‘Have I shocked you, Alan? It’s a pity I didn’t spend more of my life saying what I really thought, doing what I wanted to do, instead of saying and doing what Georgio wanted. Well, that’s all over now. One good thing has come out of all this. I am a person in my own right, and I’ve found out that I am a fighter. I’ll fight anyone who tries to stand in my way over this. Anyone at all.’

Alan looked at her, really looked at her, and what he saw was a woman of potential. The woman she would have been, had she been married to anyone but Georgio. Her whole world had disintegrated around her, and like the phoenix, she was rising from the ashes - and rising with a vengeance. He felt privileged to know this woman. Felt the pull of her, the want of her. Georgio Brunos must have been stark staring mad ever to have looked at another woman with her waiting in his bed.

‘I can’t stop the jump, Donna . . .’

She made a deep guttural sighing noise in the back of her throat and Alan held up his hand to stop her from talking. ‘Hear me out, darling, just hear me out. I can’t stop the jump - but I can make sure that Georgio is on his own. That’s the best I can do. Make sure he doesn’t make it to Ireland.’

Donna frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

Alan stood up and poured them both a cup of coffee before he answered her.

‘What I mean is this. Eric will only stop the jump on the say-so of Georgio now. If I go to him and try to call it off he’ll need Georgio’s confirmation. That would come through Anthony Calder or someone closer. That’s the law of the criminal world. I mean - think about it. I could be setting Georgio up for a number of reasons. The worst thing of all is this: Stephen Brunos is dead, and that shit hasn’t hit the fan yet. When it does Georgio will suspect a lot more than he does now. He’ll know we’ve tumbled him. As it stands now, Stephen’s death will be a holiday accident. It happens all the time: it nearly happened to you, love. But Georgio, unlike the authorities, will know it’s more of a hit. If we fuck Georgio now, he’ll come after us with everything he’s got. Because he will put two and two together. No, the jump has to go ahead. We have to fuck him up after the jump. Then, when he’s back inside, when he’s finally putting everything together, we’ll have to sort him out from there.’

Donna looked into Alan’s eyes and took a deep breath.