‘Don’t say goodbye.’

Alice pulls herself from Zac and throws herself at me, presses her face into my chest. ‘No. No go.’ She dissolves into tears, clinging like a koala bear as I soothe her. At last, she relaxes across my lap, though her arms are tight round my waist.

Zac says softly, ‘I’m with Alice. Don’t go, Holly. You and I belong together. We can get it right this time. I’m different. I’ll do anything to make it work, to make it up to you. We can get married. You can adopt Alice. You only have to say yes and I’ll put the legalities in motion.’ He moves closer, draping Alice’s legs over his thighs, while her upper body continues to rest across my lap, her head in the crook of my arm. ‘It’s what I’ve dreamed of since you ran away. Getting you back.’ His voice chokes. ‘I’d spend my life trying to make you happy.’

No better way to get a man to love you forever than to run away from him. That was what Eliza said. She knew the truth of that. Maxine, who is an expert at identifying human desires, and understanding precisely how to use them in order to purchase information, knows this too.

I cannot fathom how long Maxine has been planning this. When did she foresee the circumstances that would allow her to put it in play, given the innumerable contingencies? She can envisage the impossible, figuring out the solution to a complex puzzle made of constantly moving pieces. And Martin, too, letting me walk away with Alice’s identity documents. And George, helping me find that medical data. At every point, they knew what to do with me. I couldn’t give them Jane, but I can still give them Zac, who they always wanted just as much. Because Zac remains their best chance at getting Frederick Veliko.

I have looked at it all. I have considered everything, aided by the clear-thinking Maxine. She spent a lot of time by my hospital bed, before I was well enough to leave Yorkshire. Explaining how it can work, spelling out how she and I can each grant the other a very fond wish.

As things stand, I have no legal rights to Alice. She will be alone with Zac and I won’t be able to protect her. Would Jane have wanted that, after everything she sacrificed to keep Alice safe? It is inconceivable that social services would take Alice from him. If by some miracle they did, she’d end up in foster care.

Even if I were to complain to the police about the things he did to me, there is no way I could prove them. MI5 and GCHQ would never admit the evidence I needed even existed, and his films have been consigned to Maxine’s dark caverns, where they belong.