Ruthless Girl: An absolutely gripping, gritty crime thriller

by Emma Tallon

  ‘Well,’ Anna said, trying to keep Sophia talking. ‘I guess we’re going to have to disagree on that one, aren’t we?’

  ‘Why did you do it, Sophia?’ Freddie repeated, his gaze locking with hers. ‘I still don’t get what you’re doing here. It doesn’t make sense.’

  Tanya took a step forward. She was still a few feet away from Sophia but there were two creaky floorboards between them and she needed to stay silent if she had a chance of getting close enough.

  ‘Put the fucking gun down, Sophia. Seriously,’ Paul growled, weighing in, ‘or I’ll take you out even with your guy pointing his gun at me.’

  Tanya glanced at Ali. Maybe she would be better going for him. But the grief and anger gnawing through her heart drew her back towards Sophia. She wanted to cause that woman pain like she had never wanted to cause another person pain before.

  Before she could take another step, though, whoever had locked the front door mounted the stairs and entered the room. Tanya swivelled round and blinked in surprise. It was the new guy who worked for Freddie. A smile of relief spread across her face, but then quickly faded as he pointed his own gun straight at her.

  Keeping the gun trained on Tanya and gesturing for her to back away from his new boss, Jim looked across the room into the furious gaze of his biological son. ‘Hello, Freddie,’ he said, as his mouth turned up into a dark, crooked smile. ‘I guess you’re now wishing you’d killed me when you had the chance.’

  Sixty-Four

  Josephine heard the shot upstairs in her flat and froze in horror. Anna had been up just an hour before and told her under no circumstances was she to come downstairs tonight, that there was to be a showdown with none other than Sophia Ivanov. Apparently, it was Sophia who had killed Sammy. Josephine hadn’t been able to think about anything else since. She had huddled up on the sofa for a while, then paced the room for what seemed like an age but what was in fact no more than just a few minutes. Eventually she had poured herself a strong drink and sat staring at the wall, too tense to even put on the TV.

  She’d heard people coming in and out and her heart had raced each time. Was it Sophia? Would she stop downstairs or would she come up here to take her revenge? Josephine had never been a violent person. She doubted she even had anything in the flat that could be used as a weapon to defend herself. Even the kitchen knives barely cut through food any more, so dull had they become with age and neglect.

  The knowledge that Sophia was just downstairs had set off a train of thought that once more led her back to Aleksei. They had been so happy together, for a while. Sometimes she could forget how sour things had turned and just remember the good times for what they were. He had been a flawed man through and through, but he had loved her in his own way. Love was not always enough though, in this cruel world. It was dog eat dog. Survival of the fittest.

  The shot had made her jump and cry out in alarm. Her vodka tonic had spilled all over her lap and she’d cast the empty glass aside as she’d leaped to her feet. Now she just stood there rooted to the spot, a rabbit caught in headlights. Except the headlights had passed and now there was nothing but an agonising silence roaring through the air.

  What was happening? Who had been shot? These were questions that Josephine needed answers to and no matter how insistent Anna had been, she could not obey her orders any longer. If it was Sophia who had fired the shot she could not stay up here like some sitting duck for her to pick off if she decided to mount the next flight of stairs. And no matter who had fired the shot, her friends were down there. They might need her help. It didn’t matter what else was going on between them at the moment, she wanted to be there for them. They meant the world to her. She’d never let them down – intentionally at least – before, and she wasn’t going to start now.

  Mustering up what little courage she could find, Josephine wrapped the long pale grey cardigan she wore around her then walked out into the hall and tiptoed down the stairs as quietly as she could. As she approached the landing she could hear voices in the bar area. She crept along the hallway and stopped just outside the door, her hands flat against the wall as she strained to listen.

  Sixty-Five

  Sophia stared down the barrel of the gun at Freddie with pure hatred. This was not the situation she had envisaged now that a gun was aimed at her own head, but it was not going to stop her achieving her goal.

  ‘How can you not know what’s going on here?’ she asked, her own anger beginning to rise as she stared at his furious expression. ‘I made it clear the first time I met you that I knew what had happened to my husband,’ she said. ‘Oh, I know I seemed as though I didn’t much care, and I suppose with all you know about him it was easy for you to accept that. But despite our marriage not being what is expected of a normal marriage, Aleksei and I had a very strong bond indeed.’

