“Frankie, I…” Bruno began, but a finger to his lips stopped him.

“Shh. Hush, now. I’m talking,” Frankie said.

He pressed his finger harder until the old man had no choice but to pull back, then finished the last of his lager with a couple of big swigs.

“See, a little birdie tells me you’ve been complaining about the quality of the customer service you’ve been receiving from your old pal, Frankie. That right, Bruno? You unhappy with the quality of my customer service?”

“No, Frankie, I…”

“How much does Mr Capelli here still owe us, Paco?”

The answer came in the following breath. “Nine and a half, Uncle Frankie.”

Frankie touched a finger to his ear. “Hear that, Bruno? Nine and a half. Nine and a half thousand smackeroonies. That is a lot of fucking money, is it no’?”

“It is, Uncle Frankie.”

“I wasn’t asking you,” Frankie replied. His eyes were still locked on Bruno’s. He still hadn’t blinked. Not once. “You want to pay me that back the now, Bruno?”

Bruno couldn’t. Of course, he couldn’t. Not even close.

“No, thought not,” Frankie said.

Bruno flinched when a hand moved suddenly towards his face. Then, with a smirk, Frankie wiped something off the old man’s shoulder.

“So, here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to fork up this week’s instalment, we’ll add on, say… five percent to make up for the damage my good reputation has taken thanks to shooting off your big fucking mouth, and we’ll call it a night at that.”

His hand clamped down on Bruno’s shoulder. His smile was an insidious thing that slithered across his pock-marked face, curving both his moustache and his scar.

“What do you say?”

Bruno tried to swallow back the word, but it came out on its own. It had been held back too long, for too many months, for too many years.

“N-no.”

The hand became a dead weight on the old man’s shoulder. Frankie’s mouth continued to smile, but his eyes stopped lending it their support.

“Sorry, Bruno, for a horrible fucking moment there, I thought you said…” Frankie shook his head. His fingers became pincers, and Bruno felt the bones in his shoulder creak. “Tell me I didn’t just hear what I thought I heard, Bruno. Tell me you didn’t just say—”

“No,” Bruno said, with more conviction this time. “I have… I have paid you back many times over. Many times. I cannot afford to continue. I wish… I want to retire. I cannot keep paying. I can’t. I… I won’t. I just… I won’t.”

There was silence then, like the whole world was holding its breath. What was left of Frankie’s smile had gone now. He blinked. Finally, he blinked.