by Jen Davis
She looked Tempest solidly in the eye. “Was Christopher’s death ordered, and if so, why and by whom?”
Tempest’s eyes snapped wide in surprise at her bluntness but his eyes never left Renee’s, taking his time to consider his retort. Renee sat patiently, her hands still trembling in her lap, waiting for him to respond.
Tempest cast a quick glance at Schedler, then back at Renee. “What makes you think I would know anything about it?”
“There is no accusation in my purpose for coming here tonight, Mr. Tempest. I am only here to get answers to my questions.”
“And you think I have those answers?”
“I hope so, sir.” She took a deep breath and brought steady hands above the table, resting them in front of her. “You see, Mr. Tempest, I came here because if Christopher’s death was contracted, there is a chance you would have heard about it. I came here because if you do have the answers to any of my questions, I believe you to be a man who would be honest with me no matter what the truth may be. I came here tonight because no matter how you and my father feel about each other, it is important you know with absolute certainty that I do not, nor have I ever, shared my father’s feelings. I came here tonight because I need to be able to move ahead with my life. If you don’t have the answers I seek, then I go home empty-handed. But at least I go home knowing I wasn’t too much of a coward to ask the questions in the first place.”
The reaction from Tempest and Schedler was both curiosity and respect. Schedler was silent as he raised his eyebrows at Tempest, encouraging him to continue the conversation.
Tempest reached across the table and cupped Renee’s hands in his own, sympathy in his voice and caring in his eyes. “Your honesty is appreciated, so allow me to return the favor. Do I know the circumstances surrounding your loss? I’m sorry to say I do not. Do I think it was an ordered hit? Yes, I do. There is nothing tangible I can give you to prove or disprove your suspicions, and I think you know you didn’t need to come to me to find your answers. What I do know is that you are a strong, capable, and confident young woman who will get through this in your own way and at your own pace, and I don’t believe it will last too much longer simply because it’s not in your nature to dwell. But when your grieving is complete, the Renee Parnell everyone has always known will come back to them, and you will come back stronger than you ever thought possible, and god help anyone who stands in your way.” Tempest let out a hearty laugh. “I sincerely hope I am there when that day comes.”
It was rare she heard praise or admiration from anybody other than David. She knew Tempest meant what he said, yet all she could do was look at him with heartbreak in her eyes. “Do you think my father ordered Christopher’s death?”
Tempest gave her hands a quick squeeze. “My dear, sweet girl, I think you already knew the answer before you came here.”
She let out a deep breath and stood, clutching her purse in her hands. “Thank you for taking the time to speak with me, Mr. Tempest.”
Tempest stood and held her face in his hands, searching her eyes for any sign of life. When he couldn’t find one, he gently kissed her on the forehead. “If you need anything, you know where to find me. Mr. Schedler will see you safely to your vehicle.”
***
It had been two weeks since Christopher’s funeral. Renee attended to business and behaved as if her world had never been shattered, but the suppressed emotions made it difficult to concentrate. She still hadn’t cried, couldn’t even begin to force tears to well in her eyes. She couldn’t get over that devastating feeling and didn’t know how to go back to the person she was supposed to be and move on with her life.
She loved Christopher with a ferocity she never knew existed and now he was gone, leaving her alone and her world crushed. Because of four blissful years with him, she had experienced a part of life she didn’t know even existed, and when she thought about private moments with him, she shuddered. He made her heartbeat quicken and her spirit soar and she would never feel that again. The thought of feeling pain like that was too much. She couldn’t, and wouldn’t, go through that again.
Renee was deep in thought and didn’t hear Alice enter the room. As Alice took a seat next to her, Renee wanted the world to go away and leave her be. But she knew why Alice was there and didn’t really care.
“Renee, your father—”
“I’m doing my job and still making him money.”
“You missed a lunch the other day. Renee, I’m not discounting the pain you’re in, but missing things like lunches with councilmen isn’t something you can just blow off. And then you were gone for almost two days without a word to anybody.”
Renee’s face was completely devoid of emotion. “I went to Philadelphia.”
Alice’s face drained of all color. “You what?”
