Payback by Kimberley Chambers Page B

sweetheart.’
    After a couple of minutes of prodding and poking, Queenie tried to move her sister. It was then she saw the empty tablet container. Panic-stricken, she let out a deafening scream.
    Vinny Butler woke up at midday with the headache from hell. The phone had been ringing all morning, but he had felt incapable of lifting his bonce off the pillow.
    Picking up an empty glass, he filled it with water and downed it in one. Since Lenny and Roy’s death, he had kept his promise to Michael and stayed off the coke. Trouble was, before he had snorted the shit he had been able to hold his drink, but now he couldn’t. After cutting Bobby Jackson last night, he had got well and truly hammered.
    When the phone rang again, Vinny staggered into the lounge to answer it. ‘Slow down, Mum. I can’t understand you. What’s happened?’
    ‘It’s Vivian. She’s tried to kill herself.’
    Ahmed Zane sat down opposite his cousin in the small restaurant situated just off Tottenham High Road. The establishment had been funded by Ahmed. Burak ran it, and the two men split any profits straight down the middle. ‘How’s business?’ Ahmed asked.
    ‘Good. It’s been busy lately. How’s that loyal friend of yours? You seen him yet?’
    Ahmed told him about Vinny visiting him at home, then filled him in on what had occurred at yesterday’s funeral.
    ‘So, what happens now? I am still on good terms with the Finsbury Park lads. Do you want me to sort something?’ Burak asked. He was livid at the way Vinny had treated his cousin, especially after the loyalty he and Ahmed had shown him. Burak had got himself involved in three murders on Vinny’s behalf in the past: Karen, the mother of his son, Kenny Jackson and Terry Smart had all had their lives ended prematurely thanks to Burak and his Finsbury Park pals helping Vinny out in return for a substantial amount of cash.
    Ahmed took a sip of his Scotch and swilled the drink around in his mouth before swallowing it. ‘Killing Vinny does not satisfy my lust for revenge. I want to ruin him, take away everything of importance in his life, then watch him suffer.’
    ‘You mean his son? His mother? I can sort that for you.’
    Ahmed shook his head. ‘We’ll let the family live for now. Money, his reputation and his freedom are the other most important things in Vinny’s life, and those are the things, if taken away, that will hurt him the most. I plan to strip him of all three.’
    ‘How?’
    ‘Not sure yet, but I will find a way. First though, I must be patient. If things start to go wrong now, Vinny will become suspicious. I need him to relax, assure him that I hold no grudges before I strike. Vinny Butler is a clever man, but he is not as clever as me. He who laughs last, laughs the longest, Burak, and that shall be us.’
    Nancy Butler was sitting in silence at the dinner table. Her brother was rambling on about his job again, and even though Nancy was pleased that being a policeman obviously suited Christopher, she found the daily conversation ever so repetitive and tedious.
    When Christopher began bragging about receiving praise from his boss yet again, before he could actually recite the conversation word for word, Nancy butted in: ‘Isn’t it about time you found yourself a girlfriend, Christopher? I think it would be good for you to have something else in your life other than work.’
    Mary stopped chewing her food. Nancy and Christopher had always been so close as children, but not any more.
    ‘You’ve got more front than British Home Stores, Nancy. How dare you comment on my life when you’ve made such a mess of your own? You should think yourself lucky you have a roof over your head, after the way you’ve treated us in the past, eh, Dad?’
    ‘Your brother is right, Nancy. He’ll have plenty of time to charm the ladies once his probation period has finished. His career should come before anything else, and if he stays focused, he will climb that ladder to the very