  For the first time since he had met her, Freddie saw some emotion break through her cold, hard shell and, despite the precarious position he was in, he watched with interest.

  ‘We were two of a kind, Aleksei and I,’ she continued. ‘We saw the world in the same way. In a way other people didn’t always understand. That was why we worked, despite the lack of romantic attachment. Or perhaps because of the lack of that. Romance is nothing but a distraction from the things that matter, like business and children,’ she spat.

  The memory of Aleksei asking her and the boys to leave and start afresh somewhere new so that he could move Josephine in came rushing back and her anger intensified. That whore had turned his head. It was her fault he was distracted that night.

  ‘I’m sure that’s all true,’ Freddie replied. ‘But I still don’t see what that’s got to do with us or why you killed Sammy.’

  ‘Oh please,’ she scoffed bitterly. ‘Do you really still think you can pull the wool over my eyes? I know. I knew the whole plan; I helped Aleksei cook it up.’

  ‘What plan?’ Freddie asked, exasperated. If he had any clue what Sophia was talking about he could have figured out how to deal with it, but he didn’t. He eyed the gun. Despite her sudden outburst of emotion she still held it steady and firm. He needed to try and distract her for just a second. If she dropped it even slightly, he could lunge for it. Paul already had his eye on him, ready and waiting for his move.

  ‘The plan to kill you, Mr Tyler,’ Sophia answered. ‘I know why he was there that night, because it was me who had sourced and planned out the arrangement for the explosives within the building. That was always my forte, you see, not his.’ She lifted her chin, a glint of dark pride in her eyes as she shared this. ‘He had his little whore message you from your girlfriend’s phone, to lure you there. It was so simple. All he had to do was get you up to a higher floor and detonate from a safe distance. But something happened.’ She frowned. ‘I still don’t know how you did it, how you figured it out and turned the trap on him, but I know you were there. I know you were responsible. I know that you ended up being the one who walked away and it was me who was left without a husband.’

  Freddie’s mind whirled as he took this all in. This was the first he had heard about any of this and none of it made any sense. ‘Sophia, I don’t know what you think you know, but until right now I had no idea that any of this had taken place. And I definitely wasn’t there.’

  If he had been, he certainly wouldn’t have started working with the woman afterwards, that was for sure, he thought to himself. And who was Aleksei’s whore? Who could have been close enough to Anna to send out a message from her phone without her knowledge? He turned to look at her in question, but she was staring intently at Sophia and did not turn back towards him.

  ‘Your lies won’t help you now, Freddie,’ Sophia snarled. ‘I’m done playing nicely. The only reason you’re still here is because your father here led me to the wrong club the other night. I thought it was your brain I’d lodged that bullet in.’

  Freddie let out a low growl of anger at the use of the word ‘father’. Jim deserved many titles but that was not one of th
em. And as the reason for Sammy’s death became clear a deep feeling of regret washed over him. It had been a case of mistaken identity. Sammy hadn’t needed to die. What a terrible waste of a life.

  He shot Jim a look of contempt. ‘And how did you end up working for her then, eh?’ he asked. When Jim didn’t answer he shook his head in disgust. The man was a snake through and through. And he was right. Freddie did wish he’d killed him when he’d had the chance.

  ‘Sophia, I really don’t know what happened that night, but I can tell you now that whatever it was, clearly your plan failed. I never got any text, I never met him that night. I’ve been searching for your husband ever since he disappeared, assuming he was just in hiding. And yeah,’ Freddie said, raising his voice as his temper started to get the better of him, ‘I was planning on taking him out as quickly as possible, and anyone else around him. He waltzed in here and took over land that wasn’t his whilst I was in prison. And when we came out he tried to kill me and my brother here. So damn straight, he was number one on my fucking hit list. But whoever did kill him that night, it wasn’t me. And that’s the truth.’

  ‘Lies,’ Sophia spat. ‘And I’ve had enough of them. So say goodbye to your girlfriend, Mr Tyler.’

