The Body #3: Rogue and Euphemia

Chapter 9 (Euphemia): An Old Acquaintance

In business, they say it's not what you know, it's who you know. And in my business, I'd always done well, but when I'd contracted to work for Finland Romano a few years ago, my business had boomed. Gone nuclear. I'd organized the home of a friend of Finland's and the woman had been telling her about how much easier her life was with everything I'd done. So Finland had contacted me and asked me to give her an estimate for organizing her entire home, a nine-thousand square-foot house.

"Everything needs to be organized," she'd said, her husband standing beside her, his hand around her waist. "Pantry, kitchen cupboards, every closet, every bedroom, every dresser, the play room, our room, the linen closets, my mother's little house, the shed, the garage --"

I'd noticed the garage when I'd pulled up because I didn't often see seven car garages, and I organized some nice homes.

"We need to discuss the garage, Gorgeous," Dominic Romano said to his wife.

"The garage," she repeated to me, ignoring her husband, "needs organizing and we can discuss options with Dominic to come up with a plan that works."

After pressing a kiss to her head, he wandered toward the sound of screaming in the backyard. "I'll take care of it. Sounds like Rali and Saara are at it again."

Their home was the biggest by far I'd ever worked on, and I was looking forward to the challenge. Finland loved discussing options with me, and over the course of the four months I worked on her house, we became friends. She told me her story, I told her mine -- which wasn't nearly as interesting as hers -- and I pictured her as a tiny little girl, growing up in foster care, running away, and how she'd put those running skills to work as an adult to help herself and her sister run away from the Romano brothers.

As I worked on her house, I met her sister Harper, who loved what I was doing and hired me for her house, top to bottom. Then they introduced me to their sister Elizabeth, who also hired me. Finally, I met the fourth sister, Willow, who contracted with me, and she had the biggest house of all. From there, I became exclusive, taking only clients from referrals from previous clients.

I never imagined I'd need those runaway skills of Finnie's, but she was the first one I thought of when I knew I needed to disappear. I called her after I'd been shot, and she'd wanted to come get me right away, but I'd refused.

"You have too much to do with all your babies, Finnie. I just need help planning and brainstorming."

"I got you," she'd promised. And she had. Once I was feeling well enough, we worked out the day and she agreed the MC family dinner night was the best option.

"You just act overwhelmed after you confront them all -- make sure you tell him you just need a few minutes to yourself before you can talk to him -- then walk outside. Do you have anyone you trust at all?"

Dayton came to mind. "I think so, yes."

"Good. Bunch of bitches there. I'll have someone I know drive in as a Groceries to Go delivery driver. She'll park in front of your trusted friend's house and leave the backdoor of her vehicle open to take out some groceries. That door will stay open until you climb into it and lay down in the backseat with a blanket over you, and the driver will leave right away."

"They have a security system with cameras."

"But they don't have Elizabeth," she said. "She'll hack the feed and you won't be seen getting into the car or even going anywhere near it. Nothing will be recorded from the time the car approaches the property until it's gone, and you'll just disappear."

Another conversation centered around where I'd go.

"I have an idea," Finnie had said slowly. "So, I have two more friends who want to hire you. They just got in touch so I put some feelers out there. They have humongous homes and they both said they'd be up for letting you stay there while you organize the hell out of their homes. For the one, you'd stay in a small guest house behind the main house, and for the other, you'd stay in a separate wing."