Rotten to the Core (39 page)

             
“Na
h,
Tan, he
’
l
l
never find us
;
give it a few months and it will all be forgotten
;
he’ll be so happy to have his sister back in one piece and me gone for good
,
he won’t give a shit anymore, he’ll probably think that it was money well spent
,
” he reassured her
.

             
“You don’t know him like I do
,
Jay. He will never, ever
,
let this go
;
this will eat away at him, he will be looking for us
,
mark my words, w
e’
ll constantly be playing a waiting game, it
’l
l only be a matter of time.
We’ve
just fucked him over with two of his prize
d
possessions, his precious little sister and a massive chunk of his
money.
”
Tanya stared
into space,
deep in thought now as she downed the rest of her glass
.
T
he mood
in the room had suddenly changed
.
She
had not stopped to think about what was going to happen afterwards, it had only just dawned on her that there was no way that they could just up sticks and start afresh elsewhere. She had only got as far as her little revenge plan
; she had
not thought
past the provoking
Billy
bit. The sort of circles
that
Tanya and Jay mixed in, the sort of dealings they would be doing to make some cash
:
s
omeone
,
somewhere
,
would leak it back to Billy and they would never be free, not really. She had to think of another way forward, something that would guarantee them a way out, she was starting to realise
that
Jay was
a liability
, and he really wasn’t seeing the bigger picture at all.
Tanya
needed to think about the situation before they made their next move
;
she had an idea, but she decided that this was best not shared with Jay.

             
“We need to keep her for another night
,
” Tanya nodded in the direction of the basement door
.
“
L
et Billy sweat it out while we sleep on it and
tomorrow we’ll
decide what our next step should be
.
I’m going to bed
;
it’s been a long night
.
”

She bundled up the cash and took
the holdall
upstairs with her, leaving Jay sitting in the chair rac
king his brain for some idea as to w
hat they
could do. The mood was bleak
;
he had thought they would be celebrating, but Tanya was stressed and uptight. Maybe she was right
,
though, they did have to think about their next move
;
he would be stupid to take Billy letting this one go
for granted
.

48

Billy couldn’t believe it
:
h
e had been fucking done over by Jay Shaw. That fucking sponger had walked into the club and taken a quarter of a million pounds
from
him without
being
clock
ed;
n
o-one had caught a glimpse of the bloke.

Neither
the smoke thing
nor
the hoax call to the police were rocket science
,
he supposed, but clever enough. He had wondered how Jay
would do it. Billy
and Paul had gone over and over the tapes for hours and there had been security everywhere
;
how the fuck
Jay
had got in unnoticed
, neither could say
.
Billy
should have known that Jay
would
play silly
buggers.

Billy gulped down a shot of whiskey
;
he was fuming. The only way he would have been able to track the bastard down was to have caught him in the act and foll
owed him, he had got away uns
een and now Billy was again at Jay’s mercy, and he fucking hated every second
of it
.
Tomorrow, h
is sister would
have
be
en
gone
for
six days, and he was worried sick about her. If that bloke had done anything to her, he would fucking slaughter him.

He had been
at
home
for
a couple of hours now, sitting a
t
the kitchen table, staring at the phone. Like a fucking mug. Jay would be laughing his smug fucking head off at him.

He couldn’t even think about the dilemma of Jay calling his bluff and demanding more money. Billy had
made
a small fortune from his dealings
over the years, and he had wisely tied it up in property all over London. Getting his hands on quarter of a million pounds in just less than twenty
-
four hours had been a challenge
,
and
one he
begrudged
to say the least
. He had worked hard for that money, made a promise that he would never struggle for anything. He
had
vowed years ago never to be at the mercy of anyone, like his mum had been.

He realised that he had been quite tight with his cash up until now; he didn’t spend on anything much in particular. He always had
cash
in his pocket, enough to buy anyone he was with a few rounds in the pub, and ok
ay
he
had
invested wisely, but he could have done more with it. He could have taken Kate on holiday, treated her to nice clothes
; they could both have
live
d
life a bit. He smiled at the thought, Kate was almost as stubborn as him in some ways, and her pride would have told him not to waste his money on her, but he should have
done so anyway
. As soon as she got back
,
he was going to take her to Westfield on a shopping spree, treat her to a slap
-
up meal and then maybe ask her about going
a
way somewhere,
G
od knows she would need to go on holiday somewhere after this ordeal; he had no idea what state she
would
be in.

