‘Please don’t kill me. I beg you not to. If you kill me, you’re signing your own death warrant. The feud between our families ended years ago. To start it up again now will cause an absolute bloodbath.’

Jed tightened the gag once more. He had to finish what he’d come here to do. ‘My grandfather turned into a hermit because of you. You killed his spirit and now I’m gonna kill yours. So go fuck your grandmother.’

As Jed lifted up the baseball bat, Harry began to wriggle like a fish out of water.

‘Hurry up, Jed. Finish him off and let’s get out of here,’ Sammy urged his cousin.

Jed looked into Harry’s petrified eyes and smiled. ‘Happy Christmas. I hope you rot in hell,’ he whispered, repeatedly smashing the bat over Harry’s skull.

As blood sprayed everywhere, Sammy felt queasy. ‘Come on, Jed, that’s enough,’ he said.

Even though he knew Harry was dead, Jed couldn’t stop. His victim’s head was already bashed to a pulp, so Jed started to smash the bat against his teeth.

Frightened, Sammy grabbed Jed and pushed him against the wall. ‘Whaddya doing? The old cunt’s been dead five minutes. We need to get out of here, Jed. If we don’t, we’re both looking at prison.’

The word prison seemed to snap Jed out of his violent trance. Checking he’d left no clues in the bedroom, Jed followed Sammy downstairs.

‘Open a few drawers and throw some stuff on the floor. It has to look like a burglary,’ Jed said, as he stuffed some photos inside his jacket.

Ten minutes later, with the house looking completely ransacked, Jed and Sammy climbed out the same way they’d got in.

‘Excuse me. Do you know what the visiting hours are?’

Jed’s daydream was ended by the woman standing in front of him. ‘Sorry. What did you say?’

The woman repeated her question.

‘I’ve no idea. Ask a nurse,’ Jed told her.

Taking the last drag on his fag, Jed flicked the butt into the air. Everything had turned out OK in the end. Harry was long gone, Jessica was dead, Eddie was looking at a life sentence, which meant Frankie and the baby were all his.

Unable to stop himself, Jed began to laugh. He couldn’t wait to tell his father that Eddie Mitchell had tried to shoot him, but instead had killed his own wife. For years his dad had banged on about getting his own back on the Mitchells and now, without his dad even knowing, he’d done it for him.

Jed grinned as he strolled back into the hospital. Thanks to him, the feud was finally over.