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Boldwood Books - Gillian Godden

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162 pages

English

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The BRAND NEW gritty gangland thriller from Gillian Godden!

Friend or Foe?

Patsy Diamond thought she had her life and her business dealings under control…she was wrong.

Because just as Patsy is hoping for calm, chaos erupts, and Patsy is forced to make decisions that could cost her everything.

The only people Patsy can rely on are her inner circle – her family and her close friends. But with danger and threats seemingly lurking around every corner Patsy must take extra care with who she trusts with her secrets.

So when Patsy meets handsome stable hand Phillipe Carreaux, she’s immediately wary. Can she bring Phillipe into her world or is it simply too dangerous?

And is Phillipe everything he appears to be?

With her future on the line, Patsy must think smart if she hopes to hold on to her Diamond reign forever…

What people are saying about Gillian Godden!

'An edge of your seat read that will leave you breathless!' Bestselling author, Kerry Kaya.

'Characters were so real I'm still looking over my shoulder! Bestselling author Owen Mullen.

Sujets

Policier & Thriller

Policier

Thriller

Mashups

Psychological

Thrillers

21st century

Psychological thriller

Psychology

City Life

Crime

Noir

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	Boldwood Books
Date de parution	20 juillet 2023
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781802800999
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1500€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

FOREVER DIAMOND

GILLIAN GODDEN
For my son Robert and his fiancée Ellie on their forthcoming wedding x
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

