Fractured (Dividing Line #4)

by Heather Atkinson

  “You bitch, you’ll pay for that,” she mumbled through her rapidly swelling lower lip.

  “My husband’s on his way here and when he arrives he’s going to kill you,” Rachel screamed at her. “You’ve no idea who you’re fucking with.”

  Sheridan hesitated, the blackness of Rachel’s eyes scaring her but her anger won and she flung open the wardrobe doors, wild eyes scanning the horrible array of implements within. She selected a flogger with a barbed end and rounded on Rachel, breathing hard with anger and excitement. “I think you’re the one who doesn’t know who they’re fucking with.”

  Before she could make a move the door burst open and the make-up girl ran in.

  “What the…,” began Sheridan, the words cut off when a large black dildo connected with the side of her head and she sank to the floor, out cold. The make-up girl let the weapon drop, closed the door behind her and took the keys down from their hook.

  “Nice,” said Rachel, nodding at the unconscious Sheridan.

  “It was all I could find as a weapon,” the girl said breathlessly, her accent heavy but English perfect.

  “Appropriate if you ask me. Quick, let’s get out of here.”

  “Before I release you I want you to make me a promise. I don’t want money. I only want my little sister back.”

  “She’s here?”

  “No, I don’t know where she is. She displeased Katia, the woman who runs this place. They sold her to a Russian man to use in his brothel. You must save her, she is only seventeen. I know who you are, I heard Katia and her lover talking. I know you can save her.”

  “What’s her name?”

  “Sabine Jansons, she is Latvian. My other sister Alise came here with us too but she died of the drugs. Sabine is all I have left. It is my fault we came here, they told us we would be working as nannies but I am stupid and I fell for their tricks.”

  “Who sent you here?”

  “A man in Riga, where we are from. Our parents are dead, we only have each other and already Alise is gone. I don’t care what happens to me as long as Sabine is safe.”

  “I will find her, I swear it.”

  The woman studied her intently before nodding. When she unlocked the cuffs Rachel leapt up, ignoring the aches in her limbs and back.

  “I brought you these, they are mine, we are the same size I think,” she said, handing Rachel a plain white t-shirt, blue denim jeans, black socks and white trainers. Rachel hastily pulled them on. The trainers were a size too big but she couldn’t afford to be picky.

  “Here’s a picture of Sabine,” said the woman, handing her a well-thumbed photo of a beautiful girl with the same features and bright blue eyes as her older sister, only her black hair was long. “I have written her name on the back so you don’t forget.”

  Rachel nodded and slipped the photo into the back pocket of her jeans. “What’s your name?”

  “Laila.”

  “I owe you my life Laila and I always repay my debts. Let’s go.”

  Laila crept to the door and peered out. “All clear.”

  They snuck out, Rachel’s heart in her mouth, praying Alex had left. As they crept down the corridor she desperately tried to ignore the horrific sounds emanating from each room as she passed, the sound of women in pain and despair. She hated the place and wanted to burn it to the ground, preferably with Alex inside. How could he have allowed himself to sink into such depravity?

  Laila peered round the corner then ducked back. “There is a guard on the door.”

  “Is he armed?”

  “What is that?”

  “Does he have a weapon?”

  “No. He is just there to make sure the girls don’t escape. Guns would scare the customers.”

  “Does he know who I am?”

  “No, Alex tells him nothing.”

  “Then I’ll deal with him. What’s the name of the woman who runs this place?”

  “Katia,” she frowned, spitting out the word as though it were poison. “She is evil.”

  Rachel turned the corner and put on her most flirtatious smile. Thankfully the guard wasn’t one of the pair who had cuffed her to the bed. He looked surprised to see her but not at all threatened.

  “What do you want? You should be in your room,” he called.

  Rachel wasn’t aware she could put on a Latvian accent until she tried, mimicking Laila’s own beautiful rolling voice. “Katia ask me to tell you there trouble in one of rooms.”

  “What sort of trouble?” he sighed.

