Hi Guys
Sorry this took so long coming. I genuinely wasn't expecting to be writing a sequel to my original story. But your wish is my command, so here I deliver. Just to warn you, there's a little less focus on sex in this one. I think if I'm going to write this story, I'm going to put a bit more backstory into it. Hope you don't mind! I'll certainly be writing a sequel for this one as well!
Also, suggestions are always welcome! I'm currently working on the sequel to my "Evil Twin" story, and am formulating a couple of new ones, so suggestions for those are also welcome!
Cheers
GT
*****
"Well, you can dispute borders all you like, try to drudge up all the feeble excuses you have, and attempt to defend your man like it's his last day on Earth, but it's not going to get you out of this one, Dennis," Mickey snapped at the rather smug looking cockney sitting opposite him. "Your man over here..." he gestured to the equally smug looking lad sitting next to him "was selling cocaine - a drug that Miss Barley personally disapproves of - on OUR territory."
"Well, as far as I'm concerned, he can sell whatever the fuck he likes. It's a free country. Besides, how was he to know he'd strayed into your territory?"
"Because our territory is the WHOLE of fucking London! It's not exactly hard to miss!" Mickey snapped. "Frankly, you're lucky we didn't kill him when we caught him. Miss Barley insisted that we try to resolve it with you first."
"Fuck you," Den replied. "My boys have been working the streets 'round Hackney for twenty years mate. Just because you Paddy bastards rolled in and declared you own the place isn't going to change nuthin'. We'll sell our charlie as per uzh, and you ain't fucking stopping us."
Before Mickey could interject further, Elizabeth sat forward in her seat beside him, and raised her hand to silence him. She had been sitting quietly, watching this exchange the entire time, and had been silent most of the meeting. However, now she looked Den in the eye, and when she spoke, her voice was nothing but calm. Dangerously calm.
"I think we've been fairly reasonable, Den," she said. "You can sell whatever you want outside of London. Cocaine. Heroin. Maybe even a little crystal if it makes you happy. But if you want to sell in London, you only sell weed and pills. And you give us a 50% cut. If you disobey those rules, we shut you down and destroy your business. It's that simple."
She turned her face towards the smug looking dealer who had come with Den.
"And as for you, Gaz... You were somewhere that you knew you weren't supposed to be, selling a drug you knew you weren't supposed to be selling. And you can't plead ignorance, because it's basically the code of the street now, and every dealer in London talks about it."
She stood up, and walked round to the other side of the desk, so she could look down on them.
"So I'm going to give you a choice... water, fire or ice?"
Gaz's smirk disappeared, to be replaced by a look of confusion. The same was true of his boss.
"Say what, now?"
"Fire, water or ice?"
Gaz frowned. "I'm gonna need more fucking details than that, sunshine!"
Smiling, Elizabeth picked up a remote control, and pressed a button on it. Immediately, a projector screen lowered from the ceiling and began projecting its image.
Gaz's shock and horror at the sight that met him was quickly replaced by a surge of rage as he attempted to leap out of his chair and charge at Elizabeth. Mickey's fist got there first, and he doubled over in pain as the blow to his midriff hit him with full force, knocking all the air out of his lungs. Den likewise leapt to his feet, but didn't try anything. He knew better than to go up against a puncher like Mickey. But he couldn't hide the shock of what he was looking at.
The screen showed a girl of about 20 with messy black hair, pale green eyes (one of which was blackened) and a slightly olive complexion, on her knees, her hands bound behind her back and a strip of duct tape around her mouth. Behind her was a figure dressed in black, wearing a balaclava and holding a knife.
"THAT'S MY FUCKING DAUGHTER, YOU WHORE!" Gaz wheezed. "LET HER GO, OR SO HELP ME GOD -" He was cut off by another hefty punch, this time to the face.
"Easy, easy there, Gary boy!" Elizabeth said, a small smile. "Wouldn't want her to lose any fingers, would we?"
Now trying hard not to try anything, but still wheezing with white hot anger, Gaz steadied himself. His nose was bleeding, but not broken. He turned to face Elizabeth.
"So... what do you want?"
"Water, fire or ice?" Elizabeth repeated, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"The fuck do those mean?" Gaz snapped. When no answer came, he shouted "WHAT THE FUCK DO THOSE MEAN!?!?!?"
