The only way to find out for sure is for Bloom to go undercover. But will she make it out safely – or will she become the next Artemis woman to disappear?

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I

She knew what she had to do. She had planned it meticulously, silently, over the past week. No one suspected a thing. They never paid her enough attention to notice.

They were all so much more than she was. She was weak and pathetic and overly reliant on the men in her life. Men who would use her and control her. Men like her father and her brother. She had tried so hard to take advantage of the chance she had been given; the chance to live a better life, but she had failed time and time again.

She parked the car in a deserted car park and climbed out. It was still dark. Swinging the rucksack on to her back, she secured the straps tightly around her shoulders and waist. It was heavy, and when she stooped to check the laces of her walking shoes she had to be careful that it didn’t tip her off her feet. As she stood, the wind felt icy against her cheeks, and she pulled the sleeves of her jacket over her hands before setting off up the hill.

The path wound upwards through bracken and rocky outcrops. Ahead she could see the top of the sun breaching the horizon. Everything was silent. There were no birds to herald the dawn or wildlife to welcome its warmth. It had been a particularly cold January. Snow had fallen across the UK, and she passed a few icy white patches lingering at the side of the path.

If she were in a better state of mind, she would have thought it beautiful. But she was not. The self-loathing had become so bad that she had not been able to face her reflection in the mirror for months now. She managed to style her hair by touch and had stopped wearing any make-up. Others had congratulated her, misinterpreting her actions as a statement of liberation. But it was nothing more than self-hatred.

As she neared the top of the hill she twisted the thick elastic band on her left wrist in a figure of eight and looped it around her right wrist so that her hands were tethered in front of her. The elastic dug into her skin and her shoulders ached from the weight on her back. She might be determined but she also knew she was weak. There was every chance that at the last moment she would panic and chicken out; she had to be sure changing her mind would make no difference. That was why she had filled the rucksack with stones.

Paula would understand in the end. She would be better off without her. Stronger.