She’d never let on to her mother that she’d heard these stories. Lena could not have coped with her daughter knowing something so heinous. But the strange thing was, even though Tania knew it was wrong, she had also come to believe that there must have been more to it than people outside the family saw. They were a family of villains, and successful villains at that. But they were also her family, and she was not going to judge any of them, least of all her dad.

He hadn’t answered her, he hadn’t exactly been eating either, though her nana was ensconced back at their house, cooking like a woman demented. Her brothers were glad of Theresa’s presence, and so was she. Her nana knew the score and, over the years, she had tried to give her granddaughter an insight into the Life. In fact, as old as she was, her nana had a brain like a steel trap, and Tania had realised in the last few days just how important her opinion was to her family. She was really getting an education from listening to her talk, and she was glad about that – it gave her something else to focus on. She also sensed that her nana felt it was high time Tania knew the real score of being a Bailey, and exactly what it could entail.

She sighed heavily. Blinking back the tears that were blurring her vision, she said seriously, ‘I hope you find whoever planted that bomb, Dad, and I hope you make them pay.’

Daniel Bailey glanced quickly at his daughter; he was so sorry that she had been forced to grow up so quickly, and had lost her mother. But he could hear the Bailey determination in her voice, and it suddenly occurred to him that she was as much a part of the family as the rest of them. That knowledge would break his Lena’s heart, but he could see that it was the Bailey strength that would eventually get his daughter through this.

‘Don’t worry, love. I’m on it.’