Rival

by Jacqui Rose

  The bottom line was he’d needed nearly half a million pounds quickly so, foolishly, he’d gone to Wan’s brother for a loan. A loan that had interest written in blood on it.

  He knew that when he’d gone there. He knew that he was putting his life on the line for it when he’d asked Huang, knowing that getting the money was the easy part. The hard part was paying him back in time. But what else could he have done? And looking back, if it meant saving the boy, he would do the same thing all over again.

  Afterwards, after it was all over, he’d asked Franny for help. For money to pay Huang back. But she’d pretended her money was untouchable. All tied up in trusts, which she couldn’t access. That had turned out to be bullshit. And he’d found out it was bullshit too late.

  In effect, what Franny had done was play him. She’d been desperate for him to do her dirty work, something he wouldn’t normally agree to. But she’d told him that if he did help her she’d somehow help him find the money for Huang.

  In truth, she’d already paid off his loan to Huang. Paid it to stop Huang slashing his throat and cutting him up in pieces. Behind his back, she shelled out almost three-quarters of a million pounds to Huang, which had been his original debt of half a million pounds plus the exorbitant amount of interest Huang charged. Though no part of him felt he needed to be grateful; after all she’d only done it to keep him alive.

  But not because she loved him. Oh no, he didn’t think that the ice queen was capable of that. She’d kept him alive merely because it was convenient for her. She needed him to get her out of a mess and let’s face it, dead men weren’t much good at that.

  Dangling the carrot of helping him with the loan had kept him on his toes, because at one time, he wouldn’t have cared. He would’ve taken his chances with Huang, cos bottom line, that was the business they were in. Kill or be killed. At one time even, he thought he was lucky to get to forty without having had a bullet in his head. But his attitude to all that had changed since he found out he had a daughter. And Franny had known that; she’d known he’d do anything to stay alive, even being her puppet.

  So yes, that had given her power over him. Gave her the power of making him think that if he refused her requests she wouldn’t help him, which ultimately meant he was a dead man. So, she’d thrown him a bone and he’d snapped at it like a fucking mug, not knowing that once again Franny was playing him.

  She’d even insisted on him trying to set Vaughn up. Not that Vaughn hadn’t deserved it, because after everything they’d been through, for Vaughn to try to bring Franny down was against every rule in their books. Not that he necessarily wanted Vaughn to have a bullet in his head, a punishment gangland style, maybe, but he’d never wanted him dead.

  Though he knew as far as Vaughn was concerned, because Alfie had sided with Franny, he and Vaughn were now enemies too.

  So no, fucking no, he wasn’t going to go running to help her, he wasn’t going to pick up the pieces cos he’d been fucked over by her too many times, and not only that, he’d also had his heart broken by her too many times. He was best off away from her. She was like a black widow spider; she devoured her mates. So, for all he cared, Franny Doyle could go to hell.

  So why, then, was he here in London? Why the fuck had he jumped on a plane and left his daughter with her nanny if he didn’t care? Why, when he’d known she was in trouble despite everything she’d done to him, would he bother to be on hand if she really needed him?

  Taking another large sip of his glass of whiskey, Alfie continued to stare at the river, gritting his teeth as he drank it down, not because of the bitter taste – no, it was quality stuff, smooth and velvety – oh no, the only thing that was bitter was him, because he knew only too well why he was here. He knew why he’d come back to London. He loved her. It was as simple as that.

  And no matter how much he tried not to love such a manipulative, cold, conniving, heartless bitch, he couldn’t help it. She was under his skin and God, he hated her and loved her in equal measure for it. Though this time loving her wasn’t going to make him go charging in and pick up her pieces.

  He was here, in London, without anyone knowing, and that was enough for now. Maybe she’d never know that he’d come. But if she really, really needed him he was close enough. After all, she could hold her own, though ultimately he wasn’t going to let anyone hurt her; that was his job and his job alone. Whether he liked it or not, whether he’d tried to break away from her or not, and no matter how many whores he fucked, he was a one-woman man and Franny was his woman.

