He smiled to himself thinking how soon her attitude would change. ‘Well, I’ve been thinking,’ he started, and he went on to tell her how well Jake had been fitting in at the club. How everyone respected him; how much he reminded Nathan of himself and how far Jake could go in the family business. He told her too, how much Jake seemed to enjoy working alongside him. And how, if he travelled up to Leeds and told Jake he needed him, he would leave university in a heartbeat and take his rightful place by his father’s side. He told her how formidable they would be. How feared. They would be kings.

As he expected, she did not take it well. She stood staring at him, open-mouthed.

‘Are you fucking serious, Nathan? Is this a wind-up? Why on earth would you want him to be anything like you?’

‘He’s already like me, Grace, and you know it.’

She laughed now. ‘He is nothing like you, Nathan. Nothing!’

It was Nathan’s turn to laugh. ‘What? You think he gets his confidence and his good looks from you, do you? He is just like I was, when I was his age. He thinks he can conquer the world. And he can. With me to guide him, he can.’

‘Do you honestly think I would let him give up his future for you? You sack of shit!’ she screeched.

God, how she would regret that soon. ‘That’s a bit rich coming from you, isn’t it? Given your recent career choices?’

‘I do what I do so that my son won’t have to,’ she snapped.

‘Well, I don’t think you’ll have much choice, Grace. He’s a grown man now and he can make his own decisions.’

‘And you think he’ll listen to you over me, do you?’ she laughed. ‘He is dazzled by you, Nathan. Blinded by your money and your expensive suits and flash cars. But I have been here for him every day for the past eighteen years. He will listen to me eventually.’

Nathan lit himself a cigarette. He was strangely calm. Despite Grace’s ranting and her apparent disdain for him, he knew that very shortly he was going to play his trump card. And then he would enjoy watching all the fight leave her body. He would enjoy watching her break. She would be his again, under his control, whether she liked it or not.