by Sophia Sharp
My stomach knots. Suddenly, everything makes sense. Rich’s persistence the night we met. Slowing down the car to give Tam a look at my face. Driving me to a remote gas station and drugging me there. All the times Victor referred to me as “the sister.”
I don’t know what to say, so I blurt out the first thing that comes to mind. “But why would you have my wallet?”
Rich sneers. “Come on! Isn’t it obvious? So that you would be forced to go with me. If I could make you believe you were in danger… that the loan sharks knew who you were… I could get you out of town. I could get you somewhere far away, slip something in your drink, and hand you over to Tam and Victor. Just like I did.”
“I… I still don’t get it. Why would you ever give up your sister?”
“I wouldn’t. Dammit, Penny, that’s the point! But Tam and Victor don’t know that. That’s why I had to find someone who looked like her. Someone like you. To keep my sister safe.”
“That’s horrible!”
“I know. You still sure you want to come back? Still sure you don’t want to go to the cops?” He directs a grin at me that doesn’t touch his eyes. “The phone’s right there.” He nods in the direction of the desk phone.
I don’t move. “Why do they want your sister?” I ask quietly.
Rich shakes his head. “I don’t believe you, Penny. I told you that I lied to you, drugged you, and abandoned you to the worst type of people. And you’re still not running away?”
“You came back for me.”
He gives me a dark look. “I almost didn’t, you know. I knew if I did, my sister would be in even greater danger. So would I.”
“Is that what you meant when you told me that risking your life wasn’t the worst thing you were doing?”
Rich nods grimly. “Now you’re using your brain.”
“But you did come back, Rich. You came back, and you risked your life for me. I’m not going to call the cops—not if you tell me why you did it.”
“Why?” Rich laughs. “Why not? You were supposed to be just some random girl. You were never supposed to be in real danger. Once Tam and Victor—and the men who pay them—found out who you really were, they’d let you go. Their employers aren’t morons. They’re all professionals..”
“Then why come back?”
“Because I was still worried, that’s why! I know what Victor is like. You saw. Tam is even worse. They could still hurt you without killing you. Hell, they could do it without leaving any marks.” He looks at me pointedly. I shift a little under the intense gaze. “You know what I mean.”
“But—”
“I couldn’t let that happen to you,” he continues over top of me. “I was never supposed to care. Not when we came up with the plan. But I did, dammit. And I still do, all right? Every mile that brought us closer to that gas station filled me with more and more apprehension. More and more dread. There was something about you, Penny… something that stuck. I was never supposed to care what happened to the girl I passed off as my sister. But, I did. And now, that screwed everything up.”
He laughs bitterly. “There you go. You’ve coaxed the truth from me. Isn’t that what you wanted? Now you have it.” He swings his hand through the air and points at the door. “Now, go! Take the money I gave you. Take my Ford. Take it, and go.”
“Rich, I…” I shake my head. “I don’t want to go. Not yet.”
He stares at me in disbelief. “Not yet? Not after what I told you? Not after everything I did? Don’t you feel… betrayed?”
“Of course.” I smile. “But I already know I can’t trust you.”
“Hah!” Rich claps his hands together and grins at me. “You’re definitely something, Penny. You had no idea who you got yourself involved with at Barren. But it turns out, neither did I.”
“I tend to be more resilient than people give me credit for,” I note. I walk over to Rich, and make a point of taking all the bills from my wallet. I set all of them down beside him, except for two. “You can have those back,” I say. “But I’m going to need to keep two for the drug store.”
--
When I return, hauling two plastic bags full of bandages and disinfectants and pain pills with me, I find Rich fast asleep on the couch. His hand has fallen away from the towels on his leg, but to my relief, the wound’s not bleeding.
It seems like a shame to wake him. I close the door as gently as I can and turn out the lights. I tip-toe to my bed. But instead of crawling in, I pull the blanket off, and walk over to lower it over Rich’s body.
