The Reckoning (Carter Brothers), page 19
It was Jimmy and, groaning out loud, Danny rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. ‘Are you sure it was Mann?’ he asked.
He waited for Jimmy to answer, all the while debating within himself what he should do – continue to have it out with Maria, or attend the meeting Jimmy had called? The meeting won. He and Maria were done; there was no excuse for her treachery, and more to the point, he didn’t trust himself to be around her any longer than was necessary, didn’t trust the fact that he wouldn’t wrap his hands around her slender throat and squeeze the life out of her.
Ending the call, Danny slipped the phone back into his pocket. ‘Get out.’
Maria’s mouth dropped open. ‘But what about us?’ She took a step forward, her arm inching out for him. ‘We can still work this out, it doesn’t have to end like this.’
The snarl was back and, launching himself forward, Danny wrapped his hand around Maria’s forearm, flung open the door and unceremoniously threw her out of the office. ‘What part of this don’t you get?’ he roared. ‘Me and you are done, and let me tell you something else for nothing, you’ve had a lucky escape, because right now it’s taking every ounce of my strength not to smash my fist into your face. Now fuck off.’
As the door was slammed shut, Maria collapsed against the wall, brought her hands up to her face and sobbed. It wasn’t even so much that she and Danny were over that was upsetting her so much, it was the stark reality that everything she’d worked so hard for had slipped through her fingers. Without his money and his business assets, she had nothing, she couldn’t even afford to pay the rent on her flat, let alone continue living the glamorous lifestyle she’d become accustomed to. She wanted to scream, and it was only her new-found fear of Danny that stopped her from shoving open the office door and thumping him. She’d make him pay if it was the last thing she ever did, starting with his precious Stacey Carter.
17
After discharging himself from the hospital, Jonny took a seat at his sister-in-law’s kitchen table and swallowed down several mouthfuls of brandy. He’d been warned not to mix alcohol with the painkillers he’d been given, but that was Jonny all over, he’d never listened to anyone in his entire life, he’d never needed to, and with five elder brothers to back him whenever he fucked up, he’d often gotten away with murder growing up. He still did, to a certain degree, and as much as Jimmy would lay into him for not pulling his weight, it was done half-heartedly.
As Jonny downed the last of his brandy, Danny arrived at the house. He joined the rest of the Carters in Stacey’s now crowded kitchen.
‘I’m guessing you gave the hospital a false name?’ Danny asked, nodding down at Jonny’s bandaged arm. ‘You know what the filth are like, they’ll have a fucking field day over this, and the last thing we need is for you to have brought us any unwanted attention.’
‘Course I did, I’m not a complete idiot,’ Jonny retorted. Anyone would think he’d deliberately set out to get stabbed, the way Danny was carrying on.
Satisfied, Danny turned to look at Jimmy. ‘Where’s Moray?’ On the drive over to Stacey’s house, Danny had tried calling Moray yet again. To be more precise, he’d actually tried more than once, and each time, the call had gone unanswered. In the end, he’d had no other choice but to leave a voice message, warning Moray that he was gunning for Aaron, that he was going to tear him apart with his bare hands for his involvement in the shooting.
‘He’s not answering his phone.’ Jimmy narrowed his eyes and, gesturing to his brothers and nephews, he jerked his head in Danny’s direction. ‘Is there something going on that we don’t know about?’
Danny sighed and, pulling out a chair, he sat down heavily, all the while debating within himself just how much he should reveal. ‘The shooting at the club.’ He paused for a moment and rubbed the palm of his hand over his face, stalling for time. Once he’d uttered the words out loud, he couldn’t take them back, not that he was so sure he would want to; they had a right to know, especially after what had gone down between Jonny and Joey Mann. Jonny was only lucky that he had a blinding right hook on him; if he hadn’t, then he may well have ended up being stabbed to death. ‘Moray’s son was involved – Aaron was the shooter.’ He took note of their shocked expressions and leant forward.
