Vengeance: A Kindred Sons Mafia Romance (10 page)

Bella

I could hear the alarm from my phone in the distance. Surely it wasn’t
that
time already? I reached over to my bedside table but instead of hitting the wobbly table, my arm flopped down.
What the…
Then I opened my eyes, instantly alert when I realized I hadn’t wakened in my own bed. I clambered out of the bed and retrieved my phone, placed neatly on the top of my clothes which were all neatly folded and sitting on the top of a blanket box. My backpack was on the floor beside them.

The room went silent; I was alone. The bedroom door was closed tight, but after a few moments I could hear someone opening and closing cupboards downstairs. I slipped into the en suite with my things and started getting ready for the day.

Last night was amazing. I gave myself a couple of moments to relive what we’d done… what
he’d
done. It was a bitter-sweet memory though, because I knew that once I passed the folder to Denver, I would need to disappear.

By the time I’d got out of the shower my plan was complete: I’d squirrel away what I could. I’d go back home today and pack - everything that I could carry would disappear with me. What I couldn’t carry would be left, lost to me. I’d paid a deposit and I’d paid rent in advance, they’d both be lost to me too. I didn’t have enough time to try to get either of them back, but I didn’t have enough money for many choices either. Maybe Toni would let me move back in with her again for a while?

I heard footsteps lightly move outside the room before a knock came to the door. Why should he knock now, he’d seen everything last night?!

“Bella? Are you dressed?”

I was glad she was on the other side of the door because if Louise had seen my face, she would have seen it drop. “Yeah, come on in.”

She slid in around the door, her eyes full of concern. Louise moved closer to me, taking me into a heartfelt hug. “How are you?”

“OK.”
Sore.
For the craziest of seconds, I thought she was asking me how I was after sleeping with Jake.
No, idiot, it’s because she knows you got a death threat last night… most normal people wouldn’t then jump into bed with the next bad boy they laid eyes on after something like that.
I let out a pained sigh. I must have been crazy.

“I’m so sorry you’ve been brought into all of this.” She gave me a last squeeze before releasing me. It had been so long since I had allowed someone this close - even Toni somehow had sensed I didn’t like to be touched. Then again, when Toni first met me, she saw the bruises from my last breakup.

Louise offered me a sad smile, “I knew you’d be up now, so I’ve made some breakfast. You ready to come downstairs?”

It was fair to say that she wasn’t the best cook, her idea of making breakfast was setting out two bowls, some cereal, milk and two steaming mugs of coffee. Not that it really mattered, even though I felt empty inside, my appetite was gone.

Louise ate in silence whilst I picked at my food. “So I was thinking, why not throw a sick-day today?” her voice was calm but I felt her watch me with the corner of her eye - desperate not to let me see how much she was struggling to keep the conversation light.

“No can do,” I shrugged. “I’ve still got bills, and I need to keep my job. My first probation appraisal is next week.”

“That’s a pity.” She said, casually spooning another mouthful, “Because I’ve already phoned for you.”

“Louise! That’s not your call to make!” Anger filled me, it wasn’t her decision. “And how’s that going to look - that I didn’t even phone in myself?” I stalked away from the table, reaching for the phone in my pocket.

“Where are you going? It’s already sorted.”

“I’m calling Mildred to try and stop any trouble you’ve already made.”

Mildred delivered the news that, although my level of work had been extremely competent, unfortunately, Sawyer’s & Co no longer required my services as an administrator. All monies owed to me would be processed within three working days. Her tone was extremely professional - too professional, too courteous.

I sat, speechless on the sofa that had brought me so much pleasure last night. The fact he’d disappeared without so much as a goodbye felt like a slap in the face, the empty sting still hurting.

Now that my job was gone, the Kindred Sons would have no use for me. I was expendable and knew too much. Unbidden tears streaked down my cheeks as the hard, cold reality sank in: No job, no more money, linked to the Kindred Sons, death threat by the McCauley’s, and used for a cheap fuck by Jake. And as I heard the footsteps come to the door, I knew one last thing.

