Tara
She glanced about her. Everyone was watching the play. Not everyone was interested in the action but it was a totally different experience all said and done. Not a darkened theatre, but a large, open hall with the sunlight streaming in through the windows. The actors moved about, some of them suddenly emerging from the audience, as the teenagers sat on the ground, on throws placed about the room, not conventional chairs. Tara glanced back at her siblings. Dom was watching the play, leaning forward, rapt and attentive. But Lou was sitting back, looking bored, his eyes wandering about the room.
Her friend, Maddie was surreptitiously using another phone, this time, her own little red phone, sending and receiving messages. Tara marvelled at her daredevilry. The girl was so brave, daring authority at every step!
She patted her bag; her phone was secreted away in a pocket within the voluminous bag which had been a gift from Piers and Ria. She hugged her knees and tried to concentrate on the play. Melisa Lord kept looking about at the students, her beautiful blonde hair in a bun, looking like a strict schoolmarm gaze on her as the woman tried to hold her eyes.
She met Tara’s look and Tara could feel her piercing green gaze on her, willing her to look at the action unfolding onstage. But Tara defiantly looked away.
Her phone vibrated with an incoming message and she tried to control the pang of joy, of excitement that flooded her.
Furtively, she pulled out her phone and studied the message with trembling hands, hiding it behind the broad back of the footballer who sat before her.
‘Do not let Lisa the Dragon see you,’ growled Maddie.
Tara dimpled secretively and bent her head.
*
Suddenly there was a commotion. Heads turned in the direction of the door. A man came striding in. Tara lifted her head when she heard Maddie give a gasp. She met the cold, hard eyes of her eldest brother Piers. He looked different. Not as well turned out as he normally appeared. Now, his golden hair was messy, his jaw glinting with gold fuzz. He looked so handsome, she thought with pride.
But it was his eyes that made her still and frightened.
Her beloved elder brother had never, ever looked at her in that way; cold and unforgiving.
He strode over to where she sat, almost cowering, and lifted her up, his hand hard on her upper arm.
Claude who was with him, had already grabbed her satchel, jerking it out of the wild grasp of Maddie who had been trying to retrieve the phone.
‘Hey, let go!’ shouted Maddie, her black curls bouncing wildly but Claude had already pushed her back.
With a nod in the direction of the white-faced Melissa Lord, the Delano brothers marched their younger sister out of the hall. Tara felt her face reddening with fury and embarrassment as she felt curious eyes on her.
“What is this?’ she spat through gritted teeth as her brothers hauled her away. The moment they were in the car, she turned on Piers fiercely,
‘How dare…?’
She did not get beyond that. Her brother gave her a stinging slap for an answer.
Tara’s mouth fell open and she was barely aware of the movement of the car as it shot forward.
Piers was glaring at her, breathing furiously and she cowered. Her brother, the one who had always supported her, had actually raised his hand against her?
“You stupid fool.’ He growled through gritted teeth,
‘You have put us all in danger, do you understand?’
Claude had been furiously going through her bag and she gave a small whimper of protest as he finally pulled out her phone.
‘Piers!’ he cried as he flourished the offending gadget. And then, before she could stop him, he had handed it over to another man who was riding with them in the car. Tara recognised him briefly; a tech wizard who had always been in and out of Paddy’s room.
The thin youth with the fine steel-rimmed glasses was already dismantling the phone.
He had hooked it to a small laptop on his laptop and his fingers moved furiously across the keyboard balanced on his lap precariously, as he unlocked her phone, going through the messages, copying the entire content.
Suddenly he shouted, ‘Piers! Got it.’
And he turned to them, eyes dancing in excitement.
‘This is the Rudenko mob. Their trademark grooming trail.’
Piers sat back, his heart pounding.
So Hila had been right.
*
He had in effect signed away his soul to the Devil a few hours ago when she had forced him to strike a deal with her. Her brother was to be shifted to a place that she named, in return for the information she was willing to offer about his sister.
And Piers, had seen the honesty in her eyes and agreed, going ahead without waiting to consult his father. He had managed to rope in Claude who had turned up at once, sleep rumpled, still smelling of sex and the woman he had been in bed with, but instantly alert and prepared to accompany his elder sibling to the ends of the earth.
*
Now they sat in Piers’s office, silent as they stared at the chats which Tara had exchanged with the man, she had imagined to be a youth called Iusuf.
Tara sat, her arms wrapped around her sides as she slowly grappled with the sickening truth.
There had never been anyone called Iusuf. It had all been a smokescreen created to draw her out, to make her spill her secrets, to get to know what was happening in her family.
Her Pappa’s enemies had been using her…
She sat, drained and broken, weeping silently. At some point, she felt a burly pair of arms wrapping themselves around her shoulders. Claude hugged his sister, drawing her to his chest, and stroking her hair as she sobbed loudly.
*
Piers went to meet Hila.
After all, it had been her tip that had helped them to recuse themselves in time.
The woman seemed as cool, composed, and confident as ever when he went to the room where she was still held a prisoner. He had ordered that she be given a change of clothes. Now with her hair brushed out, gleaming darkly, a midnight blue hue, her black eyes studied him but there was no mockery. Just an appraising look.
He stood, a few feet away from her.
“Thank you.’ He said, the words forced out of his mouth.
She smiled, inclining her head regally like a queen and again he felt a fierce desire. Their eyes locked. He saw the returning heat in her eyes, which was quickly hidden.
‘Does your father know?’ she asked, her throaty voice jolting him out of his reverie.
He sighed, momentarily closing his eyes. He shook his head. No, Pappa would be furious but he would deal with that.
‘Your mother. Your Mumma.’ She said again in her low, throaty voice.
His eyes flew open.
‘What about my mother?’ he growled in fury, possessive as he was about his beautiful, kind-hearted mother.
She smiled, pityingly.
“Do you know why your father keeps her locked away, with more security than all of you put together ?’
Piers watched her, a slow dread unfolding in the pit of his stomach.
It was true. His mother rarely left the mansion, on his Pappa’s strict orders. Even if she did, there was always a fleet of cars accompanying her and a group of heavily armed commandos from his Pappa’s mob.
“What do you mean?’ he said his voice low and strained.
“She is the one whom Rudenko wants to get. Because if he gets to her, your father will be brought to his knees.’
Piers staggered back. The woman was right. Pappa could not live without Mumma. She was his greatest vulnerability, the one person he loved above all.
Lucien Delano loved his children but his wife? He prized her above all.
Piers had always had a sneaking suspicion that Pappa could live even if any of them was not around; but without Mumma, he would be lost.
Once again, he registered that Hila was speaking and her words seemed to come from a long way away.
‘…using Tara as a way to get to your father’s only weakness. Your mother.’
And then she continued after a pause as she saw the shock, the realization dawning on the face of the young man before her. This time, her voice was gentler.
‘Your brother, Patrick, he found out. So, he had to be silenced.’
Piers felt her words echoing in his head. Of course! That was what Paddy had discovered. The plot to get to his mother and effectively destroy his father.
That was why the poor youth had to be neutralized.