Dangerous Deal Read online

  Shock stopped me from saying anything, but Mum didn’t seem too perturbed by his telling off.

  Mum laughed. “We aren’t coming with you. The compound will hold. We have more men now, and the people Simon is with—”

  “With all due respect,” Jackson cut her off, “you cannot trust the Ravens. They are people-trafficking scum. They have been taking young men and women from here and selling them. Your only chance of safety is to either stay here and take the risk the compound will hold until you can all get to somewhere safe, or you come with us.”

  “We will stay here, thank you,” Mum said, all haughty and shit, as if she were the Queen of England, and not living in a sleeping bag on the floor of a chapel.

  “Fine.” Jackson turned to me, took my hand, and started to lead me out of the chapel.

  “Wait!” Dad’s voice rang out. “We will come with you. Let us grab some things.”

  “No, I won’t,” Mum said.

  Dad turned to her, squared his shoulders, and shrugged. “Your call, petal.” He used the nickname for her I’d not heard in a long while. “I’m going with them, with my daughter. You stay, and you stay on your own.”

  I started to cry again, but I couldn’t help it. At least Dad would be coming with me. Mum looked from him to me, then back at her sad pile of things by the pulpit and sighed.

  “Is that a yes?” Dad demanded.

  “Yes.” She sounded pissed off, but she didn’t argue, which was a first for as long as I could remember.

  “Oh and, darling,” Dad drawled the word, making it sound sarcastic as hell. “This man is right—you need to stop speaking to our daughter this way.”

  Mum opened her mouth to say more, but Dad held his hand up and walked off to pack their things.

  The ride back was tense. The car filled with silence. You could have cut the atmosphere with a cake knife and served it up on paper plates.

  I closed my eyes and tried not to think of all the ways this could go spectacularly wrong. All the ways my mother could ruin things for me.

  Instead, I focused on the good, on my father standing up to her at last, and the men I found myself more attached to every day.

  Chapter Six

  Milly: Mum, meet Alex. He’s a vampire.

  By the time we arrived back on the estate, the day was waning. Ben put his foot down for the last mile. The Foamers would be out soon. I sat squashed by the window. Mum in the middle, and I did not want her touching me right then. Legs as far away from hers as possible, I had my body turned to the glass, but my eyes weren’t seeing what was outside; my brain insisted on replaying the horrible expression on my mother’s face when she spoke to me.

  We roared up the long drive, and I glanced at Mum to see her impressed face as she looked at the grand house we approached. Yeah, lap it up, I thought bitterly. Even Blake’s parents didn’t have a house with a grand dining room-come-ballroom, or a library.

  “Here we are. Home sweet home.” Jackson turned and gave my parents a shit-eating grin.

  “Is this your ancestral home then?” Mum asked Jackson, still all haughty, presumably knowing damn well it wasn’t. Not unless there were some American lords and ladies we knew nothing of.

  “Yeah, his Daddy left it to him.” Ben winked at her.

  “Oh, I’m sure. More like you simply took it.” She clicked her tongue against her teeth.

  Jackson turned to her, and his look would wither the toughest of cookies, and Mum wasn’t that despite all her bluster. She swallowed hard and looked down at her hands.

  “Finders keepers these days, lady. It was unoccupied. We didn’t take it from anyone as no one had the balls or the guts to keep it and defend it. We have the balls.”

  Mum nodded, lips tight, but she didn’t say anything else.

  We exited the car and went up the steps into the house, Jackson entering the code at the door, and Ben following at the rear.

  The hallway light was on, and for the first time I noticed it was an impressive chandelier. Mum looked up and clocked it too, then she looked around the opulent, if faded, grandeur and her eyes got big. Greedy big. Oh, God, maybe she’d be happy with this because she’d get not one but four wealthy men after her daughter. Not wealthy in the way of Blake and his family, old money clinging to whatever prestige and power they could, but wealthy in the new way. They took what they wanted like Robin Hood and his men in the days of old. Although, I didn’t think Jackson and his guys were sharing the wealth as such, but using it to cement their position and do the work for the Resistance they were so focused on.