  He was the one who had spent the last few years loving her and hating her, so if anyone was going to kill her, it was him. That was his prerogative. But he couldn’t kill her, no matter how much he wanted to, so that meant no one else could either. That meant if they wanted to kill her, they would have to kill him first.

  But for now, he would just wait and watch …

  6

  Tia heard her husband’s breath before she saw him in the dark of the large, cream-coloured bedroom, and as she felt his touch, she tried to roll away.

  ‘Stop playing games, Tia. You’re my wife for fuck’s sake.’

  Sitting up in bed, Tia switched the bedside lamp on and stared at her husband. Her long, blonde hair tumbling in waves over her shoulder. ‘Let’s have it right, Harry. I’m your wife in name only. I ain’t here cos I want to be – we both know that, so why don’t you just go back to your room and get cosy with my sister.’

  Harry’s mouth curled up into a sneer. ‘What do you expect, if you won’t give it out? I’m a man, Tia, and I’ve got needs.’

  Raising her eyebrows and wondering what she ever saw in him, Tia snapped angrily, ‘What I expect, Harry, is for you not to screw my twin sister. It’s hardly much to ask, is it?’

  ‘You make it sound like I forced her. Your sister couldn’t get her knickers off fast enough. She was gagging for it. I was only doing her a favour.’

  ‘No, Harry, you wanted to play games like you’ve always done. Admit it; you get off on hurting me, don’t you? I mean, when I found out about you and Tammy, you hated the fact that I didn’t kick off and give you the reaction you’d hoped for. So you had to go one better and move her in, didn’t you?’

  ‘She means nothing to me. I don’t want her, it’s you I want.’

  ‘You amaze me, you know that? What do you do, Harry, get Tammy to lie there looking like me but saying nothing, so you can pretend she is me? You’re one sick fuck, you know that?’

  Grabbing her roughly, Harry slapped Tia hard across the face. She squealed in pain as she felt the blood from her nose trickle into her mouth. With tears in her eyes, she shook her head. ‘Is this why you brought me back, so you can knock me around?’

  ‘I brought you back cos you wanted to be with your kids and besides, this is where you belong. You ain’t going anywhere, Tia. And if you do, you’ll never see your children again. So, take that miserable look off of your face and get used to it. I love you, Tia. You just got to start behaving, that’s all.’ He leant in for a kiss but she pulled away and, breathing hard, Harry said, ‘Stop being such a cock tease.’

  He pulled her towards him and she tried to push him off but the sheer power of his body on top of her made it impossible for her to move. ‘Get off me, Harry, just get off me!’

  Pushing his hand hard over Tia’s mouth, Harry used the other one to rip her lace knickers off, the elastic tearing into her flesh as they ripped around her thighs.

  Feeling she couldn’t breathe properly, Tia panicked and thrashed her legs about, fighting to get him off. He whispered gruffly in her ear, ‘Stop pushing me away! I want to make love to you. Maybe if you learnt not to be so uptight you’d enjoy it more.’

  She felt the force of him entering her and it sent a searing pain throughout her whole body. He thrust deeper and harder inside her, growling inaudible words into her ear as he took his hand off her mouth only to put it tightly round her throat, gripping it to the point of her feeling she wa
s going to black out. Then, within moments, as the sweat poured down Harry’s face, he groaned loudly before rolling off Tia.

  Propping himself up on his elbow, he stared at her, moving her hair away from her eyes.

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Tia, you don’t have to look like that. Do you know how many women would love to be in your position? Come on, darlin’, don’t do this to me … just give me a kiss, will you?’

  She turned her face away as she felt Harry get up from the bed. ‘You’re one cold bitch, Tia, but until you realise that, nothing’s going to change … Oh, and by the way, I forgot to tell you that tomorrow and from here on out, you’re going to have your own little babysitter.’

  Tia spun around to look at Harry, who was now standing by the door of their bedroom.

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I’m talking about not being able to trust you and because I can’t watch you every minute of the day, I’ve got someone else. Vaughn.’

  ‘No, you can’t. Harry, I ain’t having Vaughn around.’

