Aftermath (Dividing Line #6)

by Heather Atkinson

  “Me? Never,” she smiled sweetly.

  “Okay,” said Ryan. “But only if she’s tied up. Don’t,” he added when she opened her mouth, ready with an innuendo. When she closed her mouth he nodded approvingly. “Good, you’re learning. Maybe you’re not such a lost cause after all,” he said haughtily before striding out of the door, the others following, leaving Battler and Bruiser to lead Jules downstairs.

  CHAPTER 23

  Lexie was surprised when the living room door opened and everyone piled inside. Despite her fear she was still pleased, she’d been alone all day.

  “What’s going on?” she said, hugging her knees into her chest.

  “We’re going to discuss your husband,” said Ryan, taking the couch opposite the one she was curled up on, pulling Rachel down with him.

  Battler steered Jules into an armchair. “You sit there and do not move,” he told her.

  “So masterful. I like that,” she said, her smile predatory.

  Battler ignored the comment, he was getting used to her ways. He and his brother stood sentry either side of her chair, ready to spring should she try anything.

  Dane sat beside Lexie and she looked at him and blushed, but he paid her no attention, his eyes intermittently flicking to Jules, who completely ignored him. This made him so furious his body snapped into rigidity, the muscles turned to stone by his wrath. He’d come all the way down here for her because he’d been worried, put his life as well as a very profitable business deal on the line to help her and this was how she repaid him.

  Sensing he was glaring at her Jules threw him a maddening smile. The rage that possessed him convinced him he was more of a danger to her than Ryan was.

  “Tell them about Cole,” Ryan told Lexie.

  They listened as she launched into a tentative explanation, avoiding all their gazes and constantly wringing her hands as she told her story.

  “I’ve never heard of this Cole Cochrane,” said Mikey. “Which means he’s nobody.”

  “No he’s not, he’s very dangerous,” said Lexie. “He’s a drug dealer and a murderer and he won’t stop until he finds me.”

  “I’ll see what I can find out about him,” said Mikey.

  “Already on it,” replied Jez, putting his phone to his ear and retreating to the back of the room to make his call.

  “They didn’t like it that Rachel saw their faces,” said Lexie, avoiding Ryan’s glare.

  “So this is a very real danger. I think we’ll stick around for a bit longer yet,” said Mikey.

  “Thank you,” Rachel told him and he gave her an encouraging smile.

  Katia glared at the five women cowering on the floor at her feet, heads bent, not daring to look at her. She was very pissed off. Her new brothel wasn’t as classy as the one Alex had owned. Vic Slattery - who was standing beside her salivating over the women - had stuck her with a tacky ex-B&B that was trapped in the seventies with hideous patterned orange wallpaper and a revolting dark green carpet that looked like a neglected lawn. Vic had supplied cheap rickety furniture that, to Katia’s disgust, had come flat packed. She recalled the beautiful bespoke furniture and tasteful artwork Alex had supplied his brothel with and experienced a sublime longing so exquisitely painful she wanted to scream and shout and claw Vic’s bulging frog eyes out of his head. Alex had vision, he’d known that if you wanted to make big money you had to invest to attract the better class of clientele. The only clients this shithole was going to draw were the dregs with not enough money, charm or looks to get a woman the usual way.

  “Who speaks English?” she demanded.

  None of them spoke or moved.

  “I said who speaks English?” she screamed, the shitty décor fuelling her temper. She kicked one of the women in the ribs, making her yelp. Pain shot between Katia’s thighs. Her stitches were still healing but she refused to let her discomfort show. This was time for a show of strength. “Tell me or I will hurt her more.”

  “I…I do,” whimpered one of the women.

  Katia turned her glare on her. “Why did you not say when I asked?”

  “I was afraid.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Kiev.”

  “What is your name?”

  “Sasha.”

  “Stand up.”

  The woman got to her feet, scrawny body shaking. Katia grabbed her face in one hand, nails digging into her cheeks, studying her big brown eyes and dark blond hair. “You are very pretty. You will make us much money.”