Renee told Alice—the only person she truly trusted—about her visit with Tempest. “He did it, Alice.” There was no doubt in her voice.
Alice took a deep, shaky breath. “What are you going to do? You can’t say anything. It’s too dangerous…”
“I know that. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Alice held Renee’s hands tightly in her own and gave a definitive look. “You have to let this go for now. You have responsibilities that you are neglecting and your behavior is affecting everyone around you. A few days ago, Michelle had a problem and couldn’t find you, so she went to the first person she could find: the biggest asshole here.”
This news surprised Renee out of her stupor. “Did he touch her?”
“We had to call Dr. Michaelson because we couldn’t find you.”
The thought of Crescent touching one of her girls made her lips tighten in growing fury. “Where is Crescent?”
“I don’t know,” Alice said as she stood, “but I’m sure you’ll find him. I’m going to get you a wet cloth for your face and give you a few minutes to clean yourself up.”
As Alice made her way to the bathroom, Renee’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. She found her father standing on the other side, looking at her with dissatisfaction and distaste, a look she returned equally. This was the first time Renee had seen her father since the funeral and the look on his face told her he wanted to be anywhere but here.
Matthew stepped into the room and closed the door. “How are you doing?”
She couldn’t help but feel heartbroken as she looked at him, knowing he was the one responsible for her grief. “How long did it take you not to feel pain when my mother died?”
Matthew narrowed his eyes at her and answered in a dismissive tone. “Death, as you know, is a part of life.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
Matthew paced over to the window and looked out at the evening skyline. “As it turned out, your mother was not the person she led me to believe she was when we married. I fell out of love with her long before her death. The details are not important, but the fact of the matter is I wasn’t overly upset when she passed away.”
This revelation surprised Renee. “If you weren’t in love with her anymore, why didn’t you divorce her?”
“I have a reputation and a standard to live up to. Her dying was much better for me than a divorce would ever be.” He turned to face her with absolute hatred, making Renee take a step back even though they were across the room from each other. “And then she had you.”
The pit of her stomach dropped and she felt like she had just been slapped hard enough to knock her across the state of Massachusetts. She was rapidly trying to comprehend what she had just heard. Surely, she must have misunderstood, but the look on his face told her she hadn’t.
“What?”
The expression on his face was deadly as Matthew withdrew a pistol from his jacket and pointed it at her, taking one step forward, and Renee taking one step back in complete terror. “I told your mother I never wanted children. When she got pregnant, there was nothing I could do. Just like a divorce, if word got out that your mother
had an abortion, my standing in this community would have ended. Then she died bringing you into this world. I wanted nothing to do with you. I still want nothing to do with you, but I have been stuck with you since the day you were born and forced to pretend to love you.”
Renee stood frozen in disbelief. Even though she and her father had their differences, she thought he loved her. Here he was telling her with seething disgust how wrong she was. All reason and logic was thrown out the window as the flood of emotions she couldn’t explain began to consume her. She tried to ignore the gun pointed at her head.
“I had no choice but to give you a privileged life. Having you in my life just made things more complicated and I had to deal with the humiliation of parading you around. The only upside was that it made me more presentable. The poor, young widower raising a child by himself, and I played the part well.”
Matthew walked closer to Renee, and by the time he was less than a foot in front of her, she was trapped against the door, terrified the gun would be fired. She wanted to run but knew she couldn’t leave. What scared her even more was the smile on his face saying he was enjoying this.
Matthew leaned in, resting the barrel of the gun on her forehead, venom dripping from his words as he spoke. “I have had enough of playing father to you, but, unfortunately, I have to do what I must so I don’t tarnish the reputation I have worked hard to achieve. I have plans for my future and you are a necessary means to achieving those plans, so here is what’s going to happen from now on. Nothing changes except that the only time we will be in the same room is when necessity calls for it. You will, as always, play your part of the societal princess of an ever-loving father. Nobody will ever know how much I abhor you.”
For the first time in her life, Renee was genuinely afraid of her father. How could he do this knowing how much she loved him? How could she live the rest of her life knowing how he truly felt about her? She thought of all of the years she believed he loved her, and absolute certainty hit her.