  Harry gave a tight smile before walking back over to Tia and kissing her on the top of her head. ‘You’ll have whoever the fuck I say looking after you, and if you don’t like it or if you try anything, you’ll be sorry.’

  7

  The next day – a Thursday afternoon – Selfridges on Oxford Street seemed busier and hotter than ever as Vaughn trudged around carrying a multitude of shopping bags. Feeling trickles of sweat running down his back, he muttered to himself, cursing Harry who’d asked him, or rather told him that his job for the next couple of weeks was to keep an eye on Tia.

  That was bad enough but becoming her new skivvy, lugging about designer shoes and knickers, was taking the absolute piss. It was a joke. A fucking joke. What kind of muppet Harry had him down as, Vaughn didn’t know, but playing keeper to his missus certainly wasn’t in any of his job descriptions.

  ‘I need to go and try this on.’

  Vaughn sighed loudly, letting his irritation show and be heard, though he didn’t look Tia directly in the face. He wanted to avoid doing that for several reasons, but mainly because he didn’t want to see the fresh, angry bruise on her cheek, which hadn’t been there yesterday.

  Knocking women about wasn’t and would never be his thing, and even being around it made him feel uncomfortable. But the problem was, Harry was handy with his fists when it came to men or women, and there wasn’t much Vaughn could do about it, not if he wanted to stay alive.

  For now he needed Harry way more than Harry needed him and knowing that made him feel shit and angry in equal measures.

  Taking his frustration out on Tia, Vaughn growled, ‘Do you have to, Tia? We’ve been trudging about most of the day. How many dresses does anyone need?’

  Staring at him and noticing that he wouldn’t look at her, Tia shrugged her shoulders. ‘And you wonder why you’re single.’

  Chewing on his lip, probably to stop himself exploding, Vaughn shook his head furiously as he glanced round at the various shoppers, his handsome face lined with stress. ‘No, Tia, I don’t and I’m single because I choose to be, cos I don’t ever want to have to do this shit. This sensitive, new-age guy that goes shopping, for manicures, pedicures and any other fucking cure you lot do. Just drop me out, darlin’ … Now come on, let’s go.’

  Holding the Attico zebra-printed dress in her hand, Tia – although feeling miserable after what had happened with Harry last night – laughed warmly. She stood in front of Vaughn and gave him no choice but to look at her. ‘You don’t change, do you?’

  ‘No, and I ain’t got any intentions to either. I’m happy as I am, now come on. The sooner I get out of this fucking place, the better.’

  He turned, heading towards the escalators but Tia began to walk in the other direction.

  ‘Well wait outside for me then.’

  Fuming at how things had spiralled to this point, Vaughn marched back across to Tia. ‘I told you that you don’t need another dress.’

  ‘Vaughn, I don’t like this any more than you do. Like I told you yesterday, I’d rather you not speak to me or be around me for that matter. Yes, Harry has made you my keeper so neither of us have much choice, but that don’t mean you can tell me what I can or can’t buy.’

  Gazing down at her, Vaughn could feel the pulse in his temple throbbing. ‘I ain’t telling you that, I’m telling you that you’re not going into the changing rooms to try it on.’

  ‘Fine, I’ll do it here then.’ Holding Vaughn’s stare, Tia took off her jacket before beginning to unbutton her shirt at which point, grabbing her arm not too roughly, Vaughn pulled her towards the changing rooms. ‘Okay, you win. Go on, just hurry up. But I’m warning you, Tia, don’t mess me about.’

  Inside the changing rooms Tia sat down on the bench, feeling the grey, luxury carpet under her feet. She stared at herself in the mirror under the harsh glare of the lights, seeing the worry lines around her eyes.

  She still hadn’t seen the kids – Harry had made sure of that. They hadn’t been at home when she’d come back from court as they’d been staying with Harry’s mother, and even though he’d promised that he’d bring them back in the morning so she could take them to school, he’d broken his promise as usual.

  Everything was a game. Harry’s game. But one day, she knew that Harry’s game would be over because she’d promised herself she’d make sure that sometime soon he’d be speaking his last words. And that would be a promise that certainly wouldn’t be broken.

