Absolutely livid, Dominic mounted his Porsche onto a kerb. ‘If you don’t tell me, I’m not fucking driving you there, nor will I pick up the kids. What are we collecting, Joey?’

Joey glanced at his boyfriend’s face. Dom was a laid-back sort of guy who rarely lost his rag, but on the odd occasion he did, he wasn’t pleasant. ‘He needs me to pick up a gun, if you must know. We need it in case the O’Haras know where Frankie lives and come to the house.’

Dominic shook his head in total disbelief. All this sounded like a scene out of the film Pulp Fiction. He glared at his partner. ‘But you don’t even know how to use a gun, Joey.’

‘Yes I do – you pull the trigger,’ Joey replied sarcastically.

‘And what if I refuse to do this for you? I really don’t like the sound of it all, you know. It’s ridiculous and also fucking dangerous.’

Joey had never been interested in learning to drive, but for the first time in his life, he wished he had. ‘Look, we won’t have the gun for long. My dad’s sending Stuart and Terry round to protect us and I’ll give it straight to them. Please, Dom, just drive, otherwise my dad will go mental.’

Remembering the last falling-out he had had with Joey’s father, Dominic pulled off the kerb and drove towards his cottage.

Noticing that her grandad and Raymond were in deep conversation in the front of the van and Gary and Ricky were doing the same in the back, Georgie O’Hara decided to have a little chat with her brother. Both children were well aware that their dad and Grandad Jimmy were now following them but, being the eldest, Georgie had taken it upon herself to think of a back-up plan if anything were to go wrong.

‘Where’s your phone?’ she whispered in Harry’s ear.

‘Back at the trailer. Where’s yours?’

Georgie sighed. Her mobile had been in her big silver purse and had been left at the barn when she had got taken away.

‘Do you think Dad and Grandad will rescue us and take us back home?’ Harry asked in a hushed tone.

Georgie squeezed her little brother’s hand. ‘Of course they will.’

Joey hid the gun in his overnight bag and put it on top of the wardrobe so it was out of harm’s way. He didn’t know how he’d react if the O’Haras came to the house, but it was his duty to stick up for his sister.

‘What you being doing up there?’ Frankie asked accusingly as he came down the stairs. Dominic was sitting in the lounge with a face like thunder and she wasn’t stupid; she knew something was wrong.

‘I went upstairs to put me sweatshirt on. It’s turned bloody cold, ain’t it?’