Emma could come too
,
of course, and he may even ask Paul. Paul had been a rock
over
the last few days, Billy was thankful of the support. Paul was the strong silent type
but he had a big presence, and he was not a man to be shafted by anyone. Paul had confided that he really cared for Kate
,
and Billy could tell that he had been genuinely upset when he spoke of Kate
,
and how he hoped she was ok
ay
. Yeah, Billy had a good feeling
about Paul. His sister could do with a decent man
:
one who would look after her
;
respect her
;
give her the life she deserved. Maybe
,
this time round, for once Billy really would step back and let her get on with it.

Billy took
his phone
to bed.
H
e would probably toss and turn all night, waiting for the call, but he needed
to
rest, and he had no idea what else he could do. It had been another long day.
Jay assured him that he would let Kate go when he had the money,
but
it was gone five
in the morning
, over five hours had passed since Jay had taken the money, and
there had been
no call.

Tanya looked at the clock on the bedside cabinet
:
it was almost five thirty. Jay hadn’t come to bed, and she guessed that he had fallen asleep on the sofa.
She had been lying in bed for hours, unable to sleep, wondering what to do
.
S
he knew
their plan
wasn’t going to work.

Tanya knew that with Jay, she would be in for a life of dodgy dealings, and as much as she thought she could cope with that if she had to, she knew deep down that she didn’t want that for herself. She wanted more
: m
ore than Jay was able to offer.
It was fair to say that s
he
ha
d had more than her share of fun with him, and using him to help settle the score with Billy had made her
very
happy. At the end of the day though, Jay was a man,
so
he couldn’t be trusted. It would only be a matter of time before he fucked everything up or pissed
even more
people off. It seemed to be a habit of his. Trouble turn
ed
up wherever he went, he was a magnet for it, and
getting into more trouble
was not a risk she wanted
to take. Sure
,
he was all over her like a rash at the
moment
, but give him time and his wandering eye
would
return
.

She had loved Billy, and look where that had got her.
He
had replaced
her
in a heartbeat, and actually while she was with him she
hadn’t been
anywhere
near
as close to him as she would have liked to be, with the ‘lovely’ Kate about, there w
ere
always three people in her relationship. No, this time
,
she decided, she
would
to do it
alone
.
A quarter of a million pounds was more than enough compensation for put
ting
up with Billy bringing that slag into her home, humiliating her. As far as she was concerned
,
she was owed every single penny. The only place
where it was possible to
hit Billy where it hurt, other than his perfect Kate, was his wallet
:
Tanya
hoped that she had fucking wounded him.

Tanya
had made up her mind
;
she
would
take the money and run. On her own
,
she could make it, she trusted herself not to slip up
nor
let her guard down
;
besides
,
Billy wouldn’t be interested in her, he was after
Jay
,
who
was behind this as far as Billy was concerned.

Realising that she may have a
Get
out of
J
ail
F
ree card
,
Tanya thought about calling Billy,
saying
that if he promised to forget about the money she would tell him where Kate and Jay were but on the condition that she could keep the money. Knowing Billy
,
it would
be
an offer that he couldn’t refuse. The more she thought about it, the more she decided against it
,
though
;
if she did that then she would still be lowering herself to asking his permission,
and she would be
making a deal with him
.
S
he wasn’t prepared to do that.
B
esides
,
how could she know
that he
would
stand by his word and let her just walk away with his money
.
No, she wouldn’t ask him, she had set this up, this was all her work, she
had earned
this and she was keeping the cash.
After much debating
,
she decided she would text him the address of where to find Kate, and maybe that way he would come to his own decision once he realised she was involved. She would offer Jay up to
Billy;
it
was the only chance she had that she might be able to keep the money.