“What happened here?” he calmly asked, eyeing Stu’s severed head sitting beside the two mangled bodies. Frankie had been so furious at being set up that he’d gone on to execute Jeff and his friend too, hacking them to bits with the machete and now he was intent on taking his trophies back to Glasgow with him.
“What happened here?” shrieked Frankie. “Alex only set us up. He got these three useless sacks of sick to attack me and make it look like Mikey had set me up so I’d kill Mikey. He tried to get me to do his dirty work for him.”
Mikey held his breath, praying Jez wouldn’t mention their aborted hit, but he was smart and kept his mouth shut about that.
“That man gets worse. He’s losing it,” replied Jez.
“So I believe,” yelled Frankie, his anger at odds with Jez’s complete calm. “Apparently everyone knew except me and I don’t like being kept in the dark. Instead of standing there looking useless you can tell me where I can find Alex dead man Maguire.”
“I don’t know where he is but I have heard something very interesting,” replied Jez.
“Care to fucking share?” Jez’s cool only wound Frankie up more, his red hair standing on end and eyes bulging.
“Beth has taken the kids and run off with Nick Jordan.”
This interesting snippet appeased Frankie’s wrath. “Really?” He threw back his head and laughed. “Nice one Beth, I always did like her.”
“Nick?” said Mikey, stunned. “I didn’t know they were shagging.”
“No one did, they hid it well,” replied Jez. “That’ll teach Alex to palm his wife off on other men, he used Nick as her babysitter. When he told him to take care of her needs he must have got carried away.”
“I lost my virginity to my babysitter,” said Frankie. “I was twelve and she was forty one.”
Mikey and Jez looked at him expectantly but it seemed he was lost in an unpleasant memory. They both thought that nugget might explain a lot.
“So he’s gone looking for her, that’s why he’s disappeared,” said Mikey.
Frankie dragged himself out of his reverie. “Where’s he likely to go?”
Mikey thought about the recent past, about Alex’s behaviour at the funeral, Rachel and Ryan looking worried and whispering together. He swallowed hard. “No idea.”
While Frankie packaged up Stu’s head, Mikey nodded at Jez to join him in the corner.
“I think Alex is in Devon.”
“Me too,” Jez quietly replied.
“We have to warn them.”
“Should we tell Frankie?”
“If we do he’ll be straight down there and they won’t thank us for sending him to their door. Let’s keep him in Manchester. We’ll warn Ryan and Rachel and hopefully they’ll disappear until it’s over.”
“Shit they wanted to be kept out of all this. Now Alex is going to drag them back into it,” sighed Jez. “You don’t think Beth is with them, do you?”
“No, she wouldn’t do that to Rachel. If she’s any sense she’ll be on the other side of the world by now. We don’t tell Ryan and Rachel about Frankie wanting them to take over yet. I’m hoping I can persuade him against it, it’s the last thing they need to hear.”
“I agree. We don’t want Frankie and Ryan going at each other because my brother will not take that lying down,” said Jez darkly.
It was a Saturday afternoon and their schedules were busy. Ryan had taken the boys to a party at the local soft play area and Riley was out jogging. Rachel was getting ready to take Leah to her horse riding lesson. They were running short of time so the last thing she needed was for the phone to start ringing.
Rachel glanced at her watch and sighed with irritation. Just as she moved to answer the phone the front doorbell rang. She stared from the door to the phone before deciding that whoever had made the effort to come in person deserved her attention more.
“Get ready Leah, we have to go in ten minutes,” Rachel called upstairs as she walked to the front door. She pulled it open and instantly regretted not answering the phone instead. “Alex.”
“Hello Rach. Thought I’d take you up on that offer of a visit.”
“We’re just going out,” she said coldly. “It’s not convenient.”
“I need to talk to you,” he replied, barging his way in.
She was alarmed to see Col Sugar follow him in instead of Beth and the kids. He smiled as he closed the door behind him but there was nothing friendly in his demeanour.
