Hurrying through her grocery shopping, she went to the seamstress’s place to get her costume. The little Hispanic woman, who did all of her tailoring work, barely spoke any English. Her work was amazing, though – very detailed and precise, solid. After she got her hands on a piece of fabric, it was never ripping again. No beads or rhinestones would come off, nor would anything ever slip or fall. She probably had some sort of Latin America voodoo or something that made it work so well. No wait, voodoo is African. Whatever. The woman was magical.
“Hola, Rosa,” she said as the jingle bells rang above the door.
Rosa started chattering in Spanish. Either she didn’t care or didn’t know that Sierra didn’t speak Spanish, but she smiled and nodded anyway while the woman wrote up the ticket. Sierra handed over a wad of bills, took her clothing bag, and left the shop, bells jingling behind her. Interactions with Rosa always made her a little happier with her life.
She checked the time on her phone, 4PM, two hours until work. What would she do with all this excess time on her hands? She didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to see or anything to do. Her life was really boring when she thought about it. Something she would’ve never thought would be the case growing up. She was the daughter of one of the richest men in California – which was really saying something – who was also a quickly rising crime boss. Drug and cartel lords had gone in and out of her house her entire childhood, but she left all that behind for life as a stripper, which, despite the exotic nature, was not really that an exciting of a job. It was a job much like any other job, to be perfectly honest. It was much more exciting for the people in the audience than the dancers.
Sierra pulled into the parking lot of the condo building. All the residents had two reserved spots in front of their door, but she always parked in the guest lot. She pressed the button on her FOB to open the trunk and brought her groceries inside, putting them away as she watched the news. As usual, nothing interesting happened in the world. She watched more for the background noise and to see if her father was doing anything she needed to be concerned about.
She curled up on the couch with a book to wait out the next hour and a half before she had to leave. Well, with traffic probably another hour. As long as she kept her mind mostly blank, she was able to concentrate on just the next thing. The next morning, the next day at work, the next errand to run, the next sentence to read.
The time went by in a mindless blur and then she was back in her car, tote bag of outfits and accessories slung over one shoulder, her phone and keys in one hand. She started the car and drove away, gaze flat. She knew the perception of her job. When she let herself introspect at all, she could feel her soul siphoning away. This wasn’t the most glamorous thing she could do, but this was what she had to do – for now anyway.
The glamorous life of a drug lord’s daughter.
Chapter Two
Chad waited in the reception room, watching the skinny blonde secretary type away and paint her nails. He wasn’t entirely sure why he was here or what he was doing, but the gnawing guilt in his stomach and numbing pain in his soul forced him to wait in the uncomfortable chair.
The phone buzzed and the girl answered it. “You can go in now, Mr. Pender,” she said in her whiney voice.
“Thanks,” he muttered getting up and opening the door next to her desk.
Mr. Hall sat behind his desk, all greasy hair and overpriced suit. “Ah, Mr. Pender, just the person I wanted to see. I have a request for you, Chad. Can I call you Chad? Of course I can. You were so close to my son; you were practically family.”
Chad resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had been working for Richard Hall for the past year and had no reason to think that Mr. Hall had ever loved either of his children. They were just useful tools for him when he needed them to be. He wasn’t completely convinced that Hall had nothing to do with his son’s death. He couldn’t think of any reason why he would want Scott dead, but if there were any way Richard could have benefited from Scott’s death, he definitely would have had his hand in it. “I would be happy to help in any small way I can, for Scott.”
“Of course, of course. That’s what you’ve been telling me for the past year and a half and you’ve proved mildly useful over that period of time, but this is a much bigger task than that.”
“Hopefully I’ve proven I am worthy of this more complicated task,” he said. He was used to the properly ‘respectful’ tone of voice he had to take to make sure his self-styled highness over there didn’t get his fragile ego offended.
“If I weren’t certain that you were capable, I wouldn’t have called you in here today.”
“Well, thank you for your trust in me, sir.”
Richard smiled and pushed his greasy hair back. “The task is one of a…delicate and careful nature. I need you to go to Vegas and track down my daughter, Sierra. I don’t think you’ve ever met her, but I’m sure that Scott talked about her.” The man forced a chuckle, “He doted on his baby sister like she was made of porcelain. I don’t know if the girl ever had a moment to herself. She was constantly under his watchful eye. Even when he was with you, I’m sure he was keeping an eye on her and…and I’ve let her have her space and to grieve for her brother’s tragic death, but now I would love to have her back in my life. She’s my baby girl and she’s all I have left anymore. Her brother is dead. Her mother is dead. I want her back.” He even managed to put a convincing choke in his voice.
“I understand. It makes perfect sense. It is very kind of you for having given her that much time.”
“It has been hard here without her, but please, find her for me, let her know I want her back. Let her know that I love her. Bring my baby girl home.”
