Amber was stunned. This was the last thing she’d expected. At worse she’d thought he’d sulk at her for a bit and possibly make her hand over her credit cards but divorce…impossible. “No, you don’t mean this. When you’ve calmed down you’ll see.”
“I should have seen the second you trapped me into marriage but I thought you were good and decent. Maybe you genuinely were at first but now you’re nothing like that sweet woman I married. Where did she go?”
“I’m right here babe,” she said, attempting to take his hand again but he snatched it away. However Amber wasn’t one to admit defeat and she refused to give up her cushy lifestyle and the status of being married to Mikey Maguire. Her eyes filled with tears. “I’ve been right here all this time but when Jules came along you didn’t look at me again.”
“Tears come to you as easily as lying, don’t they?” He took a step back from her. “We’re done Amber. Have some dignity and accept it. As the mother of my children I’ll always look after you, I’ll pay you an allowance and I’ll put the flat in Carrwood in your name, so it’ll always be yours, as well as the villa in Cyprus. But I want you out of this house and the boys stay with me.”
“You can’t take my house from me,” she wailed.
“Your house?” he spluttered. “You care about that more than your own children, don’t you?”
“By house I meant them too.”
“No you didn’t. You’ve not been interested in them for a long time and let’s face it, you only had Zach to get me to stay with you. Well I’m done with your manipulation and emotional blackmail. You’re out of here. Now.”
She stamped her foot, cheeks turning pink with rage. “You can’t fucking do this to me,” she screamed. “I won’t let you.”
“I had hoped you’d go with dignity but I suppose that would be too much. Maybe this will get through to you - if you don’t do as I ask I’ll cut you and your parents off without a penny. Is that what you want, to go back to how things were before you met me? Where will you get the money to buy shoes and jewellery? I suppose you could claim benefits but the bastard government are so strict these days. If disabled people can’t get anything then you certainly won’t. Still, you could go back to that shitty estate you were dragged up in.”
The thought of going back to her life pre-Mikey appalled her. Better to beat a tactical retreat for now and fight another day, when she’d come up with a plan. She tossed back her head. “Fine, I’ll go, until you see sense and beg me to come back.”
“That won’t happen. It’s over. Better you get that through your head now.”
“I’m taking all my clothes and jewellery. You bought them but they were gifts.”
“Take the lot. I don’t want them.”
“One more thing,” he said as she turned on her heel and strode towards the stairs.
Amber stopped, heart thudding. His voice had taken on that scary aspect again, the one she’d heard only once before, when he’d shouted at her on Christmas Day.
Swallowing hard, she turned to face him, looking nonchalant. “What?”
“Did you know Declan set me up?”
“Set you up?” she frowned.
“He was the one who planted the gun in my car and called DI Dwyer. Did you know?”
“No, of course not.”
“You don’t look surprised.”
“Well I am.”
“Declan did it not only to sabotage a business deal of ours but to free you from me, the tyrant,” he said sardonically.
“That’s because he’s an idiot. I didn’t ask him to.”
She stood her ground, feeling slightly sick as he marched up to her, his usually soft green eyes bright with rage. Amber chastised herself for forgetting who she was dealing with, her husband was the most dangerous man in the city, only he’d always been careful to keep that side away from her. Not anymore.
“I don’t believe you,” he hissed.
Amber knew denial was the only way to go. She tilted back her head. “Well it’s the truth. Why would I want you in prison?”
“So you’d get everything, or so you thought. I’d already made sure that would never happen. You’re fortunate I’ve no proof.”
“Or you’ll what? Kill me, the mother of your children? What would you tell Josh and Zach when they ask where their mummy is?”
“You’ve not been a mummy to them for a while now but no Amber, I wouldn’t kill you. Instead I’d let someone else deal with you. Probably Rachel, I know she’s itching to put you in your place.” He leaned in to whisper in her ear. “By the time she’s finished with you, that pretty face of yours would be gone forever.”
Amber paled and staggered back from him, stunned.
He flashed his charming grin, the shadow that had seemed to descend over his face gone. “Fortunately for you I can’t prove it. Now get out of my house.”
She turned on her heel and marched up the stairs, head held high, although her legs were shaking.
Mikey marvelled at her as she went. She hadn’t fought for her kids or even once mentioned access to them, which only went to confirm that he’d done the right thing. Finally.
CHAPTER 36
It was nine o’clock at night and Jules was exhausted. It was a long journey from Manchester to Oxford on a motorbike.
She found a small, quiet B&B to crash for the night. She hadn’t taken into account how she tired more easily since the coma but the prospect of heading out on the open road, just her and her bike, really becoming Venom again had appealed to her enormously. Now she was shattered with an aching back and a numb arse.
The bearded, tank-top wearing manager of the B&B was rather stunned to have a woman in full biker leathers, sporting black eyeliner and lipstick, walk into his respectable establishment. But he gave her a room, which was clean and comfortable, if a little chintzy with its flowery curtains and bedspread.