  “Doing what?” she said, voice trembling.

  “What do you think?” Katia purred, gently stroking her face with one hand while maintaining her grip on it with the other.

  “The man in Kiev say I going to be model.”

  “Not quite. Something similar. Men will be looking at you naked and you will do whatever you must to please them.” She smiled when the gravity of Sasha’s situation dawned in her eyes. “You naïve child.” She gestured to the girl she’d kicked in the ribs, who was still on the floor, sobbing quietly. “Kick her.”

  “What?” said Sasha, eyes opening so wide Katia thought her eyeballs might roll out of her head.

  “I said kick her.”

  “But…why?”

  “Because I fucking said so. Everything I say you do. That is how it is.”

  “I don’t understand. Who are you?”

  Katia puffed up with rage and indignation. Vic was watching and it was vital she showed him how strong she was to convince him she was more than capable of running this business. “All you need to know is that my word here is law. I am your new god and if you don’t do what I say you will suffer. You will kick her because I told you to.”

  “But I don’t want to.”

  Sasha was knocked flat onto her back by Katia’s fist. She lay there, stunned, blood leaking from her nose.

  Katia smiled. Alex had taught her well. “Get up and kick her,” she screeched at Sasha, who whimpered and curled up into a ball on the floor, a hand to her bleeding nose.

  “I’ll do it,” said a voice.

  “Who said that?” demanded Katia, whipping back round to face the other four girls.

  “I did,” replied an attractive brunette, getting to her feet.

  “Your name?”

  “Irina.”

  “Where are you from?”

  “Slovakia,” she replied in Katia’s native tongue.

  This pleased Katia. She studied Irina closely. Her dark brown shoulder length hair was messy from the long and very uncomfortable journey but her face was beautiful with a delicate bone structure. Her body was skinny but sinewy. She looked strong. Her small but perky breasts stood up all on their own, not requiring the assistance of a bra. Her eyes were very curious - one green and one brown, heavy with suffering and world-weary.

  “You will kick her?” said Katia, sticking to English for Vic’s benefit.

  “Yes.”

  “It does not upset you?”

  “I see much violence in my life. This is nothing.”

  Katia nodded approvingly. “Go on then.”

  Calmly Irina booted the girl on the floor three times in the back, making her cry harder.

  “Very good, you have…,” began Katia.

  But Irina kept going, the girl’s screams getting louder as she curled herself into a tight ball, attempting to protect her head from the vicious attack.

  “That is enough,” snapped Katia when it became apparent Irina wasn’t going to stop.

  Irina regained control of herself, a spark of something dark in her eyes as she glared down at the sobbing girl, her teeth bared.

  “Very good,” said Katia. “Irina, you stay here with me. The rest of you will be taken to your rooms.”

  She nodded at Robbie, who took the injured woman by the arm and pulled her to the stairs, Jason and Harry Sugar ushering the other two. Vic remained where he was to see what Katia would do next.

  “Irina,” she began, “I need someone here I can rely on
to help me keep the girls in line. I can’t be here all the time and they can’t be trusted on their own. Can you do that?”

  Irina stood tall and straight, hands clasped behind her back, legs splayed like a soldier on parade. “Yes.”

  “You will have to control yourself. You can’t beat them too badly because they will need to work. You understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “In your new position you will get the best room, the best food and you won’t have to have sex with many men, you will be busy with your other duties. If you do have sex with a client then you will be paid a little money and you can choose who you sleep with. It will not be forced upon you. Make me proud and you will rise here and you will have a good life, much better than the others can hope for.”

  “I will work hard, I always do. Thank you for this opportunity.”

  Katia handed her a key. “Your room is upstairs, first on the left. Go there. I will join you in a minute and show you your duties.”

  After the sound of Irina’s footsteps on the stairs had faded away, Vic said, “I’m impressed Katia, very impressed. You’ll have no problem controlling that lot.”

