Kerry Barnes - The Choice

‘Any news, Dad?’ she asked, in her softest tone.

‘Yes, your brother-in-law will be assigning the house to you.’ His wicked smirk etched its way across his face, and it turned her stomach. She knew what he’d done. It was another one of his euphemisms: Mack would have been tied up and forced to sign the paperwork.

‘I meant, did you make arrangements for Lucas?’

Colin looked away from the computer and sighed. ‘Yes!’ he spat, as his skin tightened around his jaw. Shelley hated that look: she knew it was controlled anger.

Yet, right now, she wasn’t concerned. ‘Oh, Dad, thank you. Oh my God, I’ve been so worried. I feel like …’

‘Shut it!’ he yelled, which made her recoil. ‘I ain’t doing it for you . I’m doing it because it’s what ya dear ol’ mother would’ve wanted. You were right to fuck off with that bastard husband of yours, ’cos you two are cut from the same mouldy cloth. You’re as useless as he is, and as for your son, he fucking got himself into this mess!’

‘Dad, you would’ve done it for me when I was a teenager, wouldn’t you?’

Colin stared straight through her. ‘I’ve bailed your arse outta shit many a time. Having men beaten or buried, I did it to protect your name, when, really, you were nothing but a slut, using my reputation to swan around like you fucking owned the place. I paid your debts, I gave you everything, but you still went off with that bastard. See, that’s where me and you are worlds apart. I know which side my bread’s buttered. You’ve been brainwashed by your estranged husband for so long, you’re not my girl anymore, you’re still his.’

The pulse in her neck felt like a jackhammer, and she wondered if he was actually right. But then the vision of her son came into her head, and she didn’t care what her father thought of her, as long as she got what she wanted.

‘About Lucas. How long will it take, Dad?’

‘It’s happening tonight. And I’ll tell you this much. This has cost me a fucking shitload of money, so once it’s done and dusted, I don’t ever want to see your face again. And when Lucas is sorted, please don’t think for one minute that by sending your son to butter me up, it will in any way change things. It won’t. He’s off limits, as you are. Have I made myself clear?’

‘Dad, he’s a lovely boy. You really should get to know him.’

The flash of anger in her father’s face made her eyes widen.

‘Listen to me, and fucking listen good. I don’t want no fucking needy kid of yours knocking at my door! Got it?’

With a firm nod, Shelley got up to leave. ‘Yeah sure, Dad. Message received. Is there anything I can do?’

He shook his head. ‘No. I’ve everyone and everything in place. I don’t want you interfering, or you’ll fuck things up, and I ain’t going to jail for you, so you stay well away. My private jet will be leaving tonight for Spain, with Lucas on it.’

‘Oh shit! You’re flying him out of the country, then?’

‘Yeah, tonight, so keep away. I have my people on the case, and they know what they’re doing. I’ll have your ticket ready at the airport. You fly separately, though. Understood?’

‘Yeah, sure, but why Spain?’

Colin flared his nostrils in a temper. ‘Shelley, either you want my help, or you don’t. If you have the right bloke, then he is in fucking Alicante. Your dipshit of a son is just lucky I have contacts in Spain to sort out this problem. Now shut up with the fucking questions and piss off.’

She had a million things to ask, but she knew it was her call to leave.

Colin watched as his daughter, dressed in her tight-fitting black tube dress and her short cream leather jacket, toddled out of his office like some Barbie doll on drugs.

He sighed and took out a small bottle of Scotch from his side drawer. It was hard to believe that his daughter, the former love of his life, was now like a looming dark shadow, gnawing away at his conscience. He’d planned to go completely straight and leave all his criminal days behind him, yet Shelley bursting once more into his life was sending him right back to the past where he’d done anything to get to the top. Now he was at his peak, he was annoyed that she’d put him in this position.

All he could do was to thank his lucky stars that he knew many people who owed him, and now he had to call in every single favour. He shuddered; pouring another drink, he gritted his back teeth.

* * *

Amanda Wells, Colin’s personal assistant, had the door to her office partially open, hoping to earwig on his conversation with Shelley. She’d heard Colin on the phone the day before and knew that his daughter was expected around mid-morning. Knowing Colin’s history with Shelley, Amanda felt uneasy that he was even entertaining his daughter. ‘Gold-digger,’ she mumbled, under her breath, as she heard the clip-clop of Shelley’s stiletto shoes recede along the corridor.

* * *

As soon as Shelley stepped outside, where the blustery, cold wind whipped around her bare legs, she felt as though a sudden dark veil of guilt and sadness covered her mind. She did miss her father, if she was being honest with herself, and now there was just him alone, she wondered if he was happy. Would he have still been the same man if she’d not gone down the path she had? It was too late now though – or was it?

Once he met Lucas, he would see that the boy was just like him, his grandfather. Maybe Lucas was not as handsome, but he was tall and smart looking, with the same chiselled face, except his nose was longer and his eyes were piercing blue. Yet she saw her father in him and hoped her father would too.

Jackie sat nervously in her caravan as she watched Torvic pace the floor. He tutted and moved her belongings out of his way, using his forefinger and thumb as if he might catch some disease.

He growled, with his eyes glaring at her. ‘I gave you enough money as security to get a decent car and follow the bitch and keep a lookout. Yet you fucking turn up in your shitty jeep with gaffer tape and an engine, which, in another twenty miles, would have given up the fucking ghost. Bloody hell, woman, how fucking stupid are you? The fumes blacked out the village. Talk about leaving a fucking trail. Ya nearly gassed half of Kent.’

With each sharp word, she blinked. ‘Look, Mr Torvic, you didn’t give me any time to get a decent motor. One minute, you were at my door, putting on the bleedin’ charm, and the next, I was hiding in the fucking bushes with a bloody pair of binoculars watching …’ She paused and looked away, reliving the horrific scene. ‘Well, let’s just say, I didn’t expect to be caught up … in this shit.’

Her last words faltered as she recalled the moment Torvic poured that acid over the bloke’s head. Her ex-husband, Mike, who she’d lived with over thirteen years ago, had a reputation, and that was no secret. But she’d never seen him in action, and as for Zara, she shuddered, because a while ago, she’d fronted the woman out and got swiped across the face with a blade for her trouble. Never in her wildest dreams would she have ever believed her life would’ve turned out in the way it had.

Nausea made her mouth fill with saliva. It was all very well in the past giving Mikey some verbal stick because she believed then, deep down, he wouldn’t have hurt her. After all, she was the mother of his precious Ricky. Now, though, after what she’d witnessed in that hangar, she was having second thoughts. Equally, she was stuck in her poxy caravan with some nutter and his granddaughter, who was in and out of consciousness. She swallowed the rising puke and took a deep breath.