The light from the streetlamp outside lets me see his face. Asleep, he looks so peaceful. His chest rises and falls with the deep rhythm of an exhausted sleep. I smile, and allow myself to reach out to brush away some of the hair from his forehead. He shifts as soon as my fingers touch him.
I freeze. My heart starts pounding. Did I wake him?
Rich lets out a deep breath, and turns to the side to settle more comfortably on the couch. I relax. I tuck the blanket up to his neck, making sure he’ll stay warm. Walking over to the closet, I take out the extra fleece cover from the top shelf, remove my shoes, and lie down on the bed.
“Goodnight, Rich,” I whisper. I snuggle up beneath the thin fleece. Just before I close my eyes, I notice a glimmer of light reflecting from Rich’s pupils.
That’s when I realize he’s been awake this entire time, watching me silently, his beautiful blue-grey eyes glowing in the dark.
Chapter Seven
“Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!”
Rich’s overly enthusiastic voice pulls me from my sleep. “Ugh…” I groan. “I was having the most pleasant dream.”
“Really? Was it about me?”
I swat at him blindly. Rich laughs and jumps away. “Leave me alone,” I complain, digging my head deeper into the stack of pillows. “It’s too early to wake up.”
“Early?” Rich sounds amused. “Unless you’ve gone nocturnal on me, Penny, it’s not early at all. In fact—” he stops for a dramatic pause, “—it’s already half past three.”
“It… what?” I jolt upright. The sun shining brightly through the window makes me squint and turn away. The blanket is tangled around my legs. “How can it be three thirty already?”
“Well, time has this curious tendency to pass even if you’re asleep,” Rich notes. “I assume that’s what happened here.”
I make a face at him. “You know what I mean. And you’re awfully cheerful this morning. What gives?”
“This afternoon,” Rich corrects. “What’s wrong with being cheery? I wake up to find you still here, the keys to my truck on the counter, and a bag of bandages and antiseptic beside me.” He makes a grand show of lifting up his leg and bending it back and forth in the air. “I showered, wrapped it up, and now it feels as good as new. Also, to my great surprise, I’m not the least bit hung-over.”
“That’s amazing,” I mumble, still wishing I was asleep. “What else?”
“I cooked us breakfast.”
“You did?” I note the scent of eggs and bacon in the air. “I didn’t expect you to know how to cook.”
“Actually, you’re right,” he admits. “I brought the food up from the buffet while you were sleeping. It’s not laced with anything this time, I promise.”
I tilt my head at him.
“What, don’t you trust me?” Rich grins. “I’ll even take the first bite.”
--
Half an hour later, after a long, hot shower, I find myself sitting across from Rich at the little round table. I have a towel wrapped around my head because the motel did not provide a functioning blow dryer.
The microwave beeps, and Rich darts up. He carries back two plates of steaming scrambled eggs with bits of bacon on top. He sets one down in front of me, the other in front of him.
Then, he laughs, shakes his head, and switches our plates. He looks confused for a moment. He mutters something under his breath, looks at me, says, “No, that’s not right,” and swaps the
plates again.
I watch the proceedings with a blank expression on my face. “If you’re quite done…?”
Rich’s eyebrows shoot up, as if he just remembered something. He runs to the kitchen again. He comes back carrying two cups of a dark liquid.
“Let’s see then,” he says, “that’s a cool, refreshing Pepsi for you, and a hot, black coffee for me, hmm?” Before I can start to groan, he takes a sip from both cups, then pops a bit of scrambled egg from each plate into his mouth. “Just to prove it’s safe,” he winks.
“I know it’s safe, stupid,” I tell him as he settles down across the table from me. “I don’t think you’d be dumb enough to drug me twice.”
“And I didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to still be here,” he teases. “You can see where that line of thinking has gotten me.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” I note dryly. Rich’s smile does not leave his face. “Geez, I’ve never seen you this happy. Like, ever. What’s going on?”
