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Chapter Twenty

'All right, Le

Lance's voice was, as always, neutral. He was a strange lad and Le

'All right, son. What brings you here?'

He was expecting an answer and when none came he turned around slowly, one eyebrow raised, and an inquisitive look on his face.

'What's the matter, Lance? You lost the power of speech?'

Not for the first time, he felt a prickle of fear. Lance was staring at him with those dead eyes and he knew that the boy was definitely a few ampoules short of an overdose.

'You owe my mother money, Le

Le

'You a hard man now, Lance?'

The words were said with such disdain that Lance felt them as if they were a physical slap.

'You don't fucking scare me, Le

Le

Once you got too settled, you made mistakes, and one of Le

Lil's love for her firstborn had been the bane of Le

Two children later and he was still no closer to her than he had been in the begi

Le

Lil's boys had grown up and now they were a team and it was up to him how that problem would be dealt with in the future. As he looked at the boy in front of him he knew instinctively that every sneaky deal he had done and every lie he had ever told, especially those that had pertained to Brodie's death, were finally coming back to haunt him. He had let people think that he was the man who had taken it upon himself to avenge that terrible death, to see that justice had been done when in fact he had actually been instrumental in its execution. He had allowed it to happen so he could take what he saw as his by rights. The affair with Lil had been seen as her falling for him because he had been so good to her. Because she needed his protection. Not that his wife had seen it so romantically, of course. She now lived in Surrey with a banker called Wright who had a comb-over and enough money to assuage her feelings of inadequacy and provide her with everything she had ever wanted.

That Le

'Look, Lance, I appreciate all you've done for me lately and I understand you not wanting your brother to find out about any of it and he won't. He wouldn't be as open-minded as us, now would he?'

He let his words sink in before continuing; his voice, as always, neutral. 'I wouldn't grass you up, would I?' Think about it, you're like family to me.'

This was from a man who had let his wife take his children away with her and who had no real affection for them or for any of his other children come to that, Lil's included. He gave women kids for no other reason than to put his mark on them. He did it to make sure that they never forgot him, even though he was liable to forget about them at some point.

'What about me mum; you won't get away with short-changing her now he's back on the scene.'

It was the way Lance had expressed his brother's presence that alerted Le

Lance himself knew that she found him difficult to care for and that she had no real affection for him. He had been forced to rely on his grandmother's love.

'Pat will make sure you sort yourself out, Le

Le

Lance stared at him and once more Le