The Forgotten Child

by D. E. White

  ‘I pretended that I was happy to help, that I’d lost my fiancée to drugs, my kids were in care, that I was a recovering addict with a few useful contacts. I realised that Jayden was as single-minded as I was about killing Niko, even though he was also a loser who boozed the whole time and didn’t look after his kid properly. Larissa’s boy deserved better. Ethan’s a good kid, and he’s been brought up knowing his dad was going to get revenge on the fuckers who killed his mum and his baby sister.’

  ‘But I didn’t kill her …’ Niko said plaintively.

  ‘So you keep saying. But you did. Oh, I know it was Alexi and Roman who did the actual killing, and they got banged up for it, didn’t they? And then they both died.’ Noah grinned. ‘That took me a few years to accomplish, but I did it. I guess the police already found out that I paid Kelly’s family quite a lot of money for him to commit the murders. He had no problems doing it, he was a Nicholls cousin on Gareth’s mum’s side so he knew about family loyalty, and he wanted to make sure his family would be looked after once he was gone. Nice bloke, Kelly. And of course he was terminally ill, so he had nothing to lose.’

  ‘Why not stop there? They were the ones who killed Larissa and the baby,’ Holly said, trying to stop her voice from trembling.

  ‘Then I went after Jayden because he stole my girl. Niko because he sent his animals after her, but how did Niko know where to find Jayden? Did he go looking, or find out accidentally? Or did someone tell him?’ Noah took a gun from his jacket pocket and caressed the barrel, a tiny smile lighting his lips.

  Holy shivered, a line of ice cracking along her spine. But Noah walked over to Cathryn and slapped her face. ‘Time to wake up! Shall I pour her a drink, Holly?’

  ‘Let her go. She’s got five kids, for fuck’s sake. Please don’t hurt her,’ Niko said. He was struggling against the bars again, banging his feet against the cage, making is sway alarmingly. A rusty cage for two guilty birds.

  Cath was blinking, eyes adjusting to the light, shaking her head, and as reality hit she began to struggle in Noah’s arms. ‘What the fuck is this? Holly? Noah?’

  ‘She can have a little drink before we chat,’ Noah said, grabbing the bottle of vodka and pinning Cath to the wall he forced it down her throat. She was choking and spluttering, fists beating frantically as she tried to turn her head away.

  Holly was screaming at him to stop, and Jayden was yelling too. Niko swung the cage, beating at the bars.

  Finally Noah released his captive and she fell sobbing and gasping to the floor. He watched her dispassionately, waiting until she had regained her breath before he spoke again. ‘Cathryn is going to tell us all how Niko knew where to find Larissa and Jayden, aren’t you, Cathryn?’

  She raised her head, arms braced, eyes wild. ‘What the fuck is going on? Noah, what are you doing for fuck’s sake? And Jayden!’

  ‘Talk to us, Cathryn. It’s only polite when you’re at a party. Mind you, it won’t be a great one for you because you seemed to have shagged most of us already.’

  ‘Fuck off,’ Cathryn said, catching sight of Holly, tied to the sofa. ‘Holly? What the fuck is going on? Where’s Milo?’

  ‘Who told Niko where to find Larissa and Jayden?’ Noah snapped at her.

  Shock registered on her face and she opened her mouth, then closed it again, still staring at the two men in the cage. Holly couldn’t blame her. She still couldn’t believe her brother was sitting captive, metres from where she was tied up.

  When she still didn’t answer, he smiled. ‘Give it up, Cathryn, Niko already told me. Oh, he didn’t mean too, but he and Jayden have already been roommates for two days, so they had a nice chat about exactly what happened the night Larissa was murdered. I recorded their touching conversation, so I know … but it ends here. This is the farewell party, the end game, the going-away present, whatever you want to call it.’

  ‘I didn’t mean … I was just pissed off. I saw you by accident when I was on the way to the baby clinic. I mean, fuck’s sake Jayden, you’d just vanished leaving me with your kids, and I was mad at you. So I followed you on the bus, saw Larissa holding a baby, kissing you as you went inside the flat. I was fuming. You’d gone and shacked up with someone else, you weren’t paying child support – how do you think I felt?’ Cathryn’s voice was quiet, so quiet Holly had to strain to hear her.