‘Maria…’ He paused again, not wanting to say the words out loud. No matter which way he came out with it, he would still come across as a muppet. He should have known better at his age; he wasn’t exactly as green as grass when it came to women, yet he hadn’t had her sussed out. He’d been so taken in by his ex-fiancée that he hadn’t seen her for who or what she really was, mainly a money-grabbing cunt, not forgetting a cold-hearted bitch. In fact, it would be fair to say that the list was endless. Maria had definitely shown her true colours and they weren’t pretty. ‘It was Maria who told me; she claims to have overheard Mann and Aaron discussing the shooting.’
The room fell silent and as Jimmy, Stacey, and Jonny shared a glance, the tiny hairs on the back of Danny’s neck stood up on end. ‘What?’ he growled.
Again, Danny was met with silence and, spreading open his arms, he sat back in the chair, his expression hard and his forehead furrowed. ‘What the fuck is going on?’
Inwardly groaning, Jimmy looked from his youngest brother to his sister-in-law. Unbeknownst to Danny, he had all but cemented their suspicions that Maria had been the one to plant the gun inside the club. It had to have been her; no one else could have smuggled the weapon in, not with an eagle-eyed Callum on the door. ‘Maria is on friendly terms with the Mann family. Jonny saw her and Joey together in a boozer. She could have been the one who planted the gun, mate. Let's face it, no one would have suspected her, would they?’
‘Yeah, and friendly is an understatement,’ Joey muttered. ‘They were more than just friendly, mate. Put it this way, they were close, and believe me, she couldn’t have got any closer to Mann if she’d wanted to; she was practically sitting on his lap at one point.’
The colour drained from Danny’s face, and as he looked around at the faces staring back at him, he’d never felt so shocked in his entire life. He’d assumed that it had been Aaron who’d smuggled the gun in. Despite her faults, and let’s face it, there were plenty of them, Maria playing a part in the shooting hadn’t even entered his mind – why would it have? Until today, she’d still been his fiancée, the woman he’d planned to marry and share a future with. She’d made him look like a complete and utter mug, and to make matters worse, she’d been responsible for planting the gun that had almost killed his daughter. Not for one single moment had he seen that one coming.
Their entire relationship, right from the beginning, had been a scam and he, like a fool, had fallen for her lies, hook, line and fucking sinker. ‘And you all knew about this,’ he growled, rising to his feet, ‘you all knew she was taking me for a cunt and you said nothing?’
‘I didn’t know,’ Thomas piped up. ‘It’s news to me.’
Flashing his great-nephew a glare, Jimmy held up his hands. ‘Come on, mate, how were we supposed to say something, we didn’t know how to—’
‘Nah,’ Danny interrupted. ‘Don’t give me that old bollocks. You fucking knew; you all knew, and you let me make a fool of myself. What was this, one big joke, a laugh at my expense?’
‘Danny.’ Stacey’s voice was gentle and, with Maria’s words still ringing in her ears, she swallowed down her embarrassment and nodded to the chair. This wasn’t about her any more or how she felt; it was about Danny, and having just found out his fiancée had played him like a fool, he was bound to be hurting. Not only had his pride taken a battering but his future with Maria had been snatched away from him, too. ‘Sit down, please,’ she implored. ‘Just hear Jimmy out.’
Reluctantly, Danny returned to his seat. If it had been anyone other than Stacey, he would have told them to fuck right off. He was so angry that it was almost as though a red mist had descended. He wanted to lash out, to punch something, and not stop until his knuckles were a bloody mess.
Once Danny was seated, Jimmy cleared his throat. ‘Like I said, we had our suspicions, but without proof, they meant fuck all. You agreed yourself that the shooting was an inside job, and other than the staff or yours and Moray’s kids there was no one else who could have smuggled that gun in. How were we to know that you didn’t already know that Maria was on friendly terms with Joey Mann? You would have hit the roof if we’d have insinuated that something more was going on, that we didn’t trust her. This is the woman you were planning to marry we’re talking about, not some bit of skirt you’d picked up for the weekend. And then, when me and Stace stopped by the club, we decided that we were going to say something, but it just, I don’t know…’ He shot Stacey a glance, hoping that she would help him out. After all, she had been the one who’d wanted to keep schtum. ‘It didn’t seem like the right time. I’m sorry, mate; in hindsight we should have said something a lot sooner.’
