Peter was all right; he had been assured of his place in the world. It was Daniel who needed to swallow, who needed to show willing. But as his brother and his partner, Peter was under no illusions that until Daniel proved himself they would both be suspect. If any other firm decided to push for the top right now, Peter knew that there would not be too many people rooting for the Baileys. Daniel had seen to that.

Daniel allowed his brother that remark. He understood that he needed to keep his head down and regain his footing with not only his brother, but the whole of East London. He had shown his hand too soon; he should have waited a while, allowed them to get deeply rooted before he started paying back old scores. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t gathering new ones; he would pay back every one of the fuckers who had questioned his actions and seen Peter as the man in charge of everything, the man who could rein Daniel in.

They were supposed to be the fucking new kings, for Christ’s sake – both of them. And they were not supposed to be questioned about anything. But East London was only available for rent – provided the people renting it were seen as acceptable and did not step out of line.

Peter had understood that from the off, whereas Daniel had not cared one way or the other. He had been forced to swallow his knob now, and he had done it because he knew that if he had refused, his days would have been numbered. He’d had no other choice, but it would never be the same for him now – no matter what he achieved in the future, people would always remember his failures, would repeat this story behind their hands.

The worst thing of all for Daniel was that his brother had no real time for him any more. Peter saw him as a burden these days. He was too loyal to aim him out of it completely, and had stood beside him when other men would have walked away. Peter had guaranteed his safety when more than one man had been baying for his blood over Lenny Jones. Peter had smoothed all that over, and let it be known, on the quiet, of course, that if anyone went near his brother he would feel within his rights to distribute his own revenge. Seeing just how well respected and how well liked Peter was had been the hardest blow for Daniel. Peter’s reputation for settling his scores quietly, with the minimum of fuss but the maximum of violence had given him a certain mystique. Peter’s secrecy made him an enigma. And that gave him an aura of power which Daniel did not share.