“W…w…what is it you want?” she croaked. Slowly, shakily, she attempted to stand. “I can give you whatever… money? Is that it?”
Wordlessly, Zach came forwards so that he was standing beside his father, a grave expression on his face. In one hand, he wielded a thick kitchen knife, and Ronnie silently praised his son for taking the initiative.
“Finish her,” Ronnie told his son. “We’ve not got time for games. The cops are on the way.”
“What?” moaned Flo, stamping her foot on the ground. “I want to play!”
“Well, it's tough fucking shit,” Ronnie spun around and yelled at his youngest daughter. He saw that Lloyd, Minnie, and Stella were also hovering in the doorway, each of them looking similarly disappointed. “For fuck’s sake, we hang around here much longer, we’ll all be going to jail, and you,” he jabbed a grimy finger in the direction of his youngest daughter, “you’ll go to foster care. Probably get beaten and molested and end up a damn crack whore.”
Flo rolled her eyes.
“Zach, kill that bitch,” he yelled at his eldest son. “Change of plan. Lloyd and I will get the old bitch out of the back of the van. Set the place alight, make it look like the old hag had fucking dementia and left the oven on.”
Zach grabbed the now screaming woman by the hair and poised the blade at the side of her neck.
“Mum… you… you killed my mu-“
The young man rammed the knife into her flesh, its sharp point gliding almost effortlessly through the side of her throat. Immediately, blood poured from the surface, like lava erupting from a cave. He let her body fall to the ground, her head smacking into the tiles; a thick pool of red rapidly forming a halo around her.
“I’ve got the money and our shit. Girls pick up anything worth any value. We’ll go wait in the car,” said Minnie, addressing Stella and Flo.
Ronnie nodded and looked to Lloyd.
Approximately ten minutes later, Ronnie and his teenage sons were standing in the middle of the kitchen, both mother and daughter lying dead on the tiles. Lloyd doused the room in the vodka that they’d thankfully not drunk the evening before, whilst Ronnie struck a match.
“You boys get out, go to the car,” he told them. “Move it, now.”
Neither of them argued. Perhaps other young men from normal families would have refused, instead opting to stay with their father in what could potentially be a lethal scenario. But Zach and Lloyd had been taught from a very young age that being honourable got you nowhere. Obediently, they jogged back out of the house, through the front door. Ronnie waited ten seconds, then threw the match on the ground and sprinted out of the house.
The engine of the van was rumbling as he ran out into the open air, his lungs already feeling like they were rapidly filling with lead. Sirens erupted into the air, ringing nearer and nearer with every heartbeat.
Swallowing, Ronnie mustered the last of his energy to hop into the passenger seat, and Minnie immediately sped off down the road. Just as they turned left at the junction, Ronnie was certain he caught a glimpse of blue light.
Chapter Five
Summer, 1999
“Oh… Ron!” Minnie gasped, clutching her hands to her heart as her chest flooded with emotion. He wound his big arm around her shoulders and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Do you like it?”
“Oh Ronnie, it's perfect,” gushed Minnie, slowly stepping towards the rusty, old car that had been parked in the middle of the clearing.
It wasn’t the car that made Minnie’s heart swell. She’d seen Ronnie’s beat-up old fiesta plenty of times before.
But not like this.
Ronnie had decorated the discoloured blue exterior with fairy lights and cheesy, sparkly banners, which wished her congratulations. Inside, the seats were folded down, creating a wide space that was illuminated by glowing orange lanterns in each corner. A few bottles of wine and some cheap plastic wine glasses, as well as a radio, a blanket, pillows, and a box of her favourite chocolates, waited inside.
“Oh… Ronnie,” she repeated, unable to articulate how amazed she was by it all. “This is wonderful…”
He laughed, grabbed her hands, and twirled her around. “Is it worth a blowjob?”
Giggling, she nudged him in the side and let him scoop her up so that he was carrying her again.
“M’lady,” he said playfully, “your chariot awaits!”
Chapter Six
2019
“Family meeting!” Ronnie announced.
It was a redundant gesture, considering that all six of them were already sitting in the same family-sized hotel room. Nevertheless, everyone drifted closer to where he was sitting, at the foot of the double bed that he would share with Minnie.
It had been around six hours since they’d made a run from the old woman’s house. Minnie had driven a few hours to Norfolk, a place she recognised from where she’d take caravan holidays as a child. There was plenty of family-run bed and breakfasts down the seafront, where they’d take cash with no questions asked, and they’d even been allowed to park the van in the owner’s private garage, out of sight.
“Guys,” said Ronnie, taking a swig of his beer. “Sorry for being tetchy earlier. The whole scenario really took me by surprise.”
Flo snorted, “no shit.”
“But that’s life,” he continued with a shrug. “And so we’re at that point again where we need to think about our next move.” His twinkly blue eyes flitted upwards and fixed on each of his children one by one. “We’ve got about ten grand. That won’t last longer than a few months, not if we’re staying in hotels.”
Silence descended upon the group as each of them fell into his or her own thoughts.
Zach, a strong, good-looking 19-year-old, was naturally cocky. Ambitious. He’d had enough of bloody burglaries and muggings. He was hungry for more, and he had full faith they were more than capable of achieving more.
Stella, whose natural beauty