“A few things, actually.” Rich sticks one finger in the air. “One, you’re still here. That alone is enough to make me happy.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” I say. I bring the mug to my lips to hide my smile. “I’m here for my own reasons. Not for you.”
My comment doesn’t throw Rich off. He continues as if I hadn’t spoken. “Two—” he raises a second finger, “—all the things I told you when you were waking up. But, perhaps most important of all—” a third finger joins the troupe, “—I figured out exactly what we have to do next.”
“Oh?” I look up at him. “And what’s that?”
“We’re going to continue on the same way we were going before. Before the…” he clears his throat, “…gas station incident.”
“You mean to your friend’s place? He’s real?” After what Rich had told me last night, I assumed that driving to his “friend’s” place had just been an excuse to get me out of town.
“Yes,” Rich nods. “And it’s a she.”
My eyebrows come up. “A woman?”
“Right. I haven’t seen her for a few years, but she’s always been reliable. Tam and Victor won’t know to look for us there.”
“Okay. How far away does she live?”
“Maybe another two hour’s drive. I told you the truth before. She lives somewhere pretty remote. There’s not a straight road that leads to town.” He leans back in his chair. “We have a ways to go, but it’s not that far. That’s why I let you sleep in today. We have enough time to get there by nightfall.” Something changes in his eyes for a hundredth of a second. A flash of deep intensity. “The rest did you good. You look much better today.”
“Thanks,” I mumble, looking down automatically at my food to break his gaze. I feel my cheeks burn a little. I smile, shake my head almost imperceptibly, and glance back up at him. “So? Are you going to make good on your promise? You said you’d tell me who Tam and Victor are if I were still here this morning.”
That reminder catches Rich off guard. His easy smile freezes on his face. His eyes darken. “I did say that, didn’t I?” he mutters to himself. He pushes his plate aside and leans in, focusing on me. “Penny, all this is going to take a while to explain. But I owe that much to you, I think.” He exhales, and rubs his eyes. “If you want the whole story… well, everything began a long time ago. How old are you now?”
“Nineteen.”
“Nineteen. Right. This would have started when you were still in elementary school. My father…” Rich trails off. His eyes become distant. “No. That’s going too far back. You don’t need all that history.” He runs a hand through his dark, reddish hair. In the daylight, parts of it look more golden than red. “Okay. Here’s what I can tell you and still have it make sense. I’m not originally from here. I was born and raised just outside New York City. My father was a big shot investment banker there.” Rich grimaces. “You know the kind. Your grade-A, stereotypical corporate asshole who doesn’t give two shits about anything other than money.”
I’m startled by the venom in Rich’s voice. I can tell he doesn’t think highly of his father. But at least he knows him. “Go on.”
“Well, my mother died when I was little.”
“Shit. Rich, I’m sorry.”
He waves my sympathy away. “Don’t be. It happened a long time ago. I don’t even remember her. I was raised by my nanny.”
I don’t remember mine, either, I want to tell him. But, I keep my mouth shut. “Okay.”
“Anyway, when I was about eighteen, I had a falling out with my family. Right before I was supposed to go to college. I came to Oregon instead. I’ve lived here ever since. Everything was fine until about a month, a month and a half ago.”
“What happened?”
“My sister showed up on my doorstep one night. Totally out of the blue. I hadn’t seen her since I left New York.” Rich smiles. “She looked a bit like you.”
“Close enough for you to pass me off as her, anyway,” I point out. “Do you have a picture? I’d love to see my doppelganger.”
Rich shakes his head. “She only looks like you to someone who hasn’t spent much time with her. Or, with you.”
“What’s her name?”
“Mindy. But I always called her Min.” Rich grins. “She hated it.”
“I can see why. So, what happened next?”
“She told me she was in trouble. My father—” Rich grimaces again, “—got on the wrong side of some people. He took something from them—a document—that was very precious.”
