Taken. Jacqui Rose

to go back downstairs.

      Casey cautiously walked down the corridor. She wasn’t sure what she’d just seen but whatever it was she certainly didn’t want to get involved; she was here in London for one reason only and all she wanted to do was get the hell out of there.

      Coming down the stairs Vaughn was standing at the bottom.

      ‘Where’ve you been? I was worried sick. You alright? You look a bit pale.’

      ‘I’m fine; thought it was best to wait on the stairs.’

      Vaughn looked to the top of the stairs.

      ‘That’s where you’ve been all this time?’

      Casey nodded her head and couldn’t help but think Vaughn was looking at her suspiciously. She was feeling very unsafe and it dawned on her how stupid she’d been to agree to have a drink with Vaughn in the club alone. She didn’t know the first thing about him, but after what she’d just seen happen, if he was a friend of Alfie’s he was part of something very dangerous.

      She wanted to go home but she didn’t want to raise Vaughn’s suspicions any more than they seemed to be raised already. She needed to be careful; she didn’t want him guessing she’d seen the girls. Mustering up some courage which she didn’t feel, Casey spoke, hoping her voice would sound light and be relieved of any tension.

      ‘Anyway, Alfie was right; gong night is certainly something not to be missed.’

      Casey grinned up at Vaughn who grinned back, with neither of their smiles reaching their eyes.

      CHAPTER TEN

      ‘For fuck’s sake, woman, can’t you be a little gentler? You’ve got hands like a fucking gorilla.’ Alfie pushed his wife’s hands away as she tried to clean the hardened dried blood off his face with a ball of cotton wool.

      He knew he should’ve washed it off last night but by the time he’d got home to Essex, his face had been hurting so much, he hadn’t wanted to look at it in the mirror, let alone touch it.

      He’d taken some sleeping pills, but he’d been rudely awoken a few hours later by Janine’s piercing scream directly in his ear, after she’d turned over in bed and seen him asleep next to her with his face covered in blood.

      ‘What the fuck are you screaming about, woman?’

      ‘I thought you were bleeding dead.’

      ‘And if I was, how the hell does screaming make it better? You nearly fucking gave me a heart attack.’

      ‘Well what was I supposed to think?’

      ‘Nothing, like you usually do. Christ almighty, Janine, if I was going to cop it, I hope my dying hours wouldn’t be lying next to you snoring your head off.’

      Janine had laughed and waddled off to find some cotton wool and TCP to bathe Alfie’s face.

      Alfie had been driven home by one of his men, which had given him time to think about the situation with Jake. He hadn’t actually known he’d been connected to the Bellinghams in East Ham, not that it would’ve made a difference; in fact, he might have enjoyed dishing out the punishment all the more.

      He still hadn’t spoken to Emmie any more about the matter; the last thing he wanted to listen to were wails of hysteria from his lovestruck daughter. He’d leave her to stew for a few days and then he’d pick her up something special from Selfridges to cheer her up.

      It still pissed him off when he thought about it; he couldn’t get the image of his daughter with that scumbag out of his head and as he put on his shoes, the image of Emmie in just her bra got larger and he felt the rage start to enter his body. He stood up abruptly, throwing the bowl of hot water Janine had brought onto the floor.

      He stormed along the marbled landing, kicking Emmie’s cat out of the way, and marched down the elegant curved staircase to the front door, slamming it behind him as he banged out of the house.

      ‘Fucking hell, Alfie, has Janine been knocking you about again? There’s helplines you can ring for that sort of thing you know.’

      As they sat in the large back office, with crates and boxes piled at the far end of the room, Oscar grinned at Alfie. He’d heard about the showdown at the club from one of his informants and he’d been annoyed he hadn’t been around to see it; he’d had one of his headaches and had needed to sit quietly in the dark of his flat for over an hour to let it calm down. When it had, he’d taken a phone call and rushed down to Shoreditch.

      ‘You’ll understand why I’m not in the best of moods, Oscar; I still have to go to the dentist to get me veneer fixed, so if you wouldn’t mind I’d like to get on with our meeting.’

      Oscar grinned and was rewarded by a scowl from Alfie, which made him laugh out loud as he spoke.

      ‘You weren’t the only one who had a bit of a problem last night, Alf. I got a call from Nesha, the Albanian guy looking after our girls down in Redchurch Street. One of them managed to open the window when she went for a piss and …’

      Alfie sprang up from the chair, sending waves of pain through his face, and the suppressed anger he’d tried to contain earlier broke through.

      ‘What the fuck? Oscar, I thought you said you had them all under control?’

      ‘I did; I do. Nobody, not even me could’ve guessed the little whore would’ve jumped out of a sixth-floor window.’

      ‘What?’

      ‘Yeah, silly bitch decided to jump.’

      ‘What, do they have rubber bones in Albania? How did she think she’d survive?’

      ‘She probably thought it was a better option to jump.’

      ‘Jesus.’

      Oscar grinned, his eyes dancing with amusement.

      ‘I know, fucking waste of money.’

      Alfie shot a stare at Oscar. ‘You haven’t got a heart have you?’

      Oscar put his hand on the front of his chest, pretending to try and feel the heartbeat. ‘No, not even a pulse. You need to stop getting fucking soft on me, Alf; I didn’t think you’re the type.’

      ‘I’m not, and I don’t like you thinking I am, because I might have to show you what sort of heart I’ve got if you carry on taking the piss.’

      Oscar looked at Alfie; pleased with the reaction. He didn’t need to do business with a pussy.

      ‘Of course, Nesha moved the body quickly; put her in the boot and then threw it in the canal at the Hackney end; it’ll be a while before she’s found. Obviously the car wasn’t registered, but he left it on a nearby estate so it can be burnt out by some little fucker who gets his kicks that way.’

      ‘What about the girls?’

      ‘Moved them to Bow, but it’s only temporary, it’s too small there. I thought maybe you could keep some more above the club for a while. I’m going to speak to Lola and get her to break them in.’

      ‘I thought you hated your ex-missus?’

      ‘I do, she’s a hard bitch who’d sell her own grandkids for money – so she’s exactly what we need.’

      It’d been a week since Casey had walked in on Lola, and every day since, she’d regretted the fact she’d walked out on her. Yes, it’d been shocking for Casey to see Lola like that, but the most shocking part of it all was how much Casey had seen of herself in Lola – and it was for that reason that Casey had run away from the situation. It wasn’t Lola she’d seen on the bathroom floor vomiting on the cracked tiles, it was herself. The similarities between herself and Lola frightened her.

      Taking a deep breath Casey opened the door of the cafe, which was jam-packed with mud-clad