Takedown by Heather Atkinson (latest books to read txt) 📕

On the bright side, Matthew’s attentions had helped her shake off the last of her lethargy.

She headed back into the VIP room, spotting Matthew standing off to one side. When their gazes connected, she put her head down and made her way back to her table.

Vance was still sat there. Lil and Caleb had gone. She was heartened by the love that swelled inside her at the sight of him.

“Where did you go?” said Vance. “Caleb and Lil said you rushed off.”

She was perfectly composed as she retook her seat and picked up the orange juice he’d got her. “Did she tell you about Mickey Gunning?”

“Yes, she did.”

“I went to ask Matthew why he was released.”

“He’s still here, is he?” he sighed.

“He’s helping keep an eye out for anyone who might try to kill us,” she snapped. “So why don’t you start showing some gratitude?”

“All right. Sorry,” he said, looking a little hurt.

“No, I’m sorry Vance. I didn’t mean to snap. I’m just feeling so crap.”

His face softened with understanding. “It’s okay. You do have a bit more colour than you did though.”

“It was the news about Mickey that did it. It shocked me out of it,” she lied. A man had put the colour back into her cheeks but it certainly hadn’t been Mickey Gunning.

“Don’t worry about that dickhead. We can handle him.”

“He’s a nutcase and he wants revenge.” She sighed. “I’m so sick of all this.”

“Maybe we should just leave, go somewhere no one knows us and start again?”

“And leave the family to cope with this mess? That wouldn’t be fair.” Plus the thought of not seeing Matthew again was a painful one. Where the hell was all this sentiment suddenly coming from?

“Maybe not but I hope that one day we can.”

“I’m sure we will,” she said, wanting to drop this subject that continually seemed to come up. “But right now we need to figure out how to handle Mickey. He’s out on bail.”

“Let’s not worry too much about that idiot. Actually, I’ve been thinking of something more worrying. It didn’t occur to me before with everything that went on and then ending up in hospital.”

“What’s that?”

“I don’t think it was luck that let Ben and his friends cut off the power to the building when me and Caleb were in the lift. They knew exactly where we were.”

She leaned forward with interest. “Bloody hell, you’re right. How could they have known?”

“There’s only one possible way I can think of – one of us was carrying a tracking device.”

“What? But how could they have managed that? Unless Ben somehow managed to plant it on one of us when he came to do the fire inspection. He was sat right next to you.”

“He couldn’t have done it then, I would have noticed and he didn’t get close enough to you or Caleb. I think someone else did it, someone close to us. We have a traitor.”

“But we’ve only been in the company of the family recently.”

“It’s someone we won’t consider to be a traitor, someone very close.”

Faith’s mind drifted to Matthew. Had his proclamations of love been a ruse to hide his true intentions? The thought was a painful one. She immediately crushed the idea. He wouldn’t do that to her plus he knew the Maguires would kill him if he betrayed them. “I can’t think who it could be, unless Jason and Kev have been shagging about again. Ben might have paid some cheap tart to slip a tracking device into their clothing.”

“We need to ask them as soon as possible but that wouldn’t explain how they knew we were in the lift. It must be on either me or Caleb.”

“We need to check our clothes, vehicles, homes, everything. A bug could have been planted in my flat and they might have heard you say you were going to your flat.”

“Maybe but the timing would have been risky. Too soon or too late and we wouldn’t have been in the lift. Their timing was perfect.”

“We need to get on that as soon as we’ve finished here. The club will be closing soon. Good thinking Vance.”

“It does happen occasionally.”

“I know,” she smiled, her love for him welling up inside her, making her even more ashamed of herself for kissing Matthew. Plus it didn’t bear thinking about what Vance would do if he found out. He considered them to be a full-blown couple now, as had she. Until she’d kissed a handsome policeman.

CHAPTER 22

Eclectic’s opening night was a trouble-free triumph, better than they could have expected. Any prospective troublemakers were dealt with quietly and efficiently by their door supervisors. Best of all, no fires were started. Faith was a little annoyed by the way Lil hung off Caleb’s arm all night. It broke her heart that he was delighted about having all her attention for a full night because she knew that Lil was only doing it because she loved being the centre of attention. She still intended to have that talk with her old friend but it would have to wait. She’d pissed off enough people recently.

Faith and her brothers congregated in the office to lock the night’s takings in the safe and discuss how the evening had gone. Guilt crept up on her as here was the scene of her betrayal with Matthew.

“What a great night,” grinned Jason. “I got seven phone numbers. How many did you get Kev?”

“Three,” he sighed.

“Oh dear,” Jason smirked.

“That’s still a good amount,” he scowled. “And I’m sure one of the women you were chatting to was a bloke.”

“She bloody wasn’t,” retorted Jason.

“She had an Adam’s apple and massive feet.”

Faith rolled her eyes. “If you’ve quite finished, we have business to