“Amber,” said Jackson, turning scarlet. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Clearly.” Her green eyes were turned on the guilty-looking blond. On the outside Amber appeared to be enraged but inwardly she was laughing her head off. Served the bitch Jules right. What goes around comes around. “Who are you?” she coldly asked the blond.
“Err,” began Jackson. “Amber, this is Cindy. Cindy, this is Amber Maguire.”
“Maguire?” said Cindy, looking distinctly nervous.
Amber loved it when her name inspired fear.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” said the blond.
“Oh I think it’s exactly what it looks like.” Amber turned her gaze back on Jackson. “You’re cheating on Jules.”
“Not cheating exactly,” he said a little lamely. “Cindy’s husband died last year in a car accident and well, we’re comfort for each other. That’s all.”
“You mean you’re fuck buddies?” she hissed.
Jackson flushed with guilt and looked down at the floor.
“Your wife’s not dead,” added Amber.
“She may as well be,” he said, looking back at her, distress in his eyes. “I can’t stand seeing her like that. Visiting her is fucking torture.”
“You should have kept it in your pants a bit longer because she’s just woken up.”
“What?” he said, paling.
“Everyone’s been trying to call you but you’ve not been picking up. Now I know why.” Amber was annoyed. She’d tried for weeks to get him to notice her and he never had but he’d been quick to jump into the sack with this scrawny piece with the eyes that looked too big for her head.
“She’s awake,” repeated Jackson more to himself than anyone else.
“Well, she went back to sleep again but apparently she’s coming out of the coma.” She glared at Cindy. “You should leave. This is family business.”
“Yes, you’re right,” she said, snatching up her handbag off the floor. “I hope she gets better soon,” she said before rushing out of the house, head bowed.
Amber ignored her, eyes fixed on Jackson. “Well aren’t you going to the hospital then?” she said when the irritating blond had gone. “Or are you just going to stand there?”
“How can I look Jules in the eye after what I’ve done?”
“You won’t need to. As I said, she’s still asleep. Where’s Cara?”
“In Cheshire with my parents so she’s not here to witness me sinking into depravity.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Anyone in your situation would have sought comfort. How many times have you been with Cindy?” She pronounced the woman’s name with disdain.
“That’s only the second time. The first time I was pretty drunk, I can’t remember it that well. We didn’t mean for it to happen again.”
“Were you drunk this time?”
Another guilty look. “No.”
“Then you’ve no excuse. Do you love her?”
“No. I love Jules.”
“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”
“Are you going to tell Mikey?”
“I don’t know, I don’t like keeping things from my husband, especially something as big as this.” Ha, she thought. What a laugh that was.
“Please Amber, I’m begging you, don’t tell anyone. It’s the last thing Jules needs to hear when she wakes up.”
She made a big show of thinking about it, enjoying torturing him a little bit first. “Well, okay,” she eventually said. “I suppose it will only hurt her but you’ve got to call it off with Cindy.”
“I will, promise. There’s nothing to call off, we’re just friends, honestly.”
“Good. Where did you meet her anyway?”
“She’s a ring girl. We’ve known each other a while.”
Amber was even more disgusted. She’d been passed over for one of those bimbos who carries cardboard signs with numbers on around in her underwear at his cage fights. What the fuck was that about? Still, she was quite sure she could turn this situation to her advantage. “I’ll keep your secret,” she said with a predatory smile. “Now let’s get to the hospital.”
Mikey remained glued to Jules’s bedside watching her sleep, hope filling his every nerve-ending. She was actually moving about, shifting in her sleep. Gone was that God-awful stillness. Now she moved and muttered inaudible things, although once he caught the word Cara.
“She’s safe, I promise you,” he said, gently taking her hand. Joy filled him when the corner of her mouth lifted into a smile and she rested easier. It was also wonderful that she felt warm again, she was usually so cold. Tears formed in his eyes when she gave his hand a gentle squeeze back.
He didn’t want the others to arrive, he wanted her all to himself, for him to be the first one she saw when she woke up properly. Of course he knew that was massively selfish but he couldn’t help himself. Seven weeks in a coma had done nothing to diminish his feelings for her.
“I knew you could do it,” he said. “Keep fighting gorgeous, come back to us. You’ve been so missed.”
He was about to plant a kiss on her forehead when the door opened and Jez and Cathy rushed in.
“Jules,” cried Jez.
“Alright, take it easy,” said Mikey, getting up to greet them. “The doctor said to remain calm and quiet around her. We don’t want to scare her, her condition is so delicate right now.”
“Scare Jules?” said Jez. “Are you serious? Nothing is capable of that.”
“Mikey’s right,” said Cathy. “Just calm down, please.”
“Sorry,” he said. “I just can’t believe it. I thought this day would never come.”
“Look, she’s moving,” said Cathy with a fond smile, sitting by Jules’s bedside and stroking her hair. “Can you hear us honey? It’s me Cathy and Jez is here too. You’re driving us frantic. We can’t wait for you to wake up.”
“Ryan and Rachel are on their way too,” said Mikey. “I managed to get hold of them before they got on the plane.”