  “One of girls try to escape.”

  “Right, I’ll sort it. You come with me.”

  When he walked past her she kicked him in the back, knocking him to the floor. Then she leapt on him, grabbed a handful of his hair and bounced his head off the floor until he was unconscious.

  Laila stared at her with her mouth open before recovering herself and joining Rachel. “He has key to door in jacket pocket.”

  Rachel searched him and produced a single key on a Spongebob Squarepants key-ring. The sight caused her a swell of pain and longing. Ethan was a huge Spongebob fan.

  I’m coming Babies, she thought before rushing for the door. It amazed her that it had been so easy.

  She unlocked the door and they were outside, running down the alleyway. They were halted in their tracks by a black BMW with blacked-out windows speeding into the alley, blocking their escape.

  Rachel looked back over her shoulder but it was a dead end. “Oh shit,” she breathed. She knew it had been too easy. The doors opened and Alex, Gus and Col jumped out.

  “Laila, run,” said Rachel, running at the men to try and buy her rescuer some time.

  Laila made for a metal fire escape leading up to the roof.

  Alex grabbed Rachel and threw her against the car, knocking the wind from her and she slumped to the ground. When she tried to punch him in the leg his fist slammed into her face and she fell face down into the grimy alley.

  “There was a camera in that room, you stupid whore,” he said.

  As she struggled to get back up, through her hazy vision Rachel saw Col dragging Laila towards them.

  “No,” cried Rachel. She’d just killed them both.

  Rachel sat in the back of the BMW, Laila on one side and Alex on the other, a gun in his hand. They were driving out of the city into the countryside, back towards Saddleworth Moor where she was held after being kidnapped by the Jordans and it worried her.

  “I’m sorry,” Rachel told Laila.

  She gripped her hand. “It’s okay, you tried.”

  “Where are you taking us?” Rachel asked Alex.

  “You’ll see.”

  “Why don’t you just give it up? Let me and Laila go before things get out of hand. You’re starting another war and that’s bad for business. What do you think Frankie will do when he finds out about this?”

  “I couldn’t give a fuck what that wanker says, I’m sick of him dictating to me. I won’t have to put up with it for much longer though because he’s just as dead as you are.”

  “You’re going to take on Glasgow? Are you completely insane?”

  “I won’t have to. I’ve already arranged to put the blame on Mikey. They’ll believe it because he’s already tried to take me out and failed.”

  “Unfortunately,” she added sullenly.

  “Unfortunately for you,” he smirked. “They’ll kill him for it and with you gone too I’ll finally be free.”

  “Sorry Alex but your little plan’s already failed. Mikey told me everything. The idiots you hired to hit him and Frankie in The Wherry Tavern botched it. Frankie took his trophies from them.” She smiled when his grin fell. “He knows what you tried to do and now he’s sided with Mikey against you. Ryan is working with them. You’re as good as dead already.”

  “Do you think they scare me? Me, Alex Maguire,” he yelled, jabbing a finger in his own chest. He studied her thoughtfully. “You’ve always been close to Mikey. Have you been fucking him too?”


  “Don’t be disgusting, he’s like a brother to me, just like you were once.” She hoped to reach the man he used to be and make him remember what they had once meant to each other but she feared he was too far gone to bring back. “We used to be so close, we can be again. Let me and Laila go and we can smooth things out with Ryan, Frankie and Mikey, we can go back to how we used to be, the Maguires and Laws standing together. No one could touch us, we were so strong. By tearing us apart you’re making us weaker.”

  “I’m cutting away the dead wood, which will leave me stronger than ever.”

  “You can’t beat Ryan and you know it. Your dad knew it too, which is why he decided to make peace with the Laws rather than fight them.”

  “My dad went soft. You made Danny weak and it got him killed. Now you’ve done the same to Ryan. Besides, I’ve got what’s most important to him in the world,” he said, pressing the gun to her temple.

  “At least let Laila go, she’s nothing to do with this.”

  “She betrayed me after I put a roof over her head and food in her belly.”

