‘You can’t fuckin’ trust anyone in the nightclub business, Adele, no matter how sound they might seem. You don’t know what it’s like in my position. I’m under pressure from all fuckin’ sides and I daren’t show my men any signs of weakness. I’ve already had Dave and Sam do the shit on me. I don’t want anyone else to do the same just because they think I can’t fuckin’ hack it.’

He sounded desperate, almost pleading for her support. And it was at that point Adele realised that her little brother had perhaps bitten off more than he could chew.

But how could she criticise him for his mistakes? She too had made mistakes in life. And who had stood by her when she’d made the biggest mistake of all? Peter. He had been there when she needed help. And now that things were the other way round, how could she turn her back on him?

Adele closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was about to make a decision that she hoped she wouldn’t regret.

‘OK,’ she said. ‘I’ll come back. But only if you protect me.’

Chapter 48

It was the following day and Glynn and Mike were out collecting. As he sat behind the wheel of his BMW, Glynn turned to Mike, who was sitting across from him.

‘We’ll take the long way round; it’ll give me chance to fill you in on what’s been going on.’

‘Yeah, what is it?’ asked Mike. ‘You sounded pretty fuckin’ serious on the phone.’

‘Oh, it’s serious alright,’ said Glynn. ‘Pete’s only gone and shot himself in the fuckin’ foot.’

‘How d’you mean?’

‘He tried to pay off his old mate Alan. But it’s fuckin’ backfired. So now, as well as trying to collect on our fuckin’ patch, they’re collecting from two of our biggest fuckin’ nightclubs as well; Angels and Bramleys.’

‘You’re fuckin’ joking!’

‘Wish I was, mate. Tell you what, Mike, I bet that Alan thinks Pete’s a right fuckin’ mug!’

‘He is a fuckin’ mug! They’re well taking the piss.’

‘Dead right.’

‘So what’s Pete gonna do about it?’ Mike asked.

Glynn shrugged. ‘He seems fuckin’ clueless to me. He’s promised to do summat but he doesn’t know what. So I’ve left it with him. He’s supposed to be running this fuckin’ firm, when all’s said and done. But I’ll tell you what, he’d better not take too fuckin’ long deciding or I’m gonna take matters into my own hands.’

‘Well, I’ll be right behind you,’ said Mike. ‘I told you he can’t fuckin’ handle it. He’s a soft cunt. You’d be better off running things.’