The Reckoning (Carter Brothers), page 24
Aaron shook his head; he highly doubted she even had a dealer. Besides, as soon as his brother turned up with the cash, he would be having it away on his toes; he didn’t intend to stay in this shit hole any longer then was necessary.
Pulling up outside the flat in Southend, Colm switched off the ignition, stepped outside the car and locked up.
As he made his way towards the building, he paused. He was only a five-minute drive away from where his dad lived in Leigh-on-Sea, and he might as well kill two birds with one stone and visit his old man, seeing as he was already in the area. Dialling his father’s number, it took just two rings for Moray to answer.
‘Dad,’ Colm said, ‘do you fancy meeting me for lunch? I’m only at the flat, I could be with you in ten minutes.’
The long pause that followed was enough to make Colm wonder if the call had been disconnected, so much so that he brought the phone away from his ear and studied the screen.
‘Dad, are you still there?’ he asked.
The roar that came from Moray was enough to make Colm bring the device away from his ear again.
‘You stupid bastard,’ Moray bellowed down the phone. ‘I told you not to go to the flat. If Danny has just an inkling as to where Aaron is, he’ll kill him.’
Colm screwed up his face. How would Danny even know where he was? It wasn’t liked he’d told him where he was going. He looked up and, in that instant, fear clutched at his heart. The man in question was stalking towards him. Remembering the phone in his hand, panic rippled through Colm’s veins. ‘Too late, Dad,’ he said before switching off the call and shoving the phone back into his pocket.
As the phone line went dead, Moray stared at the device in his hand with a level of horror before all but running out of the house and jumping into his car. Deep down, he’d known this would happen, that it was inevitable Danny would eventually locate Aaron. He knew his old friend well enough to know that Danny would never have given up his search; he was like a dog with a bone once he set his mind to something, always had been.
Pushing his foot down on the accelerator, Moray gritted his teeth. All he could do was hope and pray that he wouldn’t arrive too late.
23
A thumping on the front door caused both Aaron and Tamsin to turn their heads. Groaning out loud, Aaron all but shoved his sister into the hallway. ‘You need to hide,’ he told her. ‘He can’t see you here.’
‘But why not?’ Looking from her brother to the front door, Tamsin screwed up her face. ‘It’s only Colm; it’s not like it’s Dad, is it?’
Giving a half laugh, Aaron pushed her into the kitchen and closed the door firmly shut. She clearly had no idea what their brother was like. Colm was so far up Moray’s arse that he was surprised his brother even came up for air. With one last glance around him, Aaron slung back his shoulders and opened the front door.
What he hadn’t been expecting was the hand that grasped him around the neck, almost cutting off his air supply in the process, as he was slammed heavily against the wall.
‘What the fuck, man?’ he protested.
The snarl Danny gave him in return was enough to tell Aaron that he was in serious trouble. His gaze found Colm’s. The fact a man of Danny’s age had managed to singlehandedly overcome them both at the same time was lost on neither one of them.
Within a matter of seconds, Danny had forced them into the lounge and, as he shoved them away from him, he pulled a gun out from the waistband of his trousers.
‘Whoa,’ Colm shouted, panic audible in his voice, ‘there’s no need for that.’
Danny almost laughed out loud. There was every need to pull a gun out on them, or at least Aaron, anyway. He was going to get a taste of his own medicine, only in Aaron’s case, there would be no miracle recovery, there would be no coming back from the brink of death.
‘Danny?’
Danny snapped his head round, his eyes widening. The fear in Tamsin’s voice rocked him to his very core. What was she even doing here?
‘What are you doing?’ Looking from the gun in Danny’s hand to her brothers, Tamsin’s eyes were wide with fear. Why did her dad’s best friend have a gun, and why was he pointing it at Colm and Aaron?
‘Get out,’ Danny growled.
Tamsin’s eyes widened even further. Danny had never shouted at her before, and despite the bad girl image that just moments before she’d been trying so desperately hard to portray, her bottom lip wobbled and tears sprang to her eyes.
