Ria. Earlier that day.She marched up to the door of the townhouse, Philippe beside her and a few of the men around them. The door opened slowly and a hatchet-faced woman stood there, an unpleasant expression on her hard face. Ria looked at Philippe in astonishment.Who was this? was her wordless question.He nodded slightly , an “I will handle this” kind of look on his scarred, handsome face and he stepped forward.The woman seemed to recognise him, her pupils dilating in fear.Ria stepped forward and Philippe pushed the door open, despite the woman trying to resist him. “Who is that?’ Ria hissed as they moved down the corridor.‘Britney brought her here,’ Philippe replied tersely.The woman gave pursuit, trying to stop them. She reached forward and clawed at Ria’s arm, her nails like talons.’You cannot go in there. THIS is a private house,’ she huffed.Ria had had enough. She shoved the woman so roughly, the old woman almost fell down.’Look, this is MY Pappa’s house.’ she snapped
That same night.PaddySomewhere beyond the Delano estate, in the woods that surrounded the mansion, a small group of men was hunting around the body of the youth, who lay unconscious and bleeding.Finally, one of them let out a shout.“Over here! he called just as the leader, a grim-faced man with a flat face, hissed,“Softly, you fool. ‘ and he grumbled under his breath,“We don’t want those trigger-happy guards of Delano to discover us.’The man who had shouted out in excitement had quietened down but he continued to shine his torch on an object on the forest floor which was covered in dry leaves and shrubs.It was the backpack they had been ordered to find and bring back.*the men silently picked it up and after making sure that the contents of the backpack were intact, they swiftly boarded the vehicles they had come in and disappeared into the night, as silently as they had come.One of them hesitated, his eyes on the prone, still figure on the ground.“What about him, Afzal?’,
ProserpinaThat morning, I was busy with my work but by late afternoon, I was beginning to worry.There had been no message from Paddy.*There was an unspoken rule in my home; all my children had to call me once in the day to let me know they were well. Read safe.At first Claude had been irritated as I had known he would be : he was a rebel, forever chafing at the bit.‘Why?’ he had questioned me belligerently,’ No one else has a stupid rule like that in their homes. Don’t you trust us? It is like you are keeping tabs on us…’Jumping to her feet indignantly, Ria had cut him short.“Would you rather have Mumma ask Pappa to install a tracker on you?’ she snapped.Claude fell silent. The kids knew that I was asking them, but I had not involved Lucien in this.They were all at home, in my bedroom, for the eldest children were leaving for college the next day.Piers interrupted him when Claude had opened his mouth to reply to Ria,His grey-blue eyes behind his spectacles were authoritati
LucienHe had a lot to oversee that day. The two new projects they were launching were readying to open in a week. And he had organised a grand party for his clientele and business associates. His men were waiting at both the venues and he went about, satisfied with the progress. Everything was done, the final touches were all that he needed to take care of.Both the new Clubs were in different parts of the city. As of now, he had no plans of leaving Hollowford to set up another Club elsewhere. It served his purpose excellently, to stay in his hometown and bring the business here. it was his home turf and he knew everything that went on there.Then there was Claude’s upcoming fight. it would be the first time that he was facing a professional; all the other fights before this had merely been warm-ups as far as Lucien was concerned. From the daily reports he kept receiving about the young man’s progress, he knew that he had little to worry about. Claude was laid back and a sexual anima
Maja“Oh, great, thought Maja as she picked up her duffle bag and trotted after the man who was striding out, anger in every fibre of his bearing.‘Please wait,’ she panted and he stopped abruptly, turning to look at her, his green eyes hard and cold, all the humour and the warmth had vanished. He looked dangerous and she halted at once.“Look,’ she murmured softly, stopping in her tracks as she looked into his hard, handsome face,“I did not…’ and then, looking him in the eyes, she said in a small voice,”I am sorry.’ Tilting her chin, she gazed at him, stubbornly. He sighed and nodded.’Car’s here.’ he said shortly and they saw that a large deep blue sedan had driven up to the door. The children eagerly piled into the back seat as one of the men standing at the entrance came over to help them to load their luggage, just a couple of sad-looking, worn-out suitcases.Maja bit her lip. They looked like refugees; she thought bitterly, which they were in some sense of the word!The door s
ProserpinaWhen Schwartz called back to ask if he could bring a couple of teenagers and their mother, who was going to be a colleague of Grace and Melissa at the local Hollowford High, I had agreed.I knew that Lucien would not be too happy but it would be a welcome distraction for Dom, Lou and Tara who were moping in the living room, having heard about Paddy’s disappearance.Besides, we always had room for people in our spacious mansion and from what he had not said, I got the feeling that the family were desperately in need of a roof over their head. I went into the kitchen to check if we had enough food and quickly began to whip up a Jambalaya to go with the apple pie that was already done and the meatloaf I had prepared earlier in the day. Macaroni and cheese, my kids’ all-time favourite took very little time to get done and that had also been on the original menu.As I went about chopping the onions, celery and bell peppers for the jambalaya, Ria came into the kitchen to watch. C
MajaShe looked about herself surreptitiously. The cacophony of sounds was rising as she moved forward to the woman who stood smiling. She was young, thought Maja in surprise, younger than Maja herself; and lovely, in a sensuous way, with that curvaceous body. Her heavy brown hair, shining mahogany in the light, hung in a long, thick braid down her back and soft tendrils of brown hair curled enticingly around her face. Dressed in a simple Indian kurta and a pair of jeans, she looked stunning and Maja felt like a frump.And then Maja did a double take. Wait, the woman was expecting a baby???As though she became aware of Maja’s gaze on her slight baby bump, the woman laughed.Stepping forward, she smiled and said,“Hi! I’m Proserpina, Proserpina Delano. Welcome to our home.’She spread her hands to indicate the young woman with golden hair in a ponytail who was playing with the dogs,”These are all my children,’ she smiled as she stepped up to Schwartz and linked her hand through his a
PhilippeThe building he had been pointed out to was the address for Amelia Perez, the mystery woman Paddy had last been seen meeting up with at the gay bar named Ostriches in the Arctic.He glanced around himself. No security cameras on the landings, of course.It was a rundown building in a shabby part of the town. The smell of frying onions and urine had assailed his nostrils as he entered the building with his men, just a couple of them. He did not want to alarm the woman and then again, he did not know what had happened to Paddy. But Philippe and seen enough organised crime to suspect that all was not well.The drumming sound of the rain had increased the isolating feeling he knew was palpable on the landing. He had yet to come face to face with any other inhabitant of the building. A distant sound of barking as one of the occupants on the floor below him, opened and shut the door, alerted him to the fact that there were people in the building with the mouldy walls and the leakin