Savage Sisters

Heather Atkinson

Description

Jane, Carly and Rose Savage are savage by name, savage by nature.

Having lost their mum too young, and with a bedridden father too ill to work, the sisters learnt early to stand on their own two feet. The family's flat in the rough streets of Glasgow's Haghill is their fortress, but when Carly's ex-boyfriend Cole Alexander is released from prison, trouble soon comes knocking at their door. The Alexanders have beef with the Savages, so the girls call for back up in the shape of their uncle Eddie and his two gorgeous but dangerous sons, Harry and Dean.

As a turf war breaks out, the Savage sisters have choices to make. Stick to the straight and narrow or fight for what they deserve? And when the vicious girl gang Jane used to lead, the Unbeatable Bitches, are thrown into the mix, their minds might be made up for them. Because once a Savage always a Savage, and when the chips are down, there's no one more deadly than a Savage sister.

Bestseller Heather Atkinson is back with a brand-new series, perfect for fans of Kimberley Chambers and Jessie Keane.

What readers are saying about Heather Atkinson:

'I have ran out of good things to say about this writer. Just read all her books and thank me later. Thank you Heather Atkinson!'

'Another brilliant book form the amazing Heather Atkinson. Never fails to keep us gripped from first word to the last.'

'I just didn't want to put Wicked Girls down and devoured every delicious turn of the page.
What a fabulous book. Praise to Heather Atkinson and a well-earned 5***** and more.'

'I could not stop reading. Every time I finished a chapter, I just had to keep going. I laughed, was sometimes shocked and I cried. I just loved it. 5 stars.'

'Atkinson writes addictive storylines with twists and excitement, creating a world the reader becomes completely absorbed into. The tense atmosphere is surreal, which is one of my favourite things about this author. You could never say these stories are predictable! As one of my preferred genres, this is up with the best! Highly recommended for fans of this genre/author.'

Sujets

• Policier & Thriller
• Policier
• Thriller
• Mashups
• Hard-Boiled
• Siblings
• Thrillers
• Suspenso
• 21st century
• Psychological thriller
• Sibling
• City Life
• Crime
• Family Life
• Suspense
• Noir
• Fiction
• Glasgow

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 18 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804151945
• Langue: English