‘You.’ Waving the gun in Colm’s direction, Danny motioned to the door. ‘Get her out of here.’
When Colm made no attempt to move, Danny advanced. He wasn’t here to play games and the quicker they understood that, the better for them it would be. Well, for Colm and Tamsin, anyway; the same couldn’t be said for Aaron, but he had a feeling deep down that Moray’s eldest son already knew that. ‘I told you to fucking get out,’ he roared.
‘All right.’ Holding up his hands, Colm locked eyes with his brother, then, grasping his clearly terrified sister by the arm, he dragged her out of the flat.
Danny’s eyes remained hard and, as he turned his attention back to Aaron, his face was set like thunder. ‘You cunt,’ he said, his voice low and menacing, ‘you could have killed my daughter. My little girl almost died because of you.’
Aaron swallowed. Was Danny expecting him to actually answer? What was there left for him to even say? He could deny his part in the shooting until he was blue in the face, but he had a feeling it wouldn’t help him out. Not only was Danny hellbent on revenge, but he was also no fool, and no matter what Aaron said, Danny wouldn’t believe him. He also had a sneaking suspicion that apologising wouldn’t get him very far either; what he’d done went beyond apologies. How did you even say sorry for almost killing someone? Ever so slightly, he cocked an eyebrow and, as the chip on his shoulder reared its ugly head, he resisted the urge to give a nonchalant shrug.
The action was enough to make Danny see red. He grabbed a handful of Aaron’s t-shirt in his fist and yanked him towards him so hard that their foreheads almost collided.
Pulling the car to a screeching halt beside the kerb, Moray jumped out of the motor. On seeing Tamsin, his eyes widened. Why was she here? As he glanced up at the building, a sickening thought hit him – had Danny brought her here, had he planned to harm his daughter? An eye for an eye sprang to mind.
Before he’d had the chance to open his mouth, Tamsin ran into his arms. ‘I’m sorry, Dad,’ she wept, ‘I just wanted to meet Aaron.’
Moray sighed with relief and, as he hugged her to him even tighter, he jerked his head towards his youngest son.
‘Where is he?’
Colm nodded towards the building. ‘He’s up there.’ Over the top of Tamsin’s head, he raised his eyebrows in a warning. ‘He’s got a gun.’
Moray closed his eyes. Of course Danny had a gun; he hadn’t expected anything less from him. ‘Look after her.’ He pushed Tamsin into her brother’s arms.
‘No, Dad.’ Becoming hysterical, Tamsin clung on to her father for dear life. ‘If you go up there, he’ll kill you.’
‘It’s okay.’ Moray gave his daughter a smile and gently prised her arms from around him. ‘I’ll be all right, it’s only Danny,’ he said with more confidence than he actually felt. ‘It’s not like he’s going to shoot your old dad, is it; we’re mates.’
As he made his way into the building, the smile slipped from Moray’s face. Mates or not, if he got in his way, Danny wouldn’t think twice about killing him.
A few moments later, he let himself into the flat and, as he made his way down the hallway, he was aware of raised voices coming from the lounge.
Steeling himself, he reached for the door handle and pushed down.
The scene before him was nothing short of what he’d been expecting; already he could see bruises forming across the left side of Aaron’s face, and his nose was encrusted with blood. Danny had obviously gone to town on him.
‘Danny.’ He shook his head, his voice loud. ‘Enough now, you’ve proved your point.’
Danny turned his head, and the look he gave was enough to chill Moray to the bone. ‘I ain’t even started,’ he stated.
Moray inched forward, all the while eyeing the gun warily. ‘I won’t let you do this,’ he warned. ‘He’s my son; I’m not going to let you kill him.’
Giving a half laugh, Danny pointed the gun in Moray’s direction. ‘Move.’
After a quick glance at his son, Moray held up his hands and made his way further into the lounge.
