Grace considered his proposal. Was there a better way to protect Jake? Or herself? Particularly from Nathan. Was the only way to defeat the monster to become one yourself?

‘I’ll think about it, Pat,’ she said. ‘About funding you, at least. I wouldn’t want any part in the actual day-to-day operations.’

‘That’s all I ask, boss.’ He grinned at her.

Chapter Five

Present Day

It was midday when Grace heard Jake emerge from the crypt that was his bedroom.

‘Do you want anything to eat, son?’ she shouted up the stairs.

‘A fry-up, Mum. The full works,’ he called back jovially.

She envied him his cast-iron constitution, and his body’s ability to burn off all that alcohol and avoid a hangover. She supposed that was what came from being eighteen. She remembered her life as an eighteen-year-old and how different it was to Jake’s. She’d had so much responsibility, yet so little experience of the world. It had been a dangerous combination. One that had left her open to the likes of Nathan – who’d seen her as the perfect target.

How easily she had allowed herself to be taken in by him. How quickly she had given up everything to him. He’d moved in within two months of their first meeting, had his name above the door within six, and they’d married just three months later. At the time, she’d thought it was true love – a whirlwind romance, just like Baby in her favourite film, Dirty Dancing. What a naive little girl she’d been. Now that she saw it for what it truly was, it made her cheeks burn with shame and anger.

Jake tucked into his breakfast with the voracity of a man who hadn’t been fed for weeks.

‘This is gorgeous, Mum,’ he mumbled, his mouth full of toast.

Kissing him on the top of his head, she sat at the table with him. ‘So, any plans for today?’

‘Dad’s going to show me his club and then we’ll probably grab something to eat,’ he replied, and her heart sank.

‘Is he coming here?’ she asked, trying to hide her uneasiness with that arrangement.

‘Yeah, he’ll be here in a bit.’

Grace got up from the table, telling Jake she needed to start getting ready for work. She hoped that she could be out of the house before Nathan arrived.