“You killed Christopher.” The malevolence in the smile that appeared on Matthew’s face made her gasp and she began to shake so hard she thought she would have a seizure. “Why?”
“To hurt you. To make sure all hope for happiness would leave you. To make you suffer. You have been a burden to me for the past twenty years and I intend to take every opportunity open to me to make your life as excruciating and miserable as you have made mine. It was my golden opportunity. And make no mistake, my dear daughter, I will keep hurting you every chance I get. There is no escape and nothing you can do about it. When I have achieved my goal and finally had enough of you, I will personally be there to make sure you join Christopher and your mother in hell, where all of you belong.” Matthew cocked the gun and his smile widened as Renee let loose a gasp of terror. “Make no mistake, if you cross me, I will end you and nobody will be there to save you. Not your so-called friends. Not David. Nobody.”
Renee began to feel the life and energy slowly drain out of her body and suddenly wondered if Matthew pulling the trigger wouldn’t be the best thing for her. “David wouldn’t do that.”
“David won’t ever know. I promise you now that if you breathe one word of this conversation to David—to anybody—I will not hesitate to kill you where you stand and find another way to get what I want,” Matthew assured her as he un-cocked the gun and forcefully pushed her away, watching her stumble across the room to finally fall on the floor as he silently closed the door behind him.
Stunned and taken over by absolute fear, Renee knew what her father was capable of and knew what he said was true. He would make her feel his hate with every twist of the knife that he was sure to bury in her chest. He was going to make her suffer in every possible way for the rest of her life and she had nowhere to go and nobody to turn to.
Out of the corner of her eye, Renee saw movement and jumped in terror. Completely forgotten about, she looked up to see Alice walk out of the bathroom with disbelief and unabashed fear on her face.
Chapter 14
Renee frantically threw what possessions she could in one of the two suitcases and duffel bag she had open on the bed. By pure dumb luck, David had called Matthew to Chicago, and this was Renee’s only chance to get away. She had no idea if she was being watched, but she had no choice—if she was going to get away, it had to be tonight.
“You can’t leave!” Alice exclaimed.
“He’s all but put a contract out on me. And when the time comes to collect on that contract, he’ll happily watch while Crescent makes sure I suffer.”
“What about us? What’s going to happen to us? How can you be so selfish?”
She had never been called selfish before, but she suddenly felt it; she was the one who had the means and opportunity to get away while the only people she had known as friends didn’t. It wasn’t that she didn’t care about those she was leaving behind, but she would rather take the opportunity to save her own life before her father had the chance to take it.
“You’re not the one who had her own father put a gun to her head,” Renee said. “Alice, you know what he did.”
“What am I going to tell the others?”
Renee stopped packing, turned to Alice, and grasped her shoulders. “Tell them I’m devastated by Christopher’s death and needed to get away. That’s partly the truth.”
Resigned, all Alice could do was nod in understanding, but the fear on her face didn’t go unnoticed by Renee. At the same time, Renee had no time to console Alice; the longer she stayed, the more her resolve might keep her from escaping.
Renee scanned the bags to make sure she had everything she needed, then turned to Alice, handing her a fully stuffed large envelope and a key. “I have something for you, something that I can only trust you with. In this envelope is enough cash to get you out of here if you choose to go. You can keep it all for yourself or you can divide it between the girls if they want to leave too. But keep in mind, Alice, if you—any of you—choose to leave, you have to stay gone. Do whatever you have to do, but do not let him find you. Do you understand me? Stay gone.”
Disbelief in her voice, Alice said, “Where did you…”
Renee put the key Sasha had given her in Alice’s hand and quickly relayed the speech Sasha gave when the key became her responsibility. Alice gave Renee a puzzled look and considered Renee’s instructions for a moment, then gave a firm nod. Renee embraced Alice as hard as she could, guilt washing over her.
“I’m so sorry.” It was all Renee could say as she slung the duffel bag over her shoulder and took a suitcase in each hand.
Alice cracked open the door and stuck her head out, making sure nobody was there to see Renee leave. Without a word or a backward glance, Renee stepped out into the hallway and quickly made her way to the elevator.
Chapter 15
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.”