea of letting it go to voicemail, but figured that if it was someone affiliated with the whole Saturday event, he should answer it, especially since Andie told him she’d be coming downstairs in a manner of minutes anyways.

  “Hello?” Jack greeted after picking up the phone. Nobody answered. In fact, he would have thought nobody was on the other line if it weren’t for the faint breathing. “Hello?” he tried again, thinking maybe it was an insi
de joke between Andie and one of her office friends, or maybe some sort of joke someone was pulling on her. However, a second afterwards, the caller hung up. Jack pulled the phone away from his ear and stared down at it. It was from an unknown number. This was not…

  “What’s wrong?” Andie asked, walking down the stairs in a plain white wife beater and light blue pajama bottoms filled with red and white apples. Her brow was pushed up, and she looked at him curiously.

  “Your phone was ringing,” he explained, wondering for a moment if she would be mad at him for answering her phone. “I thought it might be one of your employees, calling about Saturday, but instead of answering, I just heard… breathing.”

  “Oh?” Andie asked, but Jack was perceptive enough to see that slight color drained from her face and her body had tensed a bit.

  “Have you been receiving calls like these?” he asked her, following his gut instinct about the situation.

  “A few times, yeah,” Andie replied honestly, nodding her head a couple of times. “I just thought they were wrong numbers or something like that.”

  “I don’t think that’s it,” Jack told her, averting his gaze back to the flowers. Something was nagging him about the flowers, as though maybe the phone calls and the flowers were related somehow. “When did you start receiving the calls?”

  Andie thought for a moment, her eyes rolling up to the manor’s high ceiling, as though she might find the answer up there. “A couple days after the flowers,” she said after a moment.

  “Andie, I need to tell you,” Jack said, cocking his head over at the flowers as he kept contact with her eyes, “I never sent those flowers. I never sent those ones, or the ones from last week.”

  “Then who did?” Andie asked, her eyes wary. “I mean, Jack, I got the first ones at the manor and these ones in my office.”

  “Well, everybody knows that we’re living together,” Jack murmured, placing his hand on his hip. His eyes looked pensive, and Andie knew he was deep in thought. “And people know you run the Sanctuary. It wouldn’t be hard to get you flowers that way. What I’m worried about is that they have your cell phone number. You’ve changed your number since being with me, right?”

  “Of course,” Andie said, crossing her arms over her chest. “Only Reese, Carey and Melinda have my new number. Except, of course, the people I work with, and you.”

  “What about Gabe?” Jack suddenly asked, arching a skeptical brow.

  “Gabe?” Andie questioned doubtfully. “Look, he had a crush on me, but we haven’t seen each other in a while. I’m sure he’s over it.”

  “I’m still going to check him out, And,” Jack told her firmly. “You can never be too sure.”

  “What about Bill?” Andie suddenly asked, running her long fingers through her golden hair. “That journalist. Is he still in jail? And if he is, could he send me flowers despite still being in a cell? And if not, where is he staying?”

  “You think it’s Bill?” Jack asked.

  Andie thought for a moment before a dry look touched her fingers. “Actually, maybe not,” she said flatly. “Like he’d know my three favorite flowers.”

  “I’m still going to look into him,” he murmured, before pulling Andie into his arms.

  What scared him the most was the fact that this may not be retaliation against him in any way. This person–people–might be going after Andie just to go after Andie. As he rested his cheek on her shoulder, he wondered how anybody could even fathom going after her. He was her boyfriend for chrissakes,’ one of the wealthiest people in the country. Was anyone really going to fuck with her? Because if so, they should know that fucking with her meant fucking with him, and if she ended up hurt in any way… Jack’s grip on her tightened. He didn’t even want to think about that. At least… though the actions were startling, at least nobody had tried to harm her… yet. Nobody was physically stalking her. Then again, these were just early stages. He pulled away from her slightly, keeping his hands firmly on her hips. “Are you all right?”

  Jack’s sharp gaze noted that Andie forced what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “Yeah,” she murmured as she nodded a couple of times. “Yeah, I’m fine. It just… I don’t think it’s sunk in yet.” She shrugged lazily. “And maybe it’s just some admirer that won’t go further than this.”

  “Maybe,” Jack conceded softly, but he still saw something he usually never saw in her eyes. Fear.

  And something inside of him told him this was just beginning.