No escape.

Bella

I was always proud of the way I could hide my tears. “Never let the bastards see you cry.” My mother had told me from I was old enough to remember. It was how she’d lived her life. Right now, I knew my mother would have been disgusted with the sight of me.

“Shhh.” Louise said as she put an arm around me, rubbing my back.

Louise must have thought I was over-distraught about a job I’d only had for a few weeks, but I cried for more than the job. My new start, the one where I’d make it up to Ryan. I was going to be the big sister I should always have been before leaving him for a man who not only used me but chipped away at my spirit until I thought it was acceptable for him to abuse me. It wasn’t until he’d battered me so badly that he took away the last thing I thought I could truly love, that would maybe love me, our child within me, when I finally didn’t care if I lived or died, only when I reached that moment, that point, where I finally stood up to him - to push him to finally put me out of my misery, that he left me. Leaving me so badly beaten, physically and mentally, that leaving me alive and barely breathing felt like his last “fuck you”.

Louise sat quietly, keeping me company as I was overcome with the emotions I’d been hiding, fighting and denying for so long. It was like something had broken within me, and absent mindedly I supposed that should fill me with fear. Now I’d opened the floodgates,
what if I never stopped crying?
I wept until I was sore: haggard breaths and stinging eyes.

“I don’t know what else is going on for you, but I could feel your pain. You don’t have to tell me, but you should talk with someone.” She took a steadying breath. “I’ve been to counseling and it really does help - it won’t fix anything, but usually things that make us cry so sore can never be fixed, nor should they.”

I nodded, the nurses took every single chance they got to encourage me to go to therapy too. But nothing could ever bring me to a place where I could be at peace with what had happened.

Twenty minutes later, when I’d finally came to an empty silence, the words came, “I really hoped that once I’d come back to Londonderry that things could work out.”
Shit.

“
Back
to Londonderry?” Louise straightened as she sat.

Fuck!
“Yeah, I wasn’t born here, but I grew up here until my early teens.” I peeked over at her, her face expressionless. “It was easier to let you think I’d lived in Enniskillen for all my life.”

Her expression had turned to stone. “And why would  you do that?”

“I wanted to make a fresh start.” I said as if that explained everything. “I know, I should have said.”

“Moving for a fresh start’s fine, why lie about it?” there was an edge to her voice now.

“It wasn’t lies, exactly. I just didn’t say.” I hoped that would help. “I was trying to get away from an ex.” It actually felt like a relief that someone knew.

“And he wouldn’t have thought of looking here?” she said sarcastically. “I don’t buy it.”

“Well, um, getting away from him was part of it. My brother’s hoping to get parole in a few weeks and I wanted to be here to support him.” I picked at the fluff on my work trousers, not daring to look at her again. “By the time I was going to tell you, it was a bit too late.”

“Brother? So you’ve got family and friends around here?!” She let out a dry laugh, “Have you all been laughing at me for feeling sorry for the new girl?”

“No!” I shook my head, “Nothing like that. I’d managed to alienate any friends I had, they haven’t spoke to me in years.” I remembered Robert as he turned me against each of them, pulling my strings until I pushed each of my childhood friends away. “No, Ryan’s the only one left. But I wasn’t here for him when he got into drugs, ended up owing a lot of bad debt and got caught when trying to repay the debt.”

She stood up and paced. “Who does he owe?”

She stopped dead when I told her it was the McCauley’s.

She slumped into the chair beside her. “You should have told me that was why Denver was trying to blackmail you.”

My eyes met hers, “It wasn’t, he doesn’t know. I swear that’s not what happened. He doesn’t know me, and he couldn’t know Ryan.” I hoped. I had tried not to think about it ever since she’d told me about the link Denver had with them.