"Well, it's very simple. Do we burn her alive - as in, fire? Do we drown her, as in water? Or do we lock her in a freezer and freeze her to death, as in ice?"
It would take a million psychiatrists to explain what Gaz felt in that moment. But Elizabeth could see as his face practically melted, as he tried to take in what she had just told him, and then began to weep.
"Please... no..." he sputtered. "Please don... don't kill her. Please don't kill her!"
"Well, that's not up for debate," Elizabeth said. "You broke the rules. Your daughter has to die. And you have to pick the method by which we kill her..."
Gaz couldn't answer - his weeping now took over completely, and his whole body practically convulsed as he struggled to get back his composure. It was Den who spoke next.
"You'd kill an innocent girl to get revenge on a simple rule break? What kind of sick fuck are you!?"
"I don't really think you want to be talking to me like that, Dennis..." Elizabeth replied. "And the next words I hear had better be an answer to my question."
But he wasn't done.
"So what? What if Gaz refuses to answer your question? How will you choose then?"
Elizabeth permitted herself a smile.
"Well, we don't have to choose any of them. My friend over there..." She pointed to the figure standing behind the frightened girl. "... Will cut her up, piece by piece. And you'll be forced to watch."
Den fell silent. Gaz continued weeping. Eventually, Elizabeth grew impatient.
"Well?" She snapped. "I'm waiting!"
"I - I - I..." Gaz could barely speak now. "I beg you... please! I'll do anything you want! I'll come work for you, without pay. I'll give you all the money I have. Fuck, kill me if you want! That's it! Kill me, here and now! You can drown me if it makes you feel happy! Just... Please don't kill my daughter."
Elizabeth's smile didn't waver for a second.
"Sounds to me like he chose water." She said. She picked up the walkie talkie and spoke into it. The figure held it up to their ear. "Get the bath running!"
The figure left the girl and headed through a door. There was the sound of running water.
"NO!!" Gaz practically lost it. He lunged at Mickey, and somehow managed to dodge his next punch. He shoved him to one side, and threw himself at Elizabeth. "PLEASE!"
Elizabeth smiled. "Please what?"
"Please don't kill her! Please just let her go!"
After a moment, she took his hands off her collar, and pushed him back slightly, looking into his tear-stained eyes.
"All right," she said. "I don't think that hot little cailÃn of yours is worth having blood on my hands." Turning to look at Den, her smile faded. "Your boss, however..."
She nodded her head, and, just as suddenly, Den was grabbed from behind by another masked figure, who plunged a knife into his stomach and proceeded to viciously stab him. He screamed and howled in pain and surprise, his attempts to fight back failing miserably, and before long, he began to splutter and cough blood out of his mouth, his white shirt now looking very red. He looked like a victim of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
It did not take long for him to die.
Looking back at the horrified Gaz, Elizabeth put a hand on his shoulder.
"You'll get your daughter back on Thursday," she said. "After I've had my way with her. She's a fine specimen, she is," ignoring the look on his face, she continued. "Go back and tell the rest of Den's boys that they have a choice. Work for me. Or meet the same end as he did. Only next time, I'll make it ten times worse. They used to boil people alive in medieval times, and I'm quite curious to know how loudly someone screams when that's happening to them..."
She laughed to herself.
"Now fuck off."
Gaz didn't need telling twice. He grabbed the bag he had brought with him, and hurried out of the door, leaving his now very dead boss behind. Looking at the corpse, Elizabeth's lip curled in disgust. "Get someone to clean that up, Mickey!" she said.
"Right away, Lizzie!" he said, and hurried off. Then Elizabeth turned to the killer.
"The normal rate, isn't it?" she asked. The figure merely nodded. So Elizabeth picked up her phone, and dialled another number. "Chris, it's Liz. Could you please transfer another 50 grand into the X account? Thanks." She hung up. "See you next time I need you."
The figure merely nodded, turned and exited, leaving Elizabeth alone. She picked up the walkie talkie, and spoke into it.
"How's that bath coming along, Milly?" She asked.
"Almost ready, Liz" came the quiet, but confident voice of her younger sister. "She should be clean and ready for you when you get back. Love you!"
"Love you too, gorgeous!" Elizabeth cooed in a mock-lovey dovey voice.
———
4 years earlier
———
"I sat within the Valley Green,
I sat me with my true love.
My sad heart strove the two between