Risking It All

by Stephanie Harte

  ‘Sort this lot into similar pieces and bag them,’ Alfie said, slicking back his immaculate blond hair with his fingertips.

  ‘Is Terry going to sell the jewellery?’ Nathan asked.

  ‘Yeah, he’ll come and get it in a couple of days when the dust has settled,’ Alfie replied.

  ‘Isn’t that a bit risky? I always thought diamonds had serial numbers engraved on them to prevent them from being stolen,’ Nathan said.

  I raised my eyebrow and had to stop myself from smiling. Nathan had a valid point. Time seemed to stand still while we waited for Alfie to respond. I wondered how he was going to overcome that problem.

  ‘Expensive stones are inscribed with a code to make them easy to identify, but the engraving can be polished off. Terry can remove the inscriptions. Anyway, why are you asking so many questions? You’re beginning to piss me off.’ Alfie drained his glass, suddenly irritated by Nathan’s thirst for knowledge. ‘Do yourself a favour and pipe down, or fuck off somewhere else,’ Alfie said, throwing Nathan a look.

  Alfie assured us that Terry knew what he was doing. But the police were looking for the jewellery. ‘What if he gets caught trying to sell it?’ I interlaced my fingers to stop myself from biting my nails.

  Alfie shrugged. ‘Terry will probably strip the jewellery apart. He’ll hold on to the big stones for the moment, it’s too soon to try and sell those, but he’ll shift the small ones straight away.’

  ‘Won’t it look suspicious if Terry suddenly has a surplus of diamonds for sale following the burglary at the Diamond Centre?’ I questioned.

  ‘It won’t be a problem as long as he releases them into the market in a slow trickle.’

  Terry would sell the stones cheaply to make them attractive to the dealers, so he would be able to shift them quickly. I thought it was too much of a coincidence. Somebody was bound to realise the diamonds came from the robbery. I was unconvinced by what Alfie had been saying. I found it hard to believe that nobody would ask questions.

  ‘The first dealers that Terry sells the stones to will probably realise they’re stolen, but by the time they’ve changed hands for the tenth time, nobody will care where they came from.’ Alfie lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply. ‘Diamonds trade over and over again. That’s the nature of the business, and luckily for us that makes them extremely difficult to trace. That’s why it’s so easy for us to travel across Europe. Thanks to the soft borders, it makes it almost impossible for the police to keep tabs on us or the diamonds. I bet that’s music to your ears, Gemma.’ Alfie smiled and raised his glass at me.

  I let out a long breath. I supposed I was going to have to take his word for that.

  Alfie picked up a diamond and sapphire necklace. ‘Terry’s a true craftsman. Once he gets his hands on this, he’ll take it apart and remount the stones in different settings. What’s the betting that within weeks Terry will have set those diamonds in somebody’s engagement ring? You never know, Gemma, if you play your cards right, I might ask him to make one for you.’ Alfie laughed as he locked eyes with Nathan.

  Pushing back his chair, Nathan got up from the table and stormed out of the saloon. Fury rose up inside of me when a huge grin swept across Alfie’s face. I was fed up with his snide comments and stood glaring at him with my arms crossed over my chest. How could Alfie humiliate Nathan by saying that in front of everyone? I wanted to lash out at him. But instead, I let silent judgement seep from my pores, and fill the air in the room until I was unable to bite my tongue any longer.

  ‘What the hell’s the matter with you?’ I said, pointing an accusatory finger at Alfie.

  I waited impatiently for his reply, aware that all eyes were on me. Tears attempted to cloud my vision, but I wouldn’t give Alfie the satisfaction of seeing me cry, so I blinked them away.

  ‘Nothing’s the matter with me, in fact, I couldn’t be better.’ Alfie got up from the table and stood in front of me. ‘You, on the other hand, have got a face like a slapped arse.’ Alfie ran his fingertips down the side of my face.

  ‘Don’t touch me,’ I said, looking him straight in the eye.

  ‘What’s got into you, Gemma? You used to like it when I touched you.’ Alfie smirked. Stepping into my personal space, he slid his hand around my waist and pulled me towards him.

