Rival

by Jacqui Rose

  ‘I want you to leave Ellie alone.’

  Wan stared back at her and then slowly a grin appeared on his face before it turned into a snort and then loud laughter, though there was a dawning puzzlement on his face. ‘Ellie? I didn’t even know you two knew each other. She wasn’t about when you were here.’

  ‘Yeah well, I do know her and the point is, I want you to leave her alone. Just stop hurting her.’

  ‘You sure you’re not jealous because you think she’s taken your place?’ He winked and amusement played on his voice. ‘Don’t worry, Milly, she’ll never take your place. There’ll always be room for you.’

  ‘I would rather die than come back. But like I say, leave her alone.’

  ‘Or what, Milly? You’ll stamp your feet and throw your dummy out? Is that what you’ll do?’ He chuckled then added, ‘No, darlin’, I won’t be leaving Ellie alone anytime soon, not even for you, not even for the mother of my child.’

  And it was that part of the conversation Ellie heard on the other side of the door …

  41

  ‘What are you doing here?’

  Milly jumped as she walked along the hallway of Wan’s club. She shrugged as Franny, who had appeared in the hallway in front of her, stared at her suspiciously.

  ‘I’m … I’m looking for you.’

  Franny gave her a wry smile. ‘I never told you that I worked here.’

  Milly, hiding her surprise that Franny was part of Wan’s set-up, looked worried. ‘You must have done, otherwise I wouldn’t know … Anyway, I have to go.’

  ‘Milly, wait!’ Franny said as she grabbed her. ‘I haven’t told anyone what you said about Ellie, if that’s what you’re worried about. I ain’t here to cause trouble. I genuinely wanted to help.’

  ‘Yeah but you work for Wan.’

  ‘It’s not like you think. Trust me. And anyway, you still haven’t explained what you’re doing here.’

  Looking sheepish Milly shrugged again. ‘I already told you, I was looking for you.’ She turned to walk away but Franny held on to her arm and dragged her out towards the exit.

  ‘I may not be a copper, Milly, but I ain’t stupid and it don’t take detective work to know you ain’t telling me the truth, so you need to start talking, now.’

  Shaking Franny’s arm off, Milly stood in the street as it began to rain. She burst into tears, feeling overwhelmed by everything that had happened and the box of memories she had opened up inside her head. ‘Look, Franny, it was actually Ellie I was looking for. I just didn’t want to say. Me and her had a falling-out.’

  ‘Why is it that I don’t believe you?’

  ‘I dunno.’

  Franny stepped towards her and brought down her voice. She spoke quietly but not unkindly. ‘Well I do; it’s cos you ain’t telling me the truth. Look at me, Milly. What’s going on?’

  With a long sigh, Milly said, ‘Not here.’

  Franny looked over her shoulder as she pulled Milly towards her Range Rover, which was parked a few metres from the club in Greek Street. ‘Fine, then we talk in here. You can tell me all about what’s going on.’

  Giving a small nod, Milly stepped in the car and for some reason she felt good that Franny was on her side. What neither of them realised was Wan was watching them on the CCTV.

  An hour later, Milly sat on her bed in the dingy bedsit in St Anne’s Court. She felt shell-shocked and tired but at the same time she felt relieved. She had told Franny everything. About her dad, about her mum, about Wan and about the baby and of course, she had also told her of her concerns for Ellie.

  Franny had just sat and listened and then she’d given her a hug before she’d driven her home. They’d arranged to meet tomorrow to chat some more but for now she was tired and needed to sleep.

  About to get changed, Milly jumped at a knock at the door. Before she could get up, the door was kicked open. ‘Hello, Milly, I want a word with you.’

  She trembled as she stared at Harry. ‘What do you want, Dad? What are you doing here? How did you find me?’

  ‘Oh come on, Milly, did you really think that beanie you were wearing in the café was any sort of disguise? I knew it was you straight away. You and that little whore friend of yours.’ Harry grinned nastily then he stared at her belly. ‘You’ve got some fucking front. I thought I told you to get rid of that.’

