Petey Bailey looked at his younger brother, and he did appreciate that he was trying to help him. But Petey was, as always, in possession of a completely different opinion to everyone else; he believed that he was in the right.

Liam was like their cousins – happy to toe the line, and be grateful for everything; well, he wasn’t. The Patels and the Bowes were nothing to him. If his old man would just stand aside and give him his due, he wouldn’t need to fucking creep about. The Bailey family owned fucking casinos; they were the sponsors for big-money poker games, and he was reduced to this.

He had waited long enough for his chance, and he was fucked if he was waiting any longer. His old man and his uncle were due a reality check, and he was going to make sure they got it.

He sighed in frustration. ‘You do whatever the fuck you want, Liam. But leave me alone, all right?’ For all his bravado, he still felt a small frisson of fear; if Liam knew this, then the chances were so did his cousins, and it was his cousins he was worried about, Danny especially. He was in possession of a quick brain and, more to the point, a short temper. He was also a dyed-in-the-wool Bailey; Danny believed that the name was worth protecting – as if anyone these days gave a fuck! It was a different world, a whole new ball game, and it was peopled by men just like him, who knew that to get on you had to do whatever was necessary to achieve that objective, and you had to use whatever means possible to accomplish it. Liam and the others would see that one day.

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-Eight

Ria was watching her husband carefully; it was becoming like a sport to her lately. She recognised how guilty he felt about Lena’s death, and that he worried that whoever was after him might bring their war to his home. He had kept the Life outside their front door whenever possible, but this latest aggro was not the usual. This was something he could not completely control, and that was really bothering him. Even after all this time they still had nothing concrete. She saw that it was eating at him like a cancer.

‘Any news about the funeral yet?’

Peter shook his head slowly. He still had the handsome looks that had attracted her all those years ago. Men were lucky – they had kids, but didn’t give birth, and they aged differently as a result.

‘Next week maybe – at least that’s what they told Danny today, but you know the Filth. Not exactly reliable, are they?’

Ria sat beside her husband and, kissing his cheek gently, she said, ‘Be honest with me, Peter, what do you really think happened? I need to know if we are in any kind of danger.’