‘Of course, we did. Lizzy wanted to but look around you. This isn’t Manhattan. The police don’t exactly put black drug addicts at the top of their priorities. No, they would take the kids away, shunt them off into care, and leave their mum to die in her den.’ Leon took a breath to compose. ‘While Lizzy was still alive, she would help Alex where she could. The kids would come round a lot. Alex would get the money somehow, but I always worried she was treading in dangerous waters to get it. Is that what this is? Is she in trouble?’

Sam finished his tea and offered Leon a warm smile. The man’s selfless compassion for Alex’s situation was heart-wrenching, and Sam knew he deserved the truth.

‘You might want to sit down.’

With a degree of trepidation, Leon lowered himself gingerly into his seat. Sam took a seat on the sofa and sat forward. He laid out what had happened. How Alex had been making ends meet by competing in illegal street races. That Trevor Sims, a shady government operative working for an off-the-books task force, had blackmailed her with threats of her siblings being carted off into separate care homes. The underground bunker in Rome, where Alex took a bullet to the leg but still came back for Sam.

That she saved his life.

As Sam concluded by explaining what happened a few months earlier in Naples and how she’d driven away from Sam when he decided to return home to put Blackridge in the ground, Leon was sitting with his head in his hands.

‘Jesus,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘All I know is about a month or so ago, her passport record shows she was back in the country and this is her last known address.’ Sam sighed. ‘I just want to make good on my promise.’

A few moments of silence passed, and it was only when Leon wiped his eyes did Sam realise the man was crying.

‘That poor girl,’ Leon exclaimed. ‘The world has dealt her a cruel hand, but she’s not a bad person.’

‘I know.’ Sam stood. ‘She saved my life. And I promised I would help her get her family back. If there’s anything you can tell me, anything at all, it would be a big help.’

Leon shot a furious glance up at Sam and then hoisted himself to his feet.

‘You promise me, Jonathan. You promise me you will help that girl and bring her back. God knows I don’t have much, but I have enough.’

Sam smiled politely. He’d noticed the small pile of overdue payments that had been stacked on the windowsill in the corner. But despite it all, Leon was offering to help, and Sam knew the man had too much pride to admit he was facing financial ruin.

‘I promise,’ Sam said with determination. ‘I’m a man of my word.’