  “Thank you Vic,” she politely replied.

  “That was a nice bit of psychological warfare, making one kick the shit out of the others. Sets the precedent right away that you’re not to be fucked with. I’m sure she’ll serve you well.”

  “So do I.”

  Katia forced herself not to cringe when the fat man lasciviously licked his lips. “So, when do I get to taste the goods?”

  “They will be given a health check first by a doctor in my pay. We want to make sure you’re not going to catch anything nasty.”

  “I thought your men on the other side of the water did that?”

  “They are supposed to but sometimes they are not very thorough. Once they sent us a girl with hepatitis.”

  “You’re just being sensible I suppose,” he said, looking downcast. Katia’s stomach turned over when his eyes settled on her and narrowed wolfishly. “I don’t suppose you would…”

  “I am flattered but I haven’t recovered from the boys’ births. I had stitches and they are painful.” Katia spoke pleasantly, even flirtatiously when secretly she wanted to tear the disgusting pig’s eyes out, cut his fat neck and jump on his head. She hated him. It wasn’t the first time he’d hinted about them having sex, in fact it was part of the deal they’d struck and she was trying to put it off for as long as possible. As soon as she was firmly established and had recruited more men she wouldn’t need him any longer then she would dispatch him and enjoy it. His own son was hungry for the power that Vic was greedily keeping to himself. She had the feeling that soon his day would come.

  “I suppose.” He leaned into her, breath thick with cigarette smoke and beer, his hand clamping down on her backside. “But you can’t keep me at bay forever. Soon you’ll have to cough up the final payment you owe me.”

  “I haven’t forgotten Vic,” she smiled sweetly. “I look forward to it, but I can’t enjoy myself as much as I’m sure I will with you until I’m properly healed.” She leaned forwards to whisper in his ear. “I can’t wait to feel you inside me.”

  He flushed red with lust, tip of his tongue darting out of his mouth to lick his blubbery lips. “Soon,” he rasped, so turned on he could barely speak. “You’re going to love it.”

  Finally he left and Katia watched him go, dreaming of plunging a knife into his back or hitting him round the head with something big and heavy. She laughed inside as he strutted like a peacock. Men were so stupid. Tell them something to feed their egos and they believed it. She wasn’t worried. Vic Slattery would be dead before he got anywhere near her.

  After giving Irina her orders Katia left the brothel, leaving Nick and the Sugar brothers to oversee things and returned to the home she’d bought through a fake shelf company she’d set up so the Maguires couldn’t track her. Alex had stowed away a decent amount of money in a bank account for her and the babies when it became apparent he might lose the war with the Laws and the home she’d used it to buy was a pretty white new build with four bedrooms and a beautiful big back garden for the boys. She’d found a very nice au pair to look after them while she was working. Henrietta was a sweet little Slovakian girl she’d hired through a legitimate agency. She was short, fat and frumpy with uncontrollably frizzy blond hair and made Katia feel extra attractive.

  “How have they been?” Katia asked in Slovakian. She liked surrounding herself with her fellow Slovaks, she missed speaking the language.

  “No trouble. They are very good boys,” replied Henrietta with her big bucktoothed smile.

  “Yes they are,” she proudly replied, bending over them in their little Moses baskets in the front room, both fast asleep. In response to the sound of her voice Daniel’s eyes flickered open. “Mummy’s home,” whispered Katia, picking him up and cradling him to her, enjoying the ferocious love that enveloped her whenever she held one of her babies.

  “Good day at work?” said Henrietta, fetching her a cup of green tea and placing it on the coffee table, which she always had ready for her coming home.

  “Yes, very productive,” she replied. Naturally Henrietta had no idea what she did for a living and was wise enough not to ask. This wisdom ensured they got on very well.

  “Will you need me to come back this evening?”

  “No, I’m at home tonight but I will need you at eight tomorrow morning.”

  “I will be here.”

