Ruthless Girl: An absolutely gripping, gritty crime thriller

by Emma Tallon

  Josephine bit her lip, suddenly reminded of the car that nearly ran her down in the street. It had seemed odd at the time. Could that have been Sophia? She shook her head, deciding not to pursue the thought. It was sure to be nothing but her paranoia.

  ‘I’m inclined to agree with you,’ Anna said slowly. Her face remained troubled. ‘But I think we need to see how this plays out and keep a sharp eye on things. Freddie asked my opinion on whether or not we should agree to the gun-running deal. She wants an answer tonight. I said I wanted to discuss it with you again quickly first.’

  ‘Tell him to go for it,’ Tanya replied. ‘Carefully, of course.’

  ‘OK. Let’s do it.’ Anna pulled her phone out of her purse and wrote out a quick text to Freddie. ‘OK. It’s going ahead then.’

  Tanya nodded. ‘Good. Always best to keep your enemies close.’

  Anna glanced at her watch. ‘And on that note, it’s time. Make yourself scarce,’ she said to Josephine. ‘Tan, I’ll see you in a minute.’

  Tanya and Josephine walked out into the hall and began to climb the stairs.

  ‘Is she going to be alright, do you think?’ Josephine asked quietly.

  ‘Anna?’ Tanya laughed. ‘She’ll be more than alright. Hard as nails and twice as clever, that girl. That stupid twat will rue the day he ever thought he could pull some bullshit like this.’

  Pacing around the bar, Anna took another few sips of her white wine as she waited for DI Matthews to press on the buzzer downstairs. Glancing at one of the long wall mirrors that were strategically placed around the room she checked herself over one more time. She’d gone with a particularly seductive black number for this evening, ready to play her part, not wanting to disappoint her pushy, unwelcome guest.

  The buzzer sounded and she glanced at her watch again. He was dead on time. With a dark smile, Anna walked over and buzzed him in.

  Twenty-Two

  ‘DI Matthews,’ Anna said, with a nod of greeting.

  ‘Miss Davis,’ he replied, looking her up and down appreciatively. ‘You look ravishing in that dress. Though I suspect it looks even better on the floor.’ He licked his lips in anticipation.

  Ever since this stuck-up woman had turned him down that night, it had boiled like an angry sore in the pit of his stomach. The more he’d found out about her, the more it burned. Sophisticated, accomplished and clearly business-minded, she was the perfect match for an upstanding man like himself. He had worked hard to get to where he was, just as she had. If she’d given herself the chance to get to know him, she’d have realised just how much they had in common and how well-matched they were. But instead, she was too busy hanging around the kind of scum he spent his days putting behind bars. It had left a bitter taste in his mouth that this woman thought herself above him whilst she was off shagging criminals.

  It was something he found he just couldn’t let go of, and the reason he had pushed her into a corner like this. If she was going to go around acting like she belonged with scumbags, then he’d treat her like one. Perhaps that was what she liked, after all. And once he’d had his way with her and screwed her out of his head once and for all, he’d move on to someone more worthy of his time. But for now, this was starting to be all sorts of fun.

  ‘Follow me,’ Anna said pleasantly. ‘I’ve had one of the rooms made up for us especially.’ She beckoned him to follow as she mounted the stairs to the next level.

  DI Matthews couldn’t contain the wide grin that spread across his face as he followed her up. He watched her pert backside move from side to side as she went up each step and bit his lip as he thought of what he was going to do with her. He imagined himself ripping the dress off her and throwing her down on her front, spreading her legs with his. He’d lift her backside high in the air and take her from behind. He almost let a groan escape as he thought of this, but contained himself. Only a few minutes longer to wait. Her long, dark hair flowed down her back, he noticed with approval. This was what he’d hold on to as he thrust inside her again and again. Maybe he’d tug it a little bit hard. He imagined she’d like it rough, with the sort of men she usually dated. That should turn her on, he decided.

  They walked in silence through the hallway at the top of the stairs, to the door at the end. As they reached it, Anna paused and turned with a smile, her hand on the doorknob.

  ‘Here we are,’ she said, her deep voice seductive. She allowed her gaze to burn his enticingly, and watched as his excitement rose threefold. She pushed the door open and his gaze shifted to the four-poster bed in the dimly lit room. ‘After you.’