  ‘So you told Niko where to find me?’ Jayden’s voice was flat. ‘I hoped Niko was lying when he said it was you.’

  ‘After you left, me and Niko got together. I knew how much he hated you, and how you still owed him money. You just ditched me, after you met Larissa, but you already had two kids for fuck’s sake. Just because you thought you’d found someone better, you pissed off,’ Cath spat at him, rage and terror evident in her thin face.

  Noah was watching everyone argue, smiling slightly to himself.

  Holly kept her eye on Noah’s gun. If he started shooting, it was going to be a blood bath. She wriggled a little, slowly back towards the sofa, hoping the friction might fray the rope around her wrists. She could feel they were sticky with blood, but she kept easing backwards, eyes darting from the metal staircase to the goods cage. The sofa was close to the edge of the floor, and the whole level seemed to be only bordered by a set of railings. There was a long drop, maybe twenty feet to the next level, and to a load more packing cases and cardboard. It would be a risk, but if she could roll that way and fall, he might either miss her or give her up as dead. The other choice was to wait while he killed her at point-blank range. She had no doubt that was what Noah intended, and now she knew, she could see Gareth marked indelibly across his features. How had she not noticed before?

  She had to hold on to the fact that he had shown affection and concern for Larissa’s son. It was the only thing to believe – that he wouldn’t have hurt the boys even though he had clearly abducted Milo.

  Noah had another swig, and chucked the bottle onto the table, where it rolled, spilling alcohol across the filthy surface before falling to the floor and smashing. Shards of glass landed at Holly’s feet and she flinched, trying to protect her face. For a second she was back in the car crash, screaming for her son, pinpricks of pain dotting her face. Noah aimed the gun at Niko, who screamed.

  ‘So why is Holly here? Why did you take Milo?’ Jayden asked desperately. ‘If you’re doing this for Larissa, where does Holly come in?’

  ‘Holly found Larissa but she didn’t save her life, did she?’

  ‘I tried!’

  ‘They played the call at the trial. You wouldn’t help her, even though they told you to. That woman was telling you how to do CPR and you said, “I froze, and I just couldn’t touch her. I’m sorry.” That’s what you said, Holly. Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you. I would never kill a mother, but you needed to suffer, to understand what you might have done. You could have saved her, redeemed your family. But you’re as weak and pathetic as your dad and brother. It was easy to get a job working alongside you. I have a few sets of identification and Noah Jenks doesn’t have a criminal record, and he’s been working for a construction firm in Dublin for the last eight years. Nice and clean.’

  ‘Where is Milo, Noah? I’m sorry I didn’t do the CPR, and I regret it, but the police said later that when they worked out the timing, she was already dead. It wouldn’t have done any good!’

  ‘Oh, stop whining. I’ve already explained that you need to be held accountable, for the part you played, or rather, the part you didn’t play. You aren’t listening! Your kid’s in the van with Ethan. They’re fine. They’re sleeping. But you don’t deserve to raise a child. Bloody women. Larissa was never like you lot. She never whined.’ His face clouded with emotion and regret.

  ‘What do you mean sleeping? What have you given them?’ Holly choked on the words, struggling with her tied wrists and ankles. ‘Noah, for fuck’s sake!’

  ‘Noah, just let us go and we can work something out. How much do you want? Your cash, gear, name it and we’ll get i
t for you.’ Niko was talking fast, his face beaded with sweat.

  But Noah shook his head. ‘Now for the main event. God, I’ve looked forward to this.’ He slid open a drawer in the desk and pulled out two knives. ‘Niko and Jayden, you each get one of these and whoever wins the fight gets to live. That’s pretty fair, isn’t it?’

  Chapter 38

  Cathryn put her head down, arms around her knees, burying her face, and Holly found she was shaking so much her teeth were chattering. Surely they wouldn’t do it? But what a choice to make. She found herself praying, hoping that Dev had seen Noah take her, had rung Karen, that even now the police might be on their way over … And what about Ruby? She didn’t dare ask what had happened to her friend, not now when she knew that Noah could be as ruthless as his dad.

