Shattered (Dividing Line #5)

by Heather Atkinson

  “The Katia?”

  Ryan nodded.

  “My name is already so well known,” she said, curling her lips contemptuously. “I will kill Danielle for her loose tongue.”

  “She’s probably back in Poland by now if she’s any sense,” said Mikey.

  “She is Slovakian.”

  “Whatever.” Mikey sat on the opposite side of her, so she was penned in by the two men. “What do we do with her?” he asked Ryan.

  “That’s what I wanted to discuss with you.”

  Mikey was pleased Ryan was including him in the decision-making. It was good for his confidence and he was starting to feel like an equal to this man who was respected and feared throughout the city. He knew he’d impressed him with his smooth takeover of the compound. Mikey thought it ironic that he was looking to a Law, a lifelong enemy of the Maguires, to be his role model.

  “Using her to get Alex to give himself up to us won’t work, he proved he won’t sacrifice himself for anyone in the Jordan fiasco.” Ryan looked to Katia. “You do know that no one in the world means more to Alex than Alex.”

  “You know nothing about him,” she hissed, blue eyes flashing.

  “Looks like this cat’s got claws,” grinned Mikey. “You’re part of Alex’s secret life, the dirty, shameful part that he doesn’t want anyone to find out about.”

  Mikey’s judgement was spot on. When he hurt her pride her temper skyrocketed, loosening her tongue.

  “You stupid pathetic little boy,” she spat. “Alex loves me, not that witch he’s married to. He’s getting rid of her so we can be together with our baby, which will be a big strong boy who will grow into a big strong man and kill your children. Alex loves me, he’s obsessed with me and he will not stop until you are all dead for this insult you have paid me. He will destroy you all then he will rule this city alone. Soon you two and your precious Rachel will be nothing but memories.”

  Ryan and Mikey appeared entertained by her speech, which only infuriated Katia more.

  “Please, I can’t take any more about how wonderful Alex Maguire is,” said Mikey wryly. “And you’re wrong. We rule Manchester. We’ve taken everything from Alex and now all that’s left for us to take is his life. Do yourself a favour and realise you’re on the losing side.”

  “Fuck off you stupid person.”

  “Your English is very good but you could really use a lesson in insults,” grinned Mikey. He looked to Ryan. “We need to find somewhere to stash her until she can be of some use to us.”

  “Do not speak about me as though I am not here,” seethed Katia. “You are as rude as you are stupid.”

  Mikey ignored her. “She’ll have inside information on the brothels. She might be able to give us an idea what to expect.”

  Ryan was pleased Mikey had spotted this opportunity. “You’re going to tell us who your clients were at the brothel,” he told Katia.

  She tilted back her head and folded her arms across her chest. “And if I refuse?”

  “Then some poor sod’s going to get a shock when they stumble across your dead body.”

  “Fine,” she sighed, knowing full well it was no idle threat. “I don’t see how it matters, you are just desperate. Stephen Strang was a regular client.”

  “So we heard,” replied Ryan. “We also heard that he enjoyed you a few times.”

  “I was a different woman then,” she said, stamping her high heeled foot.

  “Before Alex took a fancy to you.”

  “He saw my potential,” she said proudly.

  “He saw you were a cold, heartless bitch who could watch innocent women imprisoned and repeatedly raped for profit,” snarled Ryan, thrusting his face into hers. “You’re lucky your head is still attached to your neck you fucking hard-faced slag.”

  “Take it easy Ryan,” said Mikey.

  Ryan heaved in a deep breath, jaw set, stony gaze riveted on Katia and she knew he was having to restrain himself from killing her for her part in what happened to his wife. She was afraid to take her eyes off him or even blink in case he attacked but she refused to look intimidated.

  “Who were your clients?” said Mikey.

  Katia tried to gather her thoughts but Ryan was still glaring at her and she couldn’t concentrate. She’d never felt such hatred from anyone before, not even the girls in the brothel. “Only the best,” she replied with an indignant toss of the head. “Rich, powerful people.”