Rachel backed away, quickly weighing up her options. If she took on Alex she’d lose. Leah was in the house and Ryan wasn’t due back for at least a couple of hours. She had no choice but to try and talk her way out of it.
“Ryan will be back soon,” she said.
“No he won’t and we both know it. Where’s Beth?” said Alex.
She was thrown. “What?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. Beth’s run off with Nick Jordan.”
“You’re joking?”
“Do you think I’d fucking joke about this? She’s disappeared and taken my kids with her. Where else would she run to but her best friend?”
“I haven’t seen her since the funeral.”
“Don’t lie. You tell each other everything.”
“Obviously not because she’s never mentioned Nick Jordan to me, not once.”
“How can I believe you?”
“Take a look around, see for yourself. She’s not here.”
“I’ll do that.”
“You’re welcome to.” Rachel was glad Beth had got away from him but he was in a dangerous mood and just might take his anger out on her and Leah. It was important she keep calm and not upset him.
“Would you like a brew?” she said walking through to the kitchen. Her mobile phone was in there, hopefully she could get a message to Ryan.
“Tea,” he said.
“What about Col?”
“Nothing for him, he’s busy.” Alex nodded at the man, who began his search of the house, starting with the large lounge. “You’ve got a nice place here,” continued Alex as he followed her through to the kitchen.
“Thanks. Listen, I don’t know where Beth’s gone, honest,” she said as she switched on the kettle.
“If you did would you tell me?”
“Yes.”
“Another lie. It’s not looking good for you Rach.”
“Please don’t threaten me.”
“Does it make you nervous?”
“No.”
“Then why can I see the pulse jumping in your neck?” he said, running his fingers down her throat. When she tried to take a step back he grabbed her by the neck and held her firmly.
“Alex, let go,” she said, trying not to panic.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
The kettle started to boil, she could feel the heat of the steam behind her and cursed herself for buying one of those fancy ultra-fast ones. He grasped her right hand and twisted, causing her to squeal with pain and pulled her hand towards the cloud of steam.
“Tell me.”
“I don’t know. Get off,” she yelled.
When she tried to punch him with her free hand he slapped her across the face. Usually this wouldn’t be enough to subdue Rachel but the power in Alex was phenomenal and she was knocked back against the unit.
“Mum,” cried a scared voice.
CHAPTER 18
Alex was so surprised by the sound of Leah’s voice that he released Rachel and she raced round him, grabbed her daughter’s hand and pulled her out of the room. They ran into the hallway, aiming for the front door. However Col stepped out in front of them, blocking their exit, his hand going to the butt of the gun Rachel could see nestled in his inner jacket pocket.
“I wouldn’t recommend that,” he said, eyes flicking to Leah.
Rachel pulled her daughter behind her protectively, shielding her. “This is nothing to do with her.”
“You’re right, it’s not,” said A
lex, striding out of the kitchen. He knelt before Leah and smiled. “I just want to talk to your mum Sweetheart.”
“You were hurting her, I saw you.”
“I won’t hurt her, promise. You know me Leah, I’m Alfie and Archie’s dad, your uncle. You can trust me.”
Rachel just wanted to get her away from him. “It’s alright Leah, I’ll be fine. Uncle Alex won’t hurt me, will you?”
“Of course not.”
“Go up to your room and stay there. Don’t come down until I say it’s okay. Why don’t you listen to your new CD? You can put it on as loud as you like,” soothed Rachel.
“Can I?”
“Yes Petal. Now go on.”
Leah was still uncertain but felt she must do as she was told. “Okay.”
Alex watched her go back upstairs with a reassuring smile on his face. When she was out of sight and the music came on full blast he grabbed a handful of Rachel’s hair and dragged her back into the kitchen. “Now me and you can have a proper talk,” he said, throwing her to the floor and slamming the kitchen door shut while Col went upstairs to make sure Leah stayed in her room. “Where’s my wife and kids?” he bellowed.
