The Consequence

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Now

"We will need a plan first." Luke said. "You can't just go in there all guns blazing. You don't know anything about her anymore."

I narrowed my eyes, "I know her, Luke." I replied. "I know her instincts, I know her reactions, I may not have seen her in three years, but I know her, this is something that just needs to be done."

Chantelle rolled her eyes but, and this must have been difficult for her, kept her gob shut. She just sat there, leg crossed over the other, nursing the last sips of her brew.

They were both wrong, of course I knew her, she was my girl. I'd been with her for a long time, I'd shared memories with her that nobody else has. I'd grown up with her, become a man in front of her eyes. I knew her, she may be trying to hide who she was but she was still the same person I had met at school and fell in love with.

"That isn't the same thing, Jamie." He countered. "Look, she has her own independent life out in the city, she isn't the same girl who planned on living in the same town her whole life, cutting the hair of the same women and men week in and week out."

I disagreed, of course she was the same person. I was the same person I was three years ago. I mean, I have more brains but that is just from experience, I still feel the same. She was the love of my life, I wanted to see her. I wanted to hug her, kiss her, tell her how deeply sorry I was that I got her into this mess. Apologise properly for the lies I told and grieve for the daughter we lost together.

"You'll see." I warned him. His words did make me think for a second though. "When I saw her in Tony's office, Tony told her to keep her boyfriend out of his club. What do you think that means?"

"Well, it obviously means that she has a boyfriend, someone who is actually looking out for her." The jab didn't go amiss. A clench of my fist was all I could manage to stop myself from snapping back. I had her back, I wasn't to know that Jay would betray me and tell of her existence. If I had known, if I had known, I would have moved heaven and Earth to protect her.

I just didn't see it coming. I was so arrogant I didn't think anyone would dare make a move against me. The only two people in the gang who knew about her was Jay and Luke and despite Jay's misgivings and tortured mind, I thought I could trust him with that. I found out too late that I couldn't. He was lucky he was already dead because I nearly dug his corpse up and decapitated it.

I had to settle for trashing his grave instead which didn't give me the satisfaction I had craved – even after murdering four people. Well, murdering wasn't the correct word. More like, revenge and it was beautiful. If I had the time, I would have planned their deaths a lot more carefully. They still suffered, but they should have been tortured.

The light as it left their bodies, I will never ever forget that satisfaction. The relief that I had finally done something good for the first time in years was a huge adrenaline rush.

Now that I know that they didn't kill her and that she survived doesn't take even an ounce of pleasure away from that night. They still killed my daughter and they took Megan away from me. The only good thing it did was give me an out for the organised gang culture with my head.

If it wasn't for that moment, I would never have got out and would have continued to have lied to Megan and our daughter, who would be here. I just couldn't have lost her and I did anyway.

"Well, if she has a boyfriend, shouldn't he be looking after her?" I countered. "He knows what she does for a living because that is why she was being told off – he turned up."