by Beth Wynne
After his fling with one of the Armstrong’s - something I wasn’t about to tell - my dad had left and was never seen again. As for mum, when Social Services threatened to take Ryan and me, Grandma stepped in as guardian, being awarded it easily with her grandparent status. Mum managed to drink herself into an early grave a couple of years later. The only ones who were my blood and where my loyalty lay were Grandma and Ryan. In truth, I felt jealous of what they had. A family, somewhere that protected its own. Blood and Loyalty.
I could have said I wouldn’t hand over any file, but how could I not help them protect their families? This was what I needed to do for mine: blood and loyalty.
I went to business: “Denver has said that I’m to meet with a guy called Barry in Flanagan's, but he hasn’t given me a day or time yet. How soon can you get me the fake file?”
Both of them seemed to breathe for the first time.
“I’ll have it with you by tomorrow morning before you leave for work.” Jake stood and stretched. “Obviously, you won’t tell anyone about this - or anything we’ve discussed. I have your mobile number; make sure to answer when I call you.”
“You have a lot to think about,” Louise said as she hugged me, “I don’t believe you’re in any danger right now since Denver doesn’t now you know about the Kindred Sons. He’ll want to leave you alone right now.”
“If you feel in any danger, call Louise. Immediately. Stay on the line with her until she comes round. Keep talking about what you see, hear or smell. Worst case, that can help us find you quicker if needs be.” The way he said it made me suddenly feel very vulnerable. He must have picked up on it and he placed his hands on my shoulders. “You’re part of us now; we’ll protect you, but know this: I cannot protect you if you squeal. I will find you though, and am honour bound to bring you back to the Kindred Sons for trial.”
I shivered under the weight of his words and the feel of his hands on me. Electric fizzled despite the obvious threat he’d given me. I couldn’t tear my eyes from his.
“By the way, Louise couldn’t be further from my type…” he shook his head, laughing at some unknown joke, “Secret boyfriend… as if anyone would dare hide me.”
Louise gathered the empty mugs and placed them in my sink. They made their way to my front door together. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Make sure you’re up. Wouldn’t want to walk in on you still sleeping.” The wicked glint in his eyes made me wonder exactly what time he would return in the morning. To my shame, I didn’t want him to leave.
Chapter 15
Jake
I’d made my excuses about phone calls and watched as Louise pulled away from Bella’s flat. Dad needed to know, but I could do that from anywhere. This was the only spot where I could keep an eye on who went anywhere near Bella.
When I’d first arrived, the urge to bend her over my knee and spank her for being so stupid was almost overwhelming. Seeing how distraught she was eased me a little. Louise had already filled me in on the fake sex video. I wanted to make Denver pay for that - as if that tiny prick could even satisfy a woman. Jealous that someone else dared to imagine touching her made me want to sneak Bella into my own office and make our own little recording.
Focus, idiot. I reprimanded myself. I unlocked my phone and called da, he answered on the fourth ring.
When I finished the call with him, I gave Nevan the call to get started on the fake information. He was a genius at that kind of stuff - I suggested he used names of people we knew were McCauley supporters, which he loved - double agents were deeply hated. This was a perfect opportunity to bring a little chaos to Denver’s world.
Dad wanted me to bring Bella to Chester House… tonight. Just thinking about it made me swear aloud in the car. There was a party tonight for Mathew’s dad, George had turned 45 and there was always an excuse for a party as far as my mum was concerned. I’d have to sneak Bella in by the back door.
She answered on the second ring. “Hello?” a nervous Bella said.
“Hey, it’s Jake.”
“Fuck is something wrong?” Straight to high alert - the girl was seriously stressed… same as me… I could remedy that.
“Relax, all’s fine. I’m coming round in ten minutes. Just wanted to give you a chance to make yourself pretty.” I smiled to myself and hung up. Let’s see what she makes of that.
I knocked on her door exactly ten minutes later, she answered immediately. Her hair was dried and she’d changed out of her damp work clothes. Jeans looked good on her. “I see you took my advice then.” I said as I walked in before being asked.
“I had changed my clothes before you rang.” She said defiantly. “I’ve just been watching TV.” A lie, I’d watched the lights flick on and off in the few rooms in her tiny flat since I hung up our call.
“Well, fix your lipstick. We’re going to a party.”
“I don’t know anyone having a party tonight.” She eyed me suspiciously before lifting the TV remote and roaming through channels.
I reached behind the TV, killing the power to the set. “Well, now you do. When Carrick Anderson, the Boss of the Kindred Sons wants to see you, you go.”
Did something flash across her face - disappointment? “Oh, ok, I just thought you…” that beautiful blush rose on her cheeks again. “Never mind.”
I called it. “You thought I was asking you out?” I sat down beside her. Those pink cheeks deepened to a scarlet. “Baby, I don’t do dates. If I did, I would do it a lot better than this.”
“That’s fine Jake, I um, it’s not like you’d ask me out anyway. You’ve probably got a harem of mafia princesses to pick from.” She jumped off the sofa and disappeared into a bedroom. I followed, of course.
