Daddy's Here(20)

I tried, my arm swinging upwards. He caught it easily, twisting it back  towards me until I screamed in pain. I slid backwards out onto the  landing and he followed, still swaying. "You're just like your mother,"  he said, leaning down over me. "Weak."

"Fuck you," I said, watching as his face contorted with rage. He pulled his arm back as I scrambled away from him.

"Come here," he screamed, running at me. His expression changed as he  caught his foot on a hole in the carpet, flying forwards, his head  thudding into the banister that separated the stairwell from the  landing. He slumped straight down and blood began trickling out from  where he'd struck his skull. It soaked into the carpet, a dark pool  slowly spreading towards me.

I thought about calling an ambulance but only for the briefest of  seconds. Then I sat cross legged and watched my father die. I didn't  feel a thing as I watched him. All emotions left me and I was just an  observer, silently watching as his life ebbed away.

That was exactly how I felt as I drove. I was cold and empty, focussed  on nothing but the job at hand. It made thinking easier. Back when my  father had died, I was able to plan my lies, how I'd found him like  that, how I'd tried to help him. All of that bullshit. It meant that  when they interviewed me about it, I had the story sorted.

I ran through things as I drove, able to plan without being troubled by  fear. She'd be taken to Tony's house. He wouldn't have it any other way.  She'd be taken to his house and kept there until the wedding. He'd work  on her to make sure she walked down the aisle without any fuss. His  house.

My mind moved onto his house, the layout, where the guards were, where  the cameras were. I could get in there easily enough. It would be a  challenge, dealing with the guards and then him. But there was no  question of not going through with it. I needed to make one stop on the  way and then it would be on. He better be ready, because I sure as hell  would be.





TWENTY-NINE


ISABEL





When the bag was pulled off my head, I found myself looking up at a  white haired man who seemed utterly indifferent to my plight. He was  picking something from under his fingernail, only giving me the  slightest of glances before continuing with what he was doing. I tried  to scream but the gag was still in my mouth and only muffled noises came  out.

"You've given me a lot of trouble," he said. "I hope you're not going to give me any more."

The entire journey, I expected Jake to save me. Even as I was dragged  out of the car and manhandled into this room, I thought he'd save me. My  hopes only started to fade when I looked around me. Besides the white  haired man who was dragging over a chair to sit opposite me, there were  two other men in suits, both with guns at hand as if they'd walked  straight off the set of an action movie.

"I'm going to take that off you," the man said, pointing at my gag. "And you're not going to scream. Understood?"

I nodded slowly as he clicked his fingers. Someone behind me undid the  gag and the cloth fell out of my mouth, leaving me to work my jaw up and  down where it had rubbed so violently against me. "Who are you?" I  asked, my voice hoarse, my throat dry.

"I'm going to be your father in law," he replied. "Don't you recognise me?"

"Tony Matteo?"

"The very same."

"I'm not marrying Kingsley."

"Oh, that is a shame. I suppose I'll just have to have Jake killed then."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"It's perfectly simple. Either you put on the dress I've bought for you  and accompany me to the church where I have a very friendly vicar happy  to marry you and Kingsley or I have Jake Murdoch killed. You've got a  thing for him, haven't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Bullshit. You don't get to my age without learning a bit about people.  If he's gone rogue, it's because of you. What did you do, let him take  you up the arse?"

"Fuck you."

"No, thanks. It's not me you're marrying."

"I won't marry Kingsley!"         

     



 

"You will or Jake goes bye-bye."

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

I thought frantically. Was he bluffing? It didn't look like he was  bluffing. I could attack him and run for it but could I get past his  guards? How far would I get before they caught me?

"You promise you won't hurt Jake?"

"I am an honourable man, Isabel. I will not lay a finger on him if you marry my son."

"Why me? Why does it have to be me? Why not pick someone else?"

"Because your father offered."

"What? He said you forced him."

