Jessica ruffled her daughter’s hair. Frankie and Joey might be twins, but in many ways they were chalk and cheese. They looked nothing like one another and their personalities were extremely different. Frankie had dark hair and was more like Eddie. She was a proper tomboy, a little daredevil, who would try anything once. Joey was the opposite. He had blond hair and was more like herself. He hated heights, was petrified of insects and cried every time he watched Lassie.

Eddie would get really annoyed with Joey sometimes. ‘You’re meant to be a boy. Stop acting like a fucking wimp,’ he would shout at his son.

Jessica would comfort Joey, wipe away his tears, and then Eddie would have a go at her. ‘You’re to blame for the way he is. You mollycoddle the fucking kid. It’s a hard life out there, Jess, and he needs to shape up before it’s too late. Ricky and Gary were never like him, they were proper little boys. Joey acts like a sissy and if you don’t knock it out of him, then I fucking will.’

Jessica smiled as her son got back into the car. ‘You OK now, love?’

Joey nodded. ‘Can me and Frankie have an ice cream from the shop, Mum?’

‘No, because you won’t eat your dinner,’ Jessica said sternly.

‘Please, Mum, we promise we will eat our dinner,’ Frankie whinged.

Jessica could never say no to her kids and both of them knew it. ‘OK, but don’t tell your dad,’ she said.

Frankie and Joey locked eyes. ‘Thank you, Mummy,’ they said, smiling at one another.

In the heart of London’s East End, tempers were starting to fray. As Eddie Mitchell stared at the shivering wreck of a man, he felt nothing but contempt. ‘What do you mean, you ain’t got the fucking money? You know the rules,’ he shouted menacingly.

‘I’m really sorry. My car broke down and I had to get that repaired, then my fridge-freezer went wrong. I’ll pay you next week, I promise I will,’ the man pleaded.

Eddie turned to his two brothers. ‘What do you reckon lads? Should we give him another week or cut the cunt’s ear off?’

Ronny Mitchell gave a sadistic grin. ‘I don’t think we should chop off his ear. How ’bout we do his little finger instead?’

The shivering man fell onto his knees. ‘Please don’t hurt me. You know my wife is ill, she’s disabled. I had to get the car fixed to take her to the hospital. If you hurt me she’ll have no one to look after her.’

As Ronny licked his lips and pulled the knife out of his pocket, Eddie ordered him and Paulie to wait in the car. ‘But I thought you wanted us to do him?’ Ronny argued.

‘Just get in the fucking car, will you?’ Eddie yelled.