Acknowledgments

More from Gillian Godden

About the Author

Peaky Readers

About Boldwood Books
1
THE SPIDER’S WEB

‘Where are we going? You’ve taken the wrong turn at the roundabout.’ Patsy Diamond sat in the back of the police car and looked out of the window as the sign for Glasgow sped past her. Knots churned in her stomach. She’d just been arrested at the airport by two detectives supposedly taking her to the police station and now they were driving in the opposite direction. Confused, Patsy said, ‘I demand to know where you’re taking me!’
The man in the passenger seat grinned as he turned to face her and held out a cigarette he’d lit for her. ‘Hold out your arms, Mrs Diamond.’
Patsy leant forward and put the cigarette in her mouth, while tentatively holding out her arms. The man in the passenger seat leaned towards her and unlocked the handcuffs he’d put on her earlier. ‘Isn’t that better?’ He smiled.
Taking the cigarette out of her mouth, Patsy exhaled into the air, forcing the man in the passenger seat to open the window. Rubbing her wrists, panic began to rise inside of her. Taking another drag of her cigarette, she stared at the back of the heads of the two supposed detectives.
‘If you don’t tell me where we’re going, I’ll scream and pull that bloody driver’s hair out by the roots,’ she shouted at them both and kicked the back of the seat, hurting her own foot in the process.
The man in the passenger seat looked over his shoulder and smiled again. ‘We’re going to the airport Mrs Diamond; that’s where we’re taking you.’
A frown crossed Patsy’s brow. She didn’t understand. ‘Where’s Larry? And why to the airport? We’ve just come from there. Just who are you exactly?’ Her face flushed and anger rose inside of her, and she could feel a stickiness on her palms. The back seat of the car felt claustrophobic. There was no escape and all she could do was sit and wait, although her nerves were frayed.
‘Calm down, Mrs Diamond, you’re safe and so is Larry. It’s not him we want, it’s you. You’ve driven us to this. You refused to come when you were politely asked and now we’ve had to go to extremes to prove our point. Just sit back and smoke your cigarette, we’ll be there in a minute. Personally, I found it very strange when we arrested you that you came with us so easily. Is that who you are, Mrs Diamond? A drug dealer, a madam and a money launderer?’ The man laughed and turned to his friend in the driver’s seat. ‘You’re going to have to be a better liar than that.’
Patsy’s mind was racing; she couldn’t understand what was happening. What had she refused to do? She was supposed to be going on a long holiday to the Maldives with her boyfriend Larry but had been arrested and handcuffed at the airport before they could board their flight. Larry, being a lawyer, had protested and told her to say anything to the detectives, but she had been marched through the airport in handcuffs, red-faced with shame, leaving Larry to follow in another car. It was all a mystery, and now she was driving along with two strange men who seemed to know her, but she didn’t know them. Their accents weren’t Albanian. She’d had a lot of turf wars over drug dealings with the Albanians and could only assume it was something to do with them. But no, they weren’t clever enough to set up such a charade and they didn’t have that kind of power or authority.
The car pulled up outside the airport again and getting out, they opened the back door for her. Patsy looked up at them both, trying to compose herself, all the while her stomach was in knots and she didn’t know what to expect.
‘You’d better put that cigarette out; they don’t allow them in airports.’ The man took the cigarette out of her mouth and stubbed it out with his shoe. ‘Come along now; we haven’t much time.’
‘None of this makes sense. This is kidnapping, you know that, don’t you? Is it money you want?’ Patsy could hear herself babbling on but couldn’t stop.
The man was starting to become irritated by her constant questioning. ‘Come on, we need to see you safely on the aeroplane. Your flight is in fifteen minutes.’
Patsy’s jaw dropped. ‘You’re letting me go on my holiday? Have you told Larry? Is he here?’ Patsy looked around, but she couldn’t see him. The two men pushed her forward but said nothing. One of them linked his arm through hers and marched her towards a check-in desk. As he took the ticket out of the inside of his pocket, Patsy’s heart sank when she heard him speak in French.
Now the penny had finally dropped. They were sending her to France. She wanted to say something to the woman at the desk, but her mouth was dry and she was finding it hard to swallow. Her knees felt weak, and she could hardly put one foot in front of the other as they pushed her forward to board her plane. ‘I have no luggage. What about Larry? What are you going to do with him?’
‘Mrs Diamond, I told you he’s safe. Now, we have to be quick. You don’t have much time.’
Patsy walked ahead, nervously turning backwards to look at them as she did. She thought about making a run for it, but could see they weren’t going to leave until they knew she was safely on the plane. There was nothing she could do but follow their instructions. They were working for the Milieu – the feared gangland bosses of France. She thought she had appeased them with their joint business venture and paid them what Karen Duret had owed. But apparently they weren’t finished with her yet.
Karen Duret had been the thorn in her side from the very beginning. Her initial dealings had been with Patsy’s late husband Nick. She had sold his drugs and done his bidding and even faked her own death to be free of him. She’d escaped to France, where she’d got up to her neck in debt and was in trouble with the French gangland bosses who wanted her home and her business off her. Once she’d found out that Nick had died, she’d hatched a plan to waltz into Patsy’s life and claim Nick’s drug money and empire for herself. It had become a battle between them, and Patsy had finally rid herself of Karen, but not without consequences and a near prison sentence. She’d been blackmailed and put through the mill and the Milieu had saved her skin! They were on good business terms and they’d shared the booty since Karen’s demise.
As far as Patsy was concerned, there weren’t any problems between them, even though the thought of them and their sadistic ways sent chills down her spine. She had seen what they were capable of and it frightened her. It seemed to her that they had spies around every corner of the world and even their closest associates weren’t safe if they crossed them. What did they want from her now?
As far as she knew, everything was okay out there. She had sent Greek Paul to oversee the running of a restaurant on the land she owned in France, and reports from him had been promising. He had become a loyal worker for her after Nick had blackmailed him into selling drugs for him at his one of many shops. Patsy had suggested Paul go to France to start afresh and oversee her restaurant and the truffle farm at the chateau. A sweeping thought crossed her mind, that maybe he had done something stupid in her absence.
As she climbed the steps up to the plane, sweat appeared on her brow as she remembered the last time she had seen the Milieu in the cellar of a bistro in France, where she had witnessed them murdering Karen Duret’s brother. She felt sick to her stomach and bile rose in her throat as she wondered if that was to be her fate, too.
Once on board, she ordered a large gin and tonic, almost gulping it down in one when it arrived. She must have looked pale because the flight attendant asked if she was okay and assured her the flight would be okay. Patsy just smiled at her. She felt frightened, lost and alone. No one apart from Larry knew she had been supposedly arrested; everyone would think she was flying off to her romantic destination, drinking champagne. How wrong they were.
Agitated and nervous, she couldn’t wait for the flight to be over so she could ring her best friend Sheila. Holding on to the arms of her seat, she could see her knuckles were almost white from squeezing them so tightly. Smacking her lips together, she cocked her head to one side to grab the attention of the air hostess. ‘Another gin and tonic please.’
Patsy ran her hands through her hair in despair as the male passenger beside her nudged her with his elbow. ‘It’s a short flight, Mrs Diamond; better not have too many of those.’ He grinned, his French accent disturbing her. Not only had she been safely put on the aeroplane, but they had organised an escort in case she tried to make a run for it. Her heart sank. These people had gone to a lot of trouble to make sure she arrived to face their wrath or whatever it was. She could feel the sweat between her breasts, and her back felt wet against the seat. She wanted to cry as fear gripped her but fought back the tears. What was the point? she asked herself. The sick feeling in the pit of her stomach wasn’t going to go away until she knew what they wanted. There was no point in fighting it, she had willingly gone into business with these people and now for whatever reason, she had annoyed them.
The air hostess stood beside her and proffered the drink she’d ordered. ‘Would you like anything else, madam?’
Taking the glass, Patsy shook her head, when all the time she felt like screaming out, ‘I need help!’ But what good would it do? Taking a sip of the cool drink soo