Extrait

SAVAGE SISTERS


HEATHER ATKINSON
CONTENTS



Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Epilogue


More from Heather Atkinson

About the Author

Peaky Readers

About Boldwood Books
1

The rain had soaked Carly Savage through to the skin. Her long, light brown hair was plastered to her face and her thin green jacket was completely unsuited to the dreich October weather. In each hand she carried a heavy carrier bag, the plastic handles digging into her palms, her trainers squelching with each step. She’d been born and raised in Haghill and had never thought much of it before. It had merely been a backdrop to her difficult life but today it just looked depressing. It was autumn and the rain had been relentless lately. It always seemed to wait until she’d set foot outside the door to start pouring down. One of the drains had overflowed and a stream of water rushed down the road, clogged with a heap of dead leaves and crisp packets.
As she crossed the road onto the next block that was lined with dark red sandstone tenements, a car sped by, purposefully driving through the large puddle that had formed at the kerb, drenching her with cold, dirty water. Anger vied with envy. How she would love a nice, warm car… but her family couldn’t afford one. They could barely afford the few groceries she carried.
With a sigh of relief, she turned the corner onto her street to see the beige three-storey block of flats where she lived. The building overlooked a cemetery, which had never really bothered her but she had to admit that it looked rather eerie in the rain.
Carly was glad she lived on the ground floor. As her hands were full, she kicked the front door with her foot rather than bothering to knock. One more scuff mark wouldn’t make any difference. It was opened by her younger sister, Rose, who was a lanky girl of sixteen with the same long straight hair, delicate bone structure and large hazel eyes as her older sister. Whereas Carly’s lips were thin, Rose had a pretty little heart-shaped mouth and eyelashes that were the envy of every female in the area.
‘You look wet.’ Rose grinned at her.
‘Really? I hadn’t noticed,’ said Carly sarcastically as she stepped inside and gratefully dumped the bags on the floor. The palms of her hands were bright red, thick lines cutting across them.
Rose picked up the bags and carried them down the hall into the kitchen while Carly stripped off her shoes and socks with a grimace, leaving the shoes to dry in the hall and carrying the socks through to the kitchen where she tossed them straight into the empty washing machine. The coat she hung over the back of one of the chairs at the kitchen table. The far end of the room looked more like a living room than a kitchen with its television on a stand, small bookcase, purple couch and dark brown armchair. As the flat only had three bedrooms, they’d had to turn the living room into a bedroom for their father, so the kitchen had become the heart of the home and was where the family congregated. Due to how quickly their father’s condition had deteriorated, he spent the majority of the time in his room, so it was only the sisters who gathered here.
‘Oh, look,’ said Rose, glancing out of the kitchen window as she put away the shopping. ‘The rain’s easing off.’ She plucked a clean towel from the top of the laundry pile on the table and tossed it to her sister.
‘Bloody typical,’ muttered Carly, catching it with one hand and using it to dry her hair. She shivered again. It didn’t feel much warmer in the flat than it had outside.
Their mother had died six years ago of cancer, leaving their father Alec to raise three daughters alone. Jane, the oldest of the sisters, had been fifteen at the time. Alec had carried on valiantly, attempting to balance work with his home life but with his other two daughters aged just ten and thirteen, it had been difficult, especially as all three had been traumatised by their mother’s death. Eventually he’d had to give up work to be there for them and life had been an endless struggle ever since.
‘I got Da’ the curry he likes,’ Carly told Rose.
‘I’ll warm it up for him,’ she replied, producing it from one of the bags.
Carly patted her sister’s arm when her sunny smile faltered. Rose was the one who cheered them all up when they were feeling low, who distracted them from their lack of money and got them to dance around the room and laugh when things started to get on top of them. But sometimes even her pain overcame her natural optimism.
Rose warmed the Thai green curry in the oven but it was Carly who dished it up onto a plate and carried it down the hall to the room at the front of the flat. Gently she tapped on the door and a voice called, ‘Come in.’
Carly pushed open the door and walked in to find her father sitting up in bed, supported by pillows, reading a book that was propped up on a tray before him. His hands shook too much to hold it steady.
‘Hello, sweetheart,’ he mumbled, his voice lacking tone and emotion. ‘You look damp. Did you get caught in the rain?’
‘Just a bit.’ She smiled. ‘I got you your favourite curry.’
‘You didn’t need to do that, it’s not cheap.’ It took him a while to get the words out; talking was difficult for him and he had to pause to swallow.
‘It’s fine. I got some good tips at work this week,’ she replied, placing the plate on the tray beside the book. It was a wheeled tray, the sort that was used in hospitals and that went right across the bed.
‘I hope you treated yourself too?’
‘I got myself a fruit and nut bar, my weakness.’
‘You’re such a good girl, Carly,’ he said, picking up his fork and digging into the food. He sighed with frustration when his hand shook and some of the rice fell off.
‘Let me help you.’ She took the fork and scooped up some of the curry.
‘I hate being fed like a baby,’ he muttered before taking the food into his mouth. He paused to chew and swallow a few times. Carly anxiously watched him. His swallowing had got worse lately and she was always afraid he’d choke. It was why he could only eat soft things. Inwardly she sighed with relief when he managed to get it down without choking.
‘I know you do, Da’,’ she said. ‘But you have to eat and stay strong. We need you.’
Alec gave her a gentle smile and nodded. It broke Carly’s heart to see her dad reduced to this. He stood at six foot three, and had been a builder for years and an avid rugby player, so he’d always been physically strong. But a year after they’d lost their mother, their father had started experiencing muscle stiffness, tremors in his hands and impaired balance. He’d gone to his doctor and, after several tests and visits to various specialists, he’d been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease. He’d deteriorated faster than anyone had expected. Even though he was only forty-seven years old, he could barely walk and the simplest of tasks was now beyond him. A couple of nurses visited twice a day to give him his medication and bathe him and assist in any way they could but everything else was on the girls, with some help from the neighbours. Jane worked full time in a call centre to support them all and Rose had to go to school, so the majority of his care was on Carly’s shoulders. Carly worked part time at the local pub, planning her shifts around her father’s needs and Jane’s hours. They all hated seeing him suffer but Carly kept all this pain hidden as she fed him and chatted with him.
When he’d finished, she took the empty plate back into the kitchen. Rose was watching television, her back turned to her, so Carly felt safe to bury her face in her hands and quietly shed a few tears.
‘Carly,’ said a voice. ‘Are you all right?’
She raised her head and forced a smile for the sake of her younger sister, who had turned in her seat to regard her, looking concerned. ‘Fine. Have you done all your homework?’
‘Don’t I always?’ Pain filled her lovely eyes. ‘He’s getting worse every day.’
Carly didn’t know what to say as she could hardly deny it was true. ‘What do you fancy for tea?’ she replied instead, attempting to inject some cheerfulness into her tone.
Rose ignored the question. ‘Soon they’ll say we can’t look after him any more and he’ll have to go into a home. I don’t want that to happen.’
‘Don’t worry, this is his home. We’re his family, so it’s only right we take care of him.’
Carly panicked a little when it looked like Rose was going to cry. She wasn’t any good at comforting people, that was Jane’s territory. Carly didn’t know what they would do without their older sister, who had risen to the occasion magnificently when their mother had died and their father had become ill. They’d been forced to move into this flat three years ago when they could no longer afford the home the family had occupied for twenty years. Plus they’d needed something on one level for their father. Jane had found this flat and arranged everything, taking all the burden upon herself, as well as comforting her sisters about the massive upheaval in their lives.
It was an enormous relief when Carly heard the slam of the front door, indicating Jane was home.
‘Carly,’ she said breathlessly as she dashed into the kitchen. Jane, like her sister, was also tall and lithe but her light brown hair was cut short with a thick fringe that had the tendency to flop into her eyes. ‘Thank God you’re here.’
‘What’s wrong?’ she replied.
‘I’ve just heard that Cole’s been released from prison.’
Rose gasped and looked to Carly, who stared back at Jane in shock.
‘But he has another six months to serve,’ breathed Carly.