Eva sat up ramrod-straight, her eyes steely. ‘Ava is dead. The rest of this world is just … noise, so why shouldn’t I get all I deserve?’

‘After all these years, is that what our relationship is, Eva? Noise?’

‘I’m looking after our interests,’ Eva insisted. ‘Someone had to.’ She stood up to glare down at me. I also got to my feet. No one looked down on me. No one.

‘Dan, you were busy elsewhere, so I had to take up the slack. And the only reason you aren’t interested in Prop is because Tobey disapproves. Well, bollocks to that. You’re supposed to be running this outfit, not him.’

‘And I have been running it, Eva. Manufacturing and distributing Prop is a short-term proposition at best. Tobey has already said that he intends to crack down on illegal drug trafficking in Albion when he’s in government and he’s not bluffing. Pouring all our resources into Prop will bankrupt us within a year.’

‘He’s your friend,’ said Eva with scorn. ‘Warn him to back off.’

‘He’s my friend and I’ll do no such thing,’ I replied.

‘Dan, I’ve been running our drug operations for almost two years now. Doesn’t that tell you something? We now control the making and distribution of Prop, the best on the street. Our reputation for quality is second to none. Why d’you think Dowd is even considering a merger?’

‘Eva, listen to me. One pack can’t have two alphas. Sooner or later, Dowd and I would have to re-establish which of us was top dog – and there’d be massive nationwide fallout. Dowd can’t be trusted. He’ll wait till he has knowledge of all our dreams and schemes and then he or one of his minions will put a bullet in my head or stab me in the back. Literally.’

‘It won’t come to that,’ Eva insisted, ‘because we’d get to him first.’

‘Eva, you are not to have any more dealings with Dowd, d’you hear me? Leave the running of my business interests to me. I know what I’m doing. You don’t. From now on, you don’t make a business decision without passing it by me first. D’you understand?’

‘Yes. I understand perfectly,’ Eva said quietly. She looked at me like a disappointed parent who’d just caught their child telling lies.

Such a shame, but in that moment I knew that our partnership, or mentorship, or whatever the hell it was, was well and truly over. A long pause, then the door opened quietly and closed the same way.

It was time to cut Eva loose – and, what’s more, we both knew it.

thirteen. Tom Jeavons

‘Dan, can I have a word?’