Retribution

by Heather Atkinson

  He peeked around the corner to find Amber on all fours, skirt pushed up to her waist, Declan rutting away behind her, red-faced. Mikey had to stifle a snigger. Amber was making all the right noises but she looked bored and was actually examining her nails while Declan pounded away. At least he could make her genuinely come, unlike his inept cousin. He wondered what she was getting out of it if she wasn’t enjoying the sex?

  Mikey decided to spoil Declan’s fun just as it appeared he was on the verge of coming.

  Calmly he stepped into the room but neither of them noticed him. “What’s all this then?” he said.

  Amber screamed and scrambled out from under Declan, who unfortunately had tipped over the edge and with an agonised cry ended up splattering his couch cushions, unable to stop himself.

  “Well that’s a sight I’ll never forget,” said Mikey.

  Blushing, Declan hastily fastened himself up. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I just walked in on you shagging my wife and you’ve got the nerve to ask me questions. Seriously?”

  “It’s not what it looks like,” said Amber, shrugging down her skirt.

  “Is that actually what you’re going with?” said Mikey. “What were you doing then? Come on, I can’t wait to hear this one.”

  “We were…,” began Amber, cheeks flushing bright red, looking to Declan for assistance, scowling at him when he stared at Mikey in abject fear.

  “Didn’t think so,” said Mikey. “What I want to know is how long has this been going on?”

  “It’s a one off,” said Amber. “It meant nothing.”

  Declan shook off his fear, determined to protect his lover. “You don’t need to be afraid of him anymore,” he told her, wrapping an arm around her. He squared his shoulders as he looked back at his cousin. “You’ve bullied and abused her for the last time.”

  “Abused?” exclaimed Mikey. “Is that what she’s been telling you?”

  “Don’t deny it. I know the truth. She’s rung me up enough times in tears.”

  “I’ve never laid a finger on her.”

  “You lying bastard.”

  “So, if I have been hurting her where are her injuries? Have you ever seen a single bruise? You can’t say I’ve been hitting her where it can’t be seen because it turns out you’ve seen every part of her.”

  Declan opened his mouth to reply then closed it again.

  Amber shrugged off Declan’s arm and ran to her husband, clinging onto the front of his shirt. “Get me out of here, please Mikey. He…he attacked me.”

  “Amber,” exclaimed an appalled Declan.

  “It’s true,” Amber told Mikey, all wide-eyed innocence. “He lured me round here on the pretence of discussing your birthday present then he raped me.”

  “I did not,” cried Declan. “I would never do that.”

  Amber was filled with malicious pleasure when Mikey gently took her hands. But he prised them from his shirt and took a step back.

  “You really are low, aren’t you?” he told her. “At least have the dignity to own up to what you’ve done.”

  “What I’ve done?” she screeched, the innocent look falling away to be replaced by sheer rage. “You’re the one who’s been shagging around behind my back and you’ve got the fucking cheek to lecture me.”

  “I haven’t shagged anyone.”

  “Don’t give me that. You’ve been fucking your own cousin you sick, dirty bastard.”

  “Declan?”

  “I mean Jules and you know it,” she screamed, stamping her foot.

  “I’ve never slept with Jules,” he calmly replied.

  “Liar.”

  “I am not lying. Me and Jules have never had sex. I’ll admit that fact disappoints me but it’s the truth. The only thing we’ve done is kiss and that was ages ago, before she got with Jackson.”

  Amber’s anger was replaced by panic. He seemed to be telling her the God’s honest truth. “No, it can’t be.”

  “Well it is. Is that why you started shagging Declan and telling him I’m a wife-beating bastard, for revenge for something I didn’t even do?”

  Amber’s eyes flicked from side to side as she attempted to process this shocking turn of events. “No, you’ve been fucking her, I know it.”

  “Nope,” he said casually. “Not my fault you jumped to conclusions. You should have just asked me then you wouldn’t have had to have really boring sex with him,” he said, gesturing to a stricken Declan.

