A Family Divided (Dividing Line #3)

by Heather Atkinson

  As they caught their breath he grabbed her roughly by the chin, forcing her blue eyes to connect with his. “Do you understand that I mean it? Any other man touches you and you’re dead.”

  “I understand and I accept it if it means I get to be with you.”

  He smiled and kissed her then pressed his forehead to hers. “I’ll come here as often as I can but I will never leave Beth. She’s the mother of my children.”

  “I’ll never ask that of you. I’m happy sharing you.”

  “Good. Now take off all your clothes and get on the bed. I’ve only just got started with you.”

  As she began to strip for him his phone rang. He frowned when he saw it was Beth. Rejecting the call he turned it off and shoved it back in his pocket.

  When she was fully naked, Katia reclined back on the pristine white bed, enjoying how he lay beside her and spent a minute just admiring every part of her but her head was full of ambition. Despite her words, she fully intended to be the next Mrs Maguire one day.

  CHAPTER 26

  Due to the fact that Ryan’s leg was in a long leg cast, he and Rachel were given a lift home in an ambulance the next day. The doctor had wanted to keep him in longer but he’d flatly refused.

  To their mutual relief they arrived home to an empty house, the children still with Martina and the au pair had left a note saying she was stocking up on food.

  After settling Ryan on the couch with the newspaper, Rachel made them both a cup of tea and sat beside him.

  “Great,” he mumbled, talking for him difficult with his injuries.

  “What is it?”

  He held up the newspaper. “Everyone knows Neil’s my brother.”

  Splashed all over the front page of the local rag was a picture of Ryan beside a glowering mugshot of Neil, a slightly smaller and blurred image of Stuart Cutter beneath them.

  “Who told them, the Police, or Neil himself?”

  Ryan shrugged. “Right now I’m too sore to care.”

  “No doubt the swarm of nosy sods will soon be back at the bottom of our drive.”

  There was the bang of the front door and Alex and Mikey barged in, all smiles and bursting with a self-congratulatory ardour that got Rachel’s back up.

  “Alright Rach, Ryan. How are you both doing?” smiled Alex.

  “How do you think?” she glowered. “Ryan’s got a broken kneecap and cracked ribs. He’ll be laid up for weeks.”

  “And what about you?”

  “I’m okay,” she shrugged.

  “It could have been a lot worse Rach,” said Mikey.

  “It could have been a lot fucking better too.”

  They both put her bad temper down to feeling under the weather. “We torched the farmhouse,” said Alex, “and the Jordans are currently buried deep in a field ten miles from it.”

  “What about Nick and Robbie?”

  “They’re fine. They work for us now,” said Alex with a wicked smile.

  “Did Jez tell you how Nick helped me?”

  “He did and we showed our gratitude by not killing him or his brother. Frankie spoke to the Geordies and Scousers and they don’t blame us. Jan was acting rogue and they’re very grateful that the woman who wasted Tony is dead, so all’s well.”

  “If you’d spoken to them first you’d have found out the truth and Rachel wouldn’t have had to meet with Jan,” said Ryan. It took him a while to get the words out but he was determined and eventually managed it.

  Rachel’s expression turned ice cold. If Alex had just checked then Ryan wouldn’t have been in that state and they’d still have their baby. Raw fury welled up inside her.

  “We’ll make ourselves a brew, shall we?” smiled Mikey, clapping his hands together.

  “No you won’t,” said Rachel, hauling herself to her feet. “You’re not staying.”

  “What are you talking about?” frowned Alex.

  “Are you stupid? Thanks to you we’ve lost our baby and Ryan almost died. If I’d just listened to him instead of you that wouldn’t have happened but I did, because I wanted to help and you know why? Because you’re my family and I love you. But what has that love got me? Nothing but pain and heartache. Well let me tell you, I’m damned if I’m going to lose Ryan like I lost Danny and I will not put another of my children at risk. I want both of you to get out and never come back. We’re done with the lot of you.” She looked down at Ryan, who nodded in agreement.

