Liverpool Loyalty

by Caz Finlay

  ‘That would be great, Jake,’ she said with a smile. ‘It would help me out a lot, but more importantly, Isla would love it. She’s really missed you.’

  ‘Brilliant. Thanks.’

  They sat in silence for a few moments, watching their sleeping daughter.

  ‘Can I ask you something without us getting into an argument about it?’ Jake said.

  Siobhan nodded. ‘Of course.’

  ‘You knew about me and Paul before I asked you to marry me, so why did you say yes? And why didn’t you tell me?’ he asked with no hint of anger in his voice. He hoped that Siobhan wouldn’t feel accused. It was just something he had always wondered about.

  Siobhan looked at him, her cheeks pink and her eyes wet with tears. ‘I thought … I hoped, that it was just a phase, Jake. I convinced myself that it was just an experiment or something you needed to get out of your system. I thought that being pregnant and us getting married would change everything for you. I thought that me and Isla would be enough…’

  ‘Siobhan,’ he said with a sigh. ‘It wasn’t that you weren’t enough—’

  ‘I know that now,’ she interrupted him. ‘I realise now how naïve and selfish I was being. I know that you can’t help who you are, Jake. But I was so hurt, and I loved you so much. I couldn’t accept that everything we had, all we’d been through together, had been a lie.’

  ‘It wasn’t a lie, Siobhan. I loved you too. I need you to know that. It wasn’t until I met Paul…’

  ‘Was he the only one?’ she asked.

  Jake nodded. ‘Yes. There was never anyone else, I swear.’

  ‘Good,’ she said with a smile.

  ‘I do love you, Siobhan. I always will, but not in the way you need me to.’

  Siobhan nodded as a tear rolled down her cheek. ‘Not the way you loved Paul.’

  ‘No,’ Jake said, the word catching in his throat.

  ‘I was sorry about Paul. Despite everything that happened. I hope you know that?’

  ‘Thanks.’

  A few more moments of comfortable silence passed between them again before Jake spoke again. ‘Are you happy here?’

  Siobhan looked at him, tilting her head to one side. ‘It’s not Liverpool, it doesn’t feel like home yet, but it’s quiet and my neighbours are nice. I love managing the wine bar,’ she said, a smile lighting up her face suddenly.

  ‘I heard you’re doing an amazing job, but of course you would, The Blue Rooms has never been the same since you left. You managed the place better than anyone.’

  ‘I enjoyed it. I miss the place. There was always something going on,’ she said with a laugh.

  ‘Well, if you fancy coming home, I could do with a decent manager.’ Jake grinned.

  ‘Oh yeah, and what would I say to your mum? She’s only just given me the job. Thanks for the opportunity, Grace, but now I’m off,’ Siobhan said with a flash of her eyebrows.

  ‘She’d understand. She’d just be happy to have you and Isla nearer home.’

  Siobhan laughed. ‘She probably would. She’s quite the woman, your mum.’

  ‘She certainly is. You know, I always thought it was my dad’s reputation I had to live up to, but he was nothing compared to her.’

  ‘Well, I couldn’t think of a better person for you to live up to then.’

  Jake nodded. ‘I know.’

  Jake was driving home down the M6 listening to the radio when he thought back to his conversation with Siobhan. They’d talked until Isla woke from her nap and then they’d all eaten dinner together. It had been one of the best afternoons he’d spent in a long time. As awful as it was to have been charged and remanded for murder, that short stretch inside had shaken him out of the pit of despair he’d been wallowing in. On his first night inside he’d taken some spice and it had almost killed him. That stuff was some nasty shit. He’d been hallucinating and had ended up shitting his pants. He’d woken up two days later in the hospital wing and vowed never to touch another drug again. He was only three weeks on, but he hadn’t wavered and he had no desire to.

  Jake thought about his mum too. Siobhan was right, she was quite the woman. She was fearless. From the moment he was born she had always put him first. She had always been there for him, and he knew that no matter what, she always would. She always came through for him, no matter what the cost to herself. She put her family above all else and she had shown him what true loyalty was. It was because of that that her reign had gone unchallenged for over a decade. Jake smiled as he thought about the conversation Michael had had with him and Connor earlier, outlining the plans for the future. It was the right thing for everyone and the timing couldn’t have been better.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Connor Carter looked down at the face of his newborn son and smiled. His heart felt like it might burst, such was the love he felt for this little bundle, wrapped in a blanket, as he raised one of his chubby little fists in the air, as though in a gesture of triumph.

  ‘Yeah, little man. You made it,’ Connor said with tears in his eyes as he kissed his forehead.

  He looked up to see Jasmine beaming at him and he crossed the room to sit on the bed beside her. She had been through the wringer but she had never looked more beautiful to him.

  ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look more content,’ she said to him as she laid her head on his arm.

