Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 128585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 643(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128585 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 643(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 429(@300wpm)
“Freddie hadn’t planned for shit to go down when it did, but when Ronnie traced the video he’d sent to you about your mum, he knew he was on borrowed time. That we’d soon find out we had a rat in our midst.”
Eric gritted his teeth. “When your old man woke up, Freddie knew he could get you alone. Luckily for him, Alfie waking up coincided with the trap he’d left for us at the dock. Suddenly, he had a way to get you, Ches and him alone in the house—Gene being here was just a fortunate opportunity. He realised he could get to you while the rest of us were at the docks dealing with the shitshow they had staged.” Eric inhaled. “He killed your old man of his own accord.”
Arthur tensed beneath me. I took his hand and brought it to my mouth. I kissed the back of his palm and felt him relax, exhaling slowly through his nose.
Vinnie came barrelling down the hallway and hurtled into the living room, all rage and fury. His eyes were wide and his hair was in more disarray than normal. “She’s gone,” he said frantically. “Pearl,” he said, his hands shaking. “I can’t find her. She’s fucking gone.” The hallucination. The spectre of Pearl that kept him grounded, kept him somewhat sane. “She’s fucking gone!” Vinnie stilled. “The video. The bird on the video. She’s taken her away from me.” He stopped dead, then, hands balling into fists, yelled, “That fucking imposter bitch has taken my Pearl away!”
Charlie got to his feet, palms up. “Calm down, Vinnie,” he said, approaching Vinnie as if he were a wild animal. “We’ll get her back,” he said softly. “I swear to you, we’ll bring her back to you.” Vinnie breathed out, panting as though he’d been holding his breath for days.
“You promise?” he said to Charlie, holding on to Charlie’s words as if they were an anchor to what little sanity he had left.
“Have I ever lied to you before?”
Vinnie shook his head. “No. No, you’ve never lied to me before.”
“Let’s get you a cup of tea. Everything’s going to be okay.” Charlie ushered Vinnie out of the room, leaving deathly silence in their wake.
“Ron?” Arthur said, breaking the tension Vinnie’s outburst had brought.
Ronnie took a deep breath, readying to relay the information on Pearl she’d managed to find after we returned home. “It’s true. It’s all true. Pearl is alive and goes by the name Annie Lawson.” Ronnie shook her head. “I don’t know why she doesn’t remember you, or her real family, but it’s clear something happened to make her forget everything.” Vera nodded at Ronnie to continue. “For all intents and purposes, Ollie was her big brother.” Arthur stilled. “They took her to Switzerland, to get her away from this family. And there she was raised, schooled, still lives. Ollie visited her all the time. Pearl runs their drug business in Switzerland.”
“Who the fuck are they?” Arthur asked, his voice rough like cut glass.
“The Sidel Group,” Ronnie said. Arthur sucked in a short breath.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Eric said.
I looked to Arthur for an explanation. His expression was stone, but his blue gaze burned with fire. “Our biggest rivals in Europe,” Arthur said.
“Your sister runs the rival European business?”
“I—we—had never heard of her by name before,” Vera said. “They kept her hidden—obviously. But she’s the boss of the Sidels now. No doubt about it. Took over when their—Ollie’s—dad died last year. We have no idea if she knows it was Ollie that killed him. We just know it’s her.”
Arthur laughed, but there was no humour in it. “My little sister is our rival. She fucking hates us and, according to Lawson, will have a fucking bounty on our heads for his death.”
“We’ll sort this,” Betsy said to Arthur. Eric nodded at Betsy in agreement. “Pearl’s safe … even though she doesn’t know us as her family anymore. She’s safe over there in Switzerland, and she’s alive. At least we can take comfort in that.” Betsy downed her drink. “We’ll get her back. Somehow, Arthur, we’ll bring her back to us. To Vinnie … to you.”
Arthur exhaled, and I could hear exhaustion in his heavy breath. I put my hand on his cheek and turned his face to me. “Let’s go to bed. Let’s get you cleaned up, and let’s get some sleep. We can come back to this another time. We won. We’re all safe. Now it’s time to rest a little.”
“She’s right,” Vera said, tiredly getting to her feet. “I’m bloody knackered. We all are. I haven’t got bags under my eyes, I have fucking suitcases.” She took Ronnie’s hand, holding on to it like she might never let go. “We’re going to get some sleep too.”
I got up from the chair and, keeping my hand in his, led Arthur from the living room and straight through our bedroom into our bathroom. I stripped off his clothes. Arthur watched me silently, heat burning in his gaze. I turned on the shower and took off my clothes too. I stepped into the shower with him and began cleaning him of the blood that still clung to his skin. Arthur didn’t take his eyes off me the entire time. It was as though he couldn’t believe I was here with him. As though he didn’t want to close his eyes in case I disappeared.