Tony waved them all off after listening to any more concerns they might have and finally went to his own apartment, with Jake and Sharon in tow. ‘What a day, I’m knackered.’ Tony threw himself on the sofa and kicked off his shoes. ‘Did you get Dan to start spreading the word that everything is under control now?’ Tony laid his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes.

Jake started to answer, but noticed that Tony had drifted off to sleep and was starting to snore. ‘Come on, Sharon, let’s go home,’ he said. He took her hand, turned off the lamp and left. He hadn’t had a moment alone with her since he’d got back.

A few months passed after Tony and Jake’s holiday in Italy. Everything was back to normal. The local businessmen were pleased that, as quickly as all the trouble had started, it had been stopped. They were thankful they had Tony looking after their interests.

Joe, the bouncer who had suffered the awful acid attack, was back at home. He still lived with his parents, and they were grateful that their son was being looked after by Tony and Jake. He was still on full pay, and all of his hospital bills were being paid for by them. He had undergone some surgery and some skin grafts, and now they just had to let the skin heal before they could do anything further. Thankfully, his face was okay; it was mainly his back, side and arm that had been affected, so it wouldn’t negatively impact his prospects.

Angus was relieved to know that he still had a job. He would make sure things wouldn’t ever threaten his own livelihood again. He knew he had taken a chance with that Luke guy and, in line with Tony’s instructions, he had him watched. Not long after Luke got out of hospital after being beaten up, he’d had both his legs broken. Angus was determined not to let Tony down again and, when the year was up and it was time to make Luke disappear, he would be first in line to see that it happened.

18

FATAL ATTRACTION

‘Tony, did you remember to order the Christmas trees?’ Sharon popped her head around the office door and could see by the look on his face he had forgotten.

Tony was sitting at his desk looking through his accounts. ‘I’m on it, Sharon, how many do we need again?’ He looked towards Jake and shrugged.

‘I told you, we need seven – two for this place, one for the men’s club and four for the casino. Come on, get on with it. It’s okay for you, sitting there with your pink shirt sleeves rolled up and pretending to do a bit of work, but some of us actually have real work to do. Trees, now!’ With that she turned to leave, but then suddenly stopped. ‘Actually, forget it, I’ll sort the trees out.’