Sharon walked into the office of the taxi rank in Ilford with Ray close behind her. She saw the stares of the drivers, and her controller especially. Margaret Avis was a woman of indeterminate age and she liked the men. Her eyes were nearly out on stalks as she looked Ray Donovan over from head to foot. Sharon had to suppress a smile.

In the office Sharon put on the coffee pot and, turning to Ray, she said seriously, ‘Am I or my boys in any real danger?’

Ray looked at her and said quietly, ‘Maybe. Jack thinks this Brewer wants to make his mark, and the best way to do that, in his mind, is to take what was your old man’s. It’s a ploy, fucking outrageous really. But he can bask in your old man’s shadow if he takes on his businesses. It is a child’s fucking game. So, don’t worry – I will take that cunt out as soon as he rears his ugly head.’ He smiled then, as he said quickly, ‘I am assuming he is ugly! I don’t know for sure.’

Sharon smiled with him. Ray was a really nice guy and she was falling for him in a big way. His accent was music to her ears, he had a softness to his voice that she liked. She felt that he liked her too – at least that is what she hoped. She had not looked at another man since Lenny. When she had found out his true nature it had broken her heart. She had loved and trusted him and he had betrayed her in the worst way. Another woman she could have coped with, even forgiven. But a man? That was something that she had never even contemplated. Why would she? Lenny Scott had been a man, a real man. He had fooled everyone. Each time his mother extolled his virtues Sharon had felt sick because she knew the truth about the father of her two children – her handsome sons, so like him in looks and even in temperament – the man she had adored with all her soul.

She wondered briefly if Ray was hiding his true nature. She wasn’t exactly a good judge, was she? She had had only one man in her life: Lenny Scott. She poured the coffees and forced the thoughts from her mind. That was then and this was now. She had to remember that Lenny was gone for ever. He was dead but she wasn’t. This man had brought her back to life and she wanted him all the more for it.

Chapter Ninety-Two