The Reckoning (Carter Brothers), page 18
Maria’s face lit up; she could honestly say that it was the best news she’d ever received, not because she was concerned for the girl’s health, but because she wanted to get Danny down the aisle and pronto before Gerry had the chance to end his life. ‘Well, that’s brilliant news.’ She grinned. Placing the magazine down on the desk in front of him, she began flicking through the pages. ‘I was thinking Mauritius, just the two of us. And if we book today, we could fly out first class, we’d even have the choice of a five-star hotel or a bungalow that leads directly on to the beach.’
‘Maria.’ The tone of Danny’s voice was harsh and, placing his hand over hers, he forced her to stop turning the pages. ‘It’s not going to happen, sweetheart.’
Her face falling, Maria snatched her hand away. ‘Well, how about here, then?’ She began flicking through the pages again. ‘Barbados looks nice, although it would be the hurricane season this time of year, not that it’s a big deal, we would still get a tan.’
‘You’re not listening to me,’ Danny reiterated. ‘It’s not going to happen. We’re not getting married, not in Mauritius, or Barbados, or bloody Gretna Green. I’m done, there is no wedding, there is no engagement, there is no fucking us.’
Maria gasped and, as she straightened up, the only thought that popped into her mind was his money, not forgetting his house, the club, his car. Everything he owned was meant to fall into her hands, that had been the plan all along, her reward for having to put up with him for all these months. He bored her senseless, and as far as she was concerned, she was entitled to compensation, it was nothing less than what she deserved. ‘No,’ she cried, ‘you don’t mean that.’
‘Yes, I do,’ Danny reaffirmed. To prove his point, he closed the bridal magazine and tossed it into the waste basket. ‘Me and you, we’re done, finished, finito. I can’t be any clearer than that.’
‘But why?’ A hard lump formed in Maria’s throat as she twirled her engagement ring around her finger. Her gut instinct had been right after all; she was losing him, and for brief moment, she wondered if his change of heart had anything to do with her little chat with Stacey. She wouldn’t put it past the bitch to have gone running her mouth off to Danny; she knew her type, she’d do and say anything to try to snare him.
Danny paused. Over the years, he’d had his fair share of short-term relationships, and until Maria had come along, he’d never reached the point where he’d remotely considered settling down, let alone remarrying. And now, all these months later, he was the first to hold his hand up and admit that he’d dived in head-first without even getting to know her properly. He’d been lonely, he supposed, he’d been on his own for so long that he’d wanted to settle down, so much so that he’d ignored those niggling doubts that had warned him to take a breath and slow down. He’d wanted Maria to be the one, and more than anything, he’d wanted to have that someone special to come home to.
‘We want different things out of life, darling,’ he said, letting her down as gently as he could. No matter how much she had shown her true colours where his children were concerned, he wasn’t in the habit of hurting women. He wasn’t a complete and utter monster, and he didn’t want to upset her any more than was necessary. ‘My focus has to be my kids; they’re my number one priority and always will be.’
‘I see.’ As two pink spots appeared on Maria’s cheeks, her eyes flashed dangerously. She should have known that his little brats would be behind their break-up; it wasn’t as though they were even children any more, they were adults. Still, she thought to herself, she had her ace up her sleeve, and if it meant selling Joey, his father, and not to mention her uncle Marcus down the river, then so be it, it wasn’t as though she owed them anything. ‘I know who was behind the shooting,’ she blurted out.
Lounging back in his seat, Danny cocked an eyebrow. ‘Well, do you want to fill me in?’ he asked, spreading open his arms. ‘Or would you prefer me to get down on my hands and knees and beg?’
It took every ounce of Maria’s willpower to keep the smug grin from her face. She had him exactly where she wanted him, and the moment she revealed who the culprit was, Danny would be like putty in her hands. She wouldn’t be surprised if he took her in his arms and declared his undying love for her all over again. As a matter of fact, she would be willing to bet money on it, she was that cocksure of herself. Jutting her chin in the air, she took a deep breath, careful to keep the excitement from her voice. ‘It was Gerry Mann.’
