Port City (An Alec Winters Series Book 3) Read online

  Port City

  An Alec Winters Series

  Chariss K. Walker

  An Alec Winters Series:

  Prelude

  Crescent City

  Port City

  Harbor City

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  Copyright © 2017 Chariss K. Walker

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1506018823

  ISBN-13: 978-1506018829

  Contents:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Sneak Peek

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Alec Winters observed the hunting lodge from a safe distance. Somewhere inside the large two-story building, MeChelle DeLaurent held Sabrina Devereux captive. Although DeLaurent was incredibly wealthy, and could’ve had any woman he desired, he wanted Sabrina, the Goddess of Light. He was pompous enough to think he could have anything or anyone he wanted, but he had underestimated Alec.

  DeLaurent, risking a great deal in his abduction venture, didn’t realize who or what he was up against. Alec would make sure that things did not turn out well for Sabrina’s obsessed client who refused to take ‘no’ for an answer.

  It had all started when Sabrina called him earlier in the day. She was in the French Quarter near her condominium, and she was frightened.

  She managed to tell him, “Alec, someone is following me.”

  Then, he heard the struggle as two men grabbed her off the street, forcing her into a car. Hearing her terrified screams, had sent Alec into a tailspin. He wanted to race to her rescue, but he knew that even if he’d been nearby, his supernatural senses would’ve lost the trail in traffic. He could run like the wind, but he couldn’t keep up with a speeding car. He could smell the darkness in evil men, but he couldn’t take the chance that he’d lose the scent over a great distance or in the bowels of New Orleans.

  Logically, he knew that the men who seized Sabrina had sped away to some predetermined location. Believing no one would find her, the men felt safe.

  Alec had loved Sabrina for as long as he could remember. Understandably distraught, he had to put emotion aside. He needed to think and keep his head clear. Before he could figure things out, he was interrupted by a startling revelation.

  “I think I know who took Sabrina,” Vivien Simon calmly said.

  Vivien, a new investigative consultant for the police department, had come to the Carrollton Avenue home earlier. She wasn’t there on police business. She was there to ask permission to visit Catalina Winters at the State Mental Hospital.

  Vivien had seen Catalina’s sketches in the Winters’ police file. Pictures of her protector on the night Buck Winters died. Having had her own experience with the angel-redeemer, Vivien needed to connect with Alec’s sister. More than anything, she desired affirmation.

  When Sabrina’s call ended in frightened screams, Vivien happened to be sitting at the table with him and Cassidy making that very request.

  “What could you know about this?”

  “I was here yesterday trying to get up the courage to talk to you,” Vivien admitted. “When Sabrina left, someone followed her home. I followed him.” Alec and Cassidy were surprised at her confession and remained silent, so Vivien hurried on. “I suspected criminal activity, I have a nose for that sort of thing, and so when the man left her complex, I followed him again. After I got home, I researched the information I had discovered. I started a file if you want to see it. You’ll see that it leads to a concise and logical conclusion: MeChelle DeLaurent is behind this abduction.”

  It was obvious that Vivien already knew more about the Winters family than anyone should. But her prying could wait for another discussion – another time. Alec took a chance; he trusted her.

  In the meantime, DeLaurent attempted to win Sabrina over to his will. He spent the early afternoon in an upstairs study with his guest, leaving the security of the lodge to his trusted bodyguards. Uninterrupted, he was a cordial and impeccable host to the Goddess of Light. Even though he badgered Sabrina for a positive response, he remained calm and polite.

  “Please MeChelle, just let me go. Don’t hold me captive like this. We have been friends for a very long time. Respect my wishes,” Sabrina repeatedly requested.

  “You are my guest, not my prisoner.”

  “Then, why am I not free to leave? I’d like to go home,” Sabrina said.

  “I want to marry you, Sabrina. Surely, that means something to you. Now, that the goddess business is finished, it’s perfect. Now, that I don’t have to share you with others, we can live together or marry. We can live in New York. You’ll love it. There isn’t anyone in that great city that can rival your beauty and charm. Please, at least give me hope that you’ll think about it,” he pleaded.

  “Do you intend to keep me here until I acquiesce to your demands?”

  “I would prefer that you wholeheartedly desire to marry me or at least appreciate what I offer you. Come to New York with me,” DeLaurent replied.

  “MeChelle, I simply cannot,” Sabrina gently replied.

  He reworded the request in various ways, and made more than a dozen offers, but Sabrina refused each time. She grew weary of the struggle, but maintained a perfect demeanor and façade, conducting herself as the Goddess of Light that he knew so very well. He was insistent, unwilling to hear her, and apparently, deaf to her rejections.

  Sabrina never had to ‘put on a face’ with Alec. She never had to pretend or hide her feelings. Rather than the public image of the goddess, she could be herself when with her one true love and his family. After nearly twenty years as an elite escort, she was exhausted from the pretense and outward show. She desired only to live a normal life with Alec. Finally, after hours of his unsubtle beleaguering, she wearily admitted the reasons she could not accept his propositions.