  “Betrayed you? You brought her here under false pretences, threatened to kill her if she didn’t pander to your clients’ disgusting needs then destroyed her sister with drugs. You’ve hurt her enough, let her go.”

  Alex slowly lowered the gun, sighed and nodded. “Alright. Col, pull over.”

  “Thank you Alex, you’re doing the right thing,” said Rachel as Col steered the car into a lay-by next to a small wood.

  “We need to lose some dead weight. Kill her,” said Alex, his eyes never leaving Rachel.

  “No,” screamed Rachel, making a grab for Alex’s gun but he backhanded her across the face. Laila calmly waited while Col got out of the car and opened the door, a single tear sliding down her cheek. When he tried to pull her out Rachel held onto her arm and refused to let go.

  “Alex don’t do this,” Rachel begged.

  Laila’s blue eyes bored into her. “You keep your promise?”

  “Yes, I swear I will on my dead son’s grave, I will find her.”

  Laila kissed her cheek. “Thank you.” With that she prised Rachel’s hand from her arm and got out of the car. Rachel tried to follow but Alex pulled her back and Col shut the door in her face. She pulled at the handle but it had been locked and refused to open. Alex pinned her arms behind her back when she attempted to wind down the window.

  “This is on you and you will watch.”

  Rachel was forced to look on helplessly as Laila was marched deeper into the woods. She glanced up and down the road, hoping to see another car come along bringing someone who could stop the madness but the road was deserted, which was probably why Alex had told Col to drive up here in the first place.

  Col made Laila kneel before him, her back to him. Rachel had never seen anyone so coldly executed before. The gunshot made her jump, the sharp crack breaking the stillness, sending a flock of nesting birds up into the sky. Laila toppled forwards and Col pumped two more shots into her, her body jumping in a parody of life. Casually he pocketed the gun then made his way back to the car.

  “No,” sobbed Rachel, hanging her head.

  CHAPTER 29

  Katia frowned when she heard the splintering of wood followed by shouting.

  “What is that?” she asked Danielle, who shrugged. “Wait here,” she told her.

  Katia exited her office and strode down the corridor, determined to put in their place whichever silly little bitch was causing the fuss. She gasped when she saw four big men armed with guns storming through the place, methodically searching each room, sending half-naked girls and fat naked men scattering before them. They were here for Rachel. What would they do when they found she wasn’t here? Thinking quickly she rushed into one of the empty rooms, stripped down to her underwear and curled up in a corner, trying to keep calm when she heard them getting closer, screams and shouts filling the air.

  The door was kicked open and a man filled the doorway. Katia took in his features in an instant; tall, broad, grey eyes set in a handsome face, thick tousled hair. She’d done a lot of research on the Laws, fascinated by her lover’s most hated enemies. It was Ryan Law and he looked furious.

  She held out her hands before her and started screaming in Slovak. Keeping the gun trained on her he scanned the room, pulling open the door leading into the bathroom. When he opened the wardrobe to reveal the instruments of sexual torture the hard man look briefly fell, revealing his pain. Katia felt suffocated by his presence, real fear filling her. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up on end with the danger radiating off him. Then he was gone, slamming the door shut behind him and she could breathe again. She released a sigh of relief, attempting to keep calm for the sake of her baby.

  Katia remained where she was for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of mayhem slowly dying into silence before pulling on her clothes and creeping to the door. All seemed quiet. Clutching her shoes she tiptoed down the corridor back to her office, hesitating when she heard shouting. Holding her breath she crept towards the door and peered through the crack. She saw Ryan Law holding a gun to a sobbing Danielle’s head, demanding to know where his wife was.

  “She’s gone, they took her,” she wailed, face as red as her hair.

  “Where?”

  “I don’t know. She try to escape, Laila help her but they catch her and take them away in their car.”

  “What car?”

  “Is black. That all I know.”

  “Bullshit, you’re Alex’s right hand here.”

  “What is right hand?” she said, bewildered.

  “You run the place.”