  “In a shithole like that?” taunted Mikey. “Yeah, right.”

  “It’s true. We had a Chief Superintendent, an MP, a famous defence lawyer and many rich businessmen.”

  Ryan and Mikey looked at each other and laughed, although Ryan’s laugh was low and strained.

  “You’re deluded love,” said Mikey. “They were probably having you on.”

  “They were not. No one can lie to me and get away with it.” She wanted to slap them both. How dare they treat her like a nobody?

  “Prove it. Give us some names,” said Mikey.

  “It is confidential.”

  “There’s no brothel anymore so what does it matter?”

  “Why do you want to know?” she said suspiciously.

  “Just curious and if you want to remain in one piece you’ll tell us,” said Ryan, brandishing the knife.

  He kept throwing her off balance. Katia couldn’t equate his cultured, even voice with the rage that was obviously inside him. The combination was frightening. She looked down at the knife in his hand and realised he wouldn’t hesitate to use it. She cleared her throat before replying to give herself time to get a grip. “You would threaten a pregnant woman?”

  “Your precious Alex threatened to have my four year old son stabbed in the kidneys and his actions caused my other son to be stillborn so yes, I won’t think twice about fucking threatening you.”

  Katia was bewildered and a little scared but she hid it well. “You lie.”

  He shook his head. “In our world you don’t touch women and children but Alex himself changed the rules when he set fire to my house with my family inside, threatened my boy and almost killed my wife. On top of that he put his own children through some very severe mental trauma, he’s damaged them for life. There’s a lot about your lover that you don’t know. He’s a nasty deranged bastard who turned on everyone who loved him.” He sat back in his seat, teeth gritted together, wanting to spout as much bile at her as he could simply to upset her. He wanted her to hurt like he was hurting. “Do you know he tried to rape Rachel?”

  Katia’s cheeks flushed and her eyes glittered with rage. “He would never touch another woman like that. Why would he when he has me?”

  Mikey released a snort at her arrogance.

  “Because he’s a sick bastard,” replied Ryan. “His own children stopped him going all the way, which is why he took Rachel to you, so one of your fucking disgusting clients could do it to her instead and you helped him. That’s the real Alex Maguire. A dirty scummy rapist. Good luck with him as a dad to your kid, he’ll fuck that one up just like he did his other three.”

  “Liar,” she screeched, so furious she blindly lashed out. When she tried to punch him in the face he once again caught her wrist and bent it backwards. “Stop please, that hurts.”

  “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t break it,” he hissed, twisting harder.

  “I’ll give you the names you want.”

  He released her wrist and she slumped back in her chair breathing hard, cradling the throbbing limb. She was surprised she’d caved in so easily, she had thought she was made of stronger stuff. She reasoned it was because of the life growing inside her. She wanted this baby so badly to cement her union with Alex that she’d do anything to make sure it stayed safely in her belly. Besides, what harm was there in telling them what they wanted to know? It was harmless information now the brothel was gone, unless they intended to blackmail their clients but there was no proof.

  The list she rhymed off made Ryan and Mikey edgy, although they car
efully maintained their poker faces. However one name ignited the burning inside Ryan again but he wanted no one to know about it yet, not until he’d discussed it with Rachel, so he calmly allowed Katia to finish.

  “Is that it?” he said, eyebrow disdainfully arched.

  “That’s it.”

  “Impressive list. You must have been raking it in,” said Mikey.

  “What does that mean?” she asked wearily.

  “It means you must have been making a lot of money.”

  “We were. Now it is gone, thanks to your interference.”

  “And if you’ve any fucking sense you won’t try to get it back,” said Ryan, grabbing her by the upper right arm.

  “Your fingers are digging into me,” she complained.

  “Deal with it,” he muttered as he led her to the door.

  “Where are you taking me?”

