Glynn glared at Peter, his face a mask of anger. Then he seemed to bite back his fury as he said, ‘That doesn’t mean you’re always right, y’know. And, for the record, I think you’ve made a fuckin’ big mistake. Alan’s firm will think they can walk all—’

‘Alright, alright!’ snapped Peter. ‘Don’t you think I know that?’ Peter knew the row was getting out of hand so he took a step back and then said, ‘I trusted him, OK? He used to be a mate. Alright, we could have hit them again like we did with Sam but it didn’t fuckin’ get us anywhere last time so I thought I’d try summat else.’

‘Look, Pete. You’ve got no fuckin’ choice now. We’ve got to hit ’em hard. We can’t afford to let ’em take the piss.’

‘Don’t you think I fuckin’ know that?’ said Peter. ‘Don’t worry, they’re not gonna threaten my sister and get away with it.’

‘OK, so what you gonna do?’

‘I don’t know, yet,’ Peter said. ‘But one way or another they’re gonna fuckin’ pay.’

‘OK, let me know when you’ve made a decision,’ said Glynn cynically, before strutting out of the office.

Once Glynn had gone, and Peter was on his own, he loosened his collar further then pursed his lips and let out a long gasp of air. He noticed how his hand trembled as he brought it back down.

Jesus! What a fuckin’ mess. Now he was really up against it. Alan had double-crossed him, big time! There was no way he could let him get away with that, especially after he had threatened Adele.

But there was another reason he couldn’t afford to let Alan’s firm get away with it. Glynn had doubted his leadership and he couldn’t allow that to happen. It was too easy for the fuckin’ vultures to pounce if they thought you couldn’t hack it any more. After all, that had been the reason why he’d acquired the Golden Bell in the first place. He’d known Max could no longer handle the nightclub business and he’d swooped.

*

Adele was so on edge that she couldn’t settle in one place. David and his cronies knew where she lived, and that terrified her. What if he and the other guy turned up again? What if they did something even worse than threaten her this time?

Her limbs were twitchy and her chest was tight with panic. Every little sound alerted her and she kept checking to make sure the door and windows were locked, despite the fact that she lived on the first floor.