Claudia left the flat by her usual route out the back. She knew the position of each and every CCTV camera littering the high street, having done everything she could to ensure her affair wouldn’t be discovered. Now was not the time for mistakes.

‘I’m not giving up without a fight,’ Declan warned as he caught up with her. ‘I want to be a part of this baby’s life.’

‘It’s not yours.’

‘You can’t know that.’

Claudia would believe what she wanted to believe. It wasn’t as if Justin was ever going to insist on a DNA test. He trusted her implicitly, and besides, it was possible that he was the father, if just a little unlikely when factoring in who she was with and when. Not that Declan needed to know that. ‘The dates match when Justin was home, not when I was with you. It’s his baby.’

‘Either way, I love you, Claude. And I’ll love the baby too.’

‘You’re not listening,’ she hissed. ‘I’m not going to leave Justin for you.’

They were zipping along the back alley that ran parallel with the high street. Unlike the pristine shopfronts, the back of the buildings were crumbling and she could smell rotting waste and cat pee. She wasn’t giving up what she had for this.

‘You’ll love Donegal,’ he said as if reading her mind. ‘It’s beautiful.’

‘You expect me to follow you back to your ex-wife and her sister?’

‘If you don’t fancy Ireland, how about Scotland, or Wales? Or the South of France?’ he asked. He was laughing as if the whole thing were a joke. ‘We can go anywhere.’

‘Not with a baby. And what do I do when you abandon us like you did your last family?’

He grabbed her. ‘I phone my kids when I can, and I’ve promised they can come and stay with me once I’m settled somewhere permanent,’ he said, ever the fantasist. ‘I’m not my father.’

Oh, but you are, thought Claudia.

‘I’ll do right by all of you,’ he insisted. ‘Look, if you’re too scared to tell Justin, I can do it for you.’

‘You will not!’

Claudia pulled away, but Declan followed. ‘I can’t let you go. Just think about—’ He stopped in his tracks and sniffed the air.

Claudia could smell it too. Smoke. She was about to remind him that Bonfire Night was only a few weeks away and it would be kids up to no good, but the ground shook and an eerie glow lit up the rooftops.

‘Sweet Jesus,’ Declan said under his breath, not needing to see the theatre to know it was alight. ‘I have to get to Karin. She’s in the stalls, right?’

‘You can’t go in there if it’s on fire.’

‘I have to, you stay here!’