She was brushing her hair as I walked in. I knew I made her a little uneasy, but I kind of liked the sass she gave me. “If I was asking you out on a date, it wouldn’t be to a birthday party. A woman like you? I’d keep you all to myself.”
She froze and the slightest gasp escaped her lips. “You don’t see yourself properly.” I took a step closer, feeling the pull inside me wanting to take her right there on her own unmade bed. If you only knew… I thought. And for the briefest of seconds, the image from my shower fantasy played in my mind.
She moved back a little, still facing me but unintentionally in front of the mirror. I could see the reflection of her ass in those jeans and I just wanted to bite it. As if I would trust any of my lackeys to be within twenty foot of her right now. My jealous streak just wouldn’t take it.
She caught me staring and for a second I saw what she was so desperately trying to hide - there was something there. Her cheeks flushed and the slightest smile played with the corners of her mouth. But then the veil rose again and she raised her eyebrows asking a question her mouth would never say. “Can’t blame me, you’ve got a sweet arse. Now let’s move it - you’re keeping the boss-man waiting.”
Chapter 16
Bella
I couldn’t believe the front of this guy. Openly following me into my bedroom and then gawping at my ass in the mirror… only to blame me! Shameless. God, I shouldn’t like it, but heaven help me, it made me feel all kinds of things to my very core. I knew now he wasn’t with Louise, but that didn’t mean he was single, or that he wanted anything more from me than this file handover. And even if he did, he was the kind of guy who just wanted one thing from a woman.
“I’m not waitin’ all night on ye.” He strode out of my bedroom and into the tiny hall as if he owned the place. “You’re fine as you are, come on.” I gave myself one last glance in the mirror and was surprised at how flustered I looked. Get it together, Sarah. I gritted my teeth, fuck; I shouldn’t be calling myself that anymore - even if it was in my own head… Get it together, Bella.
The torrential rain from earlier had died down to a fine mist, the kind that played havoc with a girl’s hair. I had to keep reminding myself that it wasn’t a date, but I still wanted him to see me at my best.
“We’re n
early there,” he said as he slowed onto a quieter avenue. Then he turned the car into the front of a drive, waiting only seconds for the gates to be opened, electronically. Made sense I suppose. Even though we were in a more rural area now, further out from the city center, this area was full of grand houses, all in their gilded cages of high walls, gates and security.
“Wow.” I murmured to myself more than to him. “Beautiful.” And it was: the fountain at the front, the soft glowing way the house was lit, the weeping willow that was bedazzled in twinkling lights. Then I swallowed. I saw the dozen or so cars parked to the side we were passing - none of which I could ever afford to rent, never mind own.
I watched as a man opened the door of one of the cars, seeing a middle-aged woman in effortless glamour. Her hair and makeup were perfect, her dress was clearly designer, and the shoes were easily more expensive than my month’s wages, if not more. I looked down to my best jeans and felt very inferior.
“So, like I said, Carrick wants to meet you.” Jake said, entirely comfortable in his own ripped jeans and a vintage tee shirt. I suppose if you had a body like that, it didn’t matter what you wore - you always looked great. I bet he looks great without those jeans too. “He’s not one for the big party scene, so he’ll probably be in the library. We’ll just go straight up there. OK?”
He parked in the corner, away from the other cars and ushered me in through a back door where the caterers were busy preparing what smelt like food for the gods. My tummy rumbled in appreciation. Thank god for the noise in the room. The appetite I’d lost earlier was back.
He directed me, the heat of his hand radiating from the small of my back to my core. I heard laughing and music come from somewhere beyond but then he directed me up a flight of stairs to dark quietness. He opened the door to what I realized was the library; simply due to the amount of books… did these ever get read? I wondered. “Wait here a sec,” he said with mild irritation. “He knew we were coming.” With that, Jake closed the door and I was alone in the room.
A couple of minutes later he returned and I instinctively stood up from the plush sofa I had perched on. His irritation had grown. “He wants us to go to his office; it’s only down the hall.” He gave me a tight smile. “C’mon.”
Carrick was standing as I walked in. “Isabella, nice to meet ya.” He greeted me with an outstretched hand that I shook. “You’re very welcome to me home. Why don’t ye sit down?” his heavy Belfast accent jarring even to my ears, I’d often thought of it as a menacing accent, but on him, right now, it sounded homely. I felt my shoulders relax ever so slightly. Don’t forget who he is. The pressure returned.
“So Jake here tells me that you’re been havin’ a bit a bother.” I liked that he just got straight to the point rather than too much small talk. “But he also tells me that you were going to deal with that bother in a way that would have ended badly for ye. Very badly.”
I swallowed. This was the Boss, the Don of the Kindred Sons - and was that a poorly veiled threat?
“She didn’t know what was in the file.” Jake said simply, “She was under the impression Denver wanted to blackmail a businessman who used Denver’s women.”
Carrick’s eyes threw daggers at Jake. “Aye, and that makes it better then? Sure, she didn’t know what she was doing?” He stood up and looked directly at me, “Ye’re very lucky, wee girl, that Jake here was able to come up with a way of turning this around.”
