Nasty Business

NASTY BUSINESS

GILLIAN GODDEN

CONTENTS

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Acknowledgments

More from Gillian Godden

About the Author

About Boldwood Books

1

OPENING NIGHT

‘Tony, I can’t believe it’s been nearly a year to get this place looking right. I must say, mate, I never thought you’d make it, but you’ve worked wonders!’ Jake Sinclair slowly walked around the bar area and ran his fingers over the newly-fitted bar. They had both come a long way since being orphaned boys living with their foster mother, Elle. But this new club, bearing his name, was what Tony Lambrianu’s dreams were made of.

Tony had been at the building site – now the club – from the very beginning. Each day he’d turned up there and watched the builders demolish any remnants of the bossman, as the previous manager had been known, and the sleazy run-down club, with its peeling plaster and yellow ceilings, stained by nicotine, that he had overseen. Tony had even got his own hands dirty, but this was his baby, and he loved it. Each time he looked inside behind the dust sheets and heavy plastic sheeting at the dusty room with planks of wood scattered around and a cement mixer in the middle of the floor he smiled. Even the scaffolding outside while the workmen fixed the roof had looked beautiful to him. This was his goal and it had been a real achievement. He may only be the manager for Don Carlos and Ralph Gold now, but he was determined that he would own this club, lock, stock and barrel. This was his time. Lambrianu’s was no longer just a dream – it had become a reality.

Tony walked round it with Jake – his business partner and the man he thought of as his brother – Jake’s wife, Sharon, and Elle, who had fostered both boys from a young age and had undoubtably saved their lives. Together they looked at the furnishings and took in the whole ambience, and they were astonished by the transformation. Elle had come to wish her boys well and see ‘Lambrianu palace’, as Tony called it. She may have been way past nightclubs, preferring evenings at home with a cup of cocoa in hand, but it was nice that they both still wanted her involved in their lives. She knew the place would be a success because Tony had put his heart and soul into it. Anyone would think he owned it already.

Elle couldn’t be prouder. Her boys, both from different backgrounds with different reasons for social services to bring them to her door. A smile crossed her face when she thought about the good old days when Tony had been permanently in trouble and Jake permanently on his heels. They weren’t blood brothers, but their bond was stronger. They both needed each other in their own way. And side by side they could fight the world. Elle knew her job was done, and that gave her a warm feeling. These two misfits were her jewels in the crown and she loved them.