The laugh that came from Danny took Maria by surprise; she’d fully expected him to fall at her feet and propose all over again, only this time she would ask for an even bigger diamond. ‘What’s so funny?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes until they were mere slits.
Danny got to his feet. His expression was hard, and his green eyes were cold and emotionless. ‘I already know Mann was responsible,’ he said, walking around the desk, ‘but what I really want to know is how you know, and more to the point, why you’ve waited until now to tell me.’
Fear coursed its way down Maria’s spine, and as she began to back away from him, her heart beat so hard and so fast that it almost took her breath away. It didn’t take a genius to tell her that she’d just made one of the biggest fuck-ups of her entire life.
As he tore down the corridor towards the accident and emergency department of Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, Jimmy felt sick to his stomach. In that instant, he was transported back in time to when his elder brother Tommy had been gunned down in cold blood; he’d been the first of the family to arrive at the hospital then, too. Just one glance at Tommy’s deathly pale skin had been enough to tell him the situation was serious, that Tommy might not make it, and his fears had come true; just days later, the life-support machine keeping his brother alive had been switched off.
His heart in his mouth, Jimmy entered the emergency department and headed straight for the reception desk. Much to the annoyance of those waiting patiently in line to book in, he pushed and shoved his way to the front of the queue. Gripping the desk so tightly that his knuckles turned white, he barely paused to catch his breath.
‘I’m looking for my brother, Jonny Carter,’ he explained to the receptionist, ‘he was brought in an hour ago.’ He’d barely got the words out when a male nurse approached the desk and asked for Jimmy to follow him.
Jimmy’s heart began to pound even faster; this wasn’t looking good. He couldn’t lose another brother. His thoughts turned to his parents, in particular his mother. She’d never fully recovered from the death of his brothers, and who could blame her? No parent should have to bury a child, let alone two. ‘How bad is it?’ he choked out.
The nurse hesitated, only serving to heighten Jimmy’s fear. ‘I’m afraid that your brother has suffered a knife wound,’ he said, as gently as he could.
The colour drained from Jimmy’s face. All along, he’d known it would be bad, but not in a million years had he imagined a stabbing. In his naivety, he’d assumed it would be a car accident. Jonny hadn’t been appointed the family getaway driver for no reason and, time and time again, Jimmy had warned his brother that he drove too fast, that he took too many risks, that he was reckless.
As the cubicle curtain was yanked aside, Jimmy took a deep breath and braced himself for what was to come. Jonny might have been a pain in his arse, not to mention a lazy little bastard the majority of the time, but he was still his brother.
The sight which met him made Jimmy heave a sigh of relief. Unlike Tommy, Jonny was sitting up in bed, a Styrofoam cup in one hand, his mobile phone as usual glued to the other. He should have guessed this would be the case; since when did hospitals keep seriously injured patients in cubicles, separated by a flimsy curtain?
‘You fucker,’ Jimmy exclaimed, his voice loud. ‘I thought you were fucking dead.’
Screwing up his face, Jonny shook his head. ‘You can’t get rid of me that easily.’ He laughed.
‘What the fuck happened?’ Stepping closer to the bed, Jimmy glanced up at the machines Jonny had been hooked up to. He was no expert but, for all intents and purposes, his brother didn’t appear to be at death’s door.
‘The bastard slashed me; twelve stiches I had to have, all because of that no-good cunt.’ Jonny nodded down at the padded bandage wrapped around the length of his forearm. ‘The ponce tried to kill me; he would have done an’ all if I hadn’t given him a right hook and knocked him on his arse.’
Jimmy’s back stiffened, and the muscles across his shoulder blades tensed. ‘Who did this?’ he growled.
Shame coursed through Jonny’s veins and he lowered his eyes. He should never have allowed Mann to get as close as he had, he should have been on his guard; instead he’d been too busy trying to get into Chloe’s knickers to take note of what had been going on around him. He was supposed to be a Carter and he’d allowed Mann to treat him like a fool.
‘Jonny.’ Jimmy’s voice rose a notch, his tone enough to warn his brother that he wanted an answer from him. ‘Who did this?’
