Extraits

Nom de Dieu, mais qu’est-ce que je faisais ? Je n’aurais vraiment pas dû venir ici. Je remarquai la vieille femme (celle qui avait jeté un coup d’œil par la fenêtre) qui se tenait sur le pas de sa porte à deux maisons de là, un balai à la main à chasser la poussière de son couloir vers la rue.

— Bonjour, Trevor, dit-elle avec un sourire chaleureux.

En même temps, elle me lança un regard méfiant. Me reconnaissait-elle sans mon uniforme ?

— Bonjour, madame Spencer, répondit Trevor. Vous êtes charmante en ce beau dimanche.

La femme gloussa et secoua la tête, balayant sa réplique. Mon Dieu, il flirtait vraiment sans vergogne. Je jurai que s’il y avait un chat devant lui, il trouverait une façon de le séduire.

— Et ne m’appelle pas ma belle. Tu crois que je vais te laisser me baisser mon pantalon parce que je suis bourrée ? Eh bien, y’a pas moyen, Bastien.

— Oh, tu m’as bien cerné. Je ne suis qu’une petite merde opportuniste.

Lee soupira d’un air dramatique, incapable d’effacer le sourire de son visage. Il me trouvait amusante.

Je l’ai toujours fait tout seul, mais maintenant, j’ai quelqu’un pour me tenir la main et porter un peu de ce fardeau avec moi. Elle ne portera jamais mes enfants. Je le sais et je déteste ça, mais ça n’enlève pas une once de l’amour que j’ai pour elle. En fait, cela ne m’encourage qu’à l’aimer davantage. Parce qu’elle a fait de mes frères ses fils, de Sophie sa fille, et a amélioré toutes nos vies en même temps.

Le monde n’est plus morne ni solitaire, et même si j’étais censé être le voleur, c’est bien elle qui a pris mon cœur.

Prologue

The room was freezing, so cold you could see your breath mist in front of your face.

There was something about it that made everything feel wet. The electricity had been cut off several weeks ago, and with it the central heating. The old couch in the living room was damp to the touch; so too were all the blankets and pillows in the bedroom Lee shared with his three brothers. He climbed into bed and closed his eyes, tried to ignore the discomfort of damp bedding and just go to sleep, but it wouldn’t work.

He’d never admit it to any of his friends, but he often cuddled tightly to his older brother, Stu, for warmth. Liam and Trevor shared the bed on the other side of their small room, while their cousin

Sophie slept in his mum’s old room. His aunt Jenny had abandoned her there months ago, right after Lee’s mum passed away. She’d then gone on an extended holiday with her boyfriend; “messed up”

didn’t even begin to cover it. As far as social services were concerned, Jenny had moved in to take care of her late sister’s children. In reality, she was off sunning herself in Magaluf, boozing it up to her heart’s content and leaving all five kids with an envelope of money to survive on that had long since dried up.

There was a man who wore a suit and gold rings who’d started coming around more and more often, offering Lee a way to take care of his family. He’d seen him a few times about the estate. Once he’d been beating a man half to death because he couldn’t pay back the money he owed him, and another time he’d been visiting a woman whose husband died, bringing her a hamper of food to feed her kids. It was difficult to reconcile the violent man with the one who helped the widow. How could someone be both kind and cruel?

Still, Lee wanted to trust him. He wanted what the man was offering to be real and not a con, because he saw his expensive suit and stylish car, and deep in his gut he coveted those things for himself. He was tired of suffering, tired of seeing his brothers live a life of poverty. He wanted to make sure his family was never cold or hungry again, and the man represented an opportunity to do that.

Stu coughed and turned on his side, his eyes open, clearly unable to sleep, either.

"I hate her", he said, drawing Lee from his thoughts.

Source : amazon.com