  I had to stop myself from slapping him around the face after I pushed him away. There was no doubt the others knew about us, but I didn’t want to have this conversation in front of an audience. They weren’t going to hear the sordid details from my lips.

  The idea of being with Alfie again made me feel sick. It haunted me every time I thought about the night we’d spent together. I needed to put some space between us, so I went on deck to find my husband.

  Nathan didn’t acknowledge me when I stood next to him. He continued to lean against the railings and stare out to sea, while the material of his T-shirt billowed around him in the cold December air. If the circumstances had been different, this would have been a very romantic moment, just the two of us and the lights from the nearby yachts punctuating the darkness. But I could tell holding hands and stargazing was the last thing on Nathan’s mind. He was distant, lost in thought.

  ‘You must be freezing.’ I ran my hand up his back to get his attention. ‘Are you OK?’

  ‘I can’t take much more of this,’ Nathan finally replied. ‘It’s bad enough trying to come to terms with what happened, without Alfie rubbing my nose in it every few seconds.’

  ‘I’m so sorry, Nathan – do you think we’ll ever be able to come back from this?’ I couldn’t bear to think about the future without him.

  ‘I want to put this behind us, but Alfie’s never going to let us, is he?’ Nathan’s words were bitter.

  My guilt was eating away at me. No matter how hard Nathan tried to overlook my infidelity, the pain contorting his face confirmed just how much I’d hurt him. I hated to see him like this. I realised at that moment, I wasn’t prepared to stand by and let Alfie torment Nathan like this any more. He was playing with his feelings, and it was tearing him apart. My brow wrinkled in concern. I wished I could turn back the clock and make all his suffering go away.

  ‘We need to get away so that we can make a fresh start. Why don’t we leave tonight when everyone goes to bed?’ I whispered, having looked over my shoulder to check we were alone.

  ‘How can we? Alfie’s a psycho, and he knows where we live. What if he goes after my mum? He might kill her if we try to run.’

  What a sobering thought. But Nathan was right, Alfie was a control freak, and if we tried to cross him, he’d make us pay one way or the other. I suddenly thought of Rosa; she would be worried sick about us. Nathan is the centre of her universe, and she treats me like the precious daughter she never had. I wished we could try to get in touch with her, but it was too dangerous. Alfie constantly checked the mobile he gave me to make sure I hadn’t used it apart from to contact him.

  While Nathan and I stood side by side on deck, listening to the sound of the sea, I tried to think of a solution. Right now, we were stuck in a never-ending cycle, but there had to be a way out. We just hadn’t found it yet. I wasn’t going to lose hope. I was convinced in time an opportunity would present itself.

  As we waited for the right moment to come our way, I’d focus on the most important thing: my marriage. Nathan and I were staying together. We still loved each other, so I knew we were going to get through this and whatever else life decided to throw at us.

  83

  Gemma

  Midnight came and went, and I was still wide awake, lying in the double bed next to Nathan. Our cabin was dark, and the only sound I could hear was the water lapping on the hull. I tried to drift off to sleep, but all I could think about was my husband. He often hid from his demons and shut down when I tried to discuss something difficult with him. My infidelity had made him retreat within himself. But if it took me the rest of my life, I would make it up to him and put things right between us. Nobody was perfect, but Natha
n and I were perfect for each other.

  As I stared at the ceiling, I considered our options and kept coming back to the same conclusion. We’d have to get as far away from Alfie as possible if we were going to save our marriage.

  *

  Thanks to Alfie, Nathan and I already had quite a collection of bogus passports: French, Spanish, Italian and German to be exact. We’d been travelling across Europe on those for months now without encountering any problems. What was to stop us using them if we went on the run? The more I thought about it, the more the idea of vanishing into the night was beginning to appeal to me. But if we did disappear, could we escape without leaving a trail behind us?