  ‘Don’t you fucking dare,’ Paul yelled, getting ready to shoot her.

  As all tensions swiftly rose Ali stepped towards Paul and shouted something in Russian, and Anna and Tanya both cried out as they realised the worst was about to happen.

  ‘Stop!’ Josephine fell into the room with her hands in the air and panic in her eyes. ‘Stop, Sophia.’ She hurried forward and placed herself between Sophia and Freddie. ‘Please. It wasn’t him.’ Her voice wobbled as she stared into the eyes of the person who hated her the most in this world. ‘Sophia, it wasn’t him.’ Her terrified voice was barely more than a whisper. ‘It was me.’

  Sixty-Six

  ‘You?’ Sophia was taken aback. This was the last thing she expected to hear.

  ‘I couldn’t do it,’ Josephine breathed. ‘I couldn’t hurt my own people the way Aleksei wanted me to.’ She was terrified now that she was in the room and the truth was spilling out. She’d rushed in without thinking it through, but she didn’t regret it. She couldn’t allow other people to die for something she had done. The guilt had eaten away at her like a cancer ever since it had happened and it haunted her every waking moment. That was already hard enough, she couldn’t cope with the blood of more people she cared about on her hands. And she couldn’t watch Anna lose the man she loved, the way that she had.

  Anna’s eyes widened in horror as she realised what Josephine was doing. This was what she had been protecting her from, all this time. Retribution for what she’d had no choice but to do. ‘Josephine, no,’ she cried.

  ‘It’s OK, Anna, you didn’t know,’ Josephine said quickly. She eyed Anna meaningfully. ‘You didn’t know,’ she repeated.

  Anna had saved her that night. Josephine had tried to stop Aleksei, had planned to kill him herself but when it had come to it she hadn’t had it in her to finish the job. He had overpowered her and strangled her and she had given up fighting, had accepted that it was the end of the road. But Anna had followed her and had shot Aleksei, saving her and unbeknown to her at the time, Freddie too. Anna and Tanya had then covered it all up, protecting her all this time from anyone finding out. They had lied to everyone, even Freddie, knowing that he would not understand or forgive her the way that they had decided to.

  But this had put them in a precarious position too. They’d lied in a family where there could be no lies. If Freddie knew the whole story, the trust between them would be broken and the family would fracture even more than it had already. Josephine couldn’t let this happen, not after all they had done. It was her fault, all of this. None of it would have happened if she had not started up a relationship with the enemy in the first place and it was time to put it right as best she could.

  ‘You would not harm Aleksei,’ Sophia said, doubt creeping into her tone. ‘You loved him. He was about to give you the world. My world,’ she added with a hiss.

  ‘I did love him,’ Josephine admitted. ‘But I loved this family too and he tried to make me choose. Someone who loves you back doesn’t make you choose.’ She shook her head and a tear rolled down her cheek. ‘He didn’t love me the way I loved him. And in the end I couldn’t let him do it.’

  ‘So you did it to him?’ Sophia asked, her tone incredulous.

  ‘I did.’ Josephine’s gaze flickered around at all the stunned faces staring back at her. ‘I never sent the text from Anna’s phone. I went to the site instead that night. I stole the detonator and I was going to bring it down on him, but he followed me. He knew something was up.’ She sniffed. ‘So I shot him. And then I pulled the building down. It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done and it has haunted me ever since.’ Several more tears fell as she finally let it out. ‘But it had to be done. I had to protect the people who had taken me into their family, who truly cared for me.’ Her gaze moved back to Anna. ‘I may have made some bad decisions, but I remembered where my loyalties lay when it came down to it. And I will always protect these people,’ she added with feeling. ‘For as long as I live.’

  ‘You were seeing Aleksei?’ Freddie asked, a shocked anger colouring his tone. ‘And you were going to help him lure me there?’ He glanced over at Anna. Her face was as white as a sheet, her expression unreadable. He realised this must be hard for her to hear. Josephine was one of hers. She had taken the woman under her wing when no one else had been there for her.

  ‘You stupid creature,’ Sophia breathed. ‘You were not content enough to manipulate my husband into moving me away and moving you in, you had to take his life?’