  If I were Mum, and calculating who was the better bet, I’d go with the new kind of wealthy—the kind who took what they had and didn’t sit around clinging on to fading glory days as the world collapsed around them.

  Blake’s family would lose it all if the compound had to be abandoned.

  “You were quick.” Doc came out of the entrance to the kitchen stairs, followed by all the dogs. The German shepherds and rottweilers all started a low growl, staring at Mum and Dad.

  “Leave,” Doc ordered, and the dogs calmed down instantly.

  Tils though, she gave a high-pitched cry and raced at Dad, who fell to his knees and wrapped her in his arms. He couldn’t give her a proper cuddle as she was wiggling far too much to be held, and in the end, he gave up, laughing.

  Jackson turned to Doc and shrugged. “It was easy getting the information on where her parents were once they saw we had Milly with us,” he said.

  “This place is impressive.” My dad stared around him in awe, Tils still waggling her body from side to side as she wriggled around at his feet.

  I turned to him with a grin. “Wait until you see the library. Can I show him?” I asked Jackson.

  “You don’t have to ask.” He wrinkled his brow as if confused by my request. “This place is your home now.”

  “Excuse me?” Mum turned to Jackson with a genuinely shocked expression on her face. “I know you came and got us, but I assumed we’d be moving on somewhere.”

  “Where?” God Jackson didn’t pull any punches with my mum. It was impressive.

  “I don’t know, another compound maybe. Where Simon is?”

  “Oh, you want to go to the prison where the Ravens are holed up, do you?” Jackson’s face was positively mean now.

  “Well… I… I mean, my son is there.”

  “And your daughter is here.” Jackson put his hands on his hips and watched her.

  “She can’t stay here.” Mum blew out an annoyed breath. “Her reputation will be ruined forever if people found out. They’ll think she’s with one of you.” Her cheeks turned pink.

  “She isn’t with one of us,” Jackson ground out.

  While I was thankful for him not outing me, I also didn’t like him not owning our situation. Talk about confused about my own damned feelings.

  “She’s with all of us.” Jackson let the words hang in the suddenly deadly silent hallway.

  Oh, shit. I was not expecting that!

  “I beg your pardon.” Dad moved his head rapidly, glancing between all of us.

  My heart hurt at the expression on his face. He looked… disappointed in me, and I couldn’t bear it. Mum, she was never satisfied, but Dad had loved me for me, or so I thought. He might let himself get steamrolled by Mum, but he always loved me through it. Now, though, he looked almost disgusted.

  “You have to know the world, even the messed-up version we now live in, is going to shit,” Jackson said. “We can protect her.”

  “And care for her,” Doc added.

  “And use her,” Dad put in his own two cents worth.

  They didn’t use me though, did they? I mean, they could have lots of women. The way they looked, living in this big house, they’d never be short of female company. “It’s not like that, Daddy,” I said, using my childhood name for him.

  “You disgusting slut.”

  A sharp crack rang out in the high-ceilinged space, and my face flamed where M
um’s palm connected with my flesh.

  Instinctively, I raised my hand and touched my hot skin where she’d slapped me.

  Jackson grabbed her arm, still poised in the air, and pulled her away from me; holding her from behind, he brought both her arms together at her front. Holding her by her wrists, he bent his head to her ear.

  “You ever, ever hurt her again and I don’t care that you’re her mother, I’ll put you outside for the Foamers.”

  “Jackson!” My voice was low but firm. “Let her go.” I still rubbed at my face as I spoke, but Mum was terrified, and her face looked pained. Jackson probably didn’t mean to actually hurt her, but the guy was big and didn’t know his own strength.

  He scowled at me, but did as I asked, releasing Mum’s wrists. She staggered to one side, rubbing at her wrists and not looking at any of us.

  Dad watched this whole exchange, and his face was thoughtful. He didn’t seem too concerned for Mum, after shooting her a cursory glance. “You’re not using Milly, are you? You care for her.”

