Wicked Girls

Heather Atkinson

Description

Cousins Valerie and Toni McVay have been best friends forever, and when you’re a McVay you need all the friends you can get.

When Toni’s twelfth birthday is marred by a terrible crime, the wicked path of the girls looks set. A decade later, the McVay family aren't the unstoppable force they once were in the Glaswegian criminal underworld but Frankie McVay, the up-and-coming prince, is determined to restore the family to its former glory by whatever means necessary. And the whole family are expected to help.

His sister Toni shares her brother’s blood lust but Valerie dreams of a quieter life, and when she meets and falls in love with Seb, as straight as Frankie is bent, as kind as Frankie is wicked, Val sees her way out.

Can she escape a family that is determined to own the city, and to keep Valerie firmly in their violent grasp? And will Toni ever let her best friend Val turn her back on the bloody secret they have shared for all these years…

Heather Atkinson is back with a treat for all gangland fans. If you love Kimberley Chambers, and Jessie Keane, you’ll love Wicked Girls, and readers of Heather’s Gallowburn series can look forward to bumping into some old friends…

What readers are saying about Heather Atkinson:

'Another brilliant book from Heather...she really is one the best in the business'

'I have read ALL Heather Atkinson's books. They are all fantastic'

'All Heather's books are action packed and have you on edge'

'I stumbled upon Heather's books and I'm so glad I did, characters excellent and storylines are great, I find myself searching the book stores for more of them to read the minute I finish one'

Sujets

• Policier & Thriller
• Policier
• Vie de famille
• Relations familiales
• Mashups
• Hard-Boiled
• Political
• Thrillers
• Suspenso
• General officer
• Politics
• City Life
• Organized Crime
• General
• Crime
• Family Life
• Suspense
• Thriller
• Fiction
• Glasgow

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 01 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804151761
• Langue: English

