‘This is a huge lie to get me to stop seeing him,’ declared Maggie, angrily standing up. ‘I think you should leave now. Even if it is true, did you ever think you might deserve it?’

‘Every damn day.’

She stormed down the hallway, flinging open the front door for Vanessa to follow. ‘Vanessa?’ Maggie fumed when Vanessa was outside.

Vanessa turned back.

‘Don’t ever come back here again.’

Vanessa nodded and trudged down the rough-patterned brick path.

4

With a heavy heart, Vanessa unlocked and opened the door, pulling Wren through with her. He was dragging his feet as much as she was, neither of them wanting to go inside. Mark’s car was out the front, which meant he was inside waiting for them, like a venomous black spider waiting for its prey. She felt like running, but she had nowhere to go and no money. No choice.

She bent down and whispered in his ear, ‘If things go badly tonight, you need to go to Nannie’s straight away, out the bedroom window. No staying to protect me. I’ll be OK, understood?’ Although he was young, he knew what to do.

He nodded. She felt terrible that she was putting so much on his little shoulders, but he seemed to be coping well. He was her little dude, her beautiful boy. She never wanted him to change from the empathetic and loving kid that he was. Wren’s safety was her number-one priority. His happiness a close second.

Mark was sitting at the kitchen table dunking a biscuit into his coffee. He had a crumb clinging to his upper lip until his tongue snaked out and grabbed it, pulling it back into his mouth. He repulsed her. She felt like confronting him about his affair with Maggie but decided that she’d wait and see how this conversation went.

‘Mark.’

He grunted at her, slurping his coffee noisily. ‘You’re not happy,’ she began. She waited for him to confirm what she already knew, but he stayed stubbornly silent. ‘I’m not happy either. I haven’t ever been happy with you, and I suspect you feel the exact same way. So why don’t we just call it a day and go our separate ways?’ Vanessa said in a rush, stumbling over her words in her haste to get them out before he cut her off. But he didn’t. He didn’t even speak. He simply picked up his nearly full cup and flicked his hand, and suddenly she was covered in near scalding-hot coffee. It was soaking through her top, burning her. Pulling it quickly over her head, she threw it onto the ground. Her hair dripped, and coffee covered her face. Trying to wipe down her chest, already feeling the searing pain of the burn, she knew she needed to get cream on it straightaway in case it blistered. She went to leave.

‘Don’t.’ His voice was low, and she risked a quick look at his face. His brows were lowered and knitted together.