Delroy sighed. ‘I reckon he has to have someone else in it with him – he wouldn’t dare to fucking do this on his own. What we need to do is work out who he might be in league with. It has to be a real Face, someone he feels has the manpower as well as the guts to take us on. There’s literally no one I can think of this side of the Watford Gap. Even the Northerners haven’t got anyone with that kind of fucking clout behind them. But there has to be someone in with him, and it has to be someone we know.’

Daniel Bailey looked like a man who was reaching the end of his rope, and Delroy could see that he was barely managing to keep himself together.

Daniel cracked his knuckles loudly, before saying with chilling certainty, ‘I think that whoever it is, Delroy, they are closer than we would believe. Think about it – who else would fucking dare to try and take Peter out? Oh, we know them, all right – it wouldn’t take a blind dog long to sniff that out. What we need to do now is work out who stands to benefit the most from it.’

Peter nodded in agreement. ‘He’s right, Delroy – it’s got to be someone in the firm. Someone we trust.’

Daniel grinned nastily. ‘And when I track the cunt down, they will pay for their fucking sins, I’ll take a fucking oath on that. If I have to take each one of our fucking senior staff to pieces with a fucking ball-peen hammer and a pair of pliers, then so be it. But I will get to the bottom of this, one way or another, and I don’t give a fuck who goes down in the fray.’

Delroy and Peter exchanged glances. Daniel would not rest until he got to the bottom of this. But they understood – the way Lena had died was a good enough reason for any of them.

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty-Eight

Tania was over the moon. She had finally got what she wanted – Petey was lying beside her, and she could feel his heart beating in sync with hers. He had his arm around her, and she had never felt so happy. It was as if her whole life had been leading up to this moment.

She was sore, and she could feel the wetness of him between her legs, but the pain and discomfort just reminded her that she was a girl no longer. No matter what happened to her after this, she would always remember that he had been her first. She had given herself wholeheartedly to this man, and he had taken her gently and slowly, proving to her that he loved her.