Jules dumped her bag, took a shower then flopped onto the bed wrapped in a towel. She took out the untraceable phone that only Howie had the number for and called him to see if his contact had come up with any more information. He hadn’t, which meant Slattery hadn’t moved from Berkshire. She’d laughed her arse off when she’d learned the famous Jared Slattery, the ultimate Essex wide boy, was hiding out in bloody Berkshire with the sheep. She was aware of no crews down there, certainly none strong enough to be of any consequence but he couldn’t go near Essex or London because Katia’s worryingly strong crew would kill him.
Pushing Jared to the back of her mind for now, she scrolled through the photos she’d transferred from her old phone onto this one, pain filling her heart as she studied the images of Cara. These had been taken before the coma, when her daughter had loved her. There were photos of Jackson on there too. It was hard to believe they’d only been taken the previous year, they all looked so happy.
She was tempted to throw the phone across the room but common sense won out. It wouldn’t be smart to break the only link she had to the person who could direct her to Slattery. Instead she went onto the internet to check out ferry times. After she’d dispatched Slattery she would drive down to Portsmouth and get the ferry to Calais. From there she had no idea but she had no shortage of cash and she could speak enough French to get by, so she would just play it by ear. Perhaps she’d just tour Europe for a while before deciding where to settle down?
There was another reason for her to go to France. A contact of hers had informed her Estelle had sailed to Calais three months ago. The vicious slag could be anywhere by now but she was determined to hunt her down, one day. She’d spent years tracking Leighton Parker, the man Estelle had sold her to. She could do the same for mummy dearest.
Jules swallowed hard as she thought of the family she was leaving behind - not just Cara and Jackson but her brothers and their families, Beth…Mikey. She took a deep breath and forced all that emotion deep down inside herself, trying to become the ice cold Venom once again, the woman who needed no one but herself. Families let you dow
n, hurt you. She’d been sold by her biological mother, abused by her foster family and now rejected by her husband and child. After that track record she was much better off alone and that was how it was going to be from now on.
“We’re going on to Berkshire,” said Jez.
“But she’s in Oxford,” retorted Jackson. As promised, Howie had called to let them know that she’d contacted him. Unfortunately when she wasn’t using the phone she turned it off, so it couldn’t be used to track her. “She’s so close.”
They were in the city, standing in the middle of a car park, debating what to do next. Mark and Shane quietly stood on, looking from one to the other.
“But we don’t know where,” countered Jez. “You really want to waste time searching an entire city?”
“But she’s here for Christ’s sake. We can’t just sit back and do nothing.”
“And before we find her she’ll move on again.”
“The Boss is right,” interjected Mark. “This city is too big for the four of us to search.”
“Thank you,” said Jez. “At last, some sense.” He looked back to Jackson. “We know she’s headed to Berkshire and that’s where we’ll catch up with her. She’s obviously spending the night here, she’ll need to after travelling all that way on a motorbike. We go on to Berkshire and beat her to it. Hopefully we’ll be able to track down Slattery before she does.”
Jackson could see the sense of Jez’s words but he was so desperate to reach Jules before she did something stupid that he wanted to tear the city apart searching for her. “Fine,” he eventually said. “We’ll do it your way but you’d better be right.”
“Course I am, aren’t I?” he said, looking to Mark and Shane, who both nodded.
“Of course they’re going to agree with you,” said Jackson. “You pay their wages.”
Jez was grateful when his mobile phone started to ring. It distracted him from the temptation of knocking Jackson the fuck out. “What?” he barked. “Yes Mikey, we’re in Oxford but we haven’t found her yet. We’re going on to Berkshire.” His lips twitched up into an amused smile. “About bloody time. How did she take it?” He listened for a moment before letting out an angry breath. “Fucking typical. You going to throw a party then?” He laughed before hanging up.
“What was that about?” said Jackson.
“Mikey’s chucked Amber out and he’s getting a divorce.”
“Good,” said Shane. “To be honest, I can’t fucking stand her.”
“No one can,” said Jez. He noticed Jackson’s troubled expression. “What’s wrong with you?”
Jackson nodded to one side, indicating he wanted to talk to Jez away from the others.
“It’s funny how Mikey wants a divorce just as me and Jules split up,” opened Jackson.
“Actually it’s not. This has been a long time coming.”
“I know he wants to be with her and I can’t blame him.”
“Don’t tell me you’re actually pissed off that another man wants her. She’s fucking awesome, course they’re going to and you have no right to say anything after what you did.”
“I still love her.”
“And you show that by knocking up another woman? If that’s your idea of love she’s better off without you.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen,” he snarled before taking a deep, calming breath. “We’ve already been through this and I am not going through it again.”
“Fine but don’t you dare think you can hold Jules back from having a life after you. If she wants to get it together with Mikey, that’s their business.”
“I just want her to be happy.”
“You should have thought about that before you stuck your cock in someone else.”
“We’re going around in circles here. Can we please just get to Berkshire if that’s what we’re doing?” said Jackson before striding back to the car, climbing into the back seat and slamming the door shut.
“He’s seriously getting on my tits,” Jez told Mark and Shane.
“He’s just tense Boss,” said Shane. “It’s a tense situation.”
