So, he sat down and he tried to sell Teddy Carlton the deal, even though he knew as well as Jack Johnson, Reggie and Ray did that this was an insult of epic proportions. But, at the end of the day, businesses didn’t run themselves. And what Jack Johnson wanted he usually got – by any means necessary.

Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Seven

Liam and Lenny were out and Sharon was lying down on her bed trying to get a few hours’ sleep. The baby was out for the count and the tiredness had caught up with her. She lay in the darkened room waiting for sleep to claim her but it didn’t come. She sighed and tried once more to get comfortable, but her mind was racing and she couldn’t switch off.

It was a throwaway remark that Reggie had made that had set her thinking. He had bought the baby a beautiful bracelet – white gold set with tiny diamonds – and Sharon had been thrilled with it. Her relationship with him was better than it had been for years; she could look at him now and not think of him with Lenny. But, as she had made him a cup of tea and they had chatted about the baby and Ray’s elation at his daughter’s birth, Reggie had laughed and said in a jokey voice how Ray was the opposite of Lenny and that could only be a good thing. He had remarked how timely Ray’s arrival had been in her life, and how he seemed to have wanted to look out for her and the boys from the moment he had laid eyes on her. At the time she had not thought much about it, but now it bothered her for some reason that she could not explain. It was silly, and probably nothing to worry about, yet it did worry her for some unknown reason.