‘Yeah, you should have done,’ Danny growled back. Kicking out his legs, he closed his eyes and took a series of deep breaths in a bid to calm himself down. Once he’d composed himself, he spoke. ‘So where does Jonny fit into this?’ he asked, turning to look at the youngest of the Carter brothers. ‘What’s Mann’s problem with you?’
Jonny screwed up his face and, as he thought the question through, he chewed on the inside of his cheek. Until now, he hadn’t actually asked himself why he’d been targeted. It wasn’t as though he and Joey had had many run-ins in the past, at least none that warranted an attempt on his life. In fact, he hadn’t even seen Joey since he’d bumped into him and Maria in the pub.
‘Maria.’ Stacey’s eyes widened and she placed her hand over her mouth. ‘I told Maria someone had seen her and Joey together – maybe they put two and two together.’
‘Cheers for that, Stace.’ Rolling his eyes, Jonny shook his head and groaned.
‘How was I to know they’d figure it out?’ Stacey protested.
‘By using this.’ Jonny tapped at his temple, his eyes hard. ‘For fuck’s sake, you and your big trap could have got me fucking killed.’
‘Hey, enough of that.’ Danny's eyes were hard as he stabbed his finger in Jonny’s direction, and the tone of his voice was enough to warn Jonny to back off his sister-in-law. ‘How was Stacey to know that the no-good bitch would go running straight to the Manns?’
Opening his mouth to answer, Jonny quickly snapped it closed again. Danny’s ego may have taken a pounding, but that didn’t make him any less dangerous, and the last thing any of them needed was for that famous temper of his to erupt. As it was, he had a feeling that Danny was hanging on by a thread, and a fine thread at that. ‘Sorry.’ He held up his hands and gave his sister-in-law an apologetic smile. ‘It wasn’t your fault, Stace.’
‘No, you’re right,’ Stacey apologised. ‘I should have known better.’
With the situation diffused, Jimmy cleared his throat. ‘Question is, what do we do about this now? Because I can tell you now, Mann won’t get away with this; I’m gunning for the bastard.’
Danny gave a hollow laugh. ‘What do you think we’re gonna do? We take the cunts out, all of them.’
Jimmy raised his eyebrows. ‘And what about Aaron?’ he asked. ‘If you see this through, you’ll end up going to war with Moray. Is that really what you want? Are you prepared for that?’
The snarl that creased Danny’s face was enough to tell them that he’d already thought the situation through, that he’d already resigned himself to the fact that he might well need to go through Moray to get to Aaron. ‘It is what it is,’ he answered, ‘and if Moray doesn’t like it, then fuck him; his son is going down, and if that causes a war between us, then so fucking be it.’
Closeted away in what was once the dining room but was now his office, Moray had listened to Danny’s voicemail over and over again, and each time he could feel himself becoming more and more furious. Whether that anger was targeted at Danny or Aaron, he honestly couldn’t tell. He was so blinded by rage that he didn’t know whether he was coming or going.
Snatching up his mobile phone, he stood up, collected his car keys, and left the room. As he made his way into the hallway, he shrugged on his jacket, then made for the front door.
‘Where are you going?’ Sophie called out from the kitchen. ‘Dinner is almost ready.’
For the briefest of moments, Moray closed his eyes. How could he even begin to tell her about what was going down? That Aaron had tried to kill him, and now Danny was hellbent on going after his son. And that Danny meant every word when he said that he would tear Aaron limb from limb, and if he knew Danny as well as he thought he did, he would probably laugh while he was doing it. By the time he turned around, a ready smile was plastered across his face. ‘I’m just popping out for a bit; I need to have a quick chat with Aaron. I won’t be long, stick my dinner in the microwave and I’ll heat it up when I get home.’
‘Can I come?’ Tamsin’s expression was filled with hope as she scraped back her chair. She was desperate to meet her big brother, but so far he remained a mystery to her. Her father never spoke about his eldest son and even Colm had clammed up when she’d tried to ask him anything about their brother. Just what were they trying to hide from her? The truth was that Aaron intrigued her. She knew that her brothers had been to prison after they’d been caught dealing ecstasy tablets, but it wasn’t as though they had actually killed someone.
