Change of Heart - By S.E. Edwards Page 0,42
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 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 the 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 discovered 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