“You’re not wrong there. Come on then, let’s get to bloody Berkshire. I want a hot dinner and a long shower.” He hesitated. “Oh shit.”
“What is it Boss?” said Shane.
“I haven’t told Ryan about Jules. He’s going to nail my arse to the wall for this,” he said, taking out his phone. “And for Christ’s sake Shane, call me Jez. Boss makes me sound like some cheesy Mafioso. You’ll be wanting me to wear a fedora next.”
As Jez wandered off to make his call, Shane said to Mark, “I thought it sounded cool.”
Mark grinned and shook his head.
Leah leapt to her feet when she heard the front door open and bang shut.
“That doesn’t sound good,” she said.
“What did you expect?” said Rachel. “He was never going to be happy about this mess.”
Ryan had been on the hunt for Reid and judging by the calls he’d made to them throughout the day he hadn’t been very successful.
Leah looked to the door when her dad strode through it looking like a thundercloud. “Did you find Reid?”
“No,” he replied coolly. “It seems he’s vanished, as have his cronies and now begins the hunt for him. However I don’t have time for this, your mother and I are trying to broker a huge business deal. Battler and Bruiser are helping but they’re swamped with their own cases and can’t devote all their time to this.”
“There’s always Ashley.”
Her dad’s disdainfully arched eyebrow said it all.
Sensing he was annoyed, Teddy wandered up to Ryan and rubbed himself against his legs. Ryan’s expression softened up and he picked up the cat, who lolled lazily in his arms as he stroked him.
Rachel’s hand slipped into the pocket of her jeans to touch the card she’d hidden there. There was no choice. She had to make the call.
“I’ll get it,” said Leah, snatching up the kitchen phone when it rang, wanting to escape her dad’s angry look. “It’s for you, it’s Uncle Jez,” she said, holding the phone out to him.
He took a deep breath before taking the phone from her, still holding a purring Teddy with his free arm. “Jez, we’re in the middle of something here…”
Rachel and Leah glanced at each other when he sighed, the knot of muscle at the base of his jaw pulsating. “I wish I could Jez, really but I’m up to my eyes in it here. Yes, what I told you about. No it’s not resolved, far from it.” He nodded seriously. “Keep me informed,” he said before hanging up.
“What was that about?” said Rachel.
“It seems Jules has taken it upon herself to settle old scores.”
“Old scores?” said Rachel. “You mean…”
“Slattery.”
“She’s going to kill him,” said Leah.
Both her parents looked at her, by now resigned to the fact that they could no longer shelter her from her own family.
“Yes,” said Ryan steadily. “If you’re old enough to involve yourself with violent criminals then you’re old enough to deal with the truth and yes, I am aware of the irony of that statement.”
“But she’s been so unwell,” said Leah, eyes wide with worry. “What if she loses?”
“Apparently she beat Manchester’s bare knuckle boxing champion in a fight, so it’s safe to say she stands a good chance at bringing down Slattery.” However Ryan himself had fought Jared and had found himself equally matched. He feared he’d be too much for Jules alone.
“But what if she doesn’t? What if he’s got lots of men or she falls ill again?”
“Calm down,” said Ryan gently. “Jules knows what she’s doing and your Uncle Jez is going after her to help. She’ll be fine.”
“I can’t lose her. You have to do something Dad.”
“There’s nothing I can do that your Uncle Jez isn’t already doing. Besides, we have to deal with Reid.”
“But Aunty Jules…”
“Can look after herself. She has plenty of help. Now we must deal with our own situation before any harm comes to our family.”
Tears filled her eyes. “I’m so sorry Dad. If it wasn’t for me you’d be able to help Aunty Jules.”
He pulled her to him when she burst into tears. She clung onto him, burying her face in his chest.
“It’s all my fault,” she wailed.
“No it’s not sweetheart,” said Rachel. “You didn’t know this was going to happen and we know you didn’t intend for the Reid situation to get this far.”
“Aunty Jules could get hurt because of me.”
“Now don’t be so dramatic,” said Ryan, although his voice was tender. “Jules is an adult, responsible for her own life. No one pushed her into this. She decided to do it off her own back and that is nothing to do with you. You’re under a huge amount of pressure as it is, so please don’t put any more on yourself.”
“I’m sorry Dad,” she repeated.
He held her to him as she cried.
Deciding they needed some time alone together, Rachel snuck into the living room, closing the door behind her. She picked up her mobile phone off the coffee table and produced the card from her pocket, punching the number on the card into her phone.
The call was answered in two rings and Rachel smiled at the voice on the other end. “Hi Cass. It’s Rachel Law.”
When Jules arrived in Berkshire she had intended on going straight to the pub where Howie’s contact, Rory Noble, conducted most of his business. However, even though the drive from Oxford had taken her just under an hour, she still needed to rest first. The anger twisted inside her. That was Slattery’s fault too.
She had a cup of tea and a sandwich in a small, twee café served by a sweet grey haired old lady who wasn’t at all perturbed by Jules appearance and tattoos and who actually patted her head and smiled at her fondly. Jules thought she must really be going soft when she enjoyed the attention and she left a big tip.
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