  ‘You have made me the happiest man in the world, Jazz,’ he breathed. ‘You were fucking amazing there, girl. Fucking amazing!’

  He heard her laugh softly.

  ‘He’s incredible, isn’t he?’ Connor said.

  ‘Hmm,’ Jasmine answered sleepily.

  Connor kissed the top of her head. ‘Try and get some kip, babe. Me and Paul will be right here waiting for you when you wake up,’ he said quietly as he shuffled off the bed, careful not to wake his girlfriend, who had already fallen asleep.

  Connor sat in the large wing-backed chair of the private hospital room and stared down at the face of his sleeping son, with his thick dark hair and chubby cheeks – he was quite simply perfect in every way. It had been just after 1am when Jasmine’s waters had broken. His dad and Grace had just been rolling in from a night out as Jasmine and Connor were rushing out the door, Connor holding Jasmine up with one arm and carrying her hospital bag in the other.

  Grace and his dad had been hardly able to contain their excitement and had waved them off in a flurry of cheering and smiles. Two hours later, Paul Michael Carter made his very noisy entrance into the world. Jasmine had been an absolute star and Connor had been completely blown away by her strength and her dignity. He knew right then that he would never love any other woman as much as he loved her right then. Her blood pressure had shot through the roof during delivery, but they’d given her medication and it had returned to almost normal levels. They also had her hooked up to a monitor to keep an eye on her overnight as a precaution.

  ‘You waited for me then, eh? I knew you would. I’ll never leave you again, mate,’ Connor said quietly to the tiny bundle in his arms. ‘I love you, son.’

  Then Connor leaned his head back in his chair and closed his eyes as Paul junior snuggled into his chest. Connor listened to the shuffling of feet up and down the corridor outside the room, the beeping of medical machinery and the occasional alarm going off. He wondered how on earth anyone ever managed to get any sleep in the place.

  He was woken with a start a short time later by the loud beeping of machinery and a flurry of doctors and nurses as they came rushing into the room, speaking in a language that sounded completely alien to him. He looked down at Paul, who was still nestled safely in his arms. They weren’t here for Paul. They crowded around Jasmine’s bed and all Connor could do was look on in horror.

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  Luke Sullivan leaned back in his chair and surveyed the room. At least two dozen men dressed in suits were sitting around a large table. It was almost like a boardroom. He supposed it was a board meeting o
f sorts – the respectable face of the Liverpool underworld, except that it wasn’t just Liverpool any longer. Luke saw faces from Manchester, Newcastle, Scotland and beyond. Even Jerry Smith, Jock Stewart’s right-hand man, was sitting patiently, waiting for his orders. Luke and Danny had been trusted to do some of the negotiating with the new Essex branch of the firm, and Luke had been impressed with their set-up. He’d got to know Jerry in particular over the past few weeks and he liked doing business with him. Jock Stewart had taken over Alastair McGrath’s firm as expected, and Jerry had in turn been promoted. He’d always been Jock’s go-to man, but now he was second in command of the whole firm. It had been a role he hadn’t particularly been looking for – he said he was getting too old, for a start – but Jock had managed to persuade him. The old Scot could be a smooth talker when he wanted to be.

  Luke knew how much Jerry liked working for Jock. He said he was much more stable and rational than their previous boss, Alastair McGrath. Of course, questions had been asked about Alastair’s whereabouts and his apparent disappearance. Jock and Jerry had stuck to their agreed script: after his humiliating defeat at the hands of Grace Carter, he had done a bunk to the Costa del Sol with his Liverpool mistress. No one gave a shit enough to probe any further, not even Alastair’s wife, who seemed relieved to finally be free of her controlling, philandering husband.

  When Jock had asked Jerry to come to Liverpool and explore a deal that would make them all a tonne of money, he’d been happy to. Jock Stewart didn’t get involved with people unless he rated them, and he rated this Liverpool firm very highly indeed.

  Suddenly the hum of chatter stopped as the door opened. Jake Conlon and Connor Carter stepped inside the room. They both gave a nod of acknowledgement to the men seated around the table before taking a seat themselves. The door they’d just walked through remained open and Luke heard Michael Carter’s laugh before he saw him walking through the door. He was an imposing figure and his presence in the room was palpable, but it wasn’t until he stepped aside and Grace Carter walked in behind him that every man pushed back his chair and stood up.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ she said with a nod. ‘Please have a seat.’

  Everyone did so, including Michael, who sat next to Connor and Jake.

  Grace Carter took her seat at the head of the table. ‘Right, shall we get down to business then?’ she said with a smile.

  Luke smiled too. In a short space of time, he and Danny had been welcomed into Grace Carter’s inner circle and it was a place they both felt they belonged. They had made themselves indispensable, particularly to Jake and Connor, and were fast becoming their go-to men. While Luke and Danny’s business was security, they were both open to other ways of making money – and Grace Carter provided them by the bucket-load. She and Michael were quite obviously taking a step back from the hands-on side of the business, but there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was still the woman in charge. She managed to keep all of the various major factions on side and loyal to her, and Luke had no idea how she did it. The woman was a legend.