  “Of course, we care for her,” Doc said.

  Mum snorted, but it seemed involuntary, because she startled as the sound escaped her lips and stepped away from Jackson, shooting him a worried look.

  “I must say, I’m finding this hard to get my head around. You’ve only known my daughter mere days.”

  “You were going to marry her off to a man who didn’t know her at all, weren’t you?” Doc argued with my father.

  “No, she’s known Blake a long time.”

  “Oh, yeah, for short conversations on the bus to college, or the odd time they got to speak at some dinner or other. Hardly best of friends, were they?” Jackson said this, and I wondered how he knew so much. Was it from being in my head at night when I dreamed? Or had he been digging into my life?

  “You can’t stay here, Milly.” Mum turned to me, and I saw tears in her eyes and genuine worry. “The world will view you as a whore.”

  “Better a whore than a pimp, Mummy. It’s more honest,” I replied, chin held high.

  “She’s not a whore. This little minx has us all wrapped around her little finger. She’s our queen not a whore, and you shouldn’t use such words to describe your own child.” The rich, accented tones of Alex drifted toward us as he walked out the door to the stairs.

  “Another one?” Mum squeaked. “How many of you are there?”

  “Four,” Doc said.

  She turned to me, her face pale. “Are you… are all of these men and you… God help us.”

  “Yes, all of these men and me.” Suddenly I was sick of her. Sick of her hypocrisy and her stupid plans for me, which she’d devised with no heed for my own needs or desires. She only cared now because she thought our name would be ruined, but with who? A few tittle-tattles in a compound who soon wouldn’t exist?

  “Mum.” My voice was stern. Angry almost. “You need to get with the program. My reputation, or lack of, is the least of our worries. Simon is working for a gang who traffics innocent women and boys. The compound won’t last for another week at this rate, and the people in London you all think are running things are not our friends. Not at all.”

  “How do you know this?” Dad interrupted.

  “It’s a long story, Dad, but we need to talk. Things are not what we’ve thought, and we are in for such a bad time unless we face reality and start to fight back.”

  “Your daughter is correct—we should talk, later. For now, let me introduce myself. I am Alex.” He stepped forward and held out his hand to Mum.

  She took it gingerly and gave it a shake. Then he ruined it by smiling at her and she paled even more, put her hand to heart, and took a step back.

  Unable to help myself, I did to Mum what Ben had done to me. “Oh yeah, about that, Alex is a vampire, Mum.”

  I had to give her credit, the woman was made of steel. She didn’t faint as I had; she merely flinched and then gave a wan smile and a shaky nod.

  “A vampire?” Dad didn’t seem scared, more intrigued. “Were you made when they were doing the experiments on people?”

  “Nope, born this way,” Alex replied. “Been alive for hundreds of years, but only a few senior people in certain governments knew about us. We have much to talk about, but the world is not as you believe. The truth about the virus, the Altereds, all of it, is different to what you have been led to believe. None of it is as you’ve probably been led to believe.”

  “Why have you brought Milly here?” Dad frowned.

  “To begin with,” Jackson answered, “because she has an ability. An important one, and one which my superiors were looking to utilize. That’s not going to happen now as she’d be treated like the whore your wife seems to already think she is, and it’s not acceptable to us, any of us, for her to be put in danger.”

  “What are your plans for her now?”

  Jackson smiled at him. “That’s very much up to your daughter, sir. She can join us and help us overthrow the corrupt people running the world into the damn ground, or she can stay here where she’ll be safe and bake cookies. I want her to do whatever she likes.”

  “Except leave,” I muttered.

  As the days passed, the less I wanted to leave, but I wanted to be able to. Something Sasquatch didn’t seem able to grasp.

  He stared at me, then he went and flung the door open. “Fine, you still want to leave? Go.”

  Oh, crap.

  “Not at night, Jackson, she’ll be savaged by Foamers within minutes out beyond the house. But tomorrow, if you wish, we will take you and your parents to the Ravens compound. Or to Leeds,” Alex spoke with conviction, but I knew he didn’t run things around here.