  Alex and Mikey stared at her with their mouths hanging open.

  “You can’t do that, we’re family,” said Mikey.

  “I’m a Law now, not a Maguire and you know what? I’m fucking proud.”

  “Really? If I remember correctly it was my family who set you up in business Rachel. Without us you’d just be a nothing, scratching out a living,” frowned Alex.

  “Actually it was your dad who set me up after I lost another baby thanks to the pressure your family put me under. That was my compensation but you can have the clubs back. Frank said I could have them as long as I kept the Maguire name above the door but I can’t do that anymore. And let’s face it, it’s not as if we need the money.”

  “You’re just upset, you’ll see sense when you’ve calmed down,” said Alex.

  “I’ve already seen sense, I just wish I’d seen it sooner. If I had we might still have our baby.” She felt Ryan’s hand grasp hers and she squeezed it tightly. “The Jordans could have shot Ryan the moment he walked into that house.”

  “But they didn’t.”

  “You weren’t to know that. You were willing to put his life at risk but not your own. Great leadership Alex.” If looks could kill, Rachel knew she would be dead. “Now please leave. I never want to see you again, either of you.”

  “You can’t mean that Rach,” said Mikey, visibly upset. “You’re like my sister, you believed me when no one else would. Without you, I’d be nothing.”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry Mikey, I love you, I really do, you too Alex but I can’t do this anymore. I’ve been forced to make this choice. Martina can see the kids at the weekend like she normally does, I won’t take her grandchildren from her, but that’s as far as I want the interaction between our families to go.”

  “What about Beth and your godchildren?” glowered Alex. “Are you going to cut them out of your life too?”

  Rachel was filled with pain. Beth had been her best friend since she was a little girl, stood by her when everyone else turned against her after she met Danny. But she was Beth Maguire now and she’d be tainted by that association. She looked down at Ryan’s battered face and was decided. “Yes,” she rasped, a tear sliding down her face.

  Alex looked disgusted. “I’ll make sure to tell her that her best friend doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore. It’s going to break her heart. Come on Mikey.”

  But Mikey wasn’t so easily swayed. “Please Rach, just take a few days to think about this. When everything’s calmed down, you won’t feel this way. I’m going to be a dad, I need you.”

  “I won’t change my mind.”

  He looked past her to Ryan. “Can’t you talk some sense into her?”

  “I’m sorry but we’re in agreement on this,” he said gently but firmly.

  “Does this apply to Jez and Cathy as well?” said Alex.

  “Jez hasn’t dragged us into his mess. In fact he’s gone out of his way to keep us out of it.” Rachel’s eyes narrowed. “And he wasn’t the one trying to stop us going to hospital.”

  Alex’s expression turned positively hostile. “Fine, we’re done. Don’t come running to me when someone fucks you over, you’re on your own.”

  “Just the way we want it,” said Ryan.

  Alex’s glower told them they’d just made another enemy. “And by the way, how’s your brother Ryan?”

  He didn’t reply.

  “Why are you asking about Jez?” frowned Mikey. “We only saw him a few hours ago.”

  “You should read the fucking papers mo
re often,” said Alex before kicking open the door and storming out.

  Mikey however understood Rachel’s reasons and he shuffled awkwardly before sweeping her into a hug. She clung onto him, burying her face in his shoulder. “I love you Rach.”

  “Love you too. I always will.” She smiled up at him through her tears and touched his face. “Good luck with Amber and the baby, you’ll be a great dad.”

  He kissed her on the cheek and nodded at Ryan before leaving and Rachel crumpled into tears.

  “Come here,” said Ryan, struggling to hold out his arms.

  She lay beside him on the couch and snuggled into him.

  “Are you alright?” he asked her.

  “No, but I will be. Life’s not going to be the same without them.”

  “I know, it’ll be a damn sight safer.”