  Not needing a second invitation, DI Matthews strode into the room and began to shrug off his T-shirt, eagerly. He barely managed to get one arm out before something dull and heavy was smashed around the back of his head and rendered him unconscious.

  DI Matthews awoke with a groan as the dull thud in his head intensified. He tried to remember what had happened, but he couldn’t. All he could remember was Anna opening the door and then himself stepping inside. He tried lifting his hand to his aching skull, but his hand wouldn’t move. It was bound, somehow. With a nervous squint, he opened one eye and found that he was lying face up on the four-poster bed. Opening his other eye he tried to locate his hands, struggling still to move them. He looked up and found to his surprise that they were bound by ropes to the posts at the top of the bed.

  What’s going on? he wondered. Is this some sort of kinky roleplay? As he searched his surroundings more, now that his brain was beginning to un-fuzz, he realised his feet were tied in a similar manner to the bottom of the bed. As his eyes rested on them, he realised a few other things all at once. Firstly, he was completely naked. And secondly, he was not alone. Aside from Anna, two other women were there, casually watching him from the side of the room. One of them he recognised as Anna’s red-headed business partner, but the other he hadn’t seen before. She was a slender, attractive brunette with the rosy cheeks of youth and piercing big blue eyes who looked as though butter wouldn’t melt. Her outfit told another story though, naked other than a bondage collar and a leather garter holding up a pair of fishnet stockings. As he watched, she picked up a bright red lipstick and applied a thick layer to her generous lips.

  ‘Good evening, DI Matthews,’ Anna said from her chair in the corner of the room. ‘So good of you to finally join us.’

  He frowned. ‘Well, I wasn’t expecting to be knocked out. You realise that’s a serious offence, right? Knocking out a police officer. Not to mention the restraints.’

  ‘Oh, you want to talk offences?’ Anna said, her eyebrows shooting up in mock surprise. ‘What sort of sentence does sexual blackmail come with, these days?’

  He narrowed his eyes. ‘I really wouldn’t test me, Anna. You either want this, or you don’t. And if you don’t…’ he tried to shrug, ‘that’s fine. But I can’t promise I won’t be looking into your businesses with a fine-tooth comb. It’s your choice. Make it fast.’

  Anna smiled coldly. ‘I’d like to introduce you to Rose. Rose here is one of our finest girls. She loves to do things that most others wouldn’t even dream of. Don’t you, Rose?’

  Rose giggled and looked coyly in his direction.

  ‘I’ve told you already. I’m not interested in shagging one of your prozzies,’ he spat. ‘It’s you, or nothing.’

  ‘Oh dear,’ Anna said, feigning dismay. ‘And I so hoped we might have come to a more amicable solution.’ She nodded to Rose and sat back in the chair, crossing her arms.

  Rose slinked forward and climbed onto the bed, like a prowling tigress. Hiding a smirk of amusement, Tanya pulled out a camera and began taking pictures of the two on the bed.

  ‘What are you doing?’ DI Matthews demanded. ‘Stop that, right now.’

  ‘But why?’ Anna asked. ‘I need the photos to protect myself.’

  Rose began rubbing her body over the tied-up officer, jiggling her boobs in his face and opening her legs in front of his eyes to show him the goods. Turning aro
und and straddling him so that everything was on display to him, she started kissing his lower abdomen, leaving bright red lipstick marks everywhere her lips touched.

  ‘You see, I will do everything I can to protect my business. Which is, of course, what you were trying to play on.’ Anna stood up and began slowly pacing the room as she talked. ‘But do you really think I got to where I am by letting fuck-boys like you scare me into sleeping with them for their silence?’ She stopped and pulled a face of disgust and pity at him. ‘If you did, then you’re really not as smart as you think you are.’ She shook her head.

  ‘So what exactly do you think you’re going to do with these pictures?’ DI Matthews asked. ‘It’s pretty obvious they’re staged. I’ll have you in cuffs the second you have me out of ropes.’