  ‘You told me a lot of things that I don’t want to hear and anyway, it ain’t nothing to do with you.’

  Harry looked around the room, seeing the damp wallpaper covered with beads and bright sparkling drapes. He took it all in: the bed, the sofa, fluffy pink and white cushions hiding the tattered brown couch. ‘Does your mum know you’re here?’

  Milly shook her head. She could feel her face going red. It was like Wan and Franny had said: she was no good at lying. ‘No, I ain’t spoken to her, not since you chucked me out. I ain’t interested in her and I ain’t interested in you.’

  Harry nodded. ‘So how are you paying for this place and more to the point, darlin’, if you ain’t seen her, why the fuck is your mum’s cashmere scarf over there when I saw her wearing it only last week? I think you and I better have a little chat, don’t you? And I’m warning you, Milly, don’t fucking lie to me cos today of all days, I ain’t in the mood. I found out a few home truths about your mum today, which I don’t like. So do yourself a favour and don’t mug me off, otherwise, you’ll be sorry.’

  Outside the optician’s in Poland Street, Franny leant on her blacked-out Range Rover, taking in the night air of Soho. Her head was full of what Milly had told her and now more than ever she needed to speak to Ellie and to Sasha, because if it was the last thing she did, which she hoped it wasn’t, she was going to stop Wan in his tracks.

  ‘Hello, Franny, thanks for texting me. I must say I was surprised, but I’m also grateful.’ Franny whipped around and saw Detective Carter standing there. His handsome face lighting up. ‘What happened there?’ he said as he gently touched her lip, torn from where Wan had slapped her.

  ‘It’s fine, it’s nothing.’

  ‘You all right?’ Carter cocked his head to one side. ‘And I don’t mean your lip,’ he said quietly.

  ‘Not really and well, doing this, it ain’t exactly me.’

  Carter smiled, a genuine warm smile. ‘But it is, Franny, because as I said before, you’re different. You may want everyone to think you haven’t got a heart, but I know you, Franny. I know you would never let Wan continue to do what he’s doing. I know you would never stand by and do nothing. And that’s what separates you from the others. When it comes down to it, you do care.’

  Suddenly, from what felt like nowhere, Franny was overwhelmed with emotion as she fought back the tears that she usually buried far down inside her so that she’d never feel them. ‘It is what it is,’ she said, trying to sound casual.

  ‘Franny.’

  She shook her head and looked down at the ground, breathing the cool night air in deeply as she tried to steady her emotions. ‘Leave it, Carter.’

  ‘I know we go back a long way, but you doing this, it isn’t nothing and I’ll always appreciate it.’

  ‘I said, just leave it.’

  He nodded and then from out of her pocket, Franny pulled Sasha’s diary. ‘Hopefully this will help. I’m not sure how much though. I mean, there’s a lot about Wan and the girls and what he makes them do. There’s stuff about Louise as well.’

  Putting the diary in his jacket, Carter nodded. ‘This will go some way I’m sure.’

  Just as Carter turned to go, Franny called after him. ‘Fancy a walk? I could do with some company.’

  ‘Are you sure that’s sensible? You being seen with me? You’ve got your reputation to think about,’ Carter said with a wink.

  Franny smiled and the irony wasn’t lost on her that needing to feel wanted was something the girls that worked for Wan were so desperate to have and it was something that right now she also craved, even if it was with a member of the Old Bill. She ha
d also always felt intrigued by him. There was something about him that felt safe yet dangerous. Something strong and attractive.

  She sighed and nodded. ‘Well, how about a drink at mine? And for tonight only, how about we pretend we’re just strangers who happened to bump into each other? I won’t be who I am and you won’t be who you are. No strings. No regrets. No repercussions. Just you and me. What do you say?’

  But Carter didn’t say anything. He just smiled and got into Franny’s Range Rover.

  Alfie watched from across the street and although he couldn’t hear what they had been saying, he could see the way Carter had looked at Franny and for some reason a pang of jealousy shot right through him.