“Nice one,” said Jez. “So what brought this on?” he added, gesturing to Jules.
“The doctors have no idea, these things just happen spontaneously,” replied Mikey. He nodded for them to join him at the other side of the room, out of earshot of Jules. “They said they won’t know if there’s any permanent damage until she wakes up properly.”
Jez sucked in a breath. “You mean brain damage?”
“Possibly but the hospital did revive her pretty quickly so hopefully she’ll be lucky but there’s other issues too like infections, emotional and mental disturbances, her speech and memory may be affected and she’s going to need rehabilitation to get full movement back. She may not even regain full movement. Not moving for seven weeks is going to take its toll.”
“I hope she doesn’t have that,” said Cathy. “She was so active before, it’ll destroy her to be anything less.”
“I know,” said Mikey, swallowing hard. He’d wanted assurance from Cathy that Jules would be fine, Cathy was good at making people feel better but it seemed that she was as afraid as he was.
“Where’s Jackson?” said Jez.
In response the man himself walked in, followed by Amber.
“About time,” said Mikey. “Where the hell have you been?”
“Don’t be so hard on him,” said Amber. “He was feeling a bit rough after a night out with the lads.”
“Yeah,” said Jackson awkwardly. “Sorry but I needed to blow off some steam, things have been getting to me lately. I had a hangover so I turned off the ringers on the phones so I could get some rest.” He felt even more of a lying bastard when Mikey, Jez and Cathy all appeared sympathetic.
“Well, you’re here now,” said Cathy. “That’s what’s important.”
Amber was pleased when Mikey snaked his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “Nice one babe. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome,” she smiled back.
Cathy kept her suspicions to her
self about Amber’s sudden burst of altruism.
When Jackson leaned over his wife, her eyes flickered open, making him jump. “Jesus,” he exclaimed.
“What’s up with you?” frowned Jez.
“Don’t be so unsympathetic you,” Cathy snapped at her husband. “It’s a shock to see her move.”
Jackson stared down at Jules, watching as her eyes closed again and she shifted on the bed before going still. He took her hand but it felt wrong when his hands had only very recently been holding another woman. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. The first time with Cindy had been barely memorable, they’d both been that drunk. He’d no excuse for the last time though as they’d been stone cold sober. What the fuck was wrong with him? He’d waited years for Jules and she’d been everything he’d hoped. Then it had turned into a nightmare. On the odd occasion he’d even become resentful of her because he’d been stuck with half a wife, a woman who existed but didn’t live. It was fucking awful, his heartbreak compounded by Cara becoming more and more afraid of her own mother. The whole situation made him feel useless. He was the man, he should have protected them both and he could do nothing to help either of them. He supposed last night was about reasserting his masculinity. Plus he was still grieving for the loss of his baby. Granted, Jules had only been two months gone and it had barely been a foetus but he’d longed for a child for years and then it had been snatched away from him. It was the way his baby had been taken that he found the hardest to deal with. A miscarriage would still have been traumatic however the knife into Jules’s stomach, through his child…Just thinking about it made him want to scream. And now she could never have any more kids because so much damage had been done to her that the surgeon had been forced to perform a hysterectomy and it was tearing him apart.
Jackson forced all these thoughts to the back of his mind. Right now he had to concentrate on Jules waking up. Maybe Cara wouldn’t be so afraid of her if she was awake? At least Amber was keeping his secret and he would be eternally grateful to her.
They all turned to look when Leah charged into the room, coming to a halt by Jules’s bedside, disappointed to see she was still asleep.
“I thought she’d woken up?” she said, looking to her Uncle Mikey.
“She did but she went back to sleep again,” he explained. “But the good news is she’s only minimally conscious now, she’s not in a coma.”
Leah gasped with delight when Jules released a moan and turned onto her side. “Aunty Jules, wake up. Please,” she said. But Jules settled down again, her eyes remaining shut. “How long will it take for her to wake up?”
“No one knows,” said Jez.
“Not even the doctors?”
“No. All we can do is wait.”
Leah sighed and slumped into a chair, looking miserable.
“There you are Leah,” said Rachel when she walked into the room with Ryan and the boys. She looked to the others. “She raced ahead of us the second we got out of the car, she couldn’t wait to see her aunt.”
“You said she was awake,” Ryan said to Mikey.
Mikey sighed, getting sick of repeating himself.
“She’s minimally conscious,” said Jez, taking the burden of explaining from him. “She’s coming out of it but it’s going to take a bit of time.”
“How much time?” said Ryan.
“No one knows.”
“Oh my God, look at that,” said Rachel when Jules rolled onto her back, muttering to herself again.
Ryan placed a hand on top of her head.
Jules’s mouth cocked into a smile. “Big brother.”
Ryan was rocked on his feet and they all gathered around her bedside, anxiously watching.
“Yes, it’s me Jules,” he said. “I’m here. Can you hear me?”
“Don’t shout,” she said in her usual belligerent way.