  ‘I didn’t manipulate him, Sophia,’ Josephine replied, a sad smile shining through the tears. ‘He did that all on his own. I don’t know what you think you had between you, but whatever it was was all in your head.’ Her passion began to shine through as she thought back to what they had shared, to how unhappy Aleksei had told her he was with Sophia. She stepped forward and held her head high, her fear momentarily forgotten. ‘He didn’t want you any more, Sophia. And he told you that. He didn’t want someone so cold and rigid and calculating, he wanted warmth and love, and—’

  The sound of the shot reverberated through the large room as Sophia swung her arm round and shot Josephine in the centre of her chest. Josephine fell backwards to the floor, choking noises coming out of her mouth, and her eyes widened in shock.

  ‘Josephine!’ Anna ran to her and managed to catch her head just before it hit the floor. ‘No… No, what have you done!’ she shouted.

  Almost frozen in shock but roused by seeing her chance as Jim dropped his gun, Tanya smashed the bottle of vodka down on Sophia’s shoulders, hard. Paul barged sideways into Ali, knocking him to the ground, and began grappling with him again as Ali fought fiercely to get back up.

  As Sophia stumbled and all hell broke loose, Jim turned and fled out through the door. He had felt confident with a gun in his hand whilst Sophia had everything under control, cocky even. But things had suddenly turned and he was reminded that he was not cut out for this sort of thing. He’d hoped to get his revenge on the brothers for what they’d done to his hand, but he was not up for a fair fight. He only liked to play the game when the other side was already in a weaker position.

  Taken by surprise as she’d fallen, Sophia had dropped her gun and Tanya kicked it away out of her reach. Leaving Josephine momentarily, Anna quickly crawled over to the table where her own gun was stashed and retrieved it with a small sigh of relief as she wrapped her fingers around the cold metal. Freddie waited to make sure Anna was OK, then turned and ran out of the room after Jim.

  Rising to her feet, Anna marched across the room and aimed the gun down at Sophia’s head. Sophia tried to move but Anna just jammed it closer and cocked it.

  ‘Don’t even think about it,’ she growled. ‘Tanya, how’s she doing?’ Her tone bec
ame more urgent as fear gripped her heart.

  Tanya had rushed to Josephine’s side and was frantically moving her hands across their friend’s chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding but it was no good. Josephine’s breathing was laboured and raspy as blood began to fill her lungs. ‘It’s not good, Anna,’ Tanya said, her tone panicked. Tears began to fill her eyes and her hands shook as she realised that there was nothing more she could do.

  ‘You bitch,’ Anna hissed, shaking her head as her own eyes began to fill. ‘You fucking bitch.’

  Sophia looked up at Anna with a mocking defiance in her dark eyes. A spiteful smile began to curl up at the corners of her mouth. ‘She got what she deserved—’ she started.

  ‘No, she didn’t,’ Anna cut her off vehemently. ‘But you sure as hell will.’ With vengeance in her heart and not the slightest trace of regret, Anna squeezed the trigger and let off a shot. The bullet sank into Sophia’s forehead and Anna held her gaze as the life dimmed out of her eyes and her body slumped back to the floor. She stared at her for no more than a second. She felt no remorse. She felt nothing for the woman who had taken so much from them.

  Ali stopped struggling for a moment, horrified to see his boss was now dead, and Paul took the opportunity to smash the butt of the gun around his head, knocking him unconscious. Anna turned back to Josephine and knelt beside her, opposite Tanya who was now openly weeping over her as she struggled to take her last few breaths.

  ‘Josephine…’ Anna’s lip wobbled and the tears began to flow as she realised that there was nothing more they could do. The shot was fatal and the lifeblood was draining from Josephine’s body at a terrifying speed. Suddenly everything that had been going on shot into horrifyingly clear perspective and Anna felt sick to her stomach. ‘I’m so sorry, I’m so, so sorry,’ she said, her voice quietening to a heartbroken whisper. There was so much to say, so much to apologise for. She had been awful to her. She’d been so angry with her for so long, but it was only because she loved her so much. She needed to tell her, to make things right. ‘I… Josephine, oh God, Josephine…’ She needed to tell her how she felt, explain why she had been the way she was, but she couldn’t find the words.