“Nah, Tan, he’ll never find us; give it a few months and it will all be forgotten; he’ll be so happy to have his sister back in one piece and me gone for good, he won’t give a shit anymore, he’ll probably think that it was money well spent,” he reassured her.
“You don’t know him like I do, Jay. He will never, ever, let this go; this will eat away at him, he will be looking for us, mark my words, we’ll constantly be playing a waiting game, it’ll only be a matter of time. We’ve just fucked him over with two of his prized possessions, his precious little sister and a massive chunk of his money.” Tanya stared into space, deep in thought now as she downed the rest of her glass. The mood in the room had suddenly changed. She had not stopped to think about what was going to happen afterwards, it had only just dawned on her that there was no way that they could just up sticks and start afresh elsewhere. She had only got as far as her little revenge plan; she had not thought past the provoking Billy bit. The sort of circles that Tanya and Jay mixed in, the sort of dealings they would be doing to make some cash: someone, somewhere, would leak it back to Billy and they would never be free, not really. She had to think of another way forward, something that would guarantee them a way out, she was starting to realise that Jay was a liability, and he really wasn’t seeing the bigger picture at all. Tanya needed to think about the situation before they made their next move; she had an idea, but she decided that this was best not shared with Jay.
“We need to keep her for another night,” Tanya nodded in the direction of the basement door. “Let Billy sweat it out while we sleep on it and tomorrow we’ll decide what our next step should be. I’m going to bed; it’s been a long night.”
She bundled up the cash and took the holdall upstairs with her, leaving Jay sitting in the chair racking his brain for some idea as to what they could do. The mood was bleak; he had thought they would be celebrating, but Tanya was stressed and uptight. Maybe she was right, though, they did have to think about their next move; he would be stupid to take Billy letting this one go for granted.
48
Billy couldn’t believe it: he had been fucking done over by Jay Shaw. That fucking sponger had walked into the club and taken a quarter of a million pounds from him without being clocked; no-one had caught a glimpse of the bloke.
Neither the smoke thing nor the hoax call to the police were rocket science, he supposed, but clever enough. He had wondered how Jay would do it. Billy and Paul had gone over and over the tapes for hours and there had been security everywhere; how the fuck Jay had got in unnoticed, neither could say. Billy should have known that Jay would play silly buggers.
Billy gulped down a shot of whiskey; he was fuming. The only way he would have been able to track the bastard down was to have caught him in the act and followed him, he had got away unseen and now Billy was again at Jay’s mercy, and he fucking hated every second of it. Tomorrow, his sister would have been gone for six days, and he was worried sick about her. If that bloke had done anything to her, he would fucking slaughter him.
He had been at home for a couple of hours now, sitting at the kitchen table, staring at the phone. Like a fucking mug. Jay would be laughing his smug fucking head off at him.
He couldn’t even think about the dilemma of Jay calling his bluff and demanding more money. Billy had made a small fortune from his dealings over the years, and he had wisely tied it up in property all over London. Getting his hands on quarter of a million pounds in just less than twenty-four hours had been a challenge, and one he begrudged to say the least. He had worked hard for that money, made a promise that he would never struggle for anything. He had vowed years ago never to be at the mercy of anyone, like his mum had been.
He realised that he had been quite tight with his cash up until now; he didn’t spend on anything much in particular. He always had cash in his pocket, enough to buy anyone he was with a few rounds in the pub, and okay he had invested wisely, but he could have done more with it. He could have taken Kate on holiday, treated her to nice clothes; they could both have lived life a bit. He smiled at the thought, Kate was almost as stubborn as him in some ways, and her pride would have told him not to waste his money on her, but he should have done so anyway. As soon as she got back, he was going to take her to Westfield on a shopping spree, treat her to a slap-up meal and then maybe ask her about going away somewhere, God knows she would need to go on holiday somewhere after this ordeal; he had no idea what state she would be in.
Emma could come too, of course, and he may even ask Paul. Paul had been a rock over the last few days, Billy was thankful of the support. Paul was the strong silent type but he had a big presence, and he was not a man to be shafted by anyone. Paul had confided that he really cared for Kate, and Billy could tell that he had been genuinely upset when he spoke of Kate, and how he hoped she was okay. Yeah, Billy had a good feeling about Paul. His sister could do with a decent man: one who would look after her; respect her; give her the life she deserved. Maybe, this time round, for once Billy really would step back and let her get on with it.
Billy took his phone to bed. He would probably toss and turn all night, waiting for the call, but he needed to rest, and he had no idea what else he could do. It had been another long day. Jay assured him that he would let Kate go when he had the money, but it was gone five in the morning, over five hours had passed since Jay had taken the money, and there had been no call.
Tanya looked at the clock on the bedside cabinet: it was almost five thirty. Jay hadn’t come to bed, and she guessed that he had fallen asleep on the sofa. She had been lying in bed for hours, unable to sleep, wondering what to do. She knew their plan wasn’t going to work.
Tanya knew that with Jay, she would be in for a life of dodgy dealings, and as much as she thought she could cope with that if she had to, she knew deep down that she didn’t want that for herself. She wanted more: more than Jay was able to offer. It was fair to say that she had had more than her share of fun with him, and using him to help settle the score with Billy had made her very happy. At the end of the day though, Jay was a man, so he couldn’t be trusted. It would only be a matter of time before he fucked everything up or pissed even more people off. It seemed to be a habit of his. Trouble turned up wherever he went, he was a magnet for it, and getting into more trouble was not a risk she wanted to take. Sure, he was all over her like a rash at the moment, but give him time and his wandering eye would return.
She had loved Billy, and look where that had got her. He had replaced her in a heartbeat, and actually while she was with him she hadn’t been anywhere near as close to him as she would have liked to be, with the ‘lovely’ Kate about, there were always three people in her relationship. No, this time, she decided, she would to do it alone. A quarter of a million pounds was more than enough compensation for putting up with Billy bringing that slag into her home, humiliating her. As far as she was concerned, she was owed every single penny. The only place where it was possible to hit Billy where it hurt, other than his perfect Kate, was his wallet: Tanya hoped that she had fucking wounded him.
Tanya had made up her mind; she would take the money and run. On her own, she could make it, she trusted herself not to slip up nor let her guard down; besides, Billy wouldn’t be interested in her, he was after Jay, who was behind this as far as Billy was concerned.