After watching her reaction for a second, Peter added, ‘Please do this for me, Adele. It’s taken me years to build things up and I don’t want to lose it all.’ Then he hesitated before he spoke his next words: ‘I’d do it for you. You know I would.’

As soon as he said that Adele knew he had her. After all, he’d taken a big risk in trying to cover up her killing of their father. And he’d done it without question; out of loyalty to his sister. Now things had turned around. It was him asking her for help. How could she let him down after all he had done for her?

‘Jesus, Peter!’ she said. ‘You’re asking a lot. I hope you’ll let Glynn know who’s going to be in charge.’

‘I was hoping you’d do that,’ said Peter. ‘Do I take it that’s a yes, then?’

‘Looks like I’ve got no bloody choice, have I?’ she said, smiling wryly.

An impish grin lit up his face, reminding her of their childhood. It was the sort of grin he wore whenever he was up to mischief. ‘Thanks, sis,’ he said. ‘I knew I could rely on you.’

They chatted for a few more minutes before Adele left. She was glad to get away from the large, imposing walls of Strangeways prison. That eerie old building was intimidating.

But Adele didn’t go straight home. She needed time to reconcile the enormity of what she had just taken on. So she found a small café tucked away in the industrial backstreets of Manchester, near Victoria Station, and ordered a cup of tea.

Adele sat gazing out of the café window, deep in thought, long after she had finished her drink. There was no doubt in her mind that Glynn was somehow behind Peter’s arrest. She had known by the smug way in which he’d told her about it. Glynn probably thought he would have the perfect opportunity to take over Peter’s empire once he was behind bars. And she was the only person who could stop him doing so.

As Adele nervously rubbed her finger around the rim of her empty tea cup, she vowed that somehow or other she would put a stop to Glynn. After all, she owed it to her brother to protect his empire and pay him back for everything he had done for her in the past.

Chapter 59

It was a few days later and Adele was in Peter’s office. She was waiting for all the staff to arrive for the special meeting she had called. It was something she had been putting off for the last couple of days. Just the thought of it made her heart rate escalate. But she knew she had to do it.