And as for the drugs, it was no big deal in her eyes. She’d even tried ecstasy herself once or twice at one of her friends’ parties, not that she would ever tell her mum and dad, nor Colm; they would hit the roof and were far too strait-laced. They needed to get with the times. All of her friends’ parents were cool about them experimenting, and one of her friends’ dads had even bought cannabis for them, but oh no, not her parents, they treated her like a baby, and she was sick to the back teeth of it. She wanted some excitement in her life. She hid so much of herself from her family, it was almost as though she lived two separate lives. At home, she was their little princess who they wrapped up in cotton wool, but away from home, she drank, smoked, dabbled in drugs, and even had a boyfriend. She actually had a feeling that she and her brother Aaron were more alike than any of them realised.
‘No, sweetheart.’ Moray watched as his daughter’s face fell and, in that instant, his heart went out to her. Tamsin, his baby girl, who was the image of her mother, only with his colouring and dark hair, was far too innocent to be tainted by his son. Aaron had no care for anything or anyone in his life, other than the drugs he shoved down his neck, and the last thing Moray wanted was for his daughter to become embroiled in his son’s world; he’d rather kill the fucker stone dead than allow that to ever happen.
Picking up on the tension, Sophie patted her daughter’s arm. ‘There’ll be plenty of opportunities to meet Aaron; your dad even suggested that we all get together for a family dinner soon; he’s going to cook his famous ribs and barbecue sauce.’ She smiled. It was a lie, of course, not that Tamsin needed to know that, and she had a sneaking suspicion that hell would freeze over before Moray would ever consider inviting his eldest son over for dinner.
‘There you are, see.’ As Moray smiled his thanks, he inched closer to the door. ‘That’ll be something nice to look forward to, won’t it?’
Tamsin narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t a kid any more, she would be turning eighteen in a couple of months, and it was about time she met both of her brothers. And as for the lie her mum had just blatantly told, they must think her a complete idiot if they thought she was going to fall for that one. As if her dad would invite Aaron for dinner, he didn’t even want him in the house. She’d overheard the hushed conversations between them regarding her elder brother and, as far as her dad was concerned, Aaron was a waste of oxygen. Those had been his exact words, even if they had been said in anger at the time. ‘I’ll hold you to that,’ Tamsin said, holding her father’s gaze with a steely one of her own.
Moray laughed, a laugh that until now he hadn’t even known he had inside of him. ‘You’ve got too much of your mother in you.’ He chuckled. ‘You drive a hard bargain.’
‘Oi, cheeky.’ As his wife threw the tea towel towards him, Moray took this as his cue to leave the house, and it was only once he’d closed the front door behind him that the smile slipped from his face and was quickly replaced by a scowl.
Moments later, he was inside his car, and as he turned the key in the ignition, he pulled away from the kerb. Where exactly he was going, he wasn’t sure. He was in half a mind to have it out with Danny. He was no pushover, no mug, and Danny’s words had angered him; the fact his so-called best mate had the audacity to speak to him like he was a piece of shit rankled.
His grip tightened around the steering wheel, and as the signs for London came into view, he cursed under his breath, and pushed his foot down on the accelerator even harder.
Moray wasn’t the only one swearing under his breath. Thirty-two miles away in East Ham, Joey Mann helped himself to a bottle of beer from behind the bar of Giorgio’s restaurant. It wasn’t as though anyone was going to stop him, especially not Carlos’s cousin. In fact, to put a finer point on it, Giorgio wouldn’t be able to fight his way out of a paper bag and was, in Joey’s opinion, an embarrassment to the Christos name.
Taking a deep swig of his beer, Joey winced as he gingerly reached up to touch his swollen lip. He was more surprised that his teeth were still intact, although he had to admit one of his front ones felt a little looser than it had earlier that day. Jonny Carter, the prick that he was, had landed a blinding right hook, and despite himself, Joey had to admit that he was somewhat impressed.
‘I warned you.’ Chewing on a mouthful of kleftiko, Gerry glared at his son before taking a sip of ouzo to help wash the meat down. ‘Not to touch Carter,’ he said, stabbing the fork in his son’s direction.
