Jessie Keane - Black Widow

‘Takes all sorts,’ said Darren.

‘But when he said he wanted me to pass the flame over his cojones , I drew the line. Think that’s more Una’s bag than mine. She enjoys beating the living crap out of men, after all. Has a fucking orgasm when she hurts people. Burning their balls has just got to be a major turn-on for that bitch.’

Annie took off her coat and sat down. Dolly pushed a mug towards her and poured the tea. Annie thought that marriage had softened Aretha, just the same as it had softened her. Which could be a bad thing, and she knew it. She wanted to tell Aretha, to warn her not to let her guard down too far, but she kept quiet and drank her tea. Tried, for five blissful minutes, not to think of the complete mess her life had become. Then Ross came in, and gave her a note.

A pizzino , he said coldly. For Mrs Carter.

‘What’s it say?’ asked Dolly eagerly as Annie unfolded it. ‘Hey, that’s all numbers.’

‘It’s code,’ said Annie, and quickly deciphered it.

It said: Come Friday morning. Early. C.

‘Is that from Constantine Barolli?’ asked Dolly. ‘He’s keen.’

‘He’s persistent, for sure,’ said Annie. She thought about Constantine: handsome as the devil and just as alluring. She still didn’t know if she could trust him. She didn’t know who she could trust any more. She looked across at Ellie, who was watching her. Redmond must know that she had been in talks with the Mafia boss, because Ellie knew and Ellie was the Delaneys’ insider. Nothing happened here that the Delaneys didn’t know about.

Ellie blushed as she saw Annie returning her gaze.

‘It’s okay,’ she said sulkily. ‘I don’t grass to the Delaneys no more.’

Dolly gave her a stern look.

‘Yeah, we had a talk about that, didn’t we?’ Dolly looked at Ellie then at Annie. ‘After we had all that trouble with Ellie after Pat Delaney popped off, I took her back in but there were terms. And those terms were, no grassing us up to the Delaneys. What happens inside these four walls-or even outside them if it concerns any of us- don’t get told to them. That was the deal, and I think Ellie’s stuck to it.’

‘Course I have,’ said Ellie uncomfortably.

‘You’d bloody better have, if you know what’s good for you.’

‘I have,’ Ellie insisted.

Annie looked at Ellie. She hoped Dolly was right.

‘Everyone deserves a second chance,’ said Dolly with a shrug.

Annie wasn’t sure that she would have been so generous.

‘Where’s Una?’ she asked, thinking of what Constantine had said to her about the woman’s family link to Jeanette-and of what she would have to do about all that as soon as she got her chance to act.

She ached to batter Una, very soon. But for now, she knew she didn’t dare. If she so much as mentioned the Byrne family to Una, word would without doubt shoot straight back to them that she was sniffing around, getting clever.

No-it was safer to keep quiet. Safer for Layla. For now she would have to hold back. But later, she promised herself, they were going to pay for what they’d done, every one of them.

Annie squirmed with thwarted rage as she thought of the harm the Byrnes had inflicted on her family. For now they had her right where they wanted her. Right where they could keep an eye on her. Right where she could not even think of retaliating.

Una. That bitch. And silly, chatty Jeanette. Vita, the unknown sister. Danny-what about this Danny, was it him who had lopped off Layla’s finger, was it him she spoke to on the phone? And Jimmy! Jimmy had to be involved, and for that she was going to have his guts.

But not yet.

‘Una’s out,’ said Dolly, pulling a face. ‘And she ain’t signed the bloody book again. Thinks rules are for other people, that one.’

I can’t do a damned thing to her anyway , thought Annie. My hands are tied. I’m in chains.

But Layla was alive, she knew that now. And Constantine might be pissed off with her, but he was still there, still on her side. She hoped.

Ross put his head around the kitchen door. ‘Client,’ he said. ‘For Aretha.’

Aretha hauled herself to her feet.

‘A woman’s work is just never done,’ she complained with a grin, and went off into the hall.

Annie went and sat upstairs on the bed to think. She got out Max’s ring and held it in her hand; it gave her some comfort. In the other one she had the pizzino from Constantine Barolli.

Come Friday morning. Early. C.

She closed her eyes and let it all wash over her: the rage, the grief, the guilt, the fear. Max was gone for ever, and she had to accept that. Had to. She could hear Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky drifting out from Ellie’s room. Lyrics all about death.

But accepting Max’s death was hard, almost too hard to bear. He was dead, and she was still alive, and she almost wished their positions were reversed. But Max wouldn’t allow his feelings to stand in the way of what he needed to do, and neither must she.

She had to be strong.

Dig deep and stand alone.

She’d lived by that creed all her life, clinging to it when the going got hard. It had sustained her, allowed her to always find a way through.

Would she find a way through this time?

She had to.

Annie turned her face into the pillow and gritted her teeth and willed herself to be strong enough to go on with this.

She had to find a way through the obstacles, to get Layla back.

Yes, Max was gone.

And there was something else she had to privately admit to-that there was a strong tug of attraction between her and Constantine Barolli, and that it was mutual. She thought of Barolli, suave bloody American, handsome, authoritative, sitting over there in Holland Park with everything nicely under control.

She thought of his family-his exquisite yet sour-faced sister Gina, the angelic Alberto, and slimy, dark-eyed Lucco, who had seen that there was a spark there, and warned her off. She thought of Constantine’s wife, Maria, dead five long years. He’d been through what Annie was going through now. He knew how it felt.

How it felt was bad.

She clutched Max’s ring harder, felt the metal digging into her palm and welcomed the pain of it.

It was no use, though-whatever she did, however she felt, there was no way to summon him back to her side, no way now to make it all right again.

Max was gone.

And she was still here.

And so-for now at least-was Layla. She had to cling on to that.

So she was going to have to go to Constantine’s early on Friday, and this time she was going to make sure that things went smoothly between them. He would provide the cash as soon as she fell into line, so she would do it.

Friday morning, early.

This time, she was determined to do it.

Until then, all she could do was wait.

Oh yeah-and pray.

It was an attack designed to evoke panic.

They broke down the door of the little house near the Albert Docks at one o’clock in the morning, storming in, shouting and screaming and brandishing weapons. They ran down the hall into the kitchen, kicking open doors into the lounge, the cellar, what had once been a dining room. They ran up the stairs, kicking open more doors, bounding into rooms, intent on mayhem, on sudden surprise, on making anyone in there freeze with fear and not have time to try to harm the girl or use her as a shield.

The one in charge stood up there in the empty bedroom, looking around him in disgust. Nothing. No one.