Jonny sighed, and as he sucked in his bottom lip, his cheeks reddened. ‘Joey Mann.’
‘You what?’ Jimmy’s jaw dropped. After the run-in Tommy had had with Joey’s father, he’d wrongly assumed that the Mann family had learnt their lesson, that they would steer clear of them. ‘Are you sure it was Joey?’
‘Of course I’m fucking sure.’ Shifting his weight, Jonny looked down at his clenched fist. He’d cracked Joey hard, and as a result, his knuckles were still slightly swollen and a chunk of skin was missing, probably from one of Mann’s teeth. He hoped he’d actually knocked the tooth out; it was exactly what Joey deserved.
‘I’m gonna have the bastard for this,’ Jimmy hissed.
Jonny nodded; it was nothing short of what he expected. Like all brothers, they had had their spats over the years; in fact, it would be fair to say that their brawls were legendary, and there had been many of them. But at the end of the day, they were still family, and like any family, they looked out for one another, they always had, with the exception of Gary the Judas, that was. ‘Looks like I won’t be able to drive any time soon.’ Raising his eyebrows, Jonny indicated his bandaged arm.
Following his brother’s gaze, Jimmy sighed. What was it with them and diamonds? Every time they planned out a heist that involved the gems, something happened to get in their way. ‘Forget about the robbery, it’s off.’
‘You can’t cancel it.’ Kicking off the bed sheet, Jonny sat up straighter, his face a mask of anger. ‘We’ve worked our bollocks off for this.’
‘We can hardly see it through without our getaway driver, can we?’ Jimmy retorted.
Jonny flopped back against the pillow; his brother had made a valid point. ‘Can’t you get one of the others to drive? How about Jake?’ he said, referring to his nephew. ‘He’s not bad, he’ll just need a few dummy runs to learn the route.’
Jimmy took less than a minute to think the question through before shaking his head. Jake didn’t have the experience that Jonny had and, considering the diamond heist was by far the biggest robbery they had ever planned out, they couldn’t afford to make mistakes; all it would take was one slip-up and they could say goodbye to their freedom.
‘Right now, we’ve got bigger fish to fry.’ Whether he’d intended to or not, Joey Mann had just made the situation personal, and if he wanted a war then he’d come to the right place, because a war was exactly what he was going to get. ‘I’m calling a meeting,’ he growled, ‘and believe me, the slimy fucker won’t get away with this.’
‘Jimmy.’
Tearing his gaze away from the phone, Jimmy looked up.
‘Do me a favour, bruv.’ Jonny’s expression softened and he gave a small smile. ‘Don’t tell Mum about this, you know what she’s like, she’ll only worry herself silly.’
Jimmy nodded. Jonny may have been a cocky little bastard, but at least his heart was in the right place.
Maria had always considered herself to be a strong woman; she was scared of nothing and no one, or so she’d thought. But as Danny stalked towards her, she wasn’t afraid to admit that she was absolutely terrified. It wasn’t even so much that Danny had a lot of muscle behind him – that despite his age, his body was strong and solid; that if he so wished, he could easily cause her some serious harm without even breaking out in a sweat – that frightened her. No, it was the coldness in his green eyes that sent a shiver of fear running down the length of her spine. There was no love in them, only anger, and, if she wasn’t mistaken, hatred. It was a side of him she had never seen before and was more than enough to tell her that she’d been wrong in believing his reputation hadn’t been warranted. Just one glance in his direction was enough to tell her that Danny was dangerous, that he was unhinged.
‘Well,’ Danny roared, ‘answer the question. How the fuck do you know about Mann?’
How on earth was she supposed to answer without giving the game away, without letting on that their entire relationship had been nothing more than a charade, a means to an end, just so that she could inherit his fortune? Backing even further away, she swallowed deeply. For the first time in her life, she felt out of her depth; she’d lost control over Danny, although she was beginning to wonder if she’d ever truly had the upper hand where he was concerned. She’d pushed him too far and had shown her true colours way too early in their courtship.