"Oh, did he? Sorry to disappoint you, Isabel, but that's not quite true."

"He … he offered me?"

"He did."

"But why? Why would he do that?"

"Because he owed me a lot of money."

"I can't believe this."

"I need an answer, Isabel. Are you willing to marry my son or do I have to kill your new best friend?"

"You swear you'll leave him alone if I agree?"

"I swear."

So that was how I ended up in the most surreal experience of my life,  sat in a gangster's house, having my hair brushed by his sour faced  stylist, a wedding dress hanging up ready for me to step into. It had  been only a few hours since I was on Ben's doorstep and there I was,  about to get married to a man I had no interest in, my life over.

As the brush was dragged through my hair, I thought about my father. Was  it really possible that he'd offered me up to Tony in lieu of debts?  Which of them was more likely to be a liar? A gangster? Or my father?  Whatever the answer, I was trapped. If I wanted to keep Jake safe, I had  to go through with it.

Tony had explained things very clearly. As long as I didn't make a fuss,  went to the church, said what I had to say, then came back to the  mansion afterwards, all would be well. If I ran, if I refused, if I  tried to escape at any point, Jake was a dead man.

I still thought Jake might rescue me, even as I stepped into the dress  and walked down the drive to the waiting car, I thought there was still a  chance he would leap in and save the day. But this was real life, not a  fairytale, and he didn't come. He was probably hiding somewhere, trying  to keep out of Tony's reach. I hoped he was safe, I hoped Tony was  telling the truth, that he would leave him alone like he'd promised.

I climbed into the car, my wrists still sore from where they'd been  bound. Could I call the police? Could I scream for help? I could do both  of those things but then what would happen to Jake if I did? So many  questions bounced around my head as I sat there waiting for the car to  set off.

"You look beautiful," Tony said, climbing into the car next to me.  "Don't look so sad. Life will be good. You will want for nothing. I'll  make sure of it."

Jake wasn't coming. My shoulders slumped as the engine started and we  set off. I was being driven to my doom. There was no other way of seeing  it. I was about to marry a man I hadn't even met, a man who I knew was  violent. I was doing it just so that Jake would be safe. What did that  mean? Did it mean I loved him?

I thought about his face, I thought about the impact he'd had on me,  that he'd turned me from being sure I wanted to return to my past to  wanting to look to the future instead, a future that would be brighter  with him in it. It was hard to admit to myself but Ben was the past, the  past that was gone for a reason. Jake had opened my eyes to that,  without doing anything specific, he'd made me see that love wasn't faded  memories of childhood, it was letting someone in who wanted to come in.

I did love him, I realised as we drove slowly out onto the street. I  loved him, that was why I was doing this. For love. For him. I was  ruining my life to save his.





THIRTY


JAKE





The drive seemed to take forever. I didn't go straight to Tony's  mansion. I needed something first. I stopped at my flat to retrieve my  case. Sitting in the car at the corner of the street, I looked down, my  eyes scanning for anything suspicious.

Tony had two men watching the front, they stood out blatantly, leaning  against a white van and looking straight at the flat. Subtlety was lost  on some of his employees. I could probably have taken them but it would  cost me too much time. Plus, they might get chance to warn him I was  coming.

Moving round to the alleyway behind the block of flats, I was glad that  no one was watching the back. His mistake. I was up the fire escape and  at my floor in under a minute.

I was in my flat seconds later. Crossing to the bedroom, I knelt beside  the bed and pulled up the loose floorboards. Once two were up, I was  able to reach inside and bring out a black case. I carried it out under  my arm.         

     



 

Once back on the street, I climbed back into the car and then sped off  towards Tony's house. I pulled up at the corner of the street that led  to his. It was a tree lined avenue with five houses on one side and only  his on the other, set in its own ground behind a high stone wall. I  leant into the back seat and grabbed the case, putting it on my lap  before turning the combination lock and then opening it.