Renee was exhausted when she pulled into a car dealership off the interstate in Roanoke, Virginia that she knew was owned by the man she was coming to see. His name was Nicholas and they hadn’t seen each other for at least ten years, but she knew he would cooperate in the end. She was, after all, her father’s daughter.
***
Renee was ten years old when she watched Nicholas being escorted into the Red Room. Sitting in the chair opposite Matthew’s desk, she gave her father a determined look. “I want to go in with you.”
“That room is no place for a child.”
She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “You said you would teach me how business works. You didn’t say how old I had to be when you did.”
Matthew took a minute to consider, then gave a sharp warning. “Not a word.”
She nodded in firm understanding and followed Matthew into the room, taking a seat in the chair by the window, her expression completely void of any emotion. Matthew ignored Crescent’s questioning look and casually stood in front of a trembling Nicholas. Renee knew from her father’s posture and facial expression that he was angry, disappointed, and ready to make a point. Renee saw a wet spot beginning to form on the front of Nicholas’s pants as he watched Matthew, his eyes begging for mercy.
“Please, Mr. Parnell.” Nicholas’s voice cracked with fear. “I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”
“Do you know how much money I lost because you wanted to get laid, Nicholas? In fact, if I am to understand correctly, you were so focused on this barmaid that you kept your back to the door the entire time. You gave her your attention, so there was no way you would have been watching for anybody to walk through the door.”
“The girl…they came in while I was talking to her. I’m so fucking sorry.”
Matthew leaned over to put his face inches from Nicholas’s. “I certainly hope she was worth it.”
Matthew sniffed, smelling the urine on Nicholas, and wrinkled his nose. He stepped back and regarded the man with an eerie calm, his gaze running over Nicholas’s face and savoring the fear he invoked. He glanced at Renee, who was silently staring at Nicholas with guarded hate that, because of him, her father was unhappy.
“You cost me millions, Nicholas, and put it directly in the hands of Carl Tempest.”
Nicholas opened his mouth to speak and Crescent dealt him a slap to the back of his head hard enough to snap his head forward. There was a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth and Renee knew he had bitten his tongue.
Crescent crossed the room to the table beside Renee, each of them too focused on the matter at hand to exchange hate-filled looks. She and Nicholas watched as Crescent lifted a pair of garden shears from the table, squeezing the blades together to check the tension. Nicholas’s eyes widened. Renee didn’t so much as blink as Crescent stood behind Nicholas as casually as anyone would while waiting for a bus.
“As it turns out, today is your lucky day. By order of Mr. Lundy, and only by his order, you are to live.” Matthew gave Nicholas a minute to comprehend what he had just heard and Renee could see relief overcoming the man, until Crescent grabbed Nicholas’s left ear and pulled. Nicholas gritted his teeth to hold back a cry of pain as Matthew continued. “However, punishment must be dealt. So, since you are both my eyes and my ears, you have a choice on which one you would like to lose.”
Nicholas’s eyes couldn’t widen any further no matter how hard he tried, and his whimper was something Renee couldn’t find a comparison for. Nicholas quickly shifted his gaze between Matthew and Renee, both of whom were watching him with curiosity and expectation. Crescent pulled on his ear again and the whimper turned into a yelp.
Nicholas stammered through blood and spittle, begging Matthew to let him go. Finally, Matthew made the choice for him. “Mr. Crescent, you’ve already got hold of his ear. Don’t get any blood on my daughter.”
Renee sat impassively in her chair as she watched Crescent take extreme pleasure in slowly and methodically snipping off Nicholas’s ear, unfazed by the blood-curdling screams that filled the room. Never once did she stop to consider that most ten-year-olds would look away, have nightmares, or possibly throw up where they sat. Renee watched as the blood pooled underneath Nicholas’s chair until Crescent dropped the ear on the floor and Nicholas passed out from the pain.