It was rare for Ryan to laugh out loud but that’s exactly what he did. “Come on Jules, wake up properly. We’re all waiting for you.”
They were disappointed when she didn’t speak again but for once optimism reigned in the room.
Only Amber stood at the back, trying not to look as uncomfortable as she felt.
Katia shifted restlessly in the chair behind her desk in the sumptuous office above the jewellery shop that she used as her headquarters in the centre of Essex. Ever since she was a child she’d dreamed of owning a shop like this selling only the best jewellery, the windows full of glittering diamonds, all flawless and of the highest quality, the customers rich and elegantly dressed where they could examine the goods in luxurious surroundings while being served champagne. Neither did she have to worry about anyone breaking in because any crew organized enough to get through her security knew not to mess with anything that was hers, especially now that she was in charge of the strongest crew in Essex, running all the drugs and prostitution. Finally Katia had realised her dream. She even sported a ring from her own stock, a solid gold band cradling the most perfect diamond she had ever seen in her life. Her wedding to Hayden Brody, her second-in-command, was in the spring and she couldn’t wait. She’d thought Alex Maguire, father of her twin boys had been the love of her life but she’d been wrong. Hayden was. Her life was totally perfect but it was being spoilt by one thing, or two things to be more precise - the Maguires and Laws. Not only had Ryan Law killed Alex but Mikey Maguire had kidnapped her babies and tried to kill her in the process. It was only thanks to Hayden that she’d got them back. He’d turned against his very dangerous employers in Manchester to help her and she would love him forever for it.
The man himself was sat across the desk from her, regarding her with a knowing smile.
“What?” she said, unable to resist smiling back. He was so handsome with his dark blond hair and twinkling eyes. He was an ex-soldier, highly trained and very strong, which she found incredibly attractive.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he replied.
“Are you psychic now?” she said playfully.
“No but I know you. You have everything you want but it’s still not enough because the Laws and Maguires are still breathing.”
“Yes, I admit it, it annoys me. They are our biggest threat.”
“They are but despite everything we’ve achieved, we’re still not strong enough to take them on. Not as long as they have the support of Toni McVay in Glasgow.”
“We should make our own deal with her.”
“Jared Slattery tried that and look where it got him. In his attempt to topple them he destroyed his own empire. I’m sorry babe, maybe one day but not yet.”
Although Hayden was Mancunian born and bred and he’d known the Laws and Maguires for years - he’d been especially good friends with Ryan - she knew he would always support her, even if she decided to attack them.
“You are right, I know this but I was wondering what harm it would do us if we had our own spy in their camp.”
“They’re very picky about who they accept into their crew, especially after Slattery managed to bribe a couple of their men over to his side.”
“And I mean to do the same thing. I’ve been thinking about it very carefully and I have found the weak link in their organisation. Declan Maguire.”
“Mikey’s cousin? Well he certainly is weaker than the others, he’s not ruthless but he is loyal. I doubt he’d betray his family.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said with a knowing smile.
Hayden’s eyes danced. “What have you found out?”
“That Declan is sleeping with Mikey’s wife, Amber.”
“What?” spluttered Hayden. “Wow, that is priceless. I wonder what she sees in him? I always thought he was a bit of a wet lettuce.”
“Who cares? They’re both idiots. So you see, Declan obviously doesn’t care about betraying his family.”
“So are you thinking of approaching him?”
“It is already done. I’ve sent one of our men to Manchester to try and get proof of his affair with the gin
ger gnome. He did and he’s already approached Declan, who agreed to do what he could to ruin his family’s deal with the McVays.”
“Why are you only telling me this now?”
“I wanted it to be a nice surprise. And I didn’t know if it would work but it has.”
“Do you have any idea how amazing you are?” he smiled.
“Some,” she purred, crossing her legs so her tight cream skirt rode up her thighs. “But I would like you to prove it to me. Over and over.”
Hayden knelt before her, gently pushing open her legs and sliding down her underwear.
Katia’s head fell back and she moaned as he slid his tongue inside her. God he was good. She couldn’t wait to be married to him then she would have this incredible man for life.
CHAPTER 6
Riley returned home from his shift at work, tired and annoyed. He ran the Mancunian branch of Battler and Bruiser’s security firm and he’d been hired to protect some dippy reality television personality. Who she needed protecting from he had no idea as no one seemed to recognise her. The repulsive woman had spent the entire time hitting on him and more than once he’d been tempted to abandon the cow. He’d already arranged for Paula, one of his best and toughest operatives to take over tomorrow, who would take great pleasure in putting her in her place.
He smiled when he walked in to see Beth curled up on the couch, the sight of his beautiful wife, her belly swollen with their child warming him inside.
However his beautiful wife’s face creased into a scowl when she saw him and he halted in his tracks, afraid of what Archie had done now. “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” she demanded, hauling herself to her feet. “You threatened my son, that’s what’s wrong.”
The little git had dobbed him in and probably exaggerated everything to make him sound as horrible as possible. “I didn’t threaten him.”
“He says you said you’d lock him up in a loony bin. If that’s not threatening someone I don’t know what is.”
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