‘Sorry if I seemed a bit off when I came in,’ he said, shoving his hands into his pockets to keep them safe. ‘I’ve just come back from visiting my neighbour in hospital, and I’m a bit worried about her.’

‘Is she get better?’ Irena asked.

‘It’s hard to tell,’ said Frank. ‘She was saying some pretty weird stuff while I was there, but the nurse told me they’re keeping an eye on her, so I’m hoping they’ll find out what’s wrong and fix it.’

Conscious of Karel’s piercing stare as he spoke, Frank wondered if it was a symptom of the mental problem Irena had alluded to. She’d said their father found him difficult, and he was beginning to understand why, because the man had a decidedly menacing air about him.

The blond man walked into the room just then, and looked from Karel to Irena.

‘What’s happening? I’m starvin’ me arse off out there while youse lot are having a chit-chat.’

Frank’s eyebrows rose in surprise when he heard the man’s Mancunian accent.

‘Oh . . . you’re British?’

‘Yeah, and?’ the man replied churlishly.

‘Not now, Nick,’ Irena murmured, flashing the man a hooded look.

A chill skittered down Frank’s spine. Nick . . . Or Nikolai?

He’d been right. The man had tracked her down, and he’d forced his way in and made Irena lie about who he was so Frank wouldn’t get suspicious. But why was her brother going along with that if he knew his sister was being abused?

Still studying Frank’s face, Karel’s eyes narrowed, and a sly smile lifted the corner of his thick lips.

‘Is something wrong, Frankie?’

Confused to hear that the man’s heavy accent had disappeared, Frank took a step back, saying, ‘I know who you are, and you need to get out of my house right now.’

‘Oh, dear . . . looks like we’ve been rumbled,’ Nick chuckled.

‘I mean it,’ Frank barked, fumbling his phone out of his pocket. ‘Get out, or I’m calling the police.’

Nick lunged at him before he had a chance to press any numbers and smacked the phone out of his hand. Watching as it skittered across the floor, Frank turned and snatched the house-phone out of its stand on the computer table. He jabbed his finger on the 9 button, but it was dead, and he realized they had disconnected it when he saw the wire on the floor.

Nick grabbed him by the front of his jumper and dragged him out from behind the chair before shoving him forcefully down onto the seat.

‘Now be a good boy and you won’t get hurt,’ he said, placing a hand on each of the chair’s arms and staring into Frank’s eyes.