  “I love another MeChelle. I always have and I always will. As kind as you have been over the years, I know that you can respect that reason,” Sabrina softly said. “Life with him is all the life I want, MeChelle.”

  “You would really choose Alec Winters over me?” he asked in astonishment. He’d finally heard Sabrina’s last statement and it galled him that she could be so irrational. She could have the world but she tossed it away. As if what he offered, as if he, was a used tissue.

  Although shocked that MeChelle knew her true love’s name, Sabrina maintained her composure. Her self-control was an admirable and necessary attribute successfully learned from Madam Tabby when trained as an escort.

  “I chose him a long time ago, MeChelle. My heart has always remained faithful to him and him alone.”

  At that point, MeChelle
lost his own self-control. His backbone stiffened and turned to ice. He finally realized that nothing he said made any difference. She wouldn’t give in to him. The knowledge shocked and angered him, pushing him to a ragged edge.

  He had pleaded for hours and still hadn’t gotten anywhere close to the resolution he so desired. She’d adamantly refused every proposal—a home and high society in New York, a trip around the world, a home in Paris, anything she wanted. None of it had been acceptable to the Goddess of Light.

  The anger MeChelle felt turned to blind rage. How can she deny me? How can she choose a pauper – a nobody – like Alec Winters, over me? The reality stung deeply; a fiery jealousy surfaced and consumed him.

  “I should have known you were only a fucking whore,” he bitterly accused before slapping Sabrina hard across the face. “If life with him is all the life you want, then you shall have no life at all. You can share death with your lover instead.”

  As she touched the painful sting from his brutal slap and saw the bright red blood on her hand, Sabrina was frightened. She’d never seen this side of MeChelle. She realized she had unwittingly pushed him over the precipice by professing her love for another.

  Fear gripped her heart. He had known about Alec all along. He’d had her followed, and of course, he knew everything about the Winters family. How could he not? She had spent more and more time with Alec since his return. She had been blind to the possibilities of this. She had hoped that MeChelle would be reasonable. Now, that everything was out on the table, he would not be reasonable or kind. That part of their relationship ended with her final rejection and his cruel slap.

  He wants me to suffer. He wants both of us dead! The thought sent chills through her.

  “Please MeChelle, just let me go. No harm is done at this time. Just let me go,” Sabrina urged, trying with great difficulty to keep her voice soft and soothing.

  “If I can’t have you, no one will,” he made the final icy pronouncement. He called in two of his armed guards, “Take her away,” he ordered.

  “Please, MeChelle, don’t do this,” she tried again, but he turned his back, refusing to hear her.

  Chapter 2

  As one of the men painfully twisted her arms behind her, the other one led the way to the lowest level of the lodge. The large square room, located beneath the main level, was recessed. It was only visible when under the porch. An eight by eight foot closet, hidden in the back wall, was impossible to see unless one was aware of its presence.

  Inside, it was dark and smelled damp and musty. A low wattage bulb, hardly more than a nightlight, hung in one corner of the room. Its only furnishings, a lonely wooden bench, sat against the far wall. The cave-like room was void of windows or other ventilation. Sabrina noticed the interior walls and ceiling were thick and protruded as if to make the room soundproof.

  “MeChelle!” she screamed in true panic, “Please, don’t do this. Just let me go.”

  “Don’t worry, my pet,” the brutish guard said in a rough Irish brogue. He gruffly laughed before closing the door. “Mister DeLaurent said we could have you after we’ve taken care of the threat. Apparently, your lover-boy’s on his way to get you back. After we’ve killed him, you’re ours! We get to taste the fancy goddess for ourselves.”

  Although faintly, Sabrina could still hear him after the door closed. It meant the room wasn’t completely soundproof. She also heard the metal grind as the lock clicked into place. Disheartened, shocked, and terrified now, her knees were weak. She sat down on the lonely bench to think.

  With her mind spinning, she wished she’d waited to confess her love for Alec after his arrival. She worried that he’d never find her in this hellish hole in the wall. She couldn’t even imagine how he would find her at this lodge. They were miles from the city.

  Then, she took a deep breath, reminding herself that Alec would come for her. The men had said he was already on his way. She quietly cried and prayed that, during the confrontation, he would remain unharmed. The men had guns. After his military service, Alec didn’t much care for weapons. He would be unarmed. Still, she knew he would save her from this nightmare. It’s what he did.

  Alec accepted Vivien’s help. He knew that what she described wasn’t coincidence. The events she’d explained had lined up perfectly, giving him the information needed to find and save Sabrina.

  After he’d carefully read the collected information, Alec calmed down enough to make a plan. He trusted that if DeLaurent cared for Sabrina, he wouldn’t harm her.