  “Thank you Henrietta, you are a treasure to me.”

  The girl beamed with pleasure. “Thank you too. I like working here very much.”

  “Good. We like having you, don’t we boys?” Katia smiled down at Daniel who was already drifting back off to sleep again.

  Henrietta picked up her bag and coat. “I will see you tomorrow then. Oh, by the way, you asked me to look out for anything unusual?”

  Katia’s heart almost stopped beating. “Yes?”

  “It’s probably nothing but I think I should mention it. There was a blue car parked on the street for about an hour. The man in the car never got out, he just sat there. Then he drove off.”

  “Where was this car parked?”

  Katia followed Henrietta to the window, who pointed down the street. “Just there, four houses down.”

  “Was he looking at this house?” she said, clutching Daniel to her tighter.

  “It was hard to tell at this distance.” She frowned at how pale Katia had gone. “Are you ill Madam? Do you need help?”

  Katia forced a smile. “I’m fine. Like you said, it was probably nothing. Did you get the licence plate?”

  “Yes Madam, I wrote it on here,” she replied, handing her a little yellow sticky note. She waited for Katia to respond but she just remained silent, staring at the note, her brain working overtime. “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “Yes,” replied Katia in a faraway voice.

  When Katia returned to her contemplation at the window Henrietta knew she was being dismissed and quietly let herself out.

  Katia placed Daniel back in his basket then locked the door up behind Henrietta. Snatching up the phone she dialled Robbie’s number.

  “Robbie, I need you here right now. Something’s happened. Leave Harry and Jason to oversee the business.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  Katia smiled. One thing she liked about Robbie was that he leapt to her every command. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed one of the knives from the block on the counter then checked to make sure all the doors and windows were locked before returning to her vigil by the window.

  Robbie arrived ten minutes later. She opened the door to let him in then locked it behind him.

  “Are you alright?” he said, forehead creased with worry.

  “Henrietta said a car was parked down the street for an hour. The driver didn’t get out. She got the licence plate,” she said, handing him the little yellow sticky note.
r />   “I’ve got a copper I can give this to.”

  “You do?” she said, surprised.

  Robbie nodded. “I cultivated him, not Vic. He belongs to us.”

  Katia was surprised, she hadn’t thought he had it in him. “You’re doing very well Robbie, I’m proud of you.”

  He puffed out his chest with pride. “Thanks Katia. You know I’d do anything for you.”

  “Yes, I know,” she said fondly. “What if it’s Mikey Maguire?”

  “So what if it is? He’s recovering from a war, he wouldn’t dare take on the Slatterys.”

  “He’s stronger than we thought. Vic said he’s got Manchester sewn up tighter than a duck’s bum. His words,” she said, crinkling up her nose.

  “Well I didn’t think they were yours,” he replied with a gentle smile. “Granted he’s impressed everyone up north but it doesn’t mean he can throw his weight about down here. As long as we have the Slattery’s protection we’re untouchable. If that car was something to do with him he might just have been scoping you out. I seriously doubt he’ll make a move on you here.”

  Katia looked at her sleeping boys. “I’m not taking the risk.”

  “Neither am I.” He gave her hand a tender squeeze.

  She smiled up at him. He was so sweet and proving himself to be invaluable to her and she needed him. Of course he had a huge crush on her but all he’d ever be to her was a friend and colleague, a much needed friend at that, the only one she had. How could any man ever compare to Alex? She wouldn’t care if she never slept with a man again.

  CHAPTER 24

  “You’d better behave yourselves,” Battler told Jules and Lexie, Bruiser looking on sternly. The others had left for the night, leaving the brothers to guard the two women. Jules had been allowed out of the bedroom so she and Lexie could keep each other company.

  “Don’t worry boys, we will,” replied Jules. “Unless you’d care to join us? The four of us could have some real fun. Spoilsport,” Jules called as Battler left, shutting the door behind him. “Get that down your neck,” she said, handing Lexie a glass of red wine.