He moved over to the side table a poured himself what seemed to be whiskey. Sipping it before returning his death stare to me. God, this man went from kindly and kind of fatherly to mafia boss in a split second. “Do ye know who we are?” He asked plainly.
I cleared my throat before I spoke. “Yes,” I said, as loudly as I could. “I do. I’m so sorry for what could’ve happened - I didn’t know. I’d never do that.”
“Louise has told ye that her ma’s in that file?” He said, “Me brother’s wife?!” It took a second for that to sink in… his brother’s wife? The resemblance dawned on me from the pictures on Louise’s phone earlier. The two men who were together: one was her father and this guy, Carrick, now that I looked closer, was the older version of the second guy.
“I’m so sorry.” Then it hit me, and for yet another time in my life, my mouth ran unfiltered before my brain had a chance to stop it. “Then you’re Jake’s dad!” I looked to Jake, his face expressionless, then I saw the picture on the wall - the same one that Louise had on her phone.
“Aye, Isabella, that I am.” He looked back at Jake, “Though how I haven’t managed to learn you anything, I’ll never know.” I was the only one sitting and I couldn’t help it, my eyes flicked from one man to the other. The likeness was there, I just hadn’t noticed it. Although Carrick was an older man, with the finest wisps of grey at his temples, he was still physically fit. Still built. But that was nothing in comparison to the young, jacked body of his son.
“I won’t say anything or tell anyone.” I said earnestly. “Jake’s told me what I need to do.” I stood up. “I know what could have happened and I’m so sorry, but I’ll make it right.” I had to fix this and he had to believe me. I knew what the Anderson’s were like and from the glare I’d just got from the boss (Jake’s dad!) if I didn’t get this right it would be the last thing I’d do. I stood up, accepting my fate, “I promise.”
The air shifted in the room, “That’s a good girl.” He said, cooling instantly. “I knew ye would, I just had to speak with ye meself to put me mind at ease. I’m sure ye know what I mean.”
“I won’t let you down, Carrick.” I wouldn’t, but as soon as I did the handover with Denver’s friend. I would be gone. Bella would disappear and Ryan would have to move away to live with me. He’d be disappointed as he’d wanted to move back to Londonderry, but he’d get over it. No matter how much I’d want to hope, everyone knew there was no way out once you’re involved with the mafia, I just hoped we could both disappear.
Carrick swirled the brown liquid in his glass, the nice guy was back, “Well, now we’ve that sorted, why don’t ye slip downstairs and grab yerself a bite a grub?”
As we left the room, Jake’s hand was again at my back, but it didn’t bring the same comfort as before. I knew now that he was the son of the Don, that brought responsibilities, I was sure of it - and the knot in the pit of my stomach told me that whatever I felt for him wouldn’t matter now. I couldn’t be involved with the Kindred Sons and the risk of being known. I needed to leave him behind.
Chapter 17
Jake
I was glad she’d figured out I was Carrick’s son. I didn’t have to lie - not that it usually bothered me, but I reasoned that it was easier if she knew enough so she’d do her job. Not that she could do much else. The security cameras would now have her image and measurements on file. If she disappeared, we could find her - provided we had enough time and she went somewhere we could get their camera footage. No one could really go off-grid in 2016.
There was no way in hell that I was taking her to the actual party. It would have been a lamb to the slaughter. Plus, mum would have thought I’d brought her as my date. I needed that headache even less.
I spoke to one of the servers and had them bring us a couple of plates of food to the den. Bella followed me, quietly until we’d sat on the sofas. “Are ye upset with me?” I’d only asked because I knew it would be important for her to trust me for the drop, but now I’d asked, I really wanted to know, to ease her - and to ease myself.
The food and the beers I’d asked for arrived within a few moments. She still hadn’t spoke, she just watched the ground and shook her head occasionally. “Here, I’m sure you’re hungry.” I offered.
“Oh,” her reverie broken, she spoke politely. “Thank you.” She took the plate to her lap and started eating. “Mmmm! This is gorgeous!” her surprise amused me.
“Yeah, they do all sorts of food for the parties, but they always make a big pot of stew too.” I hid my smile with another bite.<
br />
“This is fantastic!” She ate greedily and I was both happy and displeased at the same time. I loved a woman who enjoyed her food, but I got the feeling she hadn’t been eating properly and the way she was wolfing the stew down was something else. “My Grandma used to make it all the time - always used Doherty’s mince, though.” Now, why wasn’t that a surprise?
We finished our food and our bottles of beer in relative calm, but I could see she felt out of place here. I agreed, I didn’t like these affairs either - too much gossip and mundane conversation for me. Out there she’d be given cocktails or champagne, something frilly with no substance. At lease she looked comfortable as she sipped from her bottle of Bud, I need to remember she likes Budweiser. She was the best-dressed woman in the house, the rest all style but in reality no substance. The blouse brought out the blue in her eyes, making me revisit my shower fantasy once again, those wide eyes looking into me as she’d demanded I’d fill her.
