A Family Divided (Dividing Line #3) Read Online Free PDF

scared eyes stared back at them.
    “Hello Ladies,” smiled Alex. “Welcome to Manchester.”
    It was clear from the blank looks they gave him that they didn ’t speak English. Good, that was how he liked it, it made it easier to terrify them into submission. They were all Eastern European, blond, dark, even a redhead, a nice variety for his punters, all of the women under the impression they’d been brought here to work either as nannies or models. In truth they were destined for his new and exclusive club, catering to the wealthiest men in the city and their most depraved needs.
    Alex turned to Col as the driver ushered the women off the back of the truck like the cattle they were. “Take them to the club, get them checked over. Patti will be waiting.” Patti was an ex-prostitute herself with years of experience as a madam and knew just how to keep the women in line.
    One of the women - a tall blond who couldn ’t have been more than twenty - threw him her best smile, sensing he was the man in charge and taking a liking to his good looks, but Alex wasn’t interested. She might be beautiful now but in a few months she’d be a screwed up mess, addicted to the heroin unknowingly supplied by Jez Law. Alex had arranged for a contact of his to act as the buyer, so Jez wouldn’t link Alex to anything. He sniggered inwardly at the memory of Jez’s strutting after sealing that lucrative deal, not realising he was selling to Alex himself to keep these women in line. They’d be provided with a safe supply and clean needles, so they wouldn’t catch anything nasty and pass it onto their customers. They would also be trained to inject between their toes, because there was nothing more unsexy than track marks. When the drug took hold and started to ravage their looks, then they’d be moved down south to the Slatterys to use in their own prostitution ring, whose punters weren’t as picky as his. Neither Mikey or Frankie McVay knew anything about this. Alex had already approached Vic Slattery and they’d done this deal between them, behind their associates’ backs. He realised he was playing with fire but there was no way they could find out. All the deals were done between middle men on behalf of Alex and Vic, with no way to trace it back to them. It was a very lucrative deal.
    The women were loaded into the back of two transit vans driven by the most trustworthy of Col ’s brothers. The younger two had been left out of this because of their inability to keep their traps shut. This was a very secret operation, other than Alex only the three Sugar brothers, the driver, Patti and Vic Slattery were in on it. Not even his contacts at Customs knew what they were turning a blind eye to. Secrecy was paramount. Jez was the king of prostitution in the city but he didn’t deal in anything dodgy, no kids or animals and he certainly didn’t traffick humans. He’d go ballistic if he found out his territory was being encroached on. A few years ago Alex wouldn’t have taken Jez seriously, but since Ryan had taken a step back he was now a real contender and very dangerous.
    Alex ’s club was a nice place, made out like a gentleman’s club with leather wing backed chairs, antique furniture and books but in the belly of the building were a set of rooms decorated in a variety of imaginative ways to reflect every possible sexual fantasy. Membership was very exclusive and only offered to those Alex had a hold over, who could be trusted not to blab about it; judges, senior police officers, lawyers, architects, councillors, politicians, the best of the best who could pay through the nose for any fantasy they desired. Alex was raking it in, but he had to be careful.
    Alex knew this wasn ’t what his dad had wanted for the family, he wouldn’t have touched this business with a barge pole and neither would Danny but it was incredibly profitable and so bloody easy. But he’d realised long ago that sentiment had been their downfall. In a way