might have. I don’t. I’m sure those two in there would celebrate if I died.’
Little Vinny sighed. He wasn’t very good with awkward hugs or sympathetic words, but he was good with advice. ‘That isn’t going to do you any favours, for a start,’ he said, pointing to the wine glass. ‘Neither is locking your kids up in that prison you call home. Your dad isn’t short of a few bob, Frankie, and I know he’d want you to be happy. If I were you, I’d try out the counselling thing, and move over this way. It’s nice round ’ere, and central. I’ll have a word with Finn if you like? His pal is a local estate agent and I’m sure he’d be able to help.’
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, ’course. Be nice for my kids to hang out with yours. I’ve also decided not to send Regan back to school, I’m gonna get someone in to teach him from home instead. He’s always got in trouble at school and I can’t risk him being sent away again. Not many schools will want to take him anyway, after what happened. Perhaps they can teach Georgie and Harry as well.’
‘Oh, Vin! That would be wonderful. Even if they could just learn to read and write, it would make me so bloody happy. And it will open up a whole new world to them. They’d love to live near Calum and Regan, I know they would. Shall I tell them the good news now?’
‘Whoa! Hold your horses. Let me speak to Finn’s pal first, and you can have a talk with your dad. Do ya want a coffee? I’m gonna make myself one.’
Frankie was about to reply when she felt the hair freeze on the back of her neck. Georgie not only had a voice like an angel, she was singing Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand by Your Man’.
‘Wow! Your daughter’s got some voice on her. Let’s go back in the lounge,’ Little Vinny suggested.
Shaking her head, Frankie Mitchell held her face in her hands. ‘I hate this song. It reminds me of Jed. I even lost my virginity to him while it was playing. My life is such a mess, and it’s all my fault. Have you ever done something so wrong it eats away at you like a cancer? So much so, you can never forgive yourself. My mum would still be alive if I’d never met Jed.’
Overwhelmed by visions of himself strangling Molly, Little Vinny handed Frankie her bag. ‘Look, it’s been a long day and I think we should wrap it up now.’
‘But I thought we were going to order a Chinese?’
Little Vinny pulled out his wallet, peeled off a fifty-pound note and handed it to her. ‘I’m tired and need my bed. Get yourself a cab home and grab yourself something to eat on the way.’
Taken aback, Frankie stood speechless as Little Vinny stomped upstairs. She knew she was tipsy and had probably repeated herself once or twice, but she hadn’t said or done anything so wrong she deserved to be chucked out the house, had she?
‘Happy birthday, darlin’,’ Vinny Butler said.
Felicity Carter-Price excitedly put her hand inside the gift bag and pulled out a small Cartier box. Inside was a stunning pair of diamond drop earrings. ‘Wow! They’re amazing, Vinny. I love them. Thank you so much.’
‘Only the best for my girl,’ Vinny said, before urging her to try them on. This was all new to him, buying gifts for a girlfriend. It felt weird, but kind of cool at the same time. If somebody had told him a year ago that he’d be all loved up and buying Cartier earrings for his woman, he would’ve laughed in their face.
‘How do they look?’ Felicity asked.
‘Gorgeous, just like you. Nah, don’t take ’em off. I wanna look at ’em while I give you your other present.’
Felicity grinned as Vinny dragged what they referred to as ‘Pandora’s box’ out of the walk-in wardrobe. He liked it rough and she aimed to please. That was why she trawled the internet regularly, looking for outrageous sex toys and props.
‘Do you want me to answer that?’ Felicity asked.
‘Give us it,’ Vinny said, snatching his phone out of her hands.
Felicity smiled as she thought of the evening ahead. All Vinny’s family would be at the opening of his new casino, and she couldn’t wait to meet them at long last. Ava despised her, she already knew that. But she was hoping to make a good impression in front of the others, his mother especially. Vinny was a dark horse, and Felicity was eager to find out more about the man she virtually lived with now.
‘That was me mother. Reckons she’s got nothing to wear tonight. Three wardrobes she’s got, full to the brim. Yous women will be the death of me,’ Vinny joked, before ordering Felicity to turn over.
Handcuffing his girlfriend’s wrists to the bedposts, Vinny stroked her long dark hair. She was a very beautiful girl and he was a lucky man.
Over in Essex, Georgie and Harry O’Hara were having a count up.
‘How much we got now?’ Harry asked his sister.
‘Thirty pound, eighty pence. We need at least a hundred pound, perhaps even two.’
Harry tutted. Their mother wouldn’t give them any pocket money as such because she was scared they’d try to run away again. They’d managed to nick a few quid. Harry had swiped a tenner out of Stuart’s wallet when the police had given it to their mum, and they’d also nicked some coins out of her purse when she left it lying around, but other than that they had no way of getting or earning any cash. ‘Why do we need more? That’s enough for food and drinks, and Scotland ain’t that far away. We can easy bunk the trains without a ticket.’
‘We can’t. They’ve got barriers and people watching ya. When Nan and Mary went shopping in Glasgow that time, they nearly got arrested. Nan was frit to death when she came home, don’t you remember? She never got on a train again, said she’d rather walk and wear her shoes out.’
Having never been on a train or bus in his life, Harry knew very little about how public transport operated. Whenever he’d left the site back in Scotland, it had been in a car or van with his dad, uncle, or granddad behind the wheel. ‘Why don’t you ask Calum to help us? He well likes you, I can tell. I bet he’d give you money if you show him your titties.’
‘I will ask him to help us, but not yet. We need to find out where we’re going first, and how to get there. Our site weren’t near any stations, and say nobody’s there any more? If our dad and granddad are dead, Nanny Alice won’t be there.’
‘Ryan’ll still be there. His dad owned the land,’ Harry reminded his sister.
‘We don’t know that for sure. Ryan’s dad probably came to rescue us with the others, and he might be dead too.’
‘Cheerful, you are, ain’t ya, Georgie?’
‘I’m just stating facts.’
‘Well now I’m stating facts. I hate Frankie and this shitty house, and if you won’t come with me, I’ll run away on my own.’
Vinny Butler shot his load up Felicity’s backside, unlocked the handcuffs and then rolled on to his back.