  But Noah was talking again. ‘Come on, Jayden, be a man. This is what you’ve always dreamt of! All those years of planning … Remember the buzz you got when Alexi and Roman were killed. Larissa was proud, wasn’t she? Well, now she’ll be even happier when she realises you’re going to take out the fucker who was responsible for sending those murderers over to the flat.’

  Holly tried to speak, but her mouth was dry. She caught both men’s expressions of horror. Whatever her brother had intended for Niko, he clearly hadn’t anticipated delivering the deathblow himself.

  Noah was smiling again, moving towards the cage, when a phone rang. They all froze, before Noah pulled his mobile out of his pocket. He studied the screen and frowned briefly. ‘Don’t go anywhere before the party games, will you? I just need to take this …’

  He walked to the top of the staircase, leaning against it, talking into his phone, his quick eyes missing nothing.

  ‘We need to get out of here,’ Cath hissed, writhing against her bonds. Her long blonde hair was matted and filthy, and her face was wet with blood and tears. A large bruise was spreading across her left cheek. ‘Quick, Holly, we can get that broken glass from the bottle …’

  Holly began to move, very slowly, mindful of Noah’s watchful eye. The gun was back in his pocket, and he was arguing into his phone. There was a large shard of glass touching her foot. If she could slide round and get it into hands, she might be able to cut the rope.

  The men, imprisoned in their cage, watched her. Niko was still rattling the bars, and at one point Noah shouted at him to shut the fuck up, cupping a hand over his ear and moving further away until he was leaning on the gantry railings.

  Cath, cottoning on, began to talk, asking Jayden why he had come back, directing attention away from Holly. ‘What happened the night Holly’s car crashed? Was that you?’

  Holly had the glass now, and she winced at the sharp pain as it cut her finger. Very carefully, she began to slide it up and down against the knots that bound her wrists. Sweat was pouring down her back, beads dropping from her forehead into her eyes, making them sting. Her face was wet and itchy, but she persevered.

  ‘Yeah, it was me. I drove down with Noah and Ethan, and we stayed up with my mate in Panfield. Bailey saw me, didn’t he? I was sure it was him with that red hair, even after all this time, so I scarpered.’

  Holly tried to make her voice sound normal, freezing, as Noah’s gaze swung around the floor, resting on each of his captives in turn. ‘He did, and he told Dev you were back.’

  ‘Me and Noah started checking up on all of you, and he went after Niko one night to see how things were, while me and Ethan followed you after you took Milo to his rugby practice. I … I was having a few doubts about Noah. Not anything serious, but just enough for me to see that maybe bringing Ethan back to the Seaview into all this wasn’t such a great idea. It was always the plan, you see, but when we got back …’

  ‘You ran her off the road?’ Cath said.

  ‘I didn’t mean to. Noah was with us most of the time, but I watched how Holly was with her kid, and I could see that perhaps she might be the one to have Ethan for me in case something went wrong with the plan. I know it sounds crazy, but it was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I flashed my lights, trying to get her to pull over, but then there was a van coming the other way, and something made her swerve off the road. Jesus! I slammed on the brakes and we spun off too. Ethan was next to me in the passenger seat, but the windscreen shattered as we struck something, and then he was bleeding. The airbags went off and I was trying to check if he was breathing.’

  Jayden was gabbling now, his hands clenched on the bars of the cage. ‘I slid down the bank to see if Holly was okay, and at first I thought she was dead, but when I found she and Milo were just unconscious it seemed like it was meant to be. I couldn’t take Ethan to hospital myself, but I could leave him with Holly and ring the ambulance myself. I had a burner phone so I used that. The number was untraceable and I chucked the phone afterwards so the police would never know.’

  The glass slid neatly through the last piece of rope and Holly massaged her wrists, feeling blood flow back into her hands. She had no idea what she was going to do now, but she caught Cath’s eye and nodded. Her friend moved slightly until she blocked Noah’s line of vision, even whilst they all pretended to be spellbound by Jayden’s story. Holly found she could hardly take in what her brother was saying. On one hand, it was a relief to know what really happened that night, but on the other, they were about to be killed or at least injured, and if she understood Noah rightly, he was going to take both kids with him when he left.

