‘Nice to see you again, sweet girl.’

‘Fuck,’ Tony curses, and rakes a shaking hand over his sweaty, bald head. ‘Charlie.’

My eyes bounce back and forth between the two men, my heart beating hard enough for all to hear. The sneer on Charlie’s face tells me he can smell my fear. He walks forward casually, keeping his eyes on me, and pats Tony on the back. It’s a kind gesture, but I’m under no illusion that it’s meant to be friendly, and a quick glance at Tony confirms he knows it, too. He’s nervous. ‘I give you one job,’ Charlie muses as Tony backs up cautiously. ‘Keep the girl away.’

Tony’s accusing eyes land on me with an almighty bang, making me wilt on the spot. ‘I can only apologise,’ he murmurs, shaking his head in despair. ‘The girl doesn’t know what’s good for her or the boy.’

If I could find my sass amid my fear, I’d be firing it at Tony like bullets from a machine gun.

‘Ah,’ Charlie laughs. It’s a sinister laugh, meant to terrify me. And it does. This man’s evil is rampant. ‘The Special One.’ He takes one step towards me. ‘Or my special one.’ And another step. ‘But you want him to be your special one.’ He’s in my face now, breathing down on me. I’m trembling. ‘When people try to take what’s mine, they pay.’

My eyes close in an attempt to block out his closeness, but my loss of sight has no effect. I can smell him and I can feel him. The Special One. I feel sick, my turning stomach and frantic mind quickly telling me that I was delusional in thinking I could stop this. The few seconds I’ve spent in the company of Charlie and Tony are enough to make me realise that I’m not escaping this room.

‘There’s only one person on this planet who has tried to take something from me and come out alive.’

I blink my eyes open, finding his face close to mine. Intuition tells me he wants me to ask who and what, yet my brain isn’t loading my mouth with the words to follow through on his silent command.

‘Your mother was mine.’

‘Oh God,’ I breathe, my legs losing solidity, making me wobble. The wall is the only thing holding me up. ‘No.’ I shake my head.

‘Yes,’ he counters simply. ‘She belonged to me and the only reason I didn’t slaughter William Anderson was the satisfaction of knowing he’d suffer a lifetime of torture when she left him.’

His prowling frame is sucking all the air from my lungs. I can’t speak. Can’t think. I’m blank.

‘Death would have put him out of his misery.’ His hand comes up and strokes my cheek, but I don’t flinch. I’m a statue. A numb statue. ‘How does it feel to know she abandoned you to save him?’

It hits me like a sledgehammer. Everything. William didn’t send her away. And she didn’t abandon me because she never wanted me. Charlie made her leave.

‘Step away, Charlie.’

I remain where I am, trapped against the wall by his looming frame, struggling to breathe, but that voice is the most wonderful thing I’ve ever heard.

‘You can leave, Tony.’ William’s order leaves no room for refusal.

I hear the door close and then the beats of even footsteps, and though I can’t see William yet, his presence is cutting through the thick atmosphere.

‘I said step away,’ William adds severely.

I see him in my peripheral vision, hovering to the side, but my stare is rooted on Charlie’s hollow eyes.

Grey eyes.

I lose my breath.

He gives me a menacing smirk, like he can see that something has just registered. ‘Hello, brother,’ he drawls, slowly turning to face William.

My mouth drops open and a million words hang from my tongue. Brother? The eyes. Why didn’t I see it before? Charlie’s are exact replicas of William’s, except where William’s are soft and sparkling, Charlie’s are hard and cold. They’re brothers. They’re also enemies. My mind is being blitzed with recollections, lots of snippets of information all coming together to form a monumentally complicated picture.

Gracie, William, and Charlie.

Carnage.

William’s grey eyes have hardened to match his brother’s, taking on an edge of threat. They are traits that I’m familiar with in William, but now they are amplified. He looks as frightening as Charlie. ‘You’re nothing to me, only a blemish on my life.’

‘I love you, too, brother.’ Charlie wanders calmly over to William and lifts his arms. It’s a condescending act. ‘Don’t I get a hug this time?’

‘No.’ William’s lip curls and he steps back, away from the imposing presence of Charlie. ‘I’ll be taking Olivia and leaving.’

‘You and I both know that’s not going to happen.’ He looks over his shoulder to me. ‘You couldn’t control Gracie, Will. What makes you think you can control her daughter?’

I divert my eyes from his, uncomfortable being the focus of his intense stare. He knows who I am.

William is beginning to shake. ‘You sick bastard.’

Charlie raises high eyebrows. He seems interested. ‘Sick bastard?’

I don’t like the glimmer of worry on William’s face when he flicks me a quick glance before returning stone-cold eyes on his brother. But he doesn’t speak.

‘Sick bastard,’ Charlie muses, nodding thoughtfully. ‘Would a sick bastard get a cheap thrill from putting this beautiful girl to work?’

I frown, keeping my eyes on William, seeing him fighting to prevent his body from fidgeting. He’s uncomfortable. It’s a disposition I’ve seen in him before, and when he looks at me, my heart sinks.

‘Would he?’ Charlie asks, almost innocently, but I know what he’s getting at.

‘Don’t,’ William warns.

‘No comment.’ Charlie sighs on a menacing smirk. ‘OK. Tell me this. Would a sick bastard get a cheap thrill from putting his niece to work?’

‘Charlie!’ William roars, but I can’t be startled by the ferocious bellow. I’ve just died.

‘No,’ I whisper, shaking my head furiously. He can’t be. My eyes start darting everywhere, my body convulsing from shakes.

‘I’m sorry, Olivia.’ William sounds defeated. ‘I’m so, so sorry. I told you, as soon as I realised who you were, I sent you away. I didn’t know.’

I feel sick. My eyes find William and see nothing but torture.

‘So you didn’t get a sick satisfaction from allowing my daughter to give her body away?’

‘We’re not cut from the same cloth, Charlie.’ William’s face contorts in condemnation.

‘We’re blood, Will.’

‘You’re nothing to me.’

‘You tried to take Gracie away from me,’ Charlie grates, but I can see the brimming anger isn’t a result of losing a woman he loved. It’s principle. He didn’t want to lose.

‘I didn’t want her in this sick world! And you, you poisonous bastard, made her stay!’

‘She was clearly a good earner.’ Charlie sniffs insolently. ‘We were running a business, brother.’

‘You couldn’t bear the thought of me having her. You couldn’t stand the fact that she despised you!’ William steps forward, aggression pouring from him, making his suit quiver over his ominous frame. ‘She should have been mine!’