And now Bello is coming for me. He tortured Julian and I know he’ll do the same to me. I can’t hide from him without giving up my job and my family and I’m not prepared to do that, so it’s only a matter of time before he gets to me. Abraham Lincoln once said, ‘No man has a good enough memory to be a successful liar.’ I can’t risk that I won’t be able to lie well enough, that he’ll work out where she is or that he has a son, because if he knows that, he’ll never stop hunting for her. Hopefully, this way, he’ll give up and leave her be. I’ll be a dead end.

I know you’ll be angry at whoever is making me do this, Karene, but this is my decision, my idea. I want this because I can’t be responsible for another young mother losing her child or her life. I just couldn’t live with myself.

I hope you can understand and, in time, forgive me for sacrificing us to save them. Just know that the time we’ve had together has been the happiest of my life. Thank you.

All my love,

Harry.

‘He forgot me on purpose.’ She screwed the letter into a ball.

Bloom unravelled the paper Karene had thrown on the table and read the letter quickly. ‘Karene. Try not to see it as a rejection.’ She emptied a sachet of sugar into her friend’s tea.

‘Of course not. I’m the love of his life, the best thing that ever happened to him, bar his children. Why would I see him deleting me from his brain as a rejection? Why would I think that I was worth consulting before he did this?’

‘He didn’t have much time and he thought this was the only way.’

‘He had time to open a bank account and write a letter. I’m pretty sure that means he had time to call me.’

‘Would you have let him do it?’

‘Of course not.’

‘Well then, Karene. It’s done. The only thing left to decide is if you can forgive him.’

102