Resigning himself to the fact that he would die in order to save his son’s life, Moray gave a weak smile. ‘I always said that you’d be the death of me,’ he commented.
In that instant, Danny paused, and the hand that held the gun ever so slightly trembled. As much as he didn’t want to admit it, the truth of Moray’s words stung. So many times over the years, they had had one another’s backs, and more often than not, Moray had been the voice of reason, the one to reel Danny in when he went too far, which just so happened to be often. As a joke, or maybe more so out of exasperation, Danny wasn’t so sure which, Moray would tell him that one day he would end up killing him, he’d just never thought that day would actually come true, that it had been an actual glimpse into the future.
‘What are you waiting for?’ Moray asked as he manoeuvred himself in front of his son. ‘You’re going to have to kill me to get to him,’ he said, gesturing towards Aaron, ‘so just get it over and done with, mate, and pull the trigger.’
Danny faltered; his mind was in turmoil. Moray had been his best mate for more years than he cared to remember; they had been through so much shit together that it was only by a miracle that either one of them had survived this long. Sighing, he lowered the gun to his side. ‘I don’t ever want to see him,’ he said, turning his hard stare on Aaron. ‘Because, if I do, there will be no second chances, he doesn’t get to walk away from me a second time.’
Exhaling loudly, Moray nodded. He understood perfectly what Danny meant. Aaron had been given a reprieve and, as long as he stayed out of Danny’s way, he got to live.
‘Cheers, Dad.’ A few moments later, after Danny had left the flat, Aaron heaved a sigh of relief. ‘I thought the fucking nutter was going to actually shoot us.’ He laughed.
Turning his head, Moray snarled. He knew Danny well enough to know that it had taken a lot for him to walk away, and he may have had his moments, but he had more morals in his little toe than Aaron had in his entire body. His fist when it shot out caught Aaron just below his chin, and his son fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Moray stood over him, his expression murderous.
‘You’re gone, do you understand me? You’re out of my life for good. I put my fucking neck on the line for you, I went up against my best mate to save your sorry excuse for a fucking life, and for what, eh, so that you can make a wisecrack, so that you could make a fucking joke of it? That so-called fucking nutter is my pal and I’d rather have him fighting my corner than my waste of space, sorry excuse of a fucking son.’ Shaking out the tension in his fist, Moray shook his head. ‘Stay away from me and my family, do you understand?’
As he lay on the floor, Aaron was seeing stars.
‘Do you understand?’ Moray roared again, this time lifting his foot several inches off the floor, fully prepared to give his son a swift kick to the ribs if he didn’t answer him.
Aaron nodded. It didn’t take a genius to tell him that he’d well and truly burned his bridges where his father was concerned.
With one last snarl in his son’s direction, Moray walked from the flat. As he reached the communal entrance doors, a small part of him had hoped to see Danny, had hoped that he would have stuck around, even if it was just for Danny to tell Moray that he despised him, that he regretted not pulling the trigger, that he should have ended his one-time best mate’s life. It was hard to believe that four decades of friendship was gone. As easily as clicking his fingers, they had become enemies, and all because of their kids, all because they had wanted to protect them. At least Lexi had deserved protection; the same couldn’t be said for Aaron.
Once upon a time, he would have laid down his life for Danny, and he knew without question that Danny would have done the same for him; they might not have been brothers by blood but they had been as close as any two brothers ever could be. They had been through their fair share of ups and downs, they’d survived abuse together, they’d even murdered together, and that was without the highs. They’d been each other’s best men when they’d married, they’d celebrated the birth of their children, and then they’d mourned the loss of friends together, good friends.
His heart heavy, Moray made his way out on to the street. Standing beside his car were his youngest son and daughter, and, as Tamsin ran towards him, the love he felt for her made him understand Danny’s need to avenge the bastard who’d almost killed his little girl. It was a sobering thought, and as he looked up at the block of flats, for the first time in his life, Moray regretted his actions. He should have hung Aaron out to dry, should have handed him over to Danny on a plate. Only he hadn’t, and that was something he would have to live with.