  Luke’s thoughts were interrupted by the vibration of his mobile phone in his inside pocket. He had three phones and this was the one only Danny, and a few select people in this room, had the number to. It was for emergencies only – the Bat-phone! Luke frowned. Danny knew he was in this meeting. Discreetly taking it out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen and saw the text message sent by his best mate and business partner. It sent a shudder down his spine.

  ‘I’ve just had a visit from Joey Parnell. He’s not a happy bunny.’

  Luke slipped the phone back into his pocket and resisted the urge to get up and leave, knowing it would disturb the meeting. It would be over soon anyway and he needed to speak to Grace. If Joey Parnell was back on the scene, then it meant bad news for all of them.

  On the other side of the city, the new head of Merseyside Police’s vice unit, DI Leigh Moss, was removing her rubber gloves as she walked back towards her car. She wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand and let out a long slow breath. Seeing dead bodies never got any easier, but seeing dead bodies that had been mutilated in some way was something that never left you. This was the third young working girl this month to have turned up dead in some alleyway. Despite the girls having a connection to each other and to the Sunnymeade Children’s Home, the police were no closer to finding their killer. The last one, though, Nerys Sheehan, had a connection to someone else, one that couldn’t be overlooked.

  Taking her phone out of her pocket, Leigh dialled Grace Carter’s phone number.

  Acknowledgments

  As always, I would like to thank the wonderful team at One More Chapter for believing in me and bringing this book to life, most especially Charlotte Ledger, whose support of the Bad Blood series has helped it go from strength to strength. I’d also love to thank my amazing editor, Emily Ruston, who continues to provide her expert insight and advice.

  I’d like to give a mention to a wonderful book club on Facebook – formerly the Notrights, and now the Gangland Governor’s. They are a great group of people who have given me so much support, not to mention introduced me to so many good books. I am always grateful for my good friend, Mary Torjussen, for her ongoing support and all her wise advice.

  A huge thank-you to my family for their constant love and support, especially my mum and dad, and husband, Eric. And finally, but most especially, to my three incredible boys – who continue to inspire and amaze me every single day.

  Thank you for reading…

  We hope you enjoyed Liverpool Loyalty! Do leave a review if so on all your preferred platforms to help spread the word!

  You can catch up on the previous books in the series right here!

  Be sure to follow Caz on Twitter @cjfinlaywriter, on Facebook @cazfinlayauthor, and check out her website at cazfinlay.com for all the updates on her latest work.

  You will also love…

  In the mood for even more unputdownable fiction?

  You will adore Ransomed by M. A. Hunter, the explosive opening salvo in a nerve-shredding new crime series starring investigative journalist Emma Hunter and the twenty-year-old secret that drives her vigilante crusade to solve a string of missing children cold cases across the south of England.

  Get your copy here!

  You will also love Secrets of a Serial Killer by Rosie Walker, an utterly addictive psychological thriller following a notorious murderer who has been terrorising the streets of Lancaster for decades, far longer than should ever have been possible for a single killer…

  Get your copy here!

  And don’t miss the intoxicating Maggie Jamieson series by Noelle Holten, in which the relentless titular detective of the Staffordshire police must contend with secondment to a specialised unit as well as the savagery of arch nemesis and brutal serial killer Bill Raven, all the while trying to protect Irish criminal psychologist, new friend, and instant crush Dr Kate Moloney from any and all harm.

  Happy reading!

  Caz Finlay lives in Liverpool with her husband, two children, and a grumpy dog named Bert. A qualified probation officer, Caz has always been fascinated by the psychology of human behaviour and the reasons people do the things they do. However, it was the loss of her son in 2016 which prompted her to rediscover her love of writing and write her first novel, The Boss.

  cazfinlay.com

  Also by Caz Finlay

  The Boss

  Back in the Game

  Head of the Firm

  About the Publisher

  Australia

  HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.

  Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street

  Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia

  www.harpercollins.com.au

  * * *

  Canada

  HarperCollins Canada

  Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower

  22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor

  Toronto, Ontario M5H 4E3, Canada

 
www.harpercollins.ca

  * * *

  India

  HarperCollins India

  A 75, Sector 57

  Noida, Uttar Pradesh 201 301, India

  www.harpercollins.co.in

  * * *

  New Zealand

  HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand

  Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive

  Rosedale 0632

  Auckland, New Zealand

  www.harpercollins.co.nz

  * * *

  United Kingdom

  HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

  1 London Bridge Street

  London SE1 9GF, UK

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  * * *

  United States

  HarperCollins Publishers Inc.

  195 Broadway

  New York, NY 10007

  www.harpercollins.com