Extrait

WICKED GIRLS


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




More from Heather Atkinson



About the Author



Peaky Readers



About Boldwood Books
1
GLASGOW, MAY 1988

Valerie watched her cousin Toni with concern. It was Toni’s twelfth birthday and she’d been really looking forward to it, but now her party was in full swing, Toni just looked sad. She was wearing the white dress with the bow on the back her mother had purchased after her daughter had begged and pleaded when she’d spotted it in a clothes shop. Now Toni sat slumped on the floor, not caring that her dress was getting creased and crumpled.
Both Toni and Valerie were involved in a game of ‘pass the parcel’ with five of Toni’s friends and three more of their cousins, as well as Toni’s thirteen-year-old brother, Frankie, who wore a gaudy red shell suit that clashed shockingly with his thick mop of ginger hair. Frankie worshipped his sister and never strayed far from her side. Andy, their older brother, sat watching with his mother and stepfather. At sixteen years old, he considered himself too mature for such childish games. The rest of the children were laughing, eyes widening with glee every time the parcel came towards them, while Toni merely accepted it with bored indifference before thrusting it at the girl who sat on her right.
The music stopped just as it again reached the birthday girl, who rolled her eyes.
‘Antoinette,’ said Moira, Toni’s mother and Valerie’s aunt. ‘Aren’t you going to take the paper off?’
Toni didn’t reply, attacking the wrapping paper, tearing at it with nails that had been painted pink.
‘You won,’ commented Valerie when Toni stared impassively down at the pretty pink handbag.
‘I don’t want it,’ pouted Toni before slinging it into Frankie’s lap. She got to her feet and stormed out of the room.
‘I don’t want a fucking handbag,’ exclaimed Frankie, chucking the item at the girl sitting beside him.
‘Frankie, language,’ Moira chided him, pushing back her enormous perm, the fringe of which kept flopping into her eyes, the multi-coloured bangles on her wrist clacking together.
Valerie looked to her Aunty Moira, who was frowning up at her second husband, Eric. Toni and Frankie’s real dad had vanished when Toni was only seven years old. The rumours about what had happened to him varied according to who you spoke to, but Valerie had overheard her own parents saying he’d left Moira for another woman.
‘I don’t know what’s wrong with that little madam lately,’ commented Moira to her husband. ‘Nothing we do pleases her. She’s spoilt, that’s the problem.’
‘I told you no’ to give in and buy her that dress,’ replied Eric. ‘She’s had a fortune spent on her lately and does she appreciate it? Course not.’
Valerie got up and followed her cousin through the large, plush house to the kitchen, where she found Toni pouring herself a glass of orange juice.
‘Are you okay?’ Valerie asked her.
‘I’m fine,’ she muttered before taking a swig of juice.
‘You don’t seem it. What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing.’
‘I know that’s not true. Please tell me, I might be able to help.’
Toni’s laugh was humourless. ‘No one can help me.’
‘Has someone hurt you? Is that the problem?’
Valerie’s worst fears were confirmed when Toni’s eyes widened and filled with pain.
‘If they have,’ she continued, ‘you should tell Uncle Roddy. He’ll sort them out, he won’t let anyone hurt our family.’
Valerie was a little afraid of the fear that filled Toni’s intense dark eyes. She was a beautiful girl with waist-length black curls. Her mother spent hours working on her curls, so they resembled a doll’s.
‘He can’t help me,’ Toni rasped.
‘Why not? Everyone goes to him for help. He’s head of this family. If someone’s upset you…’
Toni slammed the glass down on the kitchen unit with a shaking hand. ‘He can’t help me. Leave me alone.’
Valerie was shocked when Toni stormed past her out of the room. They’d been close since they were very young, Toni just eighteen months older than Valerie. They were the best of friends and told each other everything, but suddenly Toni was keeping secrets from her and Valerie couldn’t understand why. If their Uncle Roddy couldn’t help, then no one could.
Unwilling to let the subject drop and allow her cousin and best friend to continue suffering in silence, Valerie went after Toni, who was making for the stairs. She was stopped by her mother calling, ‘Toni, you’ve got another visitor. He’s brought presents.’
The prospect of presents would usually have Toni racing to meet them, but this time, she sighed and hung her head.
‘Toni,’ snapped her mother, warning in her voice. ‘Come and see your guest.’
Valerie watched her cousin slink back towards the living room with her head bowed. She followed and saw it was Uncle Roddy himself, arms laden with gifts for his niece. He was a big man, tall and powerfully built, but ugly, with flabby jowls and pockmarked skin. His greying hair was permanently slicked down with gel.
‘There she is,’ he beamed at Toni, dumping the presents on the floor and opening his arms to her. ‘The beautiful wee birthday girl. Come and give Uncle Roddy a hug.’
‘Toni,’ said Moira, warning in her voice, when her daughter just stood there. ‘Give Uncle Roddy a hug.’
Valerie saw Toni’s reluctance to even approach the man, but she could understand that. Uncle Roddy was the most feared man in Glasgow, as well as one of the wealthiest, and he’d done many bad things to get that wealth. Pretty much every member of the family was afraid of him. But Toni had always been able to wrap him around her little finger by giving him one of her cute, dimpled smiles. Now she looked like she didn’t want to go anywhere near him.
‘Toni,’ hissed Eric, who was starting to look a little nervous. ‘Give your uncle a hug.’
Unwillingly, the little girl approached Roddy and gave him a brief hug.
‘That’s better,’ smiled Roddy, patting her back before handing Toni her gifts, which Valerie had no doubt would all be very expensive. He always splashed out on Toni, while the rest of the young cousins got cheap, crappy gifts. Roddy might have been wealthy but he was tight with it.
Valerie was confused. Toni loved receiving gifts and normally she would have torn into all the shiny paper and bows by now, but she remained sullen and silent, her lower lip sticking out. Moira and Eric appeared a little nervous.
‘Well, open them then,’ urged Moira.
With a sigh, Toni picked up one of the gifts and reluctantly removed the paper to reveal a beautiful doll with long black curly hair, just like her own.
‘Oh, it’s lovely, Roddy,’ beamed Moira. ‘Isn’t it, Toni?’
‘Suppose,’ muttered the little girl.
‘Don’t be so ungrateful,’ chided Eric. ‘Open the rest of the presents.’
Toni rolled her eyes but sat on the floor to open her gifts, ensuring she sat a good distance from Roddy, who looked on with an indulgent smile. Ten minutes later, Toni was surrounded by more dolls, clothes, jewellery, shoes and an enormous stuffed bear while the rest of the children looked on enviously. Any girl would have been delighted by the mountain of presents but Toni just looked sad and angry.
‘Say thank you to Uncle Roddy, Toni,’ said Eric, who was starting to sweat, glancing at the family patriarch as he spoke.
‘Thank you, Uncle Roddy,’ said Toni flatly, without looking his way.
‘You’re very welcome,’ he beamed jovially. ‘I could murder a bowl of ice cream,’ he announced. Roddy was famous for his ice cream addiction. ‘Why don’t you get me a bowl, Toni?’
‘I can do that,’ said Moira, getting to her feet.
‘No,’ barked Roddy, eyes filling with menace. ‘Toni will do it.’
When it appeared Moira was going to object again, Roddy’s glower became even more ferocious. Moira looked to her husband, who did his best to avoid her gaze, and slowly she retook her seat.
The amiable smile returned to Roddy’s face as he got to his feet and held his enormous, calloused hand out to Toni. ‘Come on, sweetheart. Let’s have some birthday ice cream.’
Toni’s eyes met Valerie’s and the latter was shocked by the fear in her cousin’s gaze. Obediently Toni got to her feet, took Roddy’s hand and let him lead her into the kitchen. Valerie moved to follow, wanting to help her cousin, who was obviously in distress.
‘No, Valerie,’ snapped Eric, making her jump.
She turned to face her uncle. ‘I want ice cream too.’
‘You’ll have to wait until Roddy’s finished.’
‘Why?’ she frowned.
‘Because I say so. Just do as you’re fucking told.’
Valerie glanced at Frankie, wondering if he knew what was going on, but even though the boy appeared angry that someone had taken his sister away from him, he knew he had to stay put.
‘How about a game of musical statues?’ said Moira, forcing a smile.
‘We can’t play games without Toni,’ said Valerie. ‘It’s her party.’
When Valerie glanced at the closed kitchen door and back at her aunt, she saw Moira was practically sweating with tension. What was going on?
‘Musical statues it is,’ said Eric with forced cheer. ‘Come on everyone, up you get.’
He then proceeded to put on some music at an unnecessarily high volume on the hi-fi, making some of the children wince and cover their ears.
Valerie had a really bad feeling, just as she had two years ago when her dog Gracie had been run over and killed in the street. She glanced at the kitchen door again. Her cousin needed her. Was she just going to stand there and do nothing? If their roles had been re