Two days had passed since it had happened. Two days since her big brother had been taken away from her, all because he was trying to protect her from being sold like an animal in a cattle market. It was all her fault. She should have been the one to die, not Tam. He didn’t deserve it.
Lying in bed, she scrolled through the searches on the iPad that was on the bedside table. With everything that had happened, and everything coming to light about what she had almost been forced into, Demi Simpson hadn’t really left her mind since. Louise wondered if Demi had fallen to the same fate that had awaited her but hadn’t managed to escape. Donnie could have been the secret boyfriend of Demi’s that no one knew about, the missing piece to the puzzle of why she went missing. A gentle tap on the bedroom door jolted her from her thoughts.
‘Are you okay?’ Darcie asked, peering around the door from the hallway. Louise had been crashing at her cousin’s house since she’d arrived, hadn’t had the guts to tell her mum about what had happened to Tam. How was she supposed to explain that she’d been seeing an older man who’d in fact groomed her, set her up to be kidnapped and trafficked and then, to top it off, murdered her brother when he tried to stop it from happening? Instead, she’d sent a message to say that she was on a trip with college and she would be gone for a week. It would give her time to think about what she was going to do, how she would eventually have to tell her mum what had happened.
‘No,’ was all Louise could manage, before turning over in the bed and facing away from Darcie, facing away from her problems.
‘Cuppa?’
‘No, I don’t want anything.’
She felt the weight on the mattress shift as Darcie got up and left the bedroom. Louise sighed with relief; she wasn’t strong enough to hold it together in front of Darcie today. Would she ever be strong enough to hold it together ever again? With the way she was feeling, it was highly doubtful.
She could feel herself dozing off when she jerked herself awake at the sound of the front door being knocked on from the outside. Louise’s nerves were shot to bits. Every little sound was enough to cause her to have a panic attack, set her on edge, fearing that Donnie would come to Darcie’s flat and take her away before anyone had the chance to stop him.
Closing her eyes and trying to block out the looming daylight, she listened as someone, either Kev or Darcie, moved towards the front door to answer it. She heard the sound of a chain being released, a lock turning and the handle being pulled down before the door opened.
‘What the fuck?’ It was Kev’s voice, loud and confused.
Louise sat up quickly, straining her ears to listen, all the while her heartbeat picking up the pace.
Then she heard the sound of her cousin, a scream that was so high-pitched, yet short, that it reached the depths of Louise’s soul.
The door closed, and Darcie was sobbing loudly. Kev didn’t say another word, and Louise flung off the duvet before rushing out to the hall to see what was going on. As she opened the bedroom door, she froze. Stared at the people standing there.
‘Lou. Are you all right?’
Tam was standing right in front of her, back from the dead. But before she could answer him, he had to reach out to grab her as her knees buckled and she fell to the floor.
‘It’s okay. I’m fine, I’m all right.’
She stared up at him, searching his face for signs that it wasn’t really him, that she was dreaming and that at any moment she was going to wake up and continue living in the nightmare that was now her life, but as Louise blinked against the tears, Tam’s face only became clearer.
Darcie’s sobs were muffled as she clung to Kev, who, when Louise looked up at him, looked just as dazed and shocked as she felt.
‘You’re not dead?’ she whispered.
Tam shook his head but winced as she grabbed him and held him tightly. She hadn’t even noticed the man standing in the hall with them until that moment. He was a big guy, huge in fact. A lot bigger than Donnie in terms of build, not so much in height. His face took her breath away a little as she glanced over the acne scars, and possible burn marks.
Tam had noticed she’d been staring at the man because he said, ‘This is Chud. He’s the one who helped me.’
‘You’re supposed to be on Donnie’s side. Is this an ambush or something?’ Kev said, his tone aggressive as he pushed away from Darcie and squared up to Chud.
‘No,’ Tam said before Chud could answer. ‘Donnie sent him to get rid of me, but he helped me get cleaned up. Donnie’s got a shite aim, the bullet grazed me.’
Louise took a breath, swallowed back the next wave of emotion that she could feel coming over her.
‘I’m sick of Donnie Black, Kev. You of all people know what it’s like to be under his rule. He’s a bad bastard; it just so happens that I’ve had enough of him. I don’t really give a shit what happens to me if he finds out I’ve kept Tam alive. I just couldn’t go through with anchoring him to the bottom of the nearest canal. Especially not when I found out why he wanted rid.’ Chud glanced down at Louise, and she saw a gentle glimmer behind that monstrous expression. ‘I’m sorry about what he did to you. But I’m also sorry to say that it’s not the first time he’s tried it, and it certainly isn’t going to be the last.’
Louise felt sick at how stupid she’d been. How had she not seen Donnie Black for what he was? Of course he was never interested in her romantically, she was barely an adult. The thought disgusted her.
‘You knew about what he was doing and you still worked for him?’ Kev spat, and Louise noted how Darcie had a grip on his arm.
Chud shook his head. ‘You don’t understand. He set me up so that he had a hold on me. But then I realised that what would happen to me was nothing compared to what people like Louise were being put through. So when he gave me the job of getting rid of Tam, that was when I decided enough was enough.’
Tam got to his feet, helped Louise to stand, and the five of them stood in the small hallway of Darcie’s flat.
‘We’re going after him,’ Tam said. ‘The police need to know what he’s been doing and lock him away.’
Louise felt her stomach lurch. It was obvious that even Chud didn’t realise the full extent of where Donnie’s business ventures lay.
‘The police won’t do anything about it, Tam. Donnie’s in cahoots with them. I witnessed a conversation between a DS and Donnie over the phone when I went to the police station about what had happened to you. The police are working for him; well, some of them are. Certainly the one I met is.’
‘Did you know about that, Chud?’ Kev eyed him suspiciously.
‘No, I didn’t, although I can’t say I’m surprised. He’s dangerous, Kev. You and I both know that first hand. He’s got so many dodgy and sinister things going on in the background that I’m sure even the closest people to him don’t even know about them.’
Louise wondered how things could get any worse.