  Where would we go? The language barrier would definitely be our biggest hurdle. I supposed we could head to an English-speaking country, but that would narrow our choices considerably. But what else could we do? If we couldn’t speak the language, we wouldn’t be able to get jobs easily. As I lay in the stillness of the cabin, tossing and turning, I suddenly remembered that we wouldn’t have any employment or credit history either, which would make starting over incredibly difficult.

  Every time I thought doing a vanishing act was a viable option, another problem arose, making the whole idea seem impossible. But there had to be a way. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I couldn’t spend the rest of my life living in a hotel room being controlled by Alfie. He was the puppet master, and he manipulated us for his entertainment.

  We’d learnt a lot from Alfie during the time we’d spent together, so we should make use of it. He told me before that if somebody wanted to successfully disappear off-grid all they needed was to have one decent piece of ID. Once you had that, you could get hold of anything else you needed apparently.

  I reached forward and touched Nathan’s shoulder. ‘Are you awake?’ I whispered in his ear.

  ‘Yeah, I can’t sleep either.’

  Nathan rolled onto his front. He shoved his hands under the pillow as he tilted his head to the side and looked at me. How could I have ever cheated on him? Every time I looked at his gorgeous face, I was racked with guilt. I’d caused him a lot of unnecessary suffering. But then I reminded myself, if we were going to move on from this, we needed to put it behind us.

  ‘I’ve had an idea,’ I said, turning onto my side so that I could see Nathan’s reaction.

  ‘About what?’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about how we can get away from Alfie.’ I edged along the pillow until our faces were inches apart.

  ‘Oh, not that again. I thought we’d agreed, it wasn’t safe to do that.’ Nathan flipped onto his back and stared into the darkness.

  I collapsed back onto the pillows and let out an exaggerated sigh. ‘Don’t dismiss me before you’ve heard me out.’

  Nathan turned back to face me. ‘If we try and double-cross Alfie, we’ll be signing our own death warrants, Gemma.’

  ‘But if Alfie kills us, he won’t get his money back, will he?’

  Nathan shifted onto his side and put his elbow on the pillow. ‘He won’t care about the money if we shoot through. He’ll want to get even with us.’ Nathan rested his head in the palm of his hand.

  Did Nathan know about the long-standing grudge between his and Alfie’s families? Silence hung heavy between us. Maybe he was right. We’d more than paid back what we owed him, and he was still forcing us to work for him. I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly before replying.

  ‘He’s never going to let us go, Nathan.’

  ‘He might at some stage. But if we leave before he says we can, he’ll come after us. Is that what you want?’

  ‘No.’ I couldn’t help throwing Nathan a sulky glance. ‘But if we pick the right moment…’ I broke off when I saw the look on Nathan’s face. He was having none of it. Alfie was a dangerous man and a respected figure in the underworld, so Nathan didn’t want to cross him. ‘Think about this for a minute, there’s so much money on board this yacht; we could take some and disappear. I’m not talking about all of it, but you took part in the robbery, so you’re entitled to a share.’ Keeping the frustration out of my voice was difficult.

  ‘I’m not sure Alfie would agree with you. If we steal his money, he’ll come after us. That’s the way it works in his world. It’s an unspoken rule.’

  Nathan and I were at loggerheads over this. We both had a stubborn streak, so neither of us was going to back down easily. Alfie had shown us how easy it was to change our appearance. I wanted us to disguise ourselves and leave in the middle of the night. But Nathan was adamant that if we did that, we would always be looking over our shoulders.

  ‘You need to get this idea out of your head. I’m telling you now if we run, he’ll find us, and if he can’t find us, he’ll go after my mum. I guarantee it.’ Nathan’s brown eyes were troubled.

  Although Nathan had a point, I’d decided I’d had enough of this no-win situation. I couldn’t stand it any more. I knew we couldn’t risk going home or making contact with Rosa. We’d have to stay away from her. I didn’t want to put her in danger. But I’d made up my mind, I had to get out of here. Staying was no longer an option. There was only one problem: how was I going to convince Nathan to come with me? After everything we’d been through, I couldn’t contemplate going without him. There must be something I could do to make him change his mind.