***
Renee checked her face in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were red and puffy but otherwise she was presentable. She had one shot to get what she wanted and she needed to be in the perfect frame of mind to get it. Her father’s words came to her then: “If they don’t already know that the grave is a possible consequence of crossing a Parnell, you’d damn well better let them know it with what you bring with you. You don’t have to believe it, but they do.”
She was approached by a salesman before she opened the front door. He looked to be close to her age, with the cockiness of youth and white teeth that sparkled. He probably thought all he had to do was flash a smile to win her over. He obviously has never met a Parnell before. She was there to see someone and would not be distracted.
“Good morning,” the young man said cheerfully while flashing a smile. “How can I help?”
Her face was solid impatience and her tone let him know she wasn’t there to see him. “I’m looking for the owner of this dealership.”
“Is there a problem? Maybe I can help.”
“There will be a problem if you don’t get me the owner of this dealership.”
The salesman took a few seconds to stammer to himself, trying to figure out how to fix the situation. “Maybe my sales manager can help.”
“I didn’t ask for the sales manager. I want to see the owner of this dealership.” The deadly glare in her eyes sent a chill up the young man’s spine as she leaned in and whispered in his ear. “I will not ask again.”
After the young man broke into a run toward the back of the dealership, she helped herself to a cup of coffee, her breathing even and her confidence solid. She was tough, she was fierce, and she would get what she wanted. Her face contorted in disgust after her first sip of coffee, and as she threw it in the garbage, she saw who she came to see approaching her with a confused look on his face. Renee cracked a thin smile when she noticed the scar tissue had been replaced with a prosthetic ear.
Nicolas offered his hand with a smile, seemingly cheerful and ready to resolve whatever problem there was. “How can I help you, ma’am?”
Renee took the extended hand, not intending to let go until he answered her question. “Was she worth it?”
She knew she had him. His grip slightly tightened on hers, then dropped to his side, immediately understanding that he had to start playing a game he hadn’t had to play in years. Nicholas dismissed the young salesman and waved his arm in an invitation for Renee to follow him. When they entered his office, he slowly lowered himself in the chair behind his desk while she stood, surveying the décor, her eyes immediately going to the framed picture of him with a beautiful blonde-haired woman draped on his arm, sitting in a restaurant, celebrating something. Both of their smiles screamed happy and she was momentarily glad for him.
She could see he was nervous, but couldn’t afford to put him at ease quite yet. What she did next would solidify the risk she was taking. She would either succeed or fail, and she couldn’t afford to fail. As she turned her back to Nicholas, she slowly removed her jacket. His eyes widened as her mark came into view, the letter D falling like a teardrop.
“Holy Christ,” Nicholas muttered under his breath. Renee knew she was the last visitor he expected and could see his mind scrambling, trying to think of what he might have recently done to have Matthew Parnell’s daughter before him. Renee casually took her seat opposite him, ready to get to work on her new life.
“The ear looks good, Nicholas.”
Nicholas swallowed the lump in this throat and asked, “How did you find me?”
“People talk. I listen.” She had found him through a rumor.
“I haven’t done anything,” he said, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice.
Renee gestured to the photo on his desk. “Wife?”
Nicholas glanced at the picture with a pang of sadness but looked at Renee with growing curiosity. “Ex.”
“Ahh.” She stared him down for a few heartbeats, allowing him to frantically try to figure out the reason for her visit.
Nicholas nervously lit a cigarette and offered one to Renee. When she waved his invitation away, he asked, “Why did he send you? I haven’t done anything.”
“Nicholas, I’m exhausted so I’m going to get to the point. I need papers.”
“Papers?”
She leaned forward and glared at him, wishing she could shoot fire out of her baby blues. “Don’t try to play me for a fool, Nicholas. I know what you do. I need papers.”
Nicholas had a smile that was ever widening by the time he finally spoke. His anxiety was gone and his appearance told her that he was going to try to use this information to his benefit as best as he could. “Why do you need papers?”
Renee didn’t flinch and her face never gave away her desperation. “Not important.”
“Oh?” He was beginning to get a sparkle in his eyes, and his smile stayed where it was. “Did you and Daddy have a fight?”