Louise waited for a while longer, eventually blowing out a deep breath. “You should have said a lot sooner, Bella. This is a huge fuck up.” She chewed on her bottom lip before continuing, “The Kindred Sons honour their promises, and by bringing you here, Jake has assured you that this threat will come to nothing. We need to tell him - you should have told Carrick as soon as you met.”

A car arrived in the driveway and I recognized it immediately. Jake was back. I wiped my eyes and blew my nose again, I looked a mess but I would not let him see my tears.

The door slammed and two heavy feet pounded into rooms, looking for us, then he began to roar. His face turned to pure fury when he saw us sitting together. “What the fuck is that bitch still doing here?”

Jake

I lay in serene peace, listening to Bella’s slow, deep breaths. We’d just had the best sex of my life and I was content, knowing the woman laying beside me was so deeply satisfied. Bella, I loved the sound of that name, it was calming, almost soothing.
Bella.
I started to drift over to sleep myself, but was woken by the vibrations of my phone on the floor.

“Nev.”

“I’ve got your file ready, Jake. Do you want me to drop it over tonight or in the morning?” Nev, as always was straight to the point.

I made my way quietly out of the bedroom and down the stairs. “Well bud, is that woman of yours gonna let you go out to play at this time of night?”

We’d agreed to meet early the next morning at the gym. I lifted Bella’s rucksack and gathered her clothes from the lounge. I’d be gone before she’d rise tomorrow morning and I was pretty sure she wouldn’t be as keen to walk around my home naked to retrieve her things then. I put her clothes in the room and took one last look at her pert, round ass.

A selfish part of me wanted to stay, to slip my hands around her through the night and make her moan again… but doing that was unfair on her - she would assume I would want a relationship - women always did if you
actually
slept with them. No, I would go back to my own room.

There was a chill in the air so I pulled the covers around her, closing the door behind me as quietly as I could before going to my own bed.

In the morning I dressed and left as quietly as I could; I’d be back with the file before she’d be awake. As soon as the Blue tooth connected in my car, I phoned Louise. I knew my home was secure, Bella would be fine for the hour I’d be gone, but with the death threat last night, I wanted her to feel safe - with company.

When I arrived at the club, da’s car was already there. That wasn’t normal - he didn’t come around here, let alone this early. I walked into the back office, where he was milling around.

“The girl is playing you, son,” he said regretfully. “Ye’re too young to mind them, but I recognized her when I saw her. She’s Sarah White’s wee girl, Sarah’s her real name too.”

The name didn’t mean much to me, but I’d known I’d recognised her face at the start. I’d seen her around… school, maybe?
Was he right? Why would she lie about her name? She looked like a Bella - Sarah was foreign to the woman I knew, the woman I’d made love to.

“And what?” I didn’t like his tone, and sure as fuck, I wasn’t going to let him see that he’d hit something I’d already wondered about. So what if she’d changed her name -
I’d still call her Bella tho
, I mused.

“And, Jake, it wouldn’t mean a fucking thing… except that she’s lied to ye.” He raked his hands through his hair. “Oh aye, and except I remember reading about Ryan White, her brother, getting put away a few years ago for his part in a bust on a McCauley robbery.”

The hurt felt like a massive punch to my stomach. She would have known all about us, about them, yet acted so innocent to it all when Louise and I went to her flat.

She must have known Denver,
the thought bubbled in my mind,
in fact, she probably wasn’t being blackmailed by him at all - she staged the whole thing.
I replayed the images of last night through my head. I was played, she knew exactly what she was doing last night. Probably even knew when they’d ransack her home - maybe even tipped them off that I’d been there.

And to think I’d actually thought she could be anything more to me than a fuck. I’d actually considered…

Rage practically blinded me, my fists found the table in the office, beside him. “I’ll fucking kill her, and then I’ll kill that cunt, Denver.”

My office door made the mistake of being closed, it nearly came off its hinges as I stalked through it and back to my car.
She had better be gone before I got back.