  14

  When Henry left to take care of Piper, Reese turned to look at Ollo. Something had bothered her, something that Henry said. Ollo stared down at her with those oddly-colored eyes of his, waiting for her to get whatever it was off her chest, as though he knew she wanted to open her mouth and discuss something. Instead of seeming wary or even annoyed at the prospect of talking so early in the morning, the look on his face was tender, gentle even.

  “I didn’t have sex with you because I chose a side.” The words sprung from her lips, completely outside her control. There were times when she was nervous and couldn’t find the right things to say, and there were times when she spit up words like a volcano spit up magma, like they were unstoppable and had the power to destroy. She couldn’t exactly be tactful when she needed to get something off of her chest. “I didn’t have sex with you to make things easier for me when I go out at night with Black Wing.”

  “I know.” His voice was still laced with sleep and he offered her his arms, something she could easily fall into and still consider safe. “I know.”

  “I don’t regret what happened between us, Ollo,” she murmured against his chest. She knew she needed to get ready for school but the tug of sleep and the comfort of Ollo’s body were pulling her back into a restful slumber. And after the eventful evening she had last night, she really needed that. “I promise.”

  “I know, darl,” he told her, rubbing her back. “Neither do I.”

  Reese could clearly tell Black Wing–Jack–was distracted. By what, she wasn’t sure, but there was something on his mind that he wasn’t sharing, even though he wasn’t having one of his usually successful nights. After a couple of hours of observing and even shooting her arrows at a couple of street thieves, Reese turned to Black Wing and asked, “Is there anything on your mind that you maybe want to get off your chest?”

  The two were on the roof of a building not tall enough to be a skyscraper but just tall enough to see the majority of Onyx’s skyline. The lights danced across the black sky like meteorites in the cosmos, and it was easy for anyone to become distracted when they had such a unique view of their city before them. However, Reese didn’t think that this was why Jack was thrown off all night. There had to be something else, something more.

  “What do you mean?” he asked in his low, gravelly voice. He continued to stare off at the city but she knew he was looking at her from the corner of his eyes, waiting for some kind of explanation.

  “Well, no offense or anything, but it just seems as though you’re off tonight,” Reese told him honestly. “Your senses are usually sharper, your reaction time is usually faster. Don’t get me wrong; I don’t think anyone else would notice, but I’ve been watching you the past few nights and it just appears as though tonight, something has you flustered. You don’t have to share with me or anything, but I wanted to at least give you the opportunity in case you didn’t really have anyone else to talk to.” Especially if it’s regarding Andie.

  Of course, she didn’t add the last part, but Reese was almost certain it had to do with her strawberry-blonde friend.

  She watched as Jack opened his mouth, only highlighting his pointed cheekbones, and then shut it. His eyes look troubled, and his wings–his velvet black wings–were folded behind his back tightly, as though they, too, were filled with tension, just like the rest of his body.

  “When I was sent here, from Heaven, my job was to guard the city,” he explained, still not looking at her. “I was sent here because I d
idn’t take my position in Heaven seriously, and my father sent me down here, not to punish me but to teach me a lesson. I didn’t understand the difference then, and was bitter at the prospect of being labeled as a guardian rather than a warrior.

  “Regardless, being a guardian granted me power, power I didn’t realize came with the job. Of course, it wasn’t the type of power a warrior is granted, but it is still power nonetheless. Instead of focusing on offensive measures and the attack, being a guardian gives you the power to protect.” Now he turned so his entire body faced her, so she could look into his eyes and see the conflict brewing in his irises. “I have within me so much power, but I’ve never felt so incredibly helpless than when I’m confronted with the fact that I can’t protect everyone, especially the person I love. Sometimes, your best isn’t good enough. Sometimes, things happen that you can’t prevent or change. And I hate it.”

  Reese swallowed, knowing exactly how he felt. She wanted to reassure him but didn’t know what to say. “You have to remember to live,” she told him, Ollo’s words coming out of her mouth. “You have to go on with your life and appreciate the fact that you’re here and that everything, for the moment, is all right.”

  Jack nodded his head and turned back to look at the city, his city. She had never seen him look so stoic before, not even at the parties he always frequented but didn’t seem to particularly enjoy.

  “Sometimes,” he went on, “you’re going to have to choose between what’s right and what’s true to yourself. And when you make that choice, hold on tight and never look back.”