  I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life on the run either, but I was convinced things would settle down after a while. The way I saw it, we didn’t have an alternative. If we stayed, it was only a matter of time until we got caught by the police. What did we have to lose? I wished Nathan would push himself out of his comfort zone for a minute. ‘Do me a favour and at least consider my suggestion.’

  ‘I have, and I still don’t think it’s a good idea. What do you want me to say?’ Nathan tilted his head to one side and studied me. ‘Why won’t you listen to me? If we disappear, we’ll put my mum in danger. That’s the way these things work.’

  I understood what Nathan was saying, and the last thing I wanted was for Alfie to hurt Rosa, but if we didn’t make a break for it, there would be no end to this. He was never going to let us go.

  ‘If I could guarantee my mum would be safe, I’d be up for it. But Alfie knows where to find her so I can’t take the risk.’ Nathan shrugged his shoulders. ‘I still have no idea how he knows her, but he does, so it’s not an option.’

  I knew the reason, but Nathan wasn’t going to like it. I paused and drew in a deep breath as I considered how to tell him. ‘Alfie knows your mum from the restaurant.’

  Nathan looked at me with a puzzled expression on his face.

  ‘He told me Jethro owns Mamma Donatella’s.’

  Nathan shook his head. ‘Alfie’s full of shit. Donatella and Bernardo own it; the clue’s in the name.’

  ‘When Alfie was young, Jethro used to make him sit in the restaurant for hours so he could be near your mum,’ I continued, undeterred by the fact that my husband didn’t believe me.

  Nathan raised his eyebrows. I knew he was sceptical. ‘You shouldn’t believe everything he tells you. If that was true, how come I don’t remember it?’

  I shrugged my shoulders. I couldn’t answer that. ‘Did you know your dad served a prison sentence?’

  Nathan’s mouth fell open. I could see by the look on his face that he knew nothing about this. I wished I didn’t have to be the one to tell my husband that there was more to his past than he realised, but somebody had to.

  ‘Jethro set your dad up. He wanted Gareth behind bars so he could make a move on your mum, but his plan backfired. Rosa wasn’t interested in him.’

  Nathan’s nostrils flared. He threw back the covers and got to his feet. ‘I’m going to fucking kill him.’

  ‘Nathan, wait. Let me finish.’ I jumped out of bed and blocked his path.

  ‘If that’s true, what Jethro did changed the whole course of my life. I grew up thinking that somehow I was responsible for my dad’s absence. I can’t let the Watson
s get away with that.’

  Nathan had found it hard to accept his father’s abandonment and had struggled with commitment issues and insecurities all his life. By his own admission, he was a needy child and a moody teenager. But Rosa was an amazing mother; she’d tried hard to fill the gap Gareth had left. It was no wonder they were so close.

  ‘You need to hear this. I think Alfie only slept with me to get back at you. He’s still bitter about the fact that Jethro never cared about his mum because he was in love with Rosa.’ My mouth trembled as I struggled to get the words out. Overcome with emotion, I began to cry. Nathan didn’t comfort me but stood staring at me, so I wiped my tears away on the back of my hand.

  ‘He’s bitter… How do you think I feel?’ Nathan glared at me; his face was like thunder.

  ‘I know it’s an instinctive reaction, but please don’t confront him about it tonight. Wait until you calm down.’

  84

  Nathan

  My head was spinning. I’d been completely blindsided by what Gemma had told me. She’d dropped a massive bombshell, and I didn’t want to believe it, but I had a horrible feeling she was right about my dad. It wasn’t just Alfie trying to stir up trouble again.

  If this was true, it would have devastating consequences. My relationship with my mum would never be the same again. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to forgive her for keeping something this important from me. But why would she do that? There wasn’t a logical explanation. I knew I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. I should wait until I’d spoken to her first.

  Things were going from bad to worse. None of this seemed real. This had become a nightmare of a different kind, one that was too painful for me to comprehend. My throat tightened as I tried to hold in the sadness. No wonder my mum had refused to talk about my dad, and got distressed every time his name was mentioned. She must have been scared of getting caught out if she answered the questions my inquisitive young mind occasionally raised.