  42

  Nothing had been said for the past couple of hours. Vaughn was still in shock from what he had heard. It didn’t make sense why Harry would make out as if it was him who’d been the gatekeeper between Wan and a bullet in his head. Not only that, but he felt a mug having been at Harry’s beck and call only to find out that it had been Tia all along. But how? Why?

  He wanted to ask Tia more about what she’d said but each time he did, it ended up with him losing his temper, so he decided to sit in silence. The combination of what felt uncomfortably like jealousy in regards to the love bite plus the revelation was doing his head in.

  So now here they were, sitting in his car, in silence, looking out over the River Thames.

  ‘Vaughn, this is stupid. Come on, talk to me.’

  He whirled around and stared at her. ‘Talk to you? Are you kidding me?’

  Bemused, Tia stared at him. ‘What is your problem?’

  ‘My problem, Tia, is that both you and Harry have been lying to me.’

  Breathing hard through annoyance, Tia snapped, ‘Grow up, Vaughn, stop making this all about you. Just listen to yourself. Have you any idea what I’ve had to put myself through just so I can make sure you’re all right? So I could make sure that Wan didn’t put a gun to your head?’

  ‘But that’s what I don’t get. How … why … and has this got something to do with that love bite on your neck?’ Vaughn said, full of hostility.

  Absentmindedly, Tia put her hand up to her neck. ‘No. That’s … look, it don’t matter what it is.’

  Raging again, Vaughn raised his voice. ‘Oh but it does matter. It matters to me.’

  ‘Why? Why does it matter? You’re alive, ain’t you? Isn’t that enough? So just drop it. I’ve already told you more than I should’ve done.’

  Furiously, Vaughn shook his head. ‘No the problem is, you ain’t saying enough, cos I need all my facts straight when I go and talk to Harry. Ask him what the fuck he’s been playing at.’

  Tia’s face paled. ‘Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare! Leave Harry out of it, understand? He don’t need to know any of this.’

  ‘But hold on, surely he already knows that it’s not him stopping Wan?’

  ‘Of course he doesn’t.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Just leave it!’ Stepping out of the car to get some fresh air, Tia rushed across to the embankment wall. She leant over, breathing in the River Thames air, watching the darkness of the water float by.

  From behind her, Vaughn spoke. ‘Tia—’

  Interrupting, she spun around to look at him. ‘I don’t know why I bothered. I should’ve let them kill you, cos you don’t seem to give a fuck about anyone else except for yourself. But then you always have, haven’t you?’

  ‘Not this again, Tia.’

  Hurt and angry, Tia slapped Vaughn right in the middle of his chest repeatedly. ‘Yes, yes, yes this again! Cos this is the first time I’ve ever been able to tell you how I feel, cos let’s have it right, Vaughn – you never gave me the opportunity to tell you before, did you? But I guess that happens when you walk out on someone and don’t look back.’

  ‘Listen, darlin’, it was years ago. We don’t have to drag it up now.’

  Incensed, Tia continued to rant. Her hurt palpable. ‘Drag it up? Is that how you see it? I waited for you to come back. Day after day. Night after night. I thought that I’d done something wrong when you left me. That there was something wrong with me, that I was too damaged to love.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that,’ Vaughn said looking ashamed.

  Sobbing and angry, Tia was racked with pain. ‘It was for me! You knew that even before I’d left care, before I’d even turned fifteen that Wan’s brother groomed me, fielded me out, made me feel like I was nothing, made me feel like the only way for someone to love me was to agree to sleep with any man they wanted me to. And it was only when I met you that it changed. You made me feel special, you made me feel loved and, God, I certainly loved you. But then you left without a word, just a note telling me that you couldn’t do it anymore.’

  ‘I was a coward and I was young and I was ambitious but more to the point I was wrong.’

  ‘Yeah you were but stop the excuses – you weren’t that young. You weren’t a kid, Vaughn, so don’t pretend you were some young naïve thing.’