  “No, this isn’t true,” said Declan, taking Amber’s hands and turning her to face him. “This is what he does, he twists things to make you the bad person. He’s controlled you for years and he’s still trying to control you.”

  “Controlled?” laughed Mikey. “I can’t even get her to stop buying shoes.”

  “Get off me you idiot,” she snarled, snatching her hands from Declan’s. “I’m sick of you pawing at me all the time.”

  “Amber…”

  “It was all lies,” she yelled in his face. “The only reason I went anywhere near you was for some payback on him,” she said, pointing at Mikey. “He’s the man I want, a real man with a brain and who can make me come like a fucking train. You wouldn’t know a clitoris if you slipped and fell on one face first.”

  Despite everything, Mikey chuckled.

  “You’re just doing this so he won’t hurt you,” said Declan, pointing at Mikey, who rolled his eyes and shook his head.

  “You are so stupid,” she screamed in Declan’s face. “It was all a game.”

  Declan paled, finally realising she was telling the truth. “What?”

  “I used you to get revenge on him for shagging that goth bitch.”

  “Which I didn’t actually do,” interjected Mikey, who was rather enjoying himself.

  “You don’t mean that,” said Declan. “We have something special.”

  She threw back her head and laughed, both men looking uncertain at the mania in her eyes and Mikey wondered whether his wife was not just a spoilt, selfish brat but something more sinister.

  She turned back to Mikey, taking his hands. “It was just a game,” she told him. “It didn’t mean anything. I love you and only you. How could any other man compare to Mikey Maguire?”

  “You two-faced, manipulative bitch,” yelled Declan. “You made me betray my own cousin, had me believing he was a wife-beater.”

  She leaned into Mikey for comforting, feigning fear. She looked up at her husband, green eyes wide and innocent. “You see how he is babe? He scared me. I tried to get out when I realised I’d made a huge mistake but he wouldn’t let me. He threatened me. I had no choice but to keep sleeping with him.”

  Declan looked to Mikey when he nodded. “You can’t seriously believe this shit?”

  He ignored him. “Go home and wait for me there. I won’t be long,” he said, patting her hands.

  She clung onto him, burying her face in his shoulder so they wouldn’t see her smirk. “Thanks babe,” she said, the innocence back in her eyes when she looked up at him. “I dreaded you finding out but now you have it’s such a relief.”

  “I’ll bet,” he said softly. “Off you go. Let me deal with him.”

  She looked back at a stunned and bewildered Declan, her eyes bright with cunning. “What are you going to do with him?” she said.

  “You don’t need to worry about that sweetheart,” replied Mikey. “Off you go.”

  She picked up her handbag and tossed back her head, smirking at Declan.

  “But…I love you,” he said as she left.

  “Well I don’t love you. Arsehole,” she called before she left, slamming the door shut behind her.

  He stared at the closed door, mouth opening and closing as his life fell apart around him.

  “Sit down before you fall down,” Mikey told him.

  They both sat, Declan sinking into the sofa while Mikey took the armchair. Mikey’s stare was calm but fierce while Declan ran a shaking hand through his hair, terrified
of what his cousin was going to do to him.

  “I feel such a fool,” began Declan when it became clear Mikey wasn’t going to speak first. “She totally tricked me. She had me believing you were abusive.”

  “So why didn’t you call me out about it? That I would have respected and we could have settled this long ago. Instead you chose to sneak around behind my back, like a fucking snake in the grass.”

  “Because I wanted to be her white knight.”

  Mikey couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yeah I know, pathetic eh? But that’s me all over. Pathetic Declan, weak Declan, the waste of space, the one always left behind when something big is going down because I couldn’t cope with it.”

  “That was part of it yes and you know me and Jez did the right thing. You couldn’t have coped with some of the bad shit we’ve had to do and believe me that’s no insult to you.”

  “But Shane can eh? Fucking wonderboy.”