  ‘It’s not that obvious it’s staged, though, is it?’ Anna replied, looking pointedly at the response DI Matthews’ body was having to Rose grinding and sliding around above him. ‘In fact, I’d say it looks like you’re having the time of your life. And whilst you might want to try fighting me on that in court, I’m not sure you’d want to try fighting the same argument with your wife now, would you?’

  ‘What did you just say to me?’ he snarled, panic beginning to show in his eyes.

  ‘I think you heard me perfectly well,’ Anna replied, her tone hard. ‘Angela Matthews, your wife of seven years – nearly your ex-wife, so I hear, after your last infidelity was uncovered.’

  ‘Ohh, tut tut…’ Tanya chimed in with a shake of the head. ‘You have been a bad boy, haven’t you?’

  ‘Oh, piss off,’ DI Matthews said, shooting a look of hatred towards her.

  ‘He’s not very friendly, is he?’ Tanya mused, pulling a face.

  ‘It seems not,’ Anna agreed. ‘It doesn’t feel good, when you’re pushed into a corner now, does it, DI Matthews? But going back to your sweet, forgiving wife Angela – from what I understand she only barely took you back the last time.’ Anna stepped forward and leaned down towards his face. ‘So, I’m going to make you a deal. You may leave here tonight and never return, and never look in any of my businesses’ direction ever again. No charge.’ She smiled. ‘Or,’ the smile dropped, ‘if you try to make trouble for me in any way, shape or form, these photos will be hand-delivered to your wife, possibly even by Rose herself, along with a tearful account of how you roped her into this kinky secret world of yours only to then break her heart by letting slip you were already married.’

  ‘Ooh, I like that,’ Tanya enthused.

  ‘Yes, quite apt, I think.’

  ‘You bitch…’ DI Matthews glared at her through narrow eyes. ‘And to think I even considered you as dating material.’ He snorted and sneered at her. ‘Not any more.’

  ‘I can assure you, the feeling was never mutual,’ Anna replied, in a matter-of-fact tone. ‘So, which side of this deal would you like to accept?’

  ‘I’ll leave,’ he spat. ‘Wouldn’t touch you with a fucking bargepole now. But you hear me, Anna. You go near my wife and I’ll make you rue the day.’ His bluster covered his seething anger at how well Anna had turned the tables. He bucked, trying to throw Rose off him, annoyed by the way his own body had betrayed him and fully embarrassed by the turn of events.

  ‘Then we have an understanding,’ Anna responded. ‘Tanya, you take that camera and get the pictures printed, will you? Then pop the SD card somewhere safe, just in case we need it later.’

  ‘Of course,’ Tanya replied sweetly as they exchanged exaggeratedly pleasant smiles.

  Anna turned her smile back to DI Matthews as Tanya exited the room. ‘She’s a dear, isn’t she?’ she said, her tone clearly mocking him as he struggled against his restraints. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t do that. You don’t want to mark your wrists. What would Angela think?’

  He stopped struggling and growled at her across the room. ‘You’ll pay for this.’

  ‘Actually, I won’t,’ Anna responded, dropping the fake smile. ‘Because you so much as look in my direction again, your marriage, your whole happy family routine, will be down the pan. Not only that, but I have a vast network of people at my fingertips I can get to make your life a living hell. People you no doubt despise, but who outsmart you ten to one,’ she added, curling her lip as she allowed the disgust she felt for the feeble man in front of her to come to the fore. ‘I am one of the most dangerous people you will ever have the stupidity to cross. I’ve let you off with a warning this time. That won’t happen again.’

  Reaching over to the table where she had placed two large, sharp knives, she passed one to Rose.

  ‘What the hell?’ DI Matthews yelped. His eyes widened in shock as she approached him with cold hatred in her eyes. ‘Listen, whatever, OK?’ He held his hands up as high as he could, considering his bindings. ‘I tried to play the game, you won. It’s over. I took the deal.’ His voice cracked into full-on panic as Rose approached him from the other side and Anna gave her the nod. ‘I took the deal, I took the deal,’ he screeched, squeezing his eyes shut and trying – unsuccessfully – to shuffle away from them.

  ‘Yes, we already went over that,’ Anna replied, her tone bored.

  Lifting the knife to the ropes that bound his wrists to the bed, she sawed through the bindings until the last thread snapped, allowing DI Matthews his hand back. Rose mirrored the action on the other side. DI Matthews immediately sat up and began trying to undo the leftover rope that was still secured around his wrists as the women cut through the ropes holding his ankles.

