‘But… what? Why…?’ Connor has lost the ability to think coherently.

‘It’s okay,’ his mum says. ‘We’re going to use a small piece of Ryan’s liver to save your brother.’

Connor looks to his dad. Waits for the punchline. It doesn’t come.

‘What the fuck?’ he says again.

Aidan can’t look him in the eye.

‘If we wait for a donor on the NHS there is a chance that Kieron could die. This way he won’t. Ryan won’t either, don’t worry.’

‘That’s… insane. Dad?’

‘I know it sounds crazy. It is crazy. But Mum knows what she’s doing. She’s a skilled surgeon.’

‘Great. The prison will probably appreciate a new doctor or haven’t you thought that far ahead?’

‘Whether we do or don’t do the op, I’ll be going to prison now anyway,’ Lucy says. ‘But it won’t matter because Kieron will be okay.’

‘He won’t be okay.’ Connor’s voice shakes. ‘I won’t be okay. I need you. We both do. You’re our mum.’

‘And I was Catherine’s mum too but she died and I should have—’

‘Oh, so you think that was your fault? It was mine and let me tell you I have lived with that every single day.’

‘Of course it wasn’t your fault!’ Aidan says.

‘Oh right? Because I grew in the womb and she didn’t. I had all the nutrients and she didn’t.’

‘It doesn’t work that way—’

‘This.’ Connor sweeps his arm around the room. ‘Doesn’t work this way. You can’t just pick a random—’

‘Ryan isn’t random,’ Lucy says.

‘Okay, a friend.’

‘He isn’t just a friend.’ She walks over to Connor and takes his hands. They are cold. She is cold. ‘This is going to be hard for you to hear. Connor, we love you so much.’

‘I made a mistake. Once,’ his dad cuts. ‘With Melissa. Ryan is my son. Your half-brother.’

Connor shakes his head. Pulls his hands out of Mum’s grasp. Why are they saying these things? Dad isn’t… he isn’t Ryan’s dad. Fergus is. And yet Fergus isn’t here, he left. Did he leave because…

Connor shakes his head again. It’s too much.

‘I don’t believe you.’ It can’t be true. Melissa and Fergus and Mum and Dad have always been such good friends. How can they be if… Unless they’re into some weird swinging shit.

‘Am I… me and Kieron…You’re our dad, right?’

‘I am. But I am also Ryan’s father.’