TRIGGER WARNING
The book contains triggers such as mental health issues, graphic violence, sexual and adult situations, sexual abuse, foul language. Reader discretion is advised.
PLAYLIST
"Survivor" – WEi
"exile" – Taylor Swift
"I mean it" – G-Eazy, Remo
"The Hills" – The Weeknd
"Love and War" – Fleurie
"Up Down" – Boy Epic
"Secrets and Lies" – Ruelle
"Hypnotic" – Zella Day
"Dark Side" – Bishop Briggs
"Do I Wanna Know?" – Arctic Monkeys
"Come Back for Me" – Jaymes Young
"I'm So Sorry" – Imagine Dragons
"Built For Sin" – Framing Hanley
"Flatline" – Two Feet
To those who constantly fight for everything. Sometimes that’s how it all starts to change for the better.
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.”
Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
BEFORE
It’s been a long time coming, but the early 1980s have tipped open an outpouring for change. That’s when Liverpool gained the infamous title 'Smack City' after it had experienced an explosion of organised gang crime and drug abuse. Streets were running with heavy substances and blood.
It has become the centre of criminal activity.
In the midst of them; British firms, all of them enemies. Shipments were often lost, people were slaughtered, buildings stormed, places robbed, warehouses burned.
Total chaos. Horror.
It had to stop. Fighting fire with fire has never led to anything other than a blaze.
So even if they had reasons to keep as far away from one another, and only one to get together – the most influential seven families met in the middle of it all – the Quarter. It’s a building close to the heart of Liverpool. One that hasn’t belonged to any of them and could be considered as a neutral ground.
And so they sat around the table and discussed business deals, their goals – the future. It was hours of long and heated conversations with more than one incident of almost getting handsy. They were always close to taking out the guns and doing what they knew best – bringing death into the picture.
They didn’t.
At a late hour, way into the night, with the sky ripped open and rain falling and crashing against the windows of a big office space with a huge table in the centre, they finally decided. They formed the coalition. They formed the Firm.
Fiennes, Addison, Coldwell, Jones, Laidley, Linwood and Rainforth – sworn rivals shared the city. Shared ‘Smack City’. Each family had a demarcated territory and an organizationally structured hierarchy. They reported to one another once a month at the Quarter meeting.
There was peace.
For years they were working together and never against one another.
Until they weren’t.
Until this one twenty-year-old girl came and dealt with them exactly the way she imagined doing for years. Until they were begging, no longer fighting.
But she was the last one standing.
Or maybe not...
CHAPTER ONE
Davina
It’s going to be a bloody disaster.
I know it before I even step outside my house and get in my car. There’s nothing that can even remotely make me think otherwise. No matter the reasoning behind the idea, or what it would mean for my people.
Taking a deep breath, I go over everything that is to happen tonight.
I’m meeting Macsen Addison – the boss of the North part of Liverpool. Someone I’ve met only a few times before when we were still little kids and the war between our families hasn't existed yet. I cannot remember what he looked like back then. I saw his face on social media quite a few times, though. He’s the kind of person who likes to show off, I can tell. That’s one of the biggest differences between us.
Another is our stomping grounds separated by Liverpool Parish Church Churchyard. That’s where our territories run their natural course. We do what we want, however we want, without getting in the way of each other.
At least, that’s the theory.
Reality is different. Raw, brutal, and definitely something that needs to change. Because of this separation, I lost more people than I can count. Went to too many funerals that shouldn’t have happened in the first place. Just because we are enemies who don’t know each other’s boundaries and are hungry for more. More territory, more power.
Just more.
I look in the mirror, smoothing my short, tight black dress, and put on a light brown shammy jacket, then step into black combat boots. After which, I walk out of the wardrobe, heading for the front part of the house where my right-hand man, William, is waiting for me. He is also my uncle, but I prefer to think of him as an independent contractor so that the fact of me being his boss wouldn’t get in the way of the heavy decisions that rest upon my shoulders.
Once I reach him, I make sure that my gun is safely secured on my thigh. It wouldn't make sense not to have a weapon on me, even though I’m not going alone. This meeting is risky, to say the least. I can never be certain that it won’t end in a bloodbath.
“Still against the idea?” asks William. I must not be hiding my displeasure very well.
I don’t answer. There’s no reason to.
Taking my phone and my car keys, I wait for William to walk ahead. It’s something I learnt and adopted a long time ago. Never let anyone stand behind me. Always be the last one and watch everyone who may be a threat. Man, woman, or even a child.
He nods slightly, opening the front door, and walks out towards my black Lexus LC. There are three of my guards already standing by to come with us, as well as my father. I barely acknowledge him with a greeting, not caring for any chit-chats. There would be a lot of talking done in a little bit.
“You’re going with my father. Try to keep up,” I say to Diego, who has always adored speeding. Many times I went over the speed limit just to be better than him. He smirks and I know we’re going to make the drive in fifteen minutes. Perhaps less if there’s no traffic.
I get inside with William, starting the engine.
I’m still not sure whether I should have agreed to the meeting.
“Let’s get one thing straight,” I approach the subject now that we are completely alone. My eyes are on the road as we drive off the property onto the street. “I’m doing most of the talking. They cannot get the wrong impression that I’m not in charge. Do you understand?”
Getting into the same room with my enemies is one thing but having to show the power I have in this male-dominated world is another. It is fucking hard to try and prove myself time and time again. So I don’t leave room for any mistakes that can suggest otherwise. I’m the boss. I give the orders. People just suck it up and follow them.
“As you always do, Davina. Nothing has changed,” he admits, taking out his phone. “Just keep in mind that it’s a good way out of our problems. In the last week alone, four of our people have been butchered entering one of their neighbourhoods. If it doesn’t stop, we’ll be left with too little to survive.”