As she reminisced, a loose sheet of manuscript slipped from her hand. This wasn’t from another set of deeds, it was a letter. But it wasn’t any ordinary one: she guessed it was a letter from the grave. She took a deep breath and studied it very carefully.

Dear Zara, if you are reading this then I am no longer with you and you are considering selling the business.

She stopped for a moment to take in the detail of the beautiful handwritten note. He really was quite artistic. She read on.

Life often leaves us with impossible decisions, and this may be one of them. Hopefully, you are in your older years now and wish to retire.

You may be strong, but you are also human. I hope you use the money from the sale of the business to enjoy your life. I also hope that by now you have found happiness, no doubt with Mike Regan. He was the only man I ever truly trusted, by the way.

You are my daughter and a leader but sometimes in life we need someone to lean on. Your mother was always my crutch, until she passed away. So, my child, don’t be afraid to share your worries. I wished I had done it more often.

Yours, your father, Izzy.

I love you.

She read and reread the note, kissed the paper, and allowed a tear to drop onto the folder. ‘Oh, Dad, what the hell am I doing?’

She quickly closed the folder. Instead of placing it back into the drawer, she returned it to its original hiding place in the void under the floor. With her back straight and her head held high, she wiped away the tears and readied herself to make a plan – one that would show the firms who was in charge, even if it meant she might die in the process. One way or another, she intended to demonstrate to everyone how it really worked, starting with rule number one – no one should underestimate the daughter of Izzy Ezra. And then follow up that with rule number two – no one fucks with the skinny, one-handed Jewish bird and lives to tell the fucking tale.

***

Ricky tried desperately hard to get through to his father but to no avail. He assumed he hadn’t charged his phone again.

He lay back on his pillow and sighed, hoping that Arty and Liam had made sure they’d got the girl to his father’s house. What she’d said wasn’t really a cause for concern but how she’d said it certainly was. He kept visualizing her pretty blue eyes shadowed with fear.

***

Mike sat opposite Stoneham in his office. Lowry put a bag of pastries and three mugs of coffee on the table. He edged himself onto the only vacant chair and shuffled to pull it to the table.