  Suddenly her phone beeped, breaking her out of her thoughts. She pulled it out of her pocket and saw that it was a text.

  Can you come around? I need to see you.

  Texting back, Tia wrote:

  Give me half an hour. I’ll see what I can do.

  Making sure that the text had gone through, Tia quickly deleted it before pushing her phone back into her pocket. She got up and headed out of the cubicle where at the entrance of the changing rooms she could see Vaughn standing impatiently waiting for her.

  Moving back out of sight, Tia leant on the slate-grey wall of the changing room and tried to think. There was no way she could sneak out without being seen and there was certainly no way she was going to tell Vaughn where she was going.

  Suddenly, an idea came to her and she turned to the tall, pretty assistant who rather than putting the clothes back on the hangers was texting on her phone.

  ‘That man out there is hassling me. I’m worried to go back out. Can you call security, please?’

  The assistant looked up from her phone and smiled sympathetically at Tia before glancing across to Vaughn discreetly. ‘The one in the Barbour jacket?’

  Still staying out of sight, Tia nodded. ‘Yeah, that’s him. Just tell them that he’s been bothering me.’

  ‘No problem. They shouldn’t be long.’ The assistant picked up the walkie-talkie on her desk with her perfectly manicured fingers, and set about radioing security.

  Ten minutes later, Vaughn, full of hostility at having been accosted by two large security men, stared at them. ‘What the fuck are you talking about? I’m waiting here for someone, so if I were you I’d get your fucking hands off me, mate.’

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, but we’ve had a complaint.’

  ‘I’m telling you, you’ve got the wrong fucking person,’ Vaughn snarled.

  ‘There’s no need to swear and I’d appreciate it, sir, if you kept your voice down.’

  ‘And I’d appreciate it if you weren’t such a cunt. Now get off my arm, otherwise … Oi, Tia! Where you going? Tia! Is this down to you? Are these two jokers to do with you! Tia! Tia!’ he shouted angrily across the store as he noticed Tia darting towards the escalators. ‘Tia, I’m talking to you. Come back! Don’t try and pretend you didn’t hear me! Tia! Tia! Don’t you fucking go anywhere! You hear me! Tia!’

  Looking over her shoulder as she hurried down the escalator, Tia saw Vaughn getting into a scuffle with the security guards as he tried to break away from them.<
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  She sighed, knowing that ditching Vaughn was one more thing she had to worry about, though the main problem now was how the hell she was going to explain this to Harry …

  8

  Wan Huang cut a line of cocaine with the edge of his Amex black card. He leant forward on the mahogany wooden chair and smiled, his handsome face lighting up as he stared intently. ‘Here you go. It’s yours.’

  Smiling back, the girl dressed in a tight black jumpsuit giggled as she took another sip of vodka from the plastic tumbler. ‘I don’t know, I’ve never had any before.’

  Wan’s eyes twinkled. ‘Then this is your time to try some. Come on, Shelby, there’s nothing to it.’

  A glint of hurt passed over her face. ‘My name’s not Shelby. It’s Ellie.’

  Standing up, Wan’s shoes squeaked on the sticky, beige lino floor as he walked towards her. He kissed her gently on her neck and ran his fingers through her shoulder-length dyed red hair. Then, feigning innocence at the same time as thinking that he didn’t care less what her name was, he winked. ‘What do you take me for, hey? Of course I know it’s Ellie, I was only joking.’

  Glancing up at him, Ellie looked hurt. ‘Why do you do that to me? It’s not funny.’

  Wan shook his head. ‘You need to have more of a sense of humour.’

  ‘I don’t see the joke in forgetting me name.’

  Ruffling her hair, Wan laughed. ‘Oh come on, Ellie, how could I forget it? We’ve been seeing each other for a while now, haven’t we? If I didn’t know your name by now, I think that would make me a pretty rotten boyfriend, don’t you?’

  Hearing the word boyfriend, Ellie visibly glowed with happiness. ‘I guess it would.’

  ‘So come on then, what do you say – why don’t you take a couple of lines, help you relax?’