‘So, how are you really?’ Sean asked, snapping Grace from her thoughts.

‘I’m fine.’ She frowned at him.

‘Come on, it’s me you’re talking to. I know you have to put on a brave face for the other two, just in case they go rogue and try to feed him his own eyeballs,’ he laughed.

Grace wondered momentarily if Sean had ever watched his brother or his father feed anyone their own eyeballs. Given their previous lives as enforcers for some of the most dangerous criminals in Liverpool and Manchester, it wasn’t unlikely. Sean had always been the brains of the operation, which is why he’d received a longer sentence than his brother. Rumour had it, he could be the most terrifying of the Carter clan when he wanted to be, but for the most part he’d left the muscle work to others.

‘I forgot.’ Grace shook her head as she answered Sean’s question. ‘I forgot how bloody terrifying he is, Sean. He has this way of making me feel helpless. I stand up to him and he laughs at me. I’m worried I’m going to put myself in a vulnerable situation with him, just because of this need to prove myself.’

‘I can’t ever imagine you as helpless, Grace. I really can’t.’

‘Yeah, well, I was a very different person when I was married to him.’

‘He really did a number on you, didn’t he? So, what are you going to do now?’

Grace sighed. ‘I honestly don’t know. For now, he seems to be behaving himself and he has no idea that I’m involved in anything other than the pub. So, let’s hope it all stays that way and we can both get on with our own lives.’

She heard herself saying the words, but she knew that it was all wishful thinking. Nathan was up to something. She could feel it.

‘Well I hope so too. I’d hate for you to have to drag me out of retirement,’ he laughed as he said it, but Grace sensed the uneasiness in him. It had taken him a long time to put his former life behind him. He had too much to lose to get sucked back in. His wife, Sophia, had already told him she wouldn’t stand by him if he got sent down again. She was a fiery, Italian woman with a temper to match, and Sean knew she’d go back to Italy and take their two young children too.

‘Of course not,’ Grace said as she placed her hand on his. ‘Now come on. Let’s order.’