Chapter 16

“Whole fuckin’ family were abusive, Eli, don’t go thinking my mam were innocent. But Liam were a nasty bugger.”

“You…you remember him?”

Rob smirked. “Remember him? He’s me fucking father.”

Eli stilled. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Me an’ Danny, only two of Mam’s seven to have the same old man. I was four when Danny showed up, and I were old enough by then. Older lot bullied me, but I looked at Danny and I thought, fuck it, this one’s mine. He were my baby brother, not theirs, they couldn’t have ‘im. So it were me and Danny, right from the beginning.”

“What…what happened to…to your mum? And Liam?”

“Fuck knows about him, he fucked off years ago. I was about ten, I dunno. And Mam’s in the slammer, en’t she? They put ‘er away when I were about fourteen, fifteen. Can’t even remember what for now, but every time she comes out, she does shit again and goes right back in. Your old man thinks I’m a thug, he ought’ve met me mam.”

“So you went into care? You and Danny? Or did you go back to Scotland?”