  “Yes he can. It’s not a bad thing to say you haven’t got the stomach for wholesale slaughter. But we wouldn’t have left our entire empire in his hands while we went away. That’s another reason you stayed behind - because we trusted you to run things in our absence. Didn’t think of that, did you?” he said when Declan looked down at his hands.

  He shook his head. “I was so busy being pissed off because I was always left behind that I never thought it might be because I was good at something.” He took a deep breath and looked back up at his cousin. “Are you going to kill me?”

  Mikey drew out the silence, enjoying watching him squirm before shaking his head. “I should but I won’t. After Alex I’m done fighting my own family.”

  Declan released a shaky breath and buried his face in his hands so, Mikey wouldn’t see the tears in his eyes. “Thank you.”

  “But you are out of the business and you’ve to go back to Ireland and never return to Manchester.”

  “You’ll never see me again.”

  “Good because if I do I won’t hesitate to top you.”

  He nodded. “And what about Amber? Even though she’s a manipulative cow I hate the thought of you hurting her.”

  “I’m not going to hurt her. Actually the pair of you have played right into my hands. I’ve been after divorcing her for a while now and she’s given me the perfect excuse.”

  “So you can be with Jules?”

  “Jules has given me a ray of hope for the future but as yet there’s nothing between us. You know Declan, if your worst crime had been shagging Amber we wouldn’t have such a big problem. But you did more than that, didn’t you?”

  “What do you mean?” he said, making a poor attempt at nonchalance.

  “You stole from us. Ten grand’s worth of coke to be precise and not just from me and Jez but Toni McVay too.”

  Declan gasped and looked down at his hands.

  “Have you any idea of the shit you could have brought down on our heads you fucking idiot? If I hadn’t managed to placate Toni with another deal she would have charged down here and killed us all, you included. And she wouldn’t have stopped there. Then she would have gone after Amber and my kids, Jez’s family, Jules and Jackson, Beth and Riley and all their children, everyone close to us. After that she would have gone after Ryan and Rachel and probably Battler and Bruiser too.”

  Declan’s eyes bulged with horror. “Oh Christ, she wouldn’t?”

  “She fucking would. Kids and families are sacrosanct to us but not to her because she’s a fucking psychopath.”

  “I’m sorry,” he exclaimed. “I never wanted anything like that to happen.”

  “Then why do it? Declan?” he barked when he remained silent, making him jump.

  “I had no choice.”

  “There is always a choice.”

  Declan buried his face in his hands. “Jesus, what have I done?”

  Mikey got the feeling something bigger than he’d originally anticipated was going and he was becoming infuriated by Declan’s weakness. He grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked his head up, making him grimace. “What have you done?” he demanded.

  “That man of Katia’s I killed. I actually met him for the first time three months ago. He had photos of me and Amber, together. I don’t know how he got them. He said I had to sabotage your deal with the McVays or he’d send you the photos.”

  Mikey released him and shot to his feet, pacing back and forth. “You idiot. You could have got us all killed because you were rogering a woman I can’t fucking stand.”

  “She’s your wife.”

  “She’s a fucking dick and so are you,” he bellowed before punching him in the face, knocking him back into the sofa. Usually a punch from Mikey was enough to knock anyone out, it was why he’d been such a successful boxer but Mikey didn’t want him unconscious, he wanted him awake, so he could see his pain and revel in it.

  “Stop,” cried Declan, holding out his hands to ward him off as the punches continued to rain down on him.

  “You could have murdered us all,” he yelled. “Didn’t it occur to you that was what the Slovakian slag wanted? The McVays to eradicate us, so not only does she get her revenge without having to get her hands dirty but she also gets to do business with Glasgow.”

  “I didn’t think of that, honestly. I just thought she wanted to cause a bit of trouble.”

  “Since when has Katia been content with a bit of trouble? You stupid bastard.” Mikey’s eyes burned. “You planted that gun in my car too, didn’t you?”

  “Y…yes but not because of Katia. I did that for Amber.”