EPILOGUE
ONE YEAR LATER
As he made his way down the path to his ex-wife’s home, Danny couldn’t help but feel a bubble of nervousness. It was Lexi’s birthday and, loaded down with gifts, he paused before ringing the doorbell.
‘Are you going to knock or are we going to stand out here all day?’
Looking over his shoulder, Danny chuckled. In one hand, Stacey held a bouquet of flowers, and in the other, a bottle of champagne.
Before he could answer, she reached up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his lips.
Finally, and not before time, seeing Stacey hobble towards him after Maria had tried to kill her had given Danny the kick up the backside he’d needed to tell her how he felt about her, and laying his cards on the table, it was now or never, he decided. He knew that if he didn’t at least try to tell her how he felt, then he would always regret keeping schtum. At the time, they had been sharing a bottle of wine and putting the world to rights, and if he was being honest, the alcohol had played a large part in giving him some Dutch courage. He’d been fully prepared for her to rebuff him, he’d even readied himself to see disgust in her eyes, maybe even a slap across his cheek for being so forward, but to his surprise, Stacey had taken his hand in hers and told him that she felt the same way. They had been inseparable ever since, he’d even put his house in Brentwood on the market and had already moved into Stacey’s home, or their home, as she now called the house in Epping.
As for his kids, they adored Stacey, and she was great with them too. She’d welcomed Lexi and Logan into her family without hesitation, and for that fact alone, Danny would always love her.
When it came to marriage, they had decided early on that they were more than happy as they were, they didn’t need a piece of paper to tell the world that they loved one another.
Moments later, they entered the house and, when they made their way into the back garden where the party was being held, Lexi took one look at her guests and squealed with delight before throwing herself into Stacey’s arms.
‘Hey,’ Danny said with mock indignation, ‘what about your dad, where’s my hug?’
As she and Stacey shared a knowing glance, Lexi rolled her eyes. ‘As if I’d forget you, Dad.’
Placing the gifts on the floor, Danny wrapped his arms around his daughter and kissed the top of her head. It was hard to believe that a year had passed since Lexi had taken a bullet.
Looking up, Danny caught his ex-wife’s eyes. It had been Maxine’s idea to throw the party at her home and a part of him couldn’t blame her – after what had happened on Lexi’s eighteenth birthday at his club, a house party had to be the safer option. Lexi’s only stipulation had been that he and Stacey were allowed to attend and, seeing as Maxine could barely stand to be in the same room as him, he knew it had taken a lot for his ex-wife to agree to their daughter’s demands.
‘Thanks.’ Danny made his way over to Maxine. ‘I mean for agreeing that me and Stace could come along, it means a lot to Lexi and me.’
Maxine gave a curt nod of her head, then, taking a sip of wine, she pointed the glass in Stacey’s direction. ‘You look good together, and I know that Logan and Lexi are fond of her. All I ever hear is Stacey this, and Stacey that.’
Danny’s heart swelled with pride, and he gave a little chuckle. ‘She’s a diamond.’
A gentle smile creased Maxine’s face. ‘Well, I wish you luck.’ And leaning in closer, she lowered her voice. ‘Don’t let her go, she’s good for you.’
Danny’s eyes widened; it was the most civil Maxine had been to him in years and, as for letting Stacey go, hell would freeze over before he ever considered doing anything to jeopardise their relationship. Making her way over to him, Stacey wrapped her arms around his waist.
In his pocket, Danny’s mobile phone began to ring. He pulled the device out and Moray’s name flashed up on the screen. He and Moray hadn’t spoken for almost a year; they avoided one another at all costs and had even devised a rota for the club so that they wouldn’t have to come into contact with each other, an agreement that suited them both down to the ground. It had to be better than them tearing one another apart.
For just the briefest of moments, Danny hesitated. As much as he hated to admit it, a small part of him missed Moray; well, maybe a big part. Danny had often likened Moray to the brother he’d never had.
