Her eyes grew round, a terrible sinking feeling in her chest. Her legs weakened and she leant against the worktop for support. He was right. Her tattoo was very distinctive: the names of her three children entwined with roses. She made herself watch the video for a moment, disgust churning the contents of her stomach as the man’s hands roamed over her body. She seemed to be responding with little grunts and movements – although she had no recollection of any of it happening.

James. That was her first thought. Then she noticed a signet ring on the little finger of the man’s hand. A red stone set in gold. It wasn’t James. The skin on her scalp pulled tight with the horror of what she was seeing, her heart skipping and flipping in her chest. Who the hell is it?

‘I knew it!’ Matt shouted, stomping up and down the kitchen, hands waving in the air. ‘I knew you were having an affair. You can’t deny it now, can you?’

Her mouth opened, her head full of denial, but shock made the words stick in her throat, still no clue as to who the man was or how it had happened.

Finally she found her voice. ‘Who sent you that? How did—’

‘Doesn’t matter, does it?’ he snapped.

She looked at the screen again, noticing that the clip went on for almost an hour. An hour! Oh my God. What’s he doing to me? She watched in appalled silence as the man’s fingers trailed ever so slowly from her ankle to her knee, before inching higher. She couldn’t bear to see any more, didn’t want to know what else had happened in the hour of filming. This had to be something to do with James. Fury flared in her chest as she sent the file to herself, determined to confront him with the evidence.

Matt snatched the phone off her, his face red now, as furious as she’d ever seen him. ‘I told you what would happen if I ever found out you were cheating, didn’t I?’ He pointed the phone at her, his eyes almost popping out of his head.

‘Matt, no,’ she pleaded, tears of desperation in her voice. ‘You don’t understand. I’m not! I don’t know how that happened. I don’t. I have no idea who that man is.’

‘You expect me to believe that?’ he snarled.

‘But it’s true, it—’ She ducked as he swiped at her with his hand, adrenaline coursing through her veins, then watched in horror as he started throwing things while she cowered on the floor unable to say or do anything to stop him, the butter knife still firmly clutched in her hand.