  “Somewhere Alex will never find you.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Katia’s brain worked overtime as she was marched out of the chapel by the two men and down the corridor to the exit. Her spirits started to lift when she thought she was going to be taken out to where Col and his brothers waited, but to her chagrin she was escorted past that exit.

  “You look disappointed,” said Ryan, reading her expression perfectly. “Col’s not going to get you out of this one. He’s completely useless, a yes man.”

  Katia looked up at Ryan and smiled. “You know, if circumstances were different we would have made a wonderful team.”

  “Don’t presume for one moment that you are in any way comparable to Rachel. She’d eat you for breakfast and spit out your hair extensions. You’re just another wannabe, like Jan Jordan. She would never have made a mistake like you made today.”

  “What would Saint Rachel have done that I didn’t?”

  “She would never have allowed herself to be alone with her enemy in the first place. You overestimate your abilities and your attractions.”

  Katia - who had always thought herself superior to everyone around her - struggled to deal with the criticism he was doling out to her in bucket loads and felt her temper rise again. But that temper was her weakness and if she wasn’t careful it was going to be her downfall. Instead she tried to keep cool and calm and find a way to escape because if they managed to get her into a car there was a good chance she would vanish off the face of the earth. She had to do it now while she was still in a public place, although there was no one about. How could such a busy hospital suddenly be deserted? But they weren’t sticking to the public thoroughfares, they were taking the back corridors only used by staff and they seemed to be going lower down, as though heading towards the basement. When fear rippled up and down her spine she shrugged it off, marching proudly between them with her head held high, exuding confidence, all the while her mind ticking over, eyes searching left and right for a means of escape.

  Katia felt positively nauseous when she saw the sign for the mortuary, a white arrow helpfully pointing the way and prayed it wasn’t an omen.

  Finally she saw her chance. There was a porter waiting at a lift with a patient in a wheelchair just ahead of them. She stopped in her tracks and put a hand to her stomach.

  “What’s wrong?” said Mikey impatiently.

  “I feel very sick.”

  “Stop messing about.”

  “I’m not. I’ve been getting terrible morning sickness. I feel dizzy too,” she groaned, putting a hand to her head.

  “If this is a trick…”

  “It’s not, I swear.”

  “Your word means nothing,” said Ryan. He looked to Mikey, who shrugged. They were both fathers and had experience of the complexities of a pregnant woman’s condition. “Sit down and I’ll get you some water,” said Ryan, steering her to a chair beside a water cooler.

  “Thank you,” she said, accepting the drink from him and taking a small sip, surreptitiously watching the progress of the lift, the red numbers on the LCD display counting down. One more floor and it would be here. Mikey had pulled his phone out of his coat pocket and was jabbing at the buttons with a bored expression but Ryan, annoyingly, was vigilant. It was clear he didn’t trust her an inch.

  There was a loud ping and the lift doors slowly started to slide open. Katia decided to make her move. She threw down the water cup, spilling the liquid onto the floor, shoved Ryan in the chest and ran between them for the lift, ducking as Ryan made a grab for her. When Mikey tried to make chase he slipped on the water and fell, smashing his phone in the process.

  “Bollocks,” he said loudly.

  Ryan leapt over him and sped after Katia, who ran into the lift behind the porter. But he was too late and the door slid shut in his face.

  He turned back to Mikey and smiled. “Finally. I thought she was never going to make a run for it, then we’d have been stuck with her. You put the tracking device in her handbag?”

  “Course I did. Don’t stand there smiling. Help me up for fuck’s sake.”

  Ryan helped him get to his feet. “You alright?”

  “I am but my bastarding phone isn’t. Look at it. Six hundred quid that cost,” he said, holding up the broken lump of plastic.

  “Never mind that now. We have to go after her or she’ll know something’s up.”

  “Oh, okay,” Mikey groaned, a hand pressed to his lower back. He hobbled after Ryan as he sprinted up the stairs to the next level, but the lift kept on going up.

  “Aw,” said Mikey. “I’m in pain here.”