The next morning Chad found himself with a duffel bag over his shoulder, throwing it into the back seat of his car. He never rode his bike anymore, not since the accident. He couldn’t bring himself to do so. It felt like betrayal almost. He knew Scott wouldn’t want him to go through life feeling this guilty, but he couldn’t stop himself. Every part of his being ached with the memory of the best friend he killed. What else could he do, but try to fix it the situation in any way he could?
So he started the drive to Las Vegas. It only took about four hours, but that was still four hours Chad would have to spend alone with his thoughts, something he spent far too much time doing lately, which kept him from trying to move on. He knew it. Everyone around him knew it. His family, his friends, even the state of California, all said he was not, in any way, – intentionally or not – responsible for the death of Scott Hall, but he didn’t believe him.
They weren’t there. He was. He was the one who caused him to crash. They all blamed the truck, but the truck was doing everything right. It was a reckless boy on a motorcycle.
Chad tried to chase his thoughts away from the past and focus on what was waiting for him in Las Vegas. After leaving Hall’s office yesterday, he made some calls out to some guys he knew in Las Vegas. After Scott’s death, the Shadow Souls MC had sent a couple guys out there to keep an eye on Sierra. Everyone knew how much he loved his kid sister – part of the reason he never introduced her to any of the guys – and he would do anything to keep her safe. Once word got out that she had fled to Las Vegas, they decided it was probably best if someone kept an eye on her – for Scott.
So he called them up to see if they could tell him anything about where she was, what she was doing, and how he could find her. They told him that while they did know, they were pretty certain the girl wasn’t going to be interested in going back to California. In fact, although she led a really boring life out here, she seemed quite happy and content to continue living it for as long as she pleased and any envoy from her father would be met with vitriol and resistance, but what else could he do?
He didn’t ever have any contact with the girl and it would be weird just walking up to her randomly one day, “Hey, I was your brother’s best friend who he never introduced to you because he was ridiculously protecti
ve of you. Now I’m here on behalf of your criminal father to bring you back to the place you ran away from because I killed your brother in a horrible accident.” Yeah. That sounds like the exact right approach. He wasn’t sure what else he could do. He knew she wouldn’t want anything to do with him. He would just have to come up with some way of getting on her good side.
He finally reached Las Vegas and pulled into some cheap motel, of which there were an uncounted number and all of which offered hourly rates. Chad wasn’t sure if he felt interested or disgusted by that. It didn’t matter that he was here for work, not pleasure – of any sort.
He dialed the Shadow Souls guy. Bill was his name. He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, I was just wondering if you could give me any more information on Sierra Hall?”
“Well, we were thinking we could go over and have a civilized chat with the young lady and we will get back to you as soon we have word from her. We don’t need you barging in there, what with being a stranger and all.” Bill had a slow drawling voice that made Chad tired just listening to him.
“Yeah, yeah that sounds fair,” Chad said. “I’ll look forward to hearing back from you.” Although he didn’t particularly like hearing from him in exactly that way, but he did need to get a move on with his mission.
“Great, great. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Goodbye, Bill.” Chad hung up the phone and flopped back on the bed and ran his hand through his dark hair. This would be a challenge.
Chapter Three
“Amber?” Richard called to his secretary, “could you come in here for a minute?”
She clicked into the room, popping some bubblegum. She always wore too much makeup and too little clothes, but her primary duty was definitely not secretarial. His work was far too sensitive to truly have a secretary. She existed for appearances only – in two senses of the word. “Yes, Mr. Hall?” she asked, holding a memo pad and pen with some sort of fluffy thing on the top that surely wrote in pink or purple, or something obnoxiously neon.
“Do I have anything else scheduled for today?”
She grinned, “Nope.”
“Then let’s go home.”
A couple hours later, the two of them were sprawled on his massive bed, her curly hair splayed out across the pillows while she lightly snored.
Hall disentangled himself from her arms to pick up his phone and make a phone call. “Hello, James?”
“Good afternoon, Richard,” a smooth voice on the other end answered.
“Are you busy?”
“Not terribly. What can I do for you?”
“Well, I was wondering if you remembered my daughter.”
“Ah, I believe so. Her name was Sierra?”
“Yes, precisely. Well I’m sure word got out that she had run away to Las Vegas after the tragic death of her brother. They were very close and she just needed some space to grieve and realign herself. Well, she will be coming home soon and I was wondering if you’d like to come get dinner with us.”
“I would be more than happy to meet your daughter properly. Do you have an estimate for when she will be coming back?”
“Ah, within the next weeks, I’m sure. She has to wrap up her life in Las Vegas, of course. That will take some time; she has been there for three years after all.”
“Of course, of course. Well let me know when you have a date in mind. I would be most obliged.”
