He’s taking him away! She clung to the banister as she listened.

Ezra’s screams got louder, and she knew Matt was fighting a losing battle. There was no rational conversation to be had, no reasoning with him once he’d worked himself up into this sort of paddy.

Quickly she crept outside, where she wouldn’t be heard, and rang Hailey to tell her what was happening.

‘What a relief you found them. Don’t worry, the police are here. I’ll tell them Matt’s at your house and threatening to run off with Ezra. That should get them round pronto. I’ve already given them a run-down of what’s been happening, but they want a full witness statement, so I’ll be here a little while longer.’

Sara finished the call, then picked up a piece of the broken glass and crept out to Matt’s car, stabbing the two back tyres. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be going anywhere, she went back into the house, bumping straight into Matt as he carried a screaming, thrashing Ezra into the kitchen.

‘Mummy!’ Ezra shrieked, battering his father with his fists, his face red and tear-stained. Matt stared at her, a look of horror in his eyes. The shock of seeing her must have made him loosen his grip, allowing Ezra to wriggle free and run to Sara, who scooped him up, her heart skittering with relief as he wrapped his arms and legs round her body.

A sheen of tears blurred her vision and she blinked them away, glaring at Matt, who was standing open-mouthed, obviously unsure what to do next. His eyes slid to the back door.

‘Locked,’ she said.

His mouth twitched.

‘Look, love,’ he said, as if it was a normal day and she’d just come back from work, ‘let’s have a chat, shall we?’ He walked through into the lounge, turned on the TV and flicked through until he found the CBeebies channel. ‘Hey, Ezra,’ he called. ‘Look what’s on telly.’

At the sound of the familiar theme tune, Ezra’s eyes lit up and he gave Sara a kiss on the cheek before scrambling down and going to sit on the sofa to watch Teletubbies, his thumb in his mouth.

Satisfied that his son was occupied, Matt came back into the kitchen and leant against the worktop, just a few feet away from her. It felt too close, but they needed to be able to speak without disturbing Ezra.

‘You punched me,’ Sara said in an urgent whisper, before he had a chance to speak. His mouth opened and closed. She gave a derisive snort. ‘Yeah, there’s no excuse for that, is there