  Ryan ignored his protests as they went up to the next level, which opened out into a busy outpatient’s department. As they rushed towards the lift the doors slid open to reveal Katia gabbling into her mobile phone while trying to squeeze past the porter and the wheelchair, the elderly patient glaring at her.

  Katia threw Ryan and Mikey a smile of triumph as she strode towards the doors leading out into the car park, confident they couldn’t touch her here with so many people around. They followed at a distance until she reached the doors and was met by Col Sugar and his three remaining brothers. Col’s arm went around Katia’s shoulders protectively and he glared at Ryan, the murder of his brother still raw. As she walked away Katia looked over her shoulder and blew Ryan a kiss, feeling secure now she was safely surrounded by the Sugar brothers.

  “They obviously think they’ve won this one,” said Mikey.

  “Then all the better for us,” replied Ryan, watching the retreating figures.

  “Jesus H Christ Katia, I told you it was a bad idea but you wouldn’t sodding listen,” raged Col as they drove away from the hospital.

  “Will you please stop shouting? I have a headache,” she sighed and it was true. She was stuck in the confines of a hot stuffy car with four burly men. After the horrible day she’d had all she wanted was a long hot bath and an early night.

  “I’m shouting because I knew it was madness but I let you talk me into it, for some insane reason, and they almost abducted you.”

  Katia rolled her eyes as he continued to ramble on.

  “As if Ryan Law would ever fall for such an obvious trick.” Col was furious at himself as much as Katia. He’d still been raging over Gavin’s death and had wanted revenge on the man who’d murdered him. He hadn’t thought through all the downsides to their ridiculous plan. Katia had presented him with an opportunity and he’d snatched at it with both hands. Alex had entrusted him with her safety and he’d almost fucked up big style. If he had let Ryan take her then Alex would have had him killed without a second thought. “How in the name of holy hell did you get away?”

  As she explained his mouth fell open.

  “What is wrong now?” she snapped.

  “You didn’t escape, they let you go.”

  “That is ridiculous. I pushed Ryan and Mikey fell over.”

  “Will you listen to yourself woman? You pushed Ryan Law, is that what you’re seriously telling me?”

  “Yes. Why is this so difficult for you to grasp?”

  “A
fucking steamroller couldn’t push that man over if he didn’t want it to. They let you go for a reason, but why?” He stared at a startled Katia before snatching her handbag from her and tipping the contents out onto the seat.

  “How dare you? Give me that back,” she said.

  Col ignored her protests. “They let you go because they knew they could find you again. They planted a tracking device on you, they must have done,” he said, turning her handbag inside out so he could check every nook and cranny. Satisfied that it was empty he began examining each item from her handbag. However he failed to realise the innocuous-looking lipstick was the very device he was searching for.

  “Happy now?” she said, shoving the items back into her bag.

  “There must be something…turn out your pockets.”

  “Look at my dress,” she said, indicating the figure-hugging outfit. “Do you think there is room for pockets?”

  Col decided there wasn’t and slumped back in his seat. “This doesn’t make any sense. You must have told them something.”

  “I didn’t tell them anything.”

  “Think carefully Katia, what did they ask you?”

  “Just about the clients.”

  “At the brothel?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And you told them?”

  “I didn’t see what harm it could do. Why are you looking at me like that?”

  “No reason,” he sighed. Katia didn’t know about the hidden cameras and if she ever discovered she’d been kept out of the loop she’d cause world war three. Col turned his attention to the window. If he looked at her for a second longer he might be tempted to throttle the stupid bitch.

  “Alex will hear about how you have treated me,” she said.

  “He can’t know about this, do you understand Katia? He will kill us all if he finds out about this almighty fuck-up,” he replied, keeping his eyes on the window.

  “He will kill you,” she smirked.

  “And he’ll still be majorly pissed off with you. I’m sure you don’t want him thinking badly of you.”

  Katia couldn’t stand the thought. She knew Alex worshipped her and she couldn’t bear for that to change. “Okay, we keep this secret between us. Agreed?”