Renee stared silently at him. Her stone face told him, without question, he was not going to get an answer.
“Why come to me? Parnell has people of his own who would fall over each other to give you papers.”
“Exactly the reason I am sitting here in front of you.”
“And you don’t think he’ll figure out you came to me?”
“He wouldn’t even consider it as an option. He could never imagine anyone not engaging the fine services he has to offer.” The tone in her voice, disgust mixed with hurt, told Nicholas she had indeed had a falling out with her father.
“He always was a self-righteous bastard,” Nicholas said.
“Don’t forget yourself, Nicholas. He may be a bastard, but he is still my father. My father is many things, but he underestimates one very important strength of mine.”
“And what’s that?”
“I’m smarter than he is.” She said it with the irrefutability of nothing less than the truth.
Nicholas sat back in his chair, deciding how to stretch this out and think about what his return for her request would be. After everything her father had put him through, she knew Nicholas had to tread carefully. It was obvious he wasn’t overly comfortable having his former employer’s daughter sitting in front of him, demanding his services with no explanations.
“I might be able to help you. But first, let me ask—”
She gave him a direct look that said she was not leaving until she got what she wanted. “Here’s all you need to know: I need papers, I’m going to get papers, and I’m going to get them from you. You’re not going to argue, you’re not going to get what you want, and you’re not going to turn me away.”
Nicholas had to at least try to get something out of it. “And what’s in it for me?”
“You get to keep both your ears and continue breathing.” She had to make sure Nicholas would have no doubt that she could be as cold and heartless as her father and make him question the consequences of denying her request. She inclined her head toward the photograph on his desk. “You and your ex.”
“What do you need?”
“Everything. Identification, passport, birth certificate. Your full custom package of what you do so well.” She flashed him a quick smile in hopes that he would interpret it as a gesture of appreciation for the fine quality of his work.
He nodded his head. This was a serious request from a rather important person and he would be a fool to pass it up. “It will cost you.”
Renee reached into her purse and tossed a tightly packed envelope on his desk. He thumbed through it, casually trying to estimate the amount of cash she had brought with her. Keeping his head slightly bent, he looked up at her through his eyelashes and shook his head. “Sorry, lass. Prices have gone up.”
“Don’t think for one second that you will attempt to take advantage of me. There is more than enough in that envelope to cover your expenses in addition to securing your discretion and absolute, eternal silence.” She paused, then asked him the obvious question. “You wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to take Parnell money, would you?”
She was full of surprises and he couldn’t help but be impressed. “You took this from him?”
“And,” she continued, ignoring his question, “keep one thing in mind before you decide whether or not to grant my request.”
“What’s that?”
“I’m smarter than you too.”
The blood drained from his face and he slowly leaned back in his chair, slapping the envelope against the palm of his hand, considering. Reconciled, he let out a sigh. “Identification and the like are doable. I can also provide credit cards, bank accounts, and credit reports.”
“I need a career as well,” she stated as she suppressed the victorious smile that threatened to escape. “Something that will keep me moving.”
“Anything in particular?”
“I’ve been in business management for the past five years. Be creative.”
“I can do that. It will take some time to get this done.”
She didn’t have time. “Twenty-four hours.”
His jaw dropped at the impossibility of her demand and he shook his head. “Twenty-four hours? Can’t be done.”
“Make it happen,” she said with fiery eyes and an uncaring voice.
He looked out the window and she could see the contemplation on his face. She knew she would get what she wanted, but she also knew, for his own safety and peace of mind, he would do it just to find a way to get her away from him.
Nicholas turned back to Renee. “Anything else?”
“I’ll need to trade in my car. Give the commission to the young man who tried to help me when I got here. He earned it and didn’t piss himself in the process.”
***
Less than eighteen hours later, Renee merged her new vehicle onto the interstate, heading west with her new identity in an envelope on the passenger seat. Her destination was unknown, but she only had one thought in her head. Goodbye, Renee Parnell. Hello, Chloe Riggs.