  “To free her from me, the monster?” he said sarcastically. “She’s the monster, her and her gargoyle of a mother.”

  “I’m realising that now.”

  “You handed me over to Dwyer. If I hadn’t spotted the gun before he showed up I’d be inside looking at a really long stretch. You hated me that much?”

  “I’m so sorry. I only did it because I thought you were hurting her.”

  “Did she know?”

  “What?”

  “Did Amber know you were setting me up?”

  Declan wanted to drop her in it, after all the bitch had destroyed his life but he knew Mikey would make her suffer, badly, and some small part of him still loved her. It was impossible to turn off such powerful emotions so easily. So he shook his head. “No. I didn’t tell her because I thought she might lose her bottle around you or let something slip.”

  “Amber, the master manipulator, let something slip?”

  “I didn’t know she was a manipulator back then.”

  Mikey frowned back at him, Declan squirming beneath his gaze but he refused to say any more on the subject, forcing Mikey to drop it.

  “It still doesn’t change what you did,” said Mikey. “You betrayed me, your own blood.” Mikey couldn’t believe that another of his cousins had hurt him so badly. It seemed a strand of the crazy Maguire blood ran through Declan too, albeit in diluted quantities.

  When Mikey drew back his fist, lips curling into a snarl, Declan flinched and closed his eyes, anticipating the blow but it never came. When he opened his eyes Mikey was removing his jacket. Carefully he laid it over the back of a chair and began rolling up his sleeves.

  “What are you doing?” said Declan.

  “I’m going to put you in intensive care,” he said, voice tight with controlled rage. “The second you’re well enough you leave Manchester and never return and be grateful I’m not putting you in a shallow grave.”

  Declan nodded, resigned to his fate, which he fully deserved, if only for being so bloody thick. It seemed the rumours were right after all.

  Amber ran into the house and straight upstairs to change. She flung open her wardrobe and tore off her clothes before tossing them into the laundry basket. She didn’t think it wise to try and seduce her husband while wearing the clothes she’d just been shagging another man in. Fortunately the nanny had taken the boys out for the afternoon so they shouldn’t be disturbed.

 
She couldn’t believe it had been so easy to get round her husband after what he’d caught her doing but she was good at twisting men round her little finger. Thank God she wouldn’t have to sleep with Declan anymore. Mikey would forgive her, he wasn’t shagging Jules and everything was going to be okay.

  She pulled on the emerald green dress that only just covered her bottom and made her eyes sparkle. She ran her fingers through her curls to separate them and hastily reapplied her make-up. As she smiled at her reflection in the mirror, pleased with the result, she heard the front door open then close and she hurried downstairs to greet her husband, who was hanging up his coat in the hallway.

  “Thank God you’re here,” she said, rushing to him, flinging her arms around his neck. “I was so worried. Are you okay?”

  “Fine,” he replied coolly.

  Amber wasn’t disheartened by his attitude, she knew she could win him round with her body and some top grade sex. She spotted his cut and bruised hands and raised one to her lips. “You beat him up?”

  He nodded.

  “Did you…kill him?”

  “No.”

  Amber was offended. “Why not, after what he did to me?”

  He shook his head. “You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You used him, the poor sod. I almost feel sorry for him. Then, when you were done using him you threw his feelings for you back in his face, you vicious harpy.”

  “Excuse me, I’m the injured party here.”

  “And how were you possibly injured?”

  “He threatened me…”

  “Don’t give me that bollocks because I don’t believe it and you must think I’m a real idiot if you think I’d ever swallow it. You shagged him because you’re petty and pathetic and selfish. You’re a spoilt child, a crap wife and an even worse mother and I’m done with you.”

  Her eyes glittered with rage. “What?”

  “We’re finished. I’m filing for divorce.”

  “You can’t divorce me,” she shrieked. “I won’t let you.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it and you know what? Your sleazy little affair with Declan has given me all the grounds I need. Now you will go upstairs and pack. I want you out of this house.”