She stood stock-still; the only movement was her chest as she tried to breathe normally. Susie stood next to her, cupping the crook of her elbow with her hand. The mere touch of Susie’s skin on her own made her flinch.
‘Are you okay?’ Susie asked. ‘Layla, look at me.’
Layla’s skin prickled with fear. ‘He’s dead.’
A sob made her glance to her left, and she saw the young girl next to Darcie. She was crying, sucking in long lungful’s of air as she clung to Darcie.
‘A man like him deserves nothing else, Layla. You know what he is now. You know what he did to my Demi, to young Louise here. They’re barely adults, Layla. Prison would never have been enough for him.’
Layla tried to block out Louise’s sobs, but they were too loud. They only echoed the truth of what Susie said. Donnie was the mastermind; he made sure young girls were sent overseas, never to be with their families again, their innocent and simple lives snatched away from them, all in the name of money.
‘Louise,’ Darcie said, ‘breathe. Just breathe.’
Layla turned, pulling away from Susie’s grip and taking Louise’s hand in her own. ‘Louise, you need to pull yourself together, sweetheart. What you saw in there, it didn’t happen. It wasn’t real. Donnie’s not dead, okay?’
Louise shook uncontrollably, and Layla could feel Susie’s and Darcie’s eyes on her. A line formed between Louise’s brows as though she didn’t understand what she meant.
‘A man can never be dead if he never existed in the first place. Okay?’ Layla said, nodding slowly to make sure that Louise understood. Then she slowly turned her gaze to Darcie and Susie. ‘You two agree, don’t you? That Donnie’s not dead. He just never existed.’
Susie gave Darcie a sideways glance and took a breath. They all had tears in their eyes – and blood on their hands if they didn’t go along with this.
‘No one in this house wanted Donnie to get away with what he’d done. He’s ruined us all in his own way,’ Susie said, seemingly taking control of the situation.
Layla felt a little relief. These girls were just young. Darcie in her middle twenties, and Louise didn’t look old enough to have a drink in a pub. Layla and Susie had to be the adults, to make clear and concrete decisions.
‘Darcie, your Kev is down there. You know what those lads are capable of. They’ll deal with this, right?’ Layla asked.
Darcie nodded furiously. ‘Kev wanted Donnie dealt with as soon as he got out of prison, but I tried to talk him out of it. But Cammy and the rest of them are his family. They won’t allow another one of their own to fall victim to Donnie again. No way.’
Layla was glad to hear that.
‘Good,’ she said. Even though she wasn’t one of the Firm, far from it, she was the one who had smashed his skull with the closest thing to hand as she’d walked behind him. She hadn’t planned it. But as soon as she’d seen the hammer lying on the floor, she’d automatically picked it up and swung.
‘Darcie, I need you to take Louise away from here. Now. Take her home, make sure she is okay. And say nothing to anyone. Don’t stop to speak to anyone. Here,’ Susie said, reaching into her handbag and pulling out a handful of cash.
‘No, we drove here,’ Darcie said, glancing down at the money. ‘And you don’t have to worry about us talking. This is a family affair. Kev and Tam, and the rest of them. We’re all family.’
Layla forced a smile. ‘Then no one has anything to worry about.’
Louise tightened her grip on Layla’s hand. ‘Thank you.’ She whispered the words so quietly that if Layla hadn’t been focused on her she may not have heard.
Susie walked them out of the house, and Layla turned, heading back for the door which led to the last place Donnie was alive. Just as she was about to open it and step down into the depths of hell, she was met with the face of the leader of the Barrhouse Firm. Cammy McNab.
‘You a’right? That was some fucking blow you delivered down there.’
‘That was the whole point. The world is a better place without bastards like Donnie.’
Cammy nodded. ‘You gonna do the same thing to Steff Black then?’
Layla regarded him. ‘Why do you say that?’
‘You told him you didn’t want him anywhere near you. I’m assuming there was a reason for that?’
Layla sighed and noticed how her hands trembled. Shoving them in her pockets, she shrugged and headed towards the kitchen where she’d taken the wine out of the fridge.
‘I get if you don’t want to talk about it, although I’m not sure anything you say about Steff could be any more brutal than how Donnie just died.’
Layla was surprised by how forward and upfront Cammy was being. But he was right, and she had nothing else to lose by telling him.
‘My sister was killed a number of years ago by a hit-and-run driver. That driver was paid by Steff to kill her.’
Cammy failed to hide the shock on his face. ‘Jesus.’
‘It gets worse. The reason he did it is because she found out that Steff had doctored a wedding photo to look like I was married to him instead of Donnie, and she said she was going to tell me.’
Cammy’s expression didn’t change, only grew more shocked.
‘I only found the photo today myself. My whole fucking life with them has been a lie. We grew up together, the three of us together all the fucking time. I fell in love with Donnie and married him. Steff was our best man for Christ’s sake.’ Layla grabbed the second wine bottle and opened the lid, but Cammy pulled it from her grip.
‘So you’re a gangster’s moll,’ Cammy said. ‘Molls don’t act like victims when they’re betrayed, do they? They retaliate, like you did. You took your shitty situation and got rid of the core problem.’
Layla scoffed. ‘This isn’t a fucking gangster film, Cammy. This is real life.’ She reached out and wrapped her fingers around the bottle. ‘All I need are two things. To know that you and the rest of the lads will finish the job I can’t.’
‘Done,’ Cammy said. ‘Already in motion. We want no comeback either. We have the resources to deal with this.’
‘Good,’ Layla said, pulling the bottle from his grip and unscrewing the lid.
She stared at him and took a glug from the bottle, condensation from the cold glass making her hand work harder to grip it. Layla noticed her hand trembled. The same hand that held onto that bottle was the same hand that she used to kill her husband. Something that she never thought she’d ever be capable of. Layla might have been married to a gangster, but she wasn’t a bad person. In fact, killing Donnie might have been the only good thing she’d ever done.
‘What’s the second thing?’ Cammy asked.
‘A shit ton of drink to forget Donnie and Steff ever existed.’