“I don’t know,” she replied, getting to her feet.
She expected him to attack her but he didn’t. Instead his expression softened, which she found even scarier. “How has it come to this Rach?”
“I wish I knew.”
“We were like brother and sister once. We went after Danny’s killer together. I’d never respected anyone like I respected you. We could have run the family together and taken over the whole fucking country but you had to marry Ryan.”
“I wish you’d tell me why you have a problem with him.”
“You don’t remember, do you?”
“Remember what?” she replied, recalling Ryan’s theory about the day she lost Thomas. In the background she heard the phone start to ring again and tried to formulate a plan to reach it.
Alex took her face in his hands, running his thumbs along her cheekbones. “There’s always been something special between us.”
She didn’t like the way he was touching her, it was almost sexual and she’d never thought of Alex like that. “Yes. We were like brother and sister, just like you said.”
“We could be so much more than that Rach,” he said, letting his lips slide across her cheek.
“Stop it,” she said, trying to push him away.
“Come back to Manchester with me, you can bring Leah. All the true Maguires together.”
“We are not Maguires,” she snarled. She punched him in the stomach, putting all of her strength into it but he knew how she fought and had tensed his stomach muscles in anticipation, so it had absolutely no effect. However he did release her. She snatched the butcher’s knife from the block on the worktop and pointed it at him.
“Oooh,” he laughed. “Sure you want to go down that road? I might take it off you and use it on you.”
“Try it and I’ll kill you.”
“Yes but despite everything you’ve done you’ve never actually killed anyone, have you? You’ve beaten people up and tortured them but you’ve never gone all the way.”
“I killed Jarvis.”
“Not intervening when someone has a heart attack is very different to sticking a blade in someone. I should know, I’ve done it often enough. Could you stab me, the son of Frank and Martina and Danny’s only brother?” He smiled when her hand shook and uncertainty crept into her eyes. “Course you couldn’t Rach but I could do it to you.”
They were both surprised when the back door opened and a figure casually strolled in, hands stuffed into the pockets of his jogging bottoms.
“Ryan, glad you could make it,” grinned Alex. Confusion filled his eyes. “You’re not Ryan.” He studied the newcomer and smiled. “Riley Cutter. Trust me you don’t want to get involved with this family, especially not this poisonous bitch. Why don’t you walk away while you still can?”
“Rachel, where are the kids?” said Riley perfectly calmly.
“The boys are out with Ryan. Leah’s upstairs, one of his henchmen is guarding her. He’s got a gun.”
“And I have this,” said Alex, drawing an horrific weapon from his belt, a knife with a jagged six inch blade. “I respected your old man Riley but he’s dead and his name carries no protection anymore, so you can fuck off.”
Rachel watched as Riley’s demeanour changed entirely. He seemed to unfurl himself, sliding his hands out of his pockets, muscles tensing and eyes hardening. He put himself in front of Rachel.
“No.”
Alex shrugged. “Your choice.”
It happened so fast Rachel missed it. One minute Alex was coming at Riley with the knife, the next he was on his knees, his arm caught in Riley’s death grip, grimacing with pain and the knife was on the floor beside him. Rachel darted forward and snatched it up.
“I think it’s you who should fuck off,” Riley told Alex, voice icy. “Now, how would you like to leave, by the door or the window? If you’re polite to the lady I might even open it before I throw you through it.”
Alex’s face turned puce with fury. “I’m going to fucking…ah you bastard,” he bellowed when Riley twisted harder.
“Wrong answer but I’ll give you one more chance. If you get it wrong again I will snap your wrist then your elbow, then your shoulder. After that I get really creative.”
Rachel was amazed. Riley had one of the most powerful criminals in the country in an arm lock and he didn’t appear to be the least bit bothered. He was well aware who Alex was, after all he was Stuart Cutter’s son.
