Nick snapped his head round and stared at her through narrowed eyes.

‘You’ll stay wherever I say you’re staying,’ he said, all trace of joviality gone. ‘Now shut your gob, and hand your bag over. Unless you want me to take it off you? In fact, why don’t I do that anyway?’

‘Get off me!’ the girl protested, her voice high-pitched with fear as she clung on to her bag. ‘I want see Alexander, or I will—’

Nick lashed her across the face with the back of his hand, and then grabbed her by the hair.

‘Let’s get one thing straight, bitch,’ he spat. ‘I’m the boss here, and you’ll do as you’re told if you ever wanna see your family again.

‘And that goes for you lot, an’ all . . .’ He looked at each of the others in turn. ‘You owe us a shitload of money for fetching you over here, and you’ll be working for us till it’s paid off. Now quit your snivelling, and get your fuckin’ arses upstairs before the rest of you get what she’s about to get.’

At the sound of footsteps stumbling up the stairs, Frank pressed his ear harder against the door. He could hear crying and guessed that the girls were beginning to realize they’d been tricked. It sounded exactly like the scenario Irena had described when he’d found her that night, and it sickened him to think that she had drawn on the suffering of previous victims in order to fool him into taking pity on her.

The group reached the landing, and Frank listened as Irena ushered them past his door.

‘What is happen to Viktorya?’ one of the girls asked fearfully, at the sound of a muffled scream from down below. ‘Why is that man hurt her?’

‘Go into room, and do not make noise,’ Irena replied quietly. ‘She will be OK.’

A door opened and then closed, and Frank moved over to the wall that divided his and Evan’s bedrooms. He could hear the girls whispering tearfully to each other on the other side, but he couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Wherever they were from, it didn’t appear to be the same country as Irena, because she’d addressed them in English. From the brief glimpse he’d had of them, they all appeared to be in their late teens or early twenties, and it broke his heart to think how scared they must be right now – and how worried their parents were going to be when they didn’t hear from them.