Chapter 1
Jessie
JFK heaved. Sweaty business men pushed through the crowds with practiced ease; stressed mothers yelled at their feral children, whilst tourists with Mickey Mouse ears glanced around, some in confusion, some in fear, jostled by the locals who grunted and huffed loudly at their slow meander.
Despite the warm humid air outside, my skin pimpled with cold in the air-conditioned building. I pulled my battered case through the cramped and crowded terminal, looking for a sign with my name. I reached the main door of the terminal without seeing it. Shit.
I was immediately hit with the heat of the day; my skin slicking instantly and my long braided auburn hair sticking to my neck. I didn’t know the name or number of who was meeting me, so I pulled my phone out of my back jeans pocket and switched it on. After a beat, the phone connected to a US phone network and the messages started to roll in.
All colour drained from my flushed face when I saw several texts from associates telling me that shit was going down whilst I was flying over the Atlantic.
I called my father at his office. He had dropped me off at the airport in the early hours, offering me a brief embrace. Our relationship had never been loving; it was more transactional. As his only child and a girl, everything that followed only added to his disappointment.
I had tried everything to win his affection. I had attended university and earned a degree in forensic accounting, with a view to joining the family businesses. I knew that my father had legitimate and… not so legitimate business interests and I had long since made peace with that. Since my mother died however, my father had taken bigger and bigger risks, and the lines between moral and immoral were ever more blurred than before. His decision making was growing more erratic as the years went by, and his closest advisers were losing faith.
At first, no one answered. But on my third attempt, there was a click, and I heard heavy breathing. My anxiety peaked.
“D-Dad?”
The cold and callous laugh that followed caused my heated skin to prickle with fear.
“Hello Jessica. Your Daddy won’t be answering the phone anymore. No one will be meeting you. There’s a new boss in charge.”
“Who is this?” I spat, surprised at my own venom. Deep down, I knew I’d recognise that northern Irish accent anywhere.
“You know.”
“Declan,” I seethed. He had been my father’s closest friend since I was little. Until recently, when I’d heard that he had been spreading rumours about my old man, casting doubt over his leadership.
“Ah it’s good to talk to you too, little sparrow,” he drawled in his thick brogue. “Well, Jessica. Enjoy New York. I hear they prey on lone undocumented women like you. I wouldn’t want you to fall foul of the sex trafficking trade. Pretty thing like you…”
“You’re sick.” I stared into the sunshine, almost willing it to cloud over.
“No Jessica, I’m smart. I’m a businessman. I sell things people want to buy. Your father was sensible too. But now he’s gone, and I’m in charge. Dublin is my town now. I suggest you don’t come back. There is nothing left for you here. This is your one and only warning, little sparrow. You better disappear now and not get caught.
“But tell you what. I’m not an unreasonable man, little sparrow. You seem sweet, and innocent. I’ll give you a head start. But you stay away from my new empire and you stay away from this world. Heed my words, little sparrow. If I catch you, I will kill you.”
The call ended with a click.
The fear that had risen had pooled in my stomach. My father was dead at the hands of his so-called friends. Our contacts in New York who I had been sent to press the flesh with and oversee the Brooklyn breweries would not be coming to pick me up. They would be coming to kill me.
I was alone, in an unknown city, with just a passport and an envelope of cash in my jacket pocket and a battered suitcase of business clothes. I had no accommodation, no contacts, no transport, and all I could think about was who had betrayed me. Which members of my father’s council had gone with the enemy and destroyed me. Destroyed a life I barely wanted, but had worked so hard for.
Fuck.
