“You can stop me seeing him, but you can’t stop me writing to him.” He turned to Rory. “Right? They can’t stop me from writing to him?”

“No, they can’t.”

“Have you got his letters?”

Maggie shook her head. “I kept them for when you turned eighteen.”

“Have you opened them?”

“No.”

“Please let me have them, please,” Leo put his hands together and full on begged. “Please and let me write to him.”

Maggie gazed at Leo then nodded. Asher glared at her, but she threw her hands up in the air and hissed, “They’re your nephews. They’ve got no one else.”

Leo bolted back into the house, and Maggie went after him.

Asher shook his head. “Ollie has always been a problem child. At school, and at home. He’s not good.”

“No, he’s not good, he’s great. Clever, and kind, and fun and fucking amazing at art. He’s gone through more shit than I can imagine, and if I have to drive here every week to get a letter from Leo and deliver it personally to that prison, I will.”

“You don’t even know him.”

“Yeah, I do, and I was so lucky to know him, and Leo is lucky to have him as a brother.”

The door was slammed on his face, and he expected the clunk of a lock, but there was only silence.

Rory prayed he’d done enough.

Chapter Twenty

Rory took a deep breath, then climbed out of the car. He leaned against the back of it, with his eyes fixed on reception. He checked his watch for the fortieth time, then looked back at the door.

He’d spent the past few days in a blur, barely eating, barely sleeping. He knew he had to phone the hospital, arrange for Erica to be released to him so he could start funeral plans, and put her to rest, but he couldn’t do it. He typed the number in, put the phone to his ear, then hastily hung up when the call connected, but it didn’t matter. Once Sebastian was done with him, he’d be joining his sister, and his dad, and his mum.

The door opened and he straightened against the car.

Sebastian stepped out, not wearing his tight white t-shirt, but a shirt, and a jacket. A clear plastic bag of his belongings was slung over his shoulder, and as he walked further into the car park, he tilted his head up, and he looked towards the sky.

Rory saw his lips lift in a slight smile, then he lowered his head, and the smile vanished. He came closer, and Rory couldn’t look at him. He looked down at the ground and rolled the stray stones with his shoe.

“I wasn’t sure if you’d be here,” Sebastian murmured.

“I owe it to you.”

“Look at me.”