  Stretching out a cautious hand, Holly started to saw at the ropes around her ankles. Noah was still listening to whoever was on the phone, his free hand tapping his pocket idly.

  Niko was talking again, loudly and furiously. ‘It was in the past, Jay. All this stuff you’ve brought up was in the past. I’m sorry about your girl and the baby, but like I said it wasn’t me. You’ve screwed up my life by stealing my cash, and now that fucker over there, who you brought down to Westbourne, is going to kill us and abduct a couple of kids.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Niko. I’m sorry it came to this, but you don’t understand what it was like after Larissa was murdered. My baby girl was dead, and her mother, and although at first all I could think of was keeping Ethan safe and getting away, it got to me. I had nightmares, flashbacks the whole time and instead of getting better they got worse. The only way I could get through each day was by getting hammered. I knew I was barely coping, so I came up with the plan. It helped me get through day-to-day stuff, kept Larissa alive in my head, in Ethan’s. I don’t know if I would actually have gone through with it if I hadn’t met Noah, and that’s the truth.’

  ‘And now? You see what you’ve done to us all? If it wasn’t bad enough having Gareth in Westbourne, now his insane son has done for all of us,’ Niko complained, rattling the bars again. ‘Do something, Jayden, or say something. Offer him the money you’ve got stashed and do a deal.’

  Jayden shook his head sadly. His face was grey and his expression one of abject misery. ‘He doesn’t want anything except his revenge. If this was Joey, or even Gareth, we could have cut a deal – they always like a bit of business – but for Noah, this isn’t about money or even justice. This is about blood.’

  ‘Don’t fucking give up! What about us? Do you know what the Nicholls do to women? He might not be going to kill us but you heard what he said!’ Cath said shrilly, raising her voice so that Noah looked at her.

  Holly cut through the last bit of rope as Noah finished his call. She bunched her legs under her, arranging the rope around her wrists and ankles, ready for a moment when she could attack him. She was fairly confident that if he came close she would be able to tackle him before he pulled a gun. If he had a knife he might have a chance to use it, but she didn’t care. She knew she would fight to the death as much as the boys were going to have to, for her son.

  This was going to be it, her last fight. Without ropes or referees, without gloves or timers, she was going to fight not just for her life, but for all of them. Her muscles quivered, but she arranged her face into an expression of passive te
rror and let her old instincts rise.

  Chapter 39

  ‘Sorry about that. Just a little business with my dad.’ Noah stashed his phone, walked over to the cage, and posted the knives in. He barely looked at the two women as they crouched on the floor, Cath still shielding Holly.

  Instinctively, both men scrabbled for the knives, clenching the weapons in their fists, eyeing each other. But something was missing. The venom had faded, and Holly felt a surge of hope, instantly quenched as she remembered Noah’s gun. Neither of the men in the cage made a move to stab the other, despite the fact they were barely two feet apart.

  ‘Don’t kill him, Jay!’ Cath shouted suddenly and Noah scowled at her.

  ‘Come on, get on with it,’ he shouted in frustration. ‘Jayden, this bastard is part of the plan, he’s responsible for Larissa’s death! This is what you’ve waited years to do, and I’ve given you the weapon. Do it!’ He pulled his gun out, pointing it at the cage.

  There was a sudden, swift movement, like a snake striking, and Holly cried out. It was hard to see what had happened, because Niko had reacted as soon as her brother moved but it looked as though Jayden had flicked the knife around and stabbed himself in the stomach, gritting his teeth as the bade bit deep into his belly.

  ‘No!’ Noah shouted. ‘That’s not how it’s meant to work!’

  But Jayden, dragging the knife from his belly, now slashed both wrists, before falling back against the cage bars, leaving Niko crouched over him, his own face registering horror.

  ‘Cheats!’ Noah yelled. ‘You fucking pathetic loser, Jayden. You bottled it!’

  ‘He’s bleeding out! You need to get us out of here,’ Niko was saying, panic in his voice. ‘Noah for fuck’s sake, get us out of here.’

  ‘You want him dead. This makes it easier for you, doesn’t it?’ Noah told him, making no effort to do anything.