  ‘Okay, I know. I know, I fucked up. I was immature but I was ambitious and I thought that I couldn’t become what I wanted to become if there was a you and me … I know now how stupid that was, and looking back, it wasn’t as if I didn’t love you. I did. I just didn’t know how to handle it. And I thought about you all the time afterwards. I even thought about coming back to you but I thought it would be too late, I thought you wouldn’t want to know. So I pushed you out of my head cos it was too painful and I convinced myself it was nothing more than a fling. But when I saw you the day I picked you up from court with Harry, I knew then, like I always had deep down, that I should never have left you …’ He trailed off knowing that his words couldn’t convey how sorry he was not only for hurting her but also for missing out on a life with her.

  Tia answered ruefully. ‘It’s easy to say all that now, but don’t you get it? You made me think there was something wrong with me. You made me feel like the only people who could care for me were people like Huang and Harry.’

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Tia,’ Vaughn said not unkindly.

  ‘What was I supposed to think?’ Tia said as she looked out across the Thames to the London Eye, feeling the chill of the wind blowing off the river.

  ‘Not that. You weren’t supposed to feel that.’

  ‘Well that’s exactly what I felt. And when you left, apart from Lydia, I had no one else around. I had no idea how to put myself back together but then along came Harry, sweeping in, making me feel like I was worth something after all. Jesus, I must’ve been a proper easy target. What a mug, hey?’

  ‘Did he ever know about us?’

  ‘No, he’d hardly have you looking after me now if he did, would he? I knew you and him became friends later on; it was inevitable in the life you’re in. It’s a small world, but I prayed I’d never see you again and I made sure that our paths never met, until now of course.’

  For some reason Tia’s words stung. ‘What about Tammy? She must’ve known.’

  ‘She suspected, but she had it worse than me, remember? She was just trying to survive too. Her head was all over the place. She was so messed up: going in and out of different care homes and chucked out on the streets at sixteen to fend for herself. We weren’t in contact again until after you’d left. And by that time, like I say, she was a mess. I think that’s why she’s so angry with me. She feels like I left her …’ Tia shook her head, wiping away her tears on her sleeve. Hurting for not only herself but also for Tammy. ‘So here I am, still picking up the pieces. Your pieces. Your mess. Have you any idea what it was like to see you again after all this time? After years of never speaking to you or hearing from you for you to suddenly turn up like this? For you to suddenly be Harry’s right-hand man?’

  ‘That wasn’t my choice though.’

  ‘No, maybe not, but did you think that walking back into my life after all this time wouldn’t bother me?’

  ‘I just shut it away. It seemed easier.’
/>
  ‘Well ain’t you the lucky one?’

  They fell silent again but eventually Vaughn said, ‘So the situation with Wan was really nothing to do with Harry at all? Nothing to do with him looking out for me?’

  Tia took a deep breath trying to steady her emotions. ‘Not really. I mean he did try, you know, just saying what a top bloke you were. But Wan was having none of it. I heard him tell Harry how he was going to make you pay for what you did to his brother. You were going to be pushing up daisies. I knew I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t let him kill you.’

  ‘How though? How did you get him to listen to you?’

  ‘Well I went to Wan and pleaded for your life. And because me and Wan and his brother went back a long way, he agreed. He agreed to make it look like it was because Harry asked him not to do it.’ Tears ran down her face as Vaughn stared at her in amazement.

  ‘Franny was right then,’ Vaughn said as he lit a cigarette, inhaling it deeply.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Tia said, puzzled.

  ‘The last time I saw her she said that there was something more to it. She said that there was no way Wan wouldn’t look for revenge just because Harry had asked him not to.’ He paused and stared at her. ‘But why would you do that for me and why would Wan do it for you?’

  ‘Oh for fuck’s sake, Vaughn. Wan and his men, they were going to kill you. Chop you up into little pieces. You murdered his brother so what did you expect? You should’ve never messed with the Triads.’

  ‘Yes, but you still ain’t telling me why you did that for me?’

  Tia yelled in his face. ‘Ain’t it obvious? No matter how hurt I was by you walking away that day, no matter how much at times I wanted you to suffer, I couldn’t let something happen to you. Cos stupidly, a little part of me has always loved you. I never stopped loving you, Vaughn, not really. You were one of the few good things in my life. But hey, loving you – well that’s the easy part. The hard part is owing Wan.’