Daniel was reeling from the shock. He looked at Delroy intently, as if waiting for him to deliver the punch line to a joke that he didn’t understand.

Delroy shook his head once more. ‘It was wrong, Daniel. As always, you fucking had to go too far.’

Daniel nodded then, unable to speak for a moment, his brain whirling, and his anger rising. ‘So where’s he gone then? Where’s he fucked off to?’

Daniel was suddenly struck by fear. He had genuinely believed that, no matter what he did, his brother would stand by his side, as he always had done. Even after the Lenny Jones incident, Peter had come around soon enough.

‘Listen, Daniel, it’s all over with him. He’s fucking livid, he had to get away – otherwise, I think you would have had real trouble on your hands.’

‘So he’s fucked off, has he? Left me on me tod. The treacherous cunt. Well, Delroy, I got to admit, I never saw this coming.’

Delroy looked at Daniel and he could almost feel pity for him. The realisation that his brother had really turned his back on him finally appeared to be sinking in. He had gone too far; his actions were not going to be tolerated this time. He was snorting coke like it was going out of fashion and, for a man who was seriously paranoid anyway, that was never going to end well. He had wanted to make his brother see that he was prepared to do anything he felt necessary to make them be seen as invincible, show him that he was without conscience where retribution was concerned. Only he had really fucked up this time.

Delroy shook his head. How could Daniel have believed that anyone in their world would agree with his actions; it was as if he lived on another planet to the rest of the criminal underworld. As Peter Bailey had cut his ties with this man, it could have been as good as a death sentence, but Peter had put out the word that his brother was not to be challenged. Delroy believed, personally, that that edict had more to do with their mother than brotherly love.

Delroy sighed in annoyance. ‘He’s on his way to Spain, Daniel. He can’t be around you now, surely even you can see that? You wiped out a man’s child. All your bollocks about him using the child as a shield! That’s shite. You should never have been anywhere near that kid with a fucking firearm. What fucking planet are you on? You shot a baby, Daniel – he couldn’t even talk. It wasn’t like he was going to pick you out of a lineup, was it?’