  “You will go along with this?” I turned to Jackson brows raised.

  He straightened and scowled at me. “Yes, if you want to go… leave.”

  “Okay.” I bit my lip and looked from the door to him. I shouldn’t have pushed so hard, and now he was angry, but all I wanted to do was hug him because he’d given me a choice. For the first time in all this, I’d been given a choice.

  “Okay what?” Jackson bit out. “You want to go?”

  “Nope, I’m happy here, thank you.” I smiled at him, making it as heartfelt as I could because I really, really appreciated the gift he’d given me. “I simply wanted you to give me the damn choice. No one wants to be a prisoner, Jackson. No one. Not even a pampered and highly thought of prisoner.”

  “You will be going to Leeds, young lady. We will first thing, and if you want to see us again, you’ll come with us.” Mum’s words hurt, but not as much as I’d expected. I was waiting for it, ready. And I’d started to develop a thicker skin these last weeks.

  I’d gone out there to find her. Risked my safety, risked the safety of these men who kept putting themselves on the line for me, and she kept behaving like a complete bitch.

  “I won’t.” I shook my head at her and looked at my father, tears forming. “I won’t leave with you if you go tomorrow. I don’t believe it is safe. You’ll be in grave danger if you go, but it’s up to you. The journey isn’t safe, and how long will those compounds last? Only London seems to do okay, and from what I’ve learned that’s by design not accident. We’re being, to put it crudely, shit on from a great height.”

  “What do you mean?” Mum said.

  “The powers that be don’t want us to survive,” I said.

  “I don’t feel too good.” Her face went pale enough that I could see some of the blue veins under her skin. Finally, her façade cracked and when it did, I saw the fear there. Fear that Mum probably always held inside, but covered up with her brittle shell.

  “You’re safe here,” I told her.

  She shook her head as tears began to fall. “I won’t stay here with you in this… immoral venture you seem determined to carry out.”

  Immoral venture? She’d been at the historical novels again.

  “Well then, Sheila, wherever you go, you’ll be going alone. I’m staying here. With our daughter.�
��

  Dad came and put his arm around me, pulling me into a hug.

  “Vic!” Mum’s mouth dropped open, and she gawped at us.

  “I’m done caring what other people think, Sheila. I’m dubious about this set up myself, but only because I don’t want to see you hurt.” He turned from Mum to me. Then he looked at the four men. “And you’re all scary, but I will not stand by and let you hurt my daughter. I will stay here with her if that’s what she wants, but you hurt her and I’ll do my best to hurt you back.”

  “Wouldn’t expect anything less, and we don’t want to hurt her, sir,” Jackson said.

  It pleased me the way he called my father sir, and the polite way he spoke to him. I knew he did it for me.

  “Please, call me Vic. Sir makes me feel old.” Dad smiled, and he indeed looked old.

  He needed a break. To feel secure for a while, as did we all, but it wasn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

  “It seems we need to talk about your brother,” Dad addressed me.

  “Yeah, we do. We need to talk about a lot of things.”

  “I’m in the middle of fixing us some food,” Doc said. “Why don’t I go finish that. Ben, you can show Milly’s Mum to a habitable room for them both and, Alex, you can make our guests drinks.”

  “Jackson, you go and fill in Vic, while we sort everything else out.”

  Jackson gave a brisk nod, and then he led the way to the library, followed by me.

  I was right about Dad loving it. His face lit up like a lamp when he entered the room.

  “Told you,” I whispered.

  “I’d have probably stayed with them just for the library,” he whispered back.

  Right in that moment, with Dad with me, joking like we used to do, I thought things might be looking up for us all.

  Chapter Seven

  Milly: Just a sip.

  Mum and Dad settled in over the next few days. To say they’d left behind their friends and community, the burned-out shell of their former home too, and fled to live with their daughter who had shacked up with not one, but four Altereds; they weren’t doing too badly.