  No, DeLaurent hoped Alec would come for her. He wanted Alec killed. He needed Alec out of the way in order to have Sabrina entirely for himself.

  First, Alec redialed Sabrina’s phone. Knowing that Alec Winters called, DeLaurent smugly allowed the call to connect, but he remained silent. DeLaurent wasn’t worried. The billionaire traveled with three bodyguards and had three more on standby. Thinking Alec Winters was only a gnat in the ointment of his desires, DeLaurent would welcome the insect into his web.

  Pissed-off, and more jealous than he cared to admit, he wanted and needed revenge. He needed Alec Winters out of the way, but he was unprepared for the conversation that followed.

  “I’m coming for Sabrina. And, I’m coming for you, DeLaurent,” Alec quietly promised before disconnecting the call.

  Alec’s voice, deadly calm and steely, gave Cassidy and Vivien goose-bumps as they listened. The sureness of Alec Winter’s threat, and the fact that the man knew his name, also sent chills through DeLaurent. His alarm was tangible. So much so, that he called the remaining bodyguards to the hunting lodge for extra protection.

  Next, Alec rented a car.

  Finally, he ordered Vivien Simon to stand-down. He couldn’t risk the likelihood that she would interfere or get hurt. He couldn’t take a chance that she might witness his supernatural transformation either.

  Chapter 3

  Alec always kept his promises.

  Now that he’d found the lodge, he was impatient for the battle to begin. He was eager to take back what was rightfully his – the only woman he had ever loved. Still, having been inserted into many conflicts during his military career, he knew to use Intel, caution, and discretion. He circled the area to ensure there were no surprises or witnesses.

  The hunting lodge was exactly as Vivien Simon had described. If not for Vivien’s keen eyes and natural instincts, Alec might not have found this place. He might’ve never found Sabrina.

  His heart ached at the very thought that Sabrina could’ve been lost to him forever. Men like DeLaurent had contacts all over the world. Men like that could afford to make a person or bodies disappear with the snap of their fingers. Alec shook off the worries. He was here now. He had found DeLaurent.

  The elevated hunting lodge sat on a large parcel of land with several acres that faced Lake Pontchartrain’s waterfront. The design was antebellum, similar to what one would find in the Garden District. A broad staircase led to the front door. A wide porch ran around the outside. No other homes shared the adjoining property lines or blocked its view. It was isolated enough for whatever Alec needed to do.

  After the sun had set, Alec crept up to the lodge on foot. He’d left the rental car parked on a side street. Off the main road and several long blocks away – too far for anyone to connect it to the lodge.

  He observed three large men with holstered weapons guarding the outside. Through lit windows, he could see a couple more inside. Bodyguards were usually ex-military types, but these men certainly didn’t act or look the part. Alec wondered if they’d had any training. Probably got their training off the internet, he thought.

  The ones outside seemed unconcerned about the proposed threat. They made regular perimeter checks, but they never drew their weapons. Rather than camouflage or other appropriate attire, they wore their official black suits as if accompanying DeLaurent in public.

  The men often complained as the shrubs and bushes snagged their dress pants. They cursed loudly when their dress s
hoes slipped in the soft, mushy earth. They certainly didn’t use the buddy system or rely on other members of the team. They weren’t truly prepared for the war that would soon descend on them.

  Alec was slightly amused as he observed their puny efforts to guard against an intruder, any intruder, but especially him. The three men repeatedly returned to the front lawn to laugh and tell jokes. Then, every ten minutes, one of them walked the outer edges solo. He didn’t bother to check-in with the others. It was foolish, but they had grown lax while employed by DeLaurent. So far, this was the first real threat their boss had ever received, but none of them took it seriously.

  Alec moved closer and within striking distance. He waited in the dark. Once again, one of the men started a routine trek around the lodge. When he passed by, Alec slipped behind him. He executed a fatal chokehold, crushing his windpipe and ending his life. He dragged the body beneath the overhanging porch and out of sight. Then, he moved to a different position to wait for the next one.

  Systematically, Alec picked off the men outside the lodge, using close-hand combat techniques to take them down. No one fired a shot or sounded an alarm, but all were dead. It left the front entrance unguarded and open.

  Alec Winters stealthily entered the lodge. His footsteps so sure and nimble that he didn’t make a sound. Not even a board creaked to alert anyone of his presence.

  The men inside also routinely circled the inside of the building. Moving from room to room, they kept their eyes on the floor, paying little attention to anything else.

  The first man to see Alec shakily fumbled out his weapon. He was too stunned that the intruder had gotten past his comrades outside. He hadn’t heard an alert or any commotion because Alec didn’t make any. His nervous hesitation gave Alec plenty of time to dive to the floor, roll to one side, and take cover behind the wall of an adjoining room. The gunman fired, missing his target, and the loud sound reverberated throughout the lodge.