Petey and Danny were studiously ignoring each other. Liam now knew the truth of the situation, having forced it out of Petey. He wasn’t worried that Danny would betray Petey – it seemed that this silence between them was as bad as it was going to get for the time being – but it still made him uneasy.

He glanced around the club. It was so packed no one would notice that the cousins were not really engaging anyway. He was still reeling from the revelations. Petey had always been a man of few morals, but until now he could never have been accused of being a complete fucking shithead. But Liam had to admit his brother had really earned that epithet.

The big fear was that the two patriarchs of the Bailey family would find out the real reason for the lads’ falling out. The boys had had their disagreements over the years – that was human nature – but this time the reason for this latest disagreement was known only to the younger members of the family.

Petey came over to him, and Liam forced a smile; he knew his reaction was going to be noted by everyone in the room. It was not the best smile, and he was aware of that. Personally, he would happily punch his brother out; as much as he loved him, even he could see that this time it had all gone too far. Liam was in a quandary. Petey was at fault here, but he was still his brother, and that was the real bugbear. Danny had every reason to be fucked off and if this latest escapade came out it would not be readily overlooked by his father or his uncle.

‘You all right, Liam?’

It sounded like a challenge. Petey was drunk, and that was the last thing they needed; a drunk Petey was a troublesome Petey.

‘I’m fine, Pete, I’m always fine, I just go with the fucking flow. Now why don’t you use your fucking loaf, and sober up a bit. This is not the time or the place for you to be getting irate.’

Petey knew his brother was perfectly right to chastise him, but he had snorted a few lines, imbibed a few drinks, and now his natural antagonism was at the fore. He hated being mugged off or overlooked; he needed to feel in control at all times, needed to feel that he was the one who called the shots.

He pushed his face close to his brother’s as he said viciously. ‘Bollocks to you, bruv, you need to fucking lighten up.’