  They lay in completive silence, broken by Ryan. “That wasn’t a dream you had, it was real.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “The dream you had about Alex shouting at you, it really happened. Beth told me that the day of the accident you went round to her house and found her on the floor crying her heart out because she couldn’t cope anymore, that’s why you hired Henrieta for her. Then you went to The Wherry Tavern to have it out with Alex and he threatened you.”

  She sat bolt upright. “Did he admit it?”

  “No, I haven’t even asked him about it. The barman saw you go into his office that day and after you’d gone Alex was in a foul mood. I think you rowed, you accused him of not looking after her properly and he turned on you.”

  “You don’t know that for sure.”

  “Yes I do. He knows about that night in Martina’s Bar, when you briefly split up with Danny.”

  “Me and you?”

  “Yes.”

  She looked appalled. “How?”

  “I’m not sure, one of your staff must have seen us.”

  “None of them would betray me like that.”

  “Maybe they don’t know they’ve done it? Some of your staff hit the bottle pretty hard after a shift, they could have been pissed.”

  “Why tell him now? That was ages ago.”

  He shrugged. “I don’t have the details but I know I’m right.”

  Rachel thought he probably was. Ryan’s IQ was in the genius bracket. “I suppose it explains why he suddenly turned against us.”

  He grasped her hands. “What if he thinks we were having an affair all the time you were married to Danny?”

  “But we weren’t.”

  “We know that but he might not. No doubt you told him we were innocent when you confronted him at the pub, but of course he’d only think you were lying. You weren’t dreaming Rachel, he did try to hit you when you were pregnant.”

  “He wouldn’t do that. He just helped save me from the Jordans.”

  “He did nothing and he certainly wasn’t going to sacrifice himself for you. He only went along with it because it was expected of him. Leaving you to die would have turned the others against him and shown Frankie McVay that he has no loyalty and I would have killed him.”

  Rachel recalled the flickers of memories she had about that day and nodded. “I think you’re right. When I was sat at those traffic lights I remember I was so angry but also a bit scared. That would explain those feelings.”

  “I think we’ve made a very dangerous enemy.”

  “And we’ve just pissed him off even more. God, I’m so tired of this,” she sighed, running a hand through her hair. “All I want is a nice quiet life with you and our kids. Is that really too much to ask?”

  “No Sweetheart, it’s not.“ He kissed the top of her head, his splintered fingers playing through her hair. “You know, a little bird told me many, many times how good it is living in Devon.”

  She managed to raise a smile. “You mean Mum?”

  “Yes. She’s always saying what a wonderful place it is to raise kids; quiet, peaceful, no Maguires.”

  “Are you suggesting moving there?”

  “Why not?”

  “But the businesses…”

  “We’ve got good people working for us, we can let them do everything and watch the money roll in. We’ve conquered this place, there’s not much more we can do here. How exciting would it be to start all over again, build up more businesses, meet fresh challenges?”

  Her eyes glimmered with excitement. “I like the sound of that.”

  “We could get that farm you’ve always wanted but best of all, we’ll be well out of all the mess here.”

  “Move away from Manchester? This has been home for us both our entire lives.”

  “Then it’s certainly time for a change.”

  “But the kids…”

  “Will adapt. Kids are resilient and I’m sure Leah won’t be able to wait to get down there when we tell her she can finally have that pony she’s been nagging for.”

  As she looked at him the severity of his injuries once again shocked her, the memory of that gun being pressed to the back of his head causing her to go cold. If they didn’t get out of Manchester then one or maybe both of them would get killed, it was inevitable.

  She smiled. “Let’s do it. Let’s move to Devon.”

  “We’re doing the right thing.”

  “I know.”

  Despite his injuries, he cupped her face in both hands and kissed her.

  THE END

  Many thanks for reading and downloading my book, I hope you enjoyed it. Rachel and Ryan will be back in the fourth instalment of the Dividing Line series.

  If you did enjoy this book, then I have plenty more available to download on Amazon. I have a serial killer quadrilogy, the Breaking Away Series, as well as a stand alone crime novel, Above Reproach. There are also a variety of historical and romance novels available.

  Once again, thank you.