  “No, not me, that is Katia.”

  He jammed the gun under her chin. “Who the fuck is Katia?”

  Katia didn’t stick around to listen to Danielle’s reply. Instead she turned and ran for the exit. Her two bouncers were dead on the floor, shot in the chest, all the customers gone. She knew they’d never come back. All the girls had escaped too, the bitches.

  Katia rushed outside and down the alley, slowing her pace when she reached the main street, breathing a little easier now she was safely surrounded by people.

  “Alex it’s me,” she said into her mobile phone. “Ryan Law and his friends found the business.” She had to hold the phone away from her ear when he yelled into it. “Yes I’m fine. Danielle was in the office when they arrived, they think she runs it. They were questioning her when I left but she knows nothing. The girls all ran away too. I’m sorry.”

  “I don’t blame you Babe. Get yourself home and lock all the doors. Don’t open up to anyone but me or Col. Pack a bag, it might be best if you went away for a while.”

  “I am not leaving you.”

  “And I’m not losing you or the baby.”

  “I saw those men, there were four of them, maybe more. They will be coming for you.”

  “They won’t be able to find me.”

  “They found the business.”

  “I bet that’s down to fucking Mikey, sneaky bastard. Don’t worry, I’ll sort them all out. Don’t forget I’ve still got Rachel.”

  Katia thought of the grey eyed man with the gun and was afraid for her lover. “Be careful, her husband is very dangerous.”

  “Don’t worry, I can handle him. I’m going to send Col round to you, he’ll take you away. I want you safe and you will go without an argument.”

  “Okay, I will, if that is what you want.”

  “It is.”

  “I love you.”

  “Love you too Babe.”

  Katia hung up, shoved the phone back into her bag then jumped into her car. Before starting the engine she took a moment to calm herself down, her hands shaking as she rested them on the steering wheel. She felt sick and it was nothing to do with her pregnancy. It was the same feeling she’d experienced the day her parents died and she prayed this wasn’t a sign that fate had the same in store for Alex.

  Danielle screamed with fear, clamping her hands over h
er ears when Ryan upturned the desk.

  “We’re too fucking late,” he yelled. “Alex was going to have her tortured and raped. I’m going to rip his nutsack off and stick it down his throat.” His eyes settled on Danielle, who started to shake. “You,” he said, dragging her to her feet. “How many men got in the car with Rachel?”

  “Please don’t hurt me.”

  “Then answer the fucking question. How many?”

  “Three.”

  “Who were they?”

  “Mr Maguire, the man they called Col and another, I don’t know his name.”

  They were all startled by a polite knock at the door.

  “Jez, answer it but be careful,” Ryan told his brother.

  Gun at the ready, Jez opened the door just a crack then took a step back and pulled it open wider. “It’s alright, it’s only Stephen.”

  Stephen Strang walked into the room looking very sheepish. Ryan’s first instinct was to be furious at him for using a place like this, then recalled that he could be the one to lead him to Rachel.

  “Don’t take it out on her, she’s telling the truth, she doesn’t run this place,” Stephen said, gesturing to Danielle.

  “Thank you,” she wailed.

  “Shut it,” snarled Ryan and she went silent. He released her and turned his attention back to Stephen. “Rachel was here?”

  “She was but she tried to escape, with Laila’s help. I think Alex got her. I love Laila, you have to get her back.”

  “If she helped Rachel then of course we will Stephen,” said Ryan, seeing the genuine emotion in the other man’s eyes.

  “She’s the reason I come here, I want to set her free but Alex took them.”

  Ryan swallowed hard. “Do you know where?”

  “Unfortunately no. I saw them bundling them both into a black BMW. It sped off before I could do anything.”

  “Has Alex bought any properties recently?” said Mikey.

  “Actually he has, a disused warehouse on Moss Lane East in Moss Side. He said he wants to turn it into a huge leisure complex, he asked me to get in on it. I refused. He’s become very unpredictable.”

  “Is it still disused?” said Ryan.