Before a furious Alex could reply, there came the sound of footsteps descending the stairs.
“Rachel, pass me the knife then get out of sight,” Riley told her so firmly she didn’t dare disobey.
She handed the weapon to Riley, who dragged Alex to his feet and held him before him, the knife pressed to his throat. She ducked behind a kitchen unit seconds before Col strode in.
As Rachel peeked round the corner of her hiding place she realised why Riley had told her to hide. Col had his gun drawn and he couldn’t use her as a hostage to get Riley to release Alex.
“Who the fuck are you?” said Col.
“None of your business. You’re trespassing. Put the gun down then get out,” replied Riley and once again Rachel marvelled at him.
“I don’t think so.”
“Drop it or I start on him with the knife.”
“I’ll shoot you first.”
“Not with that piece of crap you’re holding. It makes a loud bang but it’s shit to aim with. You’re more likely to blow his head off than mine. Now drop it.”
“No.”
He jabbed the tip of the knife into Alex’s neck, creating a puncture wound.
“Ow you fucker,” grimaced Alex, blood trickling onto his shirt collar.
“I’m one centimetre from the jugular vein.” said Riley. “If you don’t want me to get closer I suggest you put the gun down.”
When Col hesitated, uncertain what to do, Riley jabbed Alex again.
“For fuck’s sake, put the gun down you daft bastard,” yelled Alex, face white.
Col dropped it.
“Kick it over here,” said Riley.
When he kicked it Rachel leapt out from her hiding place and snatched it up. Riley nodded at her to stand next to him. She didn’t dare take her eyes off Col as she walked across the room to join Riley. He kicked Alex in the back, knocking him forwards and took the gun from Rachel.
“Both of you take off your jackets,” said Riley, cocking the weapon and pointing it at them.
Looking extremely pissed off they removed their jackets and threw them to the floor.
“Turn round.”
The gun sticking out of the back of Alex’s belt made Rachel’s blood run cold. Riley took it and held it out to Rachel. “Ever handle one of these before?”
“Oh yes,” she said, accepting it and aiming i
t at Alex’s broad back. “I know what I’m doing.”
“Turn back round,” Riley ordered the men. “Hands on heads.”
“You’re making a big mistake,” said Alex, nevertheless doing as he was told.
“It wouldn’t be the first time. Now fuck off, you’re bleeding all over this nice floor.”
Rachel and Riley marched them to the door keeping the guns trained on them. Once they were outside and walking down the drive Rachel handed the weapon to Riley. “Leah,” she said, racing upstairs. She found her daughter white-faced, hunched up on the bed, her new CD blaring out.
“Mum,” she cried, leaping up to hug her.
“It’s okay Sweetheart, they’ve gone. Did he hurt you?”
“No but he took my phone. He didn’t think to take my laptop though. I sent Dad an e-mail, he’s coming.”
“My clever girl,” she smiled.
“You’ve got a bruise,” she said, pointing to her cheek.
“It’s fine.”
“Uncle Alex hurt you.”
“I’m fine, really.”
“He left quickly.”
“Uncle Riley made him.”
Leah smiled. “I like him.”
“Me too Sweetie.”
They both jumped when the door banged open but it was only Riley. “Are you okay Leah?”
She nodded. “Thank you Uncle Riley.”
He was pleased with this title and smiled.
“Have they gone?” said Rachel.
He nodded. “I made sure of it.”
They all froze at the sound of a car engine, tyres screeching up the drive.
Rachel peeked out of the window. “Thank God, it’s Ryan.”
The three of them hurried downstairs just as Ryan burst in clutching a baseball bat.
“Rachel,” he yelled.
She threw herself into his arms. “It’s alright, they’ve gone,” she said.
He dropped the baseball bat and held her tightly. “Are you okay?”
“Fine.”
“Dad.”
“Leah.” He hugged them both and kissed the tops of their heads. “Thank God,” he whispered. “Who was it?”
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