“I’ve thought about it a lot. The sixth years, I’m sure, have a few who like to dabble in drugs, but Isy’s friend Elizabeth? They’re only eleven. There was definitely force involved. Isy told her mum that a woman asked who Isla Sharkey was, Elizabeth said she was as a joke, and Kevin Drury grabbed her.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mack was furious. “A hit on our wee girl?”

“Because you would have stewed with frustration and anger, locked up in that prison. We needed you out on time, not adding time to your sentence. The worst thing is we can’t touch that little fuck now. Not without bringing suspicion on to the family. We need to play this right, so no one can touch us.”

“His time will come, Uncle Thomas, but who put Kevin up to it? The McDades?”

“Frankie McDade hasn’t got the balls for a direct hit on our family. He’s old and soft. If it was his son in charge, maybe, but Nikki has people working on it. A little drugged-up fuck like Kevin Drury has a lot of enemies. They will talk. Now, on to a much happier subject—your new start in life.”

Mack smiled, and Dexter snuggled his little head into her neck.

Thomas leaned forward and said seriously, “You’ve been extremely loyal to your family, and we all greatly appreciate what you have done. I can’t imagine what state Isy would be in if Nikki had been put in jail.”

“It wasn’t even a second thought, Uncle Thomas. Nikki had to be kept out of this. For the business, and for Isy’s sake.”

“You are a Sharkey through and through, Mack. But this is your time now. We promised you a quiet life and one fulfilling your dreams.”

Mack had trained as a barber as a teenager and was a natural, but over the years her job in the family had taken up too much of her time to allow her to achieve her dream of her own barbershop.

After Mack took the blame and jail time for her cousin Nikki when the police came upon them handing out some justice to the man who’d targeted Isla and her friend, Mack was promised that she could take a step back from the family business and set up her own barbers. The Sharkeys owned commercial property all over Glasgow and the surrounding areas, and when a lease came available in Mack’s preferred spot, Nikki and Thomas earmarked it for her.

Thomas opened his desk drawer and pulled out a bunch of keys. “Everything’s been done to your specification, and these are yours.” He pushed the keys across the desk.

Mack went to take them but hesitated. She looked up at Thomas and said, “You know my first priority is the family, and I’ll always do anything you need.”