Shattered (Dividing Line #5) Read Free

away.”
    Beth shot to her feet, shaking with a rage Mikey had never seen in her before. Right then he knew she’d never be the same again.
    “It’s okay, we’ll find him. Why don’t you sit down?” he said, taking her hand.
    “I want him dead,” she hissed.
    “He will be, I promise. What happened after Nick?”
    She retook her seat, still trembling with anger. “Alex turned on Rachel. He kept telling her to admit that she cheated on Danny with Ryan.”
    Mikey was curious. “What did she say?”
    “That she didn’t, apart from one time at Martina’s Bar but that was when she and Danny split up, you know, after he got hooked on drugs.”
    Mikey nodded, finally starting to see the light.
    “She told him nothing else happened between them until a year after Danny’s death but he wouldn’t believe her, he was insane. He kept beating her and stabbing her to get her to admit it. She fought so hard, she was so brave but she couldn’t beat him.”
    “He’s a coward.”
    She nodded in agreement. “He nearly raped her,” she whispered, a tear sliding down her face.
    “Alex did?” he said incredulously.
    She nodded. “At the house in Moss Side. He dragged her upstairs…he was going to do it…until the boys stopped him.”
    “The fucking sick bastard,” he said, feeling like he could throw up.
    “That’s not all he did.” She grasped Mikey’s hand and looked at him with wide watery eyes. “He killed Martina.”
    He stared at her, absolutely stunned. “How? She had a stroke.”
    “Propofol. It’s a drug they use during surgery as a quick anaesthetic. Martina was on Valium, thanks to Alex, and when you combine it with Propofol it stops the body breathing. He bribed the pathologist not to do a toxicology test.”
    “He killed his own mum,” he murmured.
    “So did Nick.”
    “He told you about that?”
    “Yes. He thought I should know who I was getting involved with.”
    “Alex forced him, he had no choice. He was a decent bloke.”
    “I know.” Beth wanted to curl up into a ball and cry her heart out, she had to get the grief out before she lost her mind but there was something else Mikey needed to know first. “Alex told the Jordans that Rachel was still a leader in the family when she wasn’t. Nick said his mum would have left her alone if she’d been told the truth. Thomas’s death is on Alex.”
    “Just when I think he can’t get any more depraved he does. Does Rachel know?”
    “Yes. She went mental. She attacked Alex but no matter how hard she fought she couldn’t beat him. He kept hitting her and stabbing her and he was enjoying it. I can’t believe he’s the same man I married. What happened to him?”
    “I wish I knew. I miss the old Alex too.”
    “Was he always like this and he just hid it from us? Have I been married to a monster all these years?”
    “No, I’m sure of it.”
    “I used to love him so much, he was everything to me.”
    “And he loved you too, he told me often enough. This new Alex is an impostor. The real Alex is gone and he’s never coming back.”
    A knock on the door made Beth jump. “Who’s that?”
    “Don’t worry, it’s just Declan and his brothers. I asked them to come over to keep an eye on you.”
    Nevertheless Mikey’s hand rested on the butt of the gun tucked into his jacket pocket as he approached the door. He peered through the spy hole, relieved when he saw it was indeed his cousins. He opened the door and hastily ushered them inside before locking it behind them.
    “How is she?” whispered Declan.
    “How do you think? I need you to stay with her, I’ve got to get back to the hospital.”
    When there was another knock at the door they all tensed. Mikey indicated for his cousins to get behind the door while he once again peered through the spy hole.
    “It’s alright, it’s Riley.”
    He opened the door and was greeted by the smell of smoke. “Get yourself in quick before someone sees you.”
    Riley hurried in looking dirty,