“He stole it?”
“In a way. But he also helped create it.”
“Huh. What is it?”
“A database with a bunch of names in it.” Rich shrugs. “Sounds pretty innocuous, right? Except that it isn’t. When these people—my father’s former business associates—found out what he’d done, they went after him. But they couldn’t get to him.”
“How come?”
Rich gives a grim smile. “Because, by that time, he was already in jail.”
I narrow my eyes. “What?”
“Ironic, isn’t it? Being locked up is what keeps him safe. It’s more than the bastard deserves.” Rich’s hands clench into fists. “Of course, he would have never thought how any of it would affect his daughter. That’s what he was always like. Cold. Uncaring. Completely unaware of the consequences his actions have on others. Even those in his own family.”
“I take it you two didn’t get along,” I say slowly.
Rich smirks. “You could say that. So, when these people discover the document missing, and my father in jail, what do you think they do?” Rich picks up his fork and slams it prong-first into his food. The plate cracks under the blow. I jump back, startled. “They go after his family. After my sister. As collateral.”
“So these people… they’re related to Tam and Victor?”
Rich nods. “Yeah. The document’s important to them. It’s a list of politicians and businessmen with links to organized crime. Min is smart, though. She’d always been a sharp kid. She picks up on the danger before she has any right to, and runs. She comes to me. That’s where we hatch our plan.”
“The one that you involved me in,” I say flatly.
Rich grunts. “Right. Tam and Victor work for those same people my father pissed off. Of course, they know about me. But they also know of the circumstances that made me leave New York. They know that I’m useless as collateral against my father. They know we don’t talk to each other. Min, on the other hand…”
Rich takes a drink before continuing. “Tam and Victor showed up at my door a few days after Min arrived. They were looking for her. They didn’t know she’d come to me yet.
“They offered me a deal. They assumed—and here’s where they went wrong—that since I left my family so long ago, I don’t care about any of them. They said if I could get my sister to confide in me—or better yet, if I could gain her trust and then give her to them—they’d reward me. They offered a lot of money.”
Rich scoffs. “As if I ever had any desire for more of that. Tam said I should expect Min to find me soon. They knew she’d been travelling across the country, but haven’t been able to pinpoint her location. To keep her safe, I agreed with them. That’s when things really took off.”
“So, you planned with your sister to find someone who looks like her, and to pawn that poor girl off to Tam and Victor?” I ask. “All the while buying Min more time to hide. Am I right?”
“That’s the gist of it.” Rich pauses. “I’m surprised you’re taking all of this so calmly.”
“Well, the worst has passed. And like I told you, I’ve been through a lot in my life.”
Rich shakes his head. “I doubt you’ve ever been through anything like this.” His voice becomes solemn. “And you’re wrong. The worst hasn’t passed. In fact, it’s only just begun.”
“So where is she?” I ask. “Your sister, I mean.”
Rich looks up and holds my gaze. The corner of his mouth twitches up in a half-smile. “Hiding.”
Chapter Eight
It’s dark by the time Rich pulls up in front of a large villa standing alone on an enormous stretch of land. We had to take the main road through town to get here, but that had been a good fifteen minutes ago. The most prominent landmarks in the so-called “city” had been two grocery stores, a department store, and a library doubling as City Hall. Each could have fit on a lot half the size of the one in front of me.
“Does your friend know we’re coming?” I ask as I step out of the truck. “All the lights are off.”
“She knows.” Rich swings his door shut. The sound prompts a nearby dog to start barking. “There are a lot of rooms in there. She’s probably somewhere in the back.”
“If she’s in at all,” I mutter, following Rich along the pebbled path to the front door. I realize that the barking is coming from inside the house.
Rich looks for a doorbell, and, finding none, bangs on the door with his fist. Right away, I hear the scrambling run of paws on hardwood. A second later, a resounding thump sounds as something collides with the door, followed by louder barking.