  ‘You don’t have time to do that here, I’m afraid. Take them off in your own time. I want you off my premises, immediately,’ Anna said, running her fingers up and down the back of the large blade.

  DI Matthews didn’t need to be told twice. Shifting off the bed, he winced once more and touched the back of his head where they had knocked him out, before grabbing the pile of clothes that had been neatly folded on the bedside table. He pulled his underwear on and his trousers, not bothering to waste time with socks before shoving his feet into his shoes. Keeping one wary eye on the two women still holding the blades, he threw his T-shirt over his head and grabbed the rest of his things under one arm, still pulling his T-shirt down as he hurried out of the door.

  ‘You were right, by the way,’ Anna called after him, mockingly. ‘Allowing you to come over did give me great pleasure, after all.’

  Running down the stairs, furious and embarrassed, but knowing he could never do a thing about what just occurred, the last thing DI Matthews heard was the sound of the two women’s laughter.

  Shaking her head, amused, Anna turned back to Rose. ‘Strip the bed and sort this room out for tomorrow, will you?’ she asked. She opened her purse and threw a wedge of notes onto the side. ‘And that’s yours for tonight’s work.’

  ‘Easiest money I’ve ever made,’ Rose replied with a throaty chuckle, as she began to pull the sheets off the bed. ‘Probably the most fun, too.’ She glanced at Anna. ‘Can I ask you something?’

  ‘Of course,’ Anna replied.

  ‘You could have just threatened him with Freddie. Surely that would have been enough without all this?’ She glanced up towards Anna and back to the bedsheets a couple of times in quick succession, not sure if she had overstepped the mark by making such a forward comment. Anna was a fair boss, but she had a hard streak. She wasn’t someone Rose wanted to piss off.

  Anna smiled and looked down at the knife, running her finger gently over the sharp edge. ‘There’s no need to threaten a man with one side of the axe, when he’s already got his neck up against the other.’

  Twenty-Three

  Freddie nuzzled into Anna’s neck as she stood at the small mirror in the back office of their newly set up restaurant, trying to put on her earrings.

  ‘Stop it,’ she half-heartedly complained with a laugh. ‘I’m trying to get this on.’

  ‘Like anyone would notice something as insignificant as your earrings when they have the dazzling beauty of your face to focus on,’
he murmured into her neck, completely ignoring her protests. Wrapping his arms around her waist more securely, he pulled her back into him, breathing in her perfume. ‘This face, this neck…’ He kissed her further down her shoulder and grinned as he felt her respond. She leaned back into him. ‘This dress, which is coming off the second I get you home, Anna Davis,’ he promised, in a low seductive voice.

  She turned around to face him and couldn’t help but smile as she looked at his handsome features and kissed him hard on the lips. ‘Good,’ she replied, nipping at his bottom lip with her teeth, teasingly. ‘I’ll hold you to that. But for now, we have a restaurant to open.’

  ‘Yeah, plus, it’s getting really uncomfortable for the rest of us in here,’ came a strained voice from behind the desk. Paul rolled his eyes at them exaggeratedly as they turned around and Anna laughed.

  ‘Sorry, Paul.’ She pushed Freddie away and opened the office door. ‘So, I’m going to go and cut the ribbon with Tanya, get things moving and then once the press have gone, we’ll join you guys in the VIP area, OK?’

  ‘Gotcha,’ Paul replied. ‘I’ll save you girls some champers.’

  ‘Good stuff.’ Anna disappeared and the door shut behind her, leaving the brothers alone.

  Although this restaurant was unofficially a joint venture between the four of them, only Anna and Tanya were on the lease and set up as directors. Neither Freddie’s nor Paul’s name was noted down anywhere. This way there was no paper trail to the Tylers, keeping the business several degrees safer, should they be looked into for anything by the police going forward. To keep up appearances, although it was an exciting night for them all, it would only be the two women walking out into the limelight of the local press and greeting customers as they entered ready to be fed and entertained for the first time.

  ‘So, did you speak to Sophia today?’ Paul asked, as Freddie took a seat in the chair opposite.