Grace leaned against the kitchen counter as she downed the last of her wine in one gulp. Nathan was the most manipulative, slippery bastard she’d ever met in her life. Of course he was up to something. But what? She had no doubt she’d find out soon enough.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Looking up from his newspaper, Nathan saw Michael Carter stroll through the door of the Rose and Crown. He’d heard his old business associate frequented the place and hoped it was only a matter of time before they came face to face. He’d been out for almost two months and had been hearing plenty of stories about Michael and Grace and an alleged fling a few years earlier. Nathan was eager to push some of Michael’s buttons and find out if there was any truth to them. He wondered if it was because Michael had found out that Nathan had once shagged his wife, Cheryl, back in the day, on their kitchen table of all places. Not that it mattered if Michael knew. It was still no excuse for going after Grace. She wasn’t some old slapper like Cheryl.

Nathan also had a suspicion that Michael and his old man, Patrick, were using the pub as their base of operations. If all the rumours were to be believed, the Carters were into everything and anything. Insurance scams, bootleg spirits and ciggies, as well as having their dealers all over Merseyside. They’d always been a family to be reckoned with, but it seemed they’d really got their act together in recent years and were raking it in.

Grace must have been taking a cut from it. She wasn’t stupid enough not to. At least not anymore. Nathan would put an end to that soon enough. Once he had Grace back by his side, where she belonged, the Carters would no longer be welcome in the Rose and Crown.

Michael walked straight over to Nathan’s table and took a seat on the chair opposite him.

‘What are you doing here, Nathan?’ Michael said. ‘I thought you and Grace were divorced now?’

‘Yes we are,’ Nathan smiled, not feeling the need to answer the first question. ‘And what about you? You and your old fella seem to be hanging around here a lot. What’s all that about? Does your missus know you’re in here sniffing around?’

Michael glared at him. ‘It’s fuck all to do with you.’

‘You’ve got a real thing for my wife, haven’t you?’ Nathan sneered. ‘I heard a rumour you two had a bit of a fling a few years back. Are you trying to have another crack at her?’

‘She hasn’t been your wife for a long time.’