Ray arrived the next morning after a particularly heavy night of passion with a Swedish girl he had met in one of his clubs. She was tall, thin and had little tits that fascinated him. She also had the strength of a lion, and when she wrapped those long, slim legs around his waist and squeezed he honestly thought he had died and gone to heaven. She looked like the blonde one from ABBA in their heyday. She was a real looker, all right.

Now, though, he knew he was well in the doghouse and he needed to have a bit of a grovel. He was shocked at how rough Sharon looked; she seemed to have aged ten years overnight.

‘You finally got home then?’

He could hear the accusation in her voice, and he looked suitably contrite. But how could he have known those stupid fuckers would do something so fucking idiotic?

‘I’m sorry, all right? But I’m here now and I am sorting it. So don’t worry.’

Sharon pushed past him and, shaking her head slowly, she said loudly, ‘Jack and Reggie have already done what’s needed, thank you. Get back to your fucking whore. You are not welcome here.’

Kathy had heard the exchange and she was amazed to witness her mum talking like that to her dad. She could see the look of utter incredulity on her father’s face and realised that her mum had won this battle – but that did not mean she would necessarily win the war. Her respect for her mother shot through the roof and, taking Sharon’s lead, she walked into the kitchen and gave her father a filthy look.

Ray Donovan stood in his state-of-the-art kitchen and swallowed his anger. He knew that Sharon was entitled to be annoyed today – as long as she understood that he would not put up with this treatment for too long, she was quite safe.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy-Two

Sharon was tired and she wasn’t in the mood for any mind games. She could hear Ray in the kitchen and she sighed with annoyance. This was his new habit – making a point of coming home at a reasonable time, acting like a new man. But it was too little too late. She had got used to him not being there and now his presence irritated her beyond belief. He was like some kind of fucking ghost, wandering in and out of the rooms and trying to make small talk.