Alfie, having let go of Vaughn, pushed his fringe out of his eyes. ‘Told you.’

‘Let’s see then.’

Incredulously, Franny continued to glare at Vaughn, her chest tightening as she tried to keep down the panic. ‘Excuse me?’

‘Let’s see your nails.’

‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’

Slowly, Vaughn sauntered across to Franny. He grabbed her hands roughly and examined them.

‘Don’t look like you’ve been doing your nails to me.’

Locking eyes with Vaughn, Franny pulled her hands away. Her voice icy cold, she said, ‘I did my toenails. What? Are you going to pull off my shoes now to see my polish?’

Matching Franny’s animosity, Vaughn nodded. ‘If I have to.’

From behind Vaughn, Alfie stepped in. ‘Of course he’s not. Not unless he wants to go through me. Well do you? Cos I’m in the mood for a fight now.’

Turning to Alfie, Franny shook her head. ‘Alfie, don’t. He ain’t worth it. He’s got a problem with me because of what I did. I get that, but it’s stupid to fight among ourselves.’

‘How noble of you.’

Ignoring Vaughn, Franny continued to speak to Alfie. ‘I’m sorry I took so long – I wasn’t feeling so great – but I’m here now and I’m all ears.’

As Alfie went to sit down, Franny followed but was held back by Vaughn grabbing her arm. He whispered in her ear, ‘You and I both know you weren’t at home, and I’ll find out what you’re up to, Franny Doyle, and then I’m going to bring you down and watch you burn like a towering fucking inferno.’

Half an hour later, Alfie, agitated, having explained what had happened with Charlie said, ‘So that’s the bottom line, Fran, it’s a fucking mess. The last thing we want to do is fork out money to him, but at the same time, no one wants a war. This is already going to have a knock-on effect with the punters. Who’s going to want to come to a club when there’s a possibility of some fucker coming through the door with a machete?’

Taking a sip of her lemonade, Franny, not looking the best herself and having listened intently to what Alfie had been saying asked, ‘But can’t you talk to him, Alf? You’ve known him since you were kids. You two used to hang out together.’