past Franny, grabbing hold of Alfie by the scruff of his neck. ‘You’ve got some fucking explaining to do.’
It took Alfie only a second for his brain to realise what was happening and another second for his face to blanch momentarily, before he leapt into action.
He twisted his body, ignoring the pain of his injuries from the triad attack. Using his shoulder, he slammed into Vaughn who staggered backwards, surprised at the strength of the injured Alfie Jennings. As Vaughn fell into the hospital sluice trolley, propelling the steel surgical instruments to the floor, Del Williams stepped forward to help, lunging angrily towards Alfie, but a sudden pain stopped him, sending shockwaves through Del’s body. He held onto his head.
‘Fucking hell!’ Del shouted out in pain as Chloe-Jane stood with a metal tray in her hand.
Del turned to stare at Chloe, seeing the security guards rushing over to see what the commotion was. He snarled at her. ‘What the fuck did you do that for?’
Chloe-Jane shrugged, looking first at Alfie, then at Del who’d she’d struck hard across the head. ‘He’s family. And family stick together.’
An hour later, Franny sat in the waiting room drinking what she suspected was the worst cup of coffee she’d ever had. Either that, or it was the bitter taste in her mouth she’d suddenly developed as she listened to Vaughn and Del tell her their suspicions about Alfie, who lay oblivious under anaesthetic in theatre.
‘It ain’t even bang out of order, Fran, what he’s done is worse. Much worse. He’s got involved with them triads, or at least he’s been part of the reason they’ve launched their attacks on Soho. He went against the rules, Fran, opening up a casino behind our backs. Everyone knows that’s off limits.’
Franny bristled. ‘If it’s true.’
Vaughn and Del glanced at each other.
‘Don’t look like that, guys, we don’t know it’s true.’
Frustrated, Vaughn stood up, gesturing widely with his hands. ‘Oh come off it, Fran, you know what a fucking muppet he is, this has got Alfie Jennings written all over it. Anything that goes wrong and there’s even a sniff of Alfie’s name, you know he’ll be right in the centre of things. Ain’t no smoke without fire, or in this case, ain’t no smoke without Alfie. It’s always been the same. You know that.’
Franny’s face flushed with anger. She spat out her words, surprising herself at how protective of Alfie she felt. ‘This isn’t about what’s happening in Soho, Vaughn, this is about you. Everyone knows you’ve got a problem with Alfie, and this is your way of getting back at him.’
‘Don’t be such a stupid cow, Fran, didn’t you see what shit he got your father into? I don’t know how you can bear to let him near you.’
Franny’s slap to Vaughn’s face shocked everyone, apart from Chloe-Jane who had seen it coming. The only other person Chloe had known do that had been her mother, just before she’d drunkenly laid into her, often leaving her too bruised to go to school the next day.
Chloe-Jane stepped behind Franny, showing her solidarity to her newfound friend as well as her uncle. He wasn’t her favourite person by any length but it was one thing for Chloe-Jane to think Alfie was a god almighty prick, but it was an entirely other thing for someone else to.
Vaughn’s fury showed in his eyes. Who the hell did Franny think she was? This was men’s business, not women’s. He’d had a lot of respect for her at one point, the way she’d handled herself when the shit had hit the fan with her father, Patrick. She’d also been a good friend to Casey which of course he’d appreciated, but now? Now he was losing respect for her and if she wasn’t careful, Franny would lose the respect of the other London and Soho faces she’d known since she was a child.
Franny’s voice was steely.
‘Don’t you dare speak about Patrick.’
‘Why not, truth hurts.’
Franny stepped forward, closing the space between them. Franny stared at Vaughn, wondering how he’d changed from the sweet perfect gentleman to a hardened embittered man. When Casey had called her in tears, worried about the way Vaughn was acting, she’d reassured her friend it was probably nothing and had convinced Casey just to put it down to Vaughn having a bad day. But as Franny stood in front of him, it was clear this was far from a bad day.
‘The only truth here, Vaughn, is whatever vendetta you’re riding on, you better get off it and real quick. You don’t run Soho – those days are well and truly over, whether you like it or not. Go up against Alfie and you’ll go up against me.’
Vaughn laughed scornfully. ‘Oh and that’s supposed to frighten me how?’
‘I don’t expect it to frighten you, Vaughn, you’re too stupid for that. What I do expect is for you to back off from Alfie until you know the truth, because if you don’t you’ll regret it.’
‘You two deserve to be together. At first I couldn’t quite see how you and him could work, but now I see it, Christ do I just.’
‘Maybe instead of worrying about Alfie and me, perhaps you should be worrying about your own relationship.’
It was the first time Franny saw Vaughn bristle. His eyes darkened. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
Franny began to walk away. ‘You tell me.’
‘I said, what’s that supposed to mean?’
Ignoring Vaughn, Franny opened the waiting room door but felt her arm being held. She stared down at Vaughn’s grip before staring up into his face. ‘Get your hands off me.’
‘Not till you tell me what you meant.’
‘You heard her, get the fuck off her.’ Chloe-Jane stood with a chair in her hand a few feet away from Vaughn.
‘Get your dog to back off, Fran.’
Franny, who’d just been about to tell Chloe-Jane to put the chair down, angrily reacted to Vaughn’s comment. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, Vaughn, speaking to her like that, she’s just a kid? What’s happened to you?’
Chloe-Jane continued to hold the chair in a threatening manner, trying to decide whether or not to feel affronted by Franny calling her just a kid, or to be touched by Franny sticking up for her, a rare occurrence in her life. Deciding on the latter, and without a moment’s more hesitation, Chloe-Jane swung the chair at Vaughn, screaming at him hysterically.
‘She said get off her! Fucking bastard! Get off!’
Seeing Vaughn’s head begin to bleed and sensing Chloe-Jane was about to hit Vaughn again, Del intervened, grappling the chair off her. He pulled it from her hands with a strong tug, managing to release it from her grip in one go. But like a wild feral cat about to lose its prey, Chloe-Jane pounced on both Del and Vaughn. Fingernails scratched at skin, teeth bit into flesh as she yelled a stream of profanities.
Franny moved forward, dragging Chloe-Jane off the men. She wrapped her arms round her as she pulled her away, battling as Chloe tried to break out of her hold and back to the men.
Franny shouted loudly. ‘Chloe! Chloe-Jane! Stop! Stop!