She wanted to berate herself. Why hadn’t she bided her time, why hadn’t she waited until the wedding band was on her finger before throwing her weight around? Much to her dismay, she already knew the answer to her questions; she’d been too cocksure of herself, she’d truly believed that she had Danny wrapped around her little finger, that he would actually set his children aside for her, that she was the most important person in his life. ‘I…’
Danny’s eyes narrowed into slits. ‘You what?’ he snarled.
Thinking fast on her feet, Maria wrung her hands together. ‘I was too scared to say anything.’ She spoke fast, panic clearly audible in her voice. ‘I was scared of what they would do to me if they found out that I knew who was responsible.’
As Maria reached out for him, Danny slapped her hand away. Even being near her repulsed him, and to think he’d not only shared a bed with her, but he’d brought her into his children’s lives, he’d even planned to marry her. ‘Who?’ Danny yelled.
Swallowing deeply again, Maria’s throat was dry, and her eyes were wide with fear. As always, she felt no remorse, she was only doing what she did best, and that was saving her own skin. It had always been in her nature to look out for number one; it was who and what she was: a selfish bitch.
‘It was Joey Mann and Moray’s son, Aaron. I overheard them discussing the attack, they planted the gun in the toilet and then Aaron fired the gun. It was Moray who was supposed to die, Lexi was in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ And, in a way, she was telling the truth, at least to a certain degree, anyway. Moray had been the one who was supposed to die, only it had been her who’d planted the gun that fateful night, and she’d done it without question or remorse. Aaron had simply been the scapegoat, nothing more and nothing less.
Every muscle in Danny’s body tensed. His gut instinct had been right all along, Aaron had played a part in the shooting; not that he took any pleasure from the knowledge. Despite the rocky relationship between father and son, he knew that Moray would be devastated, he was bound to be; his own flesh and blood had tried to kill him. Danny clenched his fists into tight balls, and it took all of his willpower not to fell Maria to the floor. If she’d been a man, his fist would have sent her flying across the office and he wouldn’t have stopped pounding into her until she was a bloodied mess. Right from the start, she’d known that Mann and Aaron had been responsible for the shooting, and yet she’d kept that little nugget of information to herself. For what reason, Danny didn’t know, the only thing he knew for certain was that he didn’t buy her ‘poor little me’ act. Maria was no fool; she knew what he was about, that he was no mug, that he could look after himself, that he and Moray had reputations as hard men. So what exactly had been her end game? How was she going to benefit from keeping schtum?
‘Danny, please.’ Maria reached out for him a second time, her fingers curling around his forearm. ‘I love you – you have to believe me. I was too scared to say anything.’
‘Cut the crap,’ Danny roared, making Maria physically jump. ‘If you’d loved me, you would have been straight with me from the start. You wouldn’t have sat on the information until it suited you, until you could use it as a bargaining tool.’ He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to one side to look at her. ‘Is that what you actually thought? That you would tell me Mann was responsible and that everything would be okay between us, that we would sail off into the sunset, get married, and live happily ever after?’
‘No, of course not.’ Even as she held Danny’s gaze, Maria was unable to keep up the pretence. There was no happily ever after, at least for Danny, anyway; he’d been next on Gerry’s murderous list.
‘You didn’t even want my kids at the wedding.’
Biting down on her lip, Maria shook her head. Of course she hadn’t wanted the brats at their wedding, why would she? They meant nothing to her, even hearing their names irritated the life out of her. ‘That’s not true,’ she protested, in an attempt to salvage the situation. ‘I wanted Lexi to be my bridesmaid.’
Danny snarled and, closing the gap between them, he stabbed his finger dangerously close to Maria’s face, his body shaking, so intense was the fury that rippled through him. ‘My daughter almost died, and you watched me run around like a headless fucking chicken trying to find the cunt responsible and still you said fuck all to me.’
The shrill ring of Danny’s mobile phone filled the air. He left the call to ring off, but within seconds it rang again. Not taking his eyes off Maria, Danny snatched the phone out of his pocket and pressed answer. ‘What?’ he growled.