“Thank you. I’ll talk to you later.” He hung up the phone and smiled. Hopefully this daughter wouldn’t prove such a disappointment to him. His son was always outwardly respectful and willing, but also always distant and somewhat uncooperative in minor ways. He couldn’t trust his son to do what was needed.
He had never put much pressure or responsibility on Sierra, but she was his daughter and youngest child. Things were different for her. All he ever expected of her was to do what she was told and marry the man he picked. She was part of this family and, as such, had a responsibility to do what was best for the family. She couldn’t avoid that – no matter how far she ran.
Chapter Four
The lights came on in the club, the music turned off, and the girls went backstage for the last time to put clothes back on and wash off their faces as best they could in the tiny dressing rooms. Sierra shared her room with five other girls; they were the closest thing to friends she had.
Kat untied her bikini top and threw it on the ground. “This thing has been cutting into my neck for the past three hours. I didn’t have a chance to slip away and put something else on.”
Charlie grinned, “Well it was sure helping you rack in the tips.”
Kat shrugged, “You’re just jealous.”
Sierra laughed, “We’re all jealous, Kat. You make more money in one night than any of us do in a week.”
The girls laughed and started wiping their faces off to prepare to go home for the night. Glitter and rhinestones abounded everywhere. The smells of makeup wipes and hairspray filled every nook and cranny, and the cheap perfume gave the whole building a sort of brothel-esque feel. There were worse places to work, especially in this field.
“I’ll see you later, girls,” Sierra said, leaving the dressing room. Hairspray, gel, and glitter still covered her body, but most of the makeup was wiped off her face. She had pulled her blonde hair into a ponytail. She just wanted to go home and collapse into bed at this point.
She froze as she reached the parking lot, though. There were two strange men standing by her car. This wasn’t that unusual of a circumstance since men liked to hang out in the parking lot. Some of the girls like to pick up a little…extra work, but not Sierra. “Can I help you?” she called, fishing out her pepper spray.
“Miss Hall,” one of them said, reaching out a hand to her. “We don’t mean you any harm, Miss Hall. Please put the pepper spray away so we can talk like civilized people. We didn’t want to come to your place of residence, so we decided to meet you here. Out in the open, public space you know?”
“Who are you?”
“We are part of the Shadow Souls MC. We knew your brother, Scott.”
She froze. “You knew Scott?”
“Of course we knew Scott. He was a great guy. After his death, we decided that he would want someone to keep an eye on you, make sure no one came after you and made trouble for you, you know?”
“Wait, you’ve be stalking me in the name of my brother?”
“Not stalking, exactly. Just checking in on you once in awhile. Make sure you haven’t disappeared or been murdered. That you got enough food and comforts and such. It’s what your brother would’ve wanted.”
Sierra contemplated the two standing across from her. One was tall and skinny, and had teeth as yellow as cat’s eyes. The other was short and a little pudgy. He was the one who was doing all the talking. They probably were here in name of her brother. That would be what her brother wanted. She smiled slightly. Her brother was always watching out for her. She could at least hear these guys out and see what they had to say.
“All right. Well, what do you want?”
“Do you want to go somewhere a little bit more comfortable to talk?”
“Here is fine.” They may have a good story, but they were still strangers.
“All right then. There was this fellow who called me up the other day – Chad Pender – says he’s got to talk to you. Asked us to find out where you were. We told him we would talk to you and find out if you would talk to him.”
“What did he say he wanted?”
“He didn’t tell us, but he said he was Scott’s best friend.”
Sierra’s anger started to rise. Her brother’s ‘best friend.’ If he had some best friend, wouldn’t Sierra know about it? Wouldn’t he have told her? This whole story was completely ridiculous. She wasn’t going to trust these guys. How did they know where to find her anyway? Sure, they said they were friends with Scott, but she didn’t know who these people were. No one in Vegas knew about her past as far as she
knew.
“This may come as a shock to you, but I don’t trust people blindly nor do I need some goons watching over me. I’m twenty-five years old. I can take care of myself. So you two and this Chad Pender character can just go back to California and leave me out of this mess. There is no reason why I need to be involved in that chaos ever again. Now please kindly step away from my car so I can go home. I’ve had a long and busy night and I need to get some sleep.”
“Of course. Sorry, Miss Hall.” They backed away from her car and she hurried inside, trying not to make eye contact with either of them.
They probably knew where she lived and her schedule and everything else. Maybe she should leave town. Get away from these creepers. That’s what they were – creepers. Creeping on her, stalking.
She rushed into her condo and locked the door solidly behind her. Why did her life revolve around the disaster that was her family? She fled California to get away from all that and now she was going to be dragged back into it? No. She was not going to let herself be part of all of that anymore. She just wasn’t. She had the ability to be her own, independent person now. She was out of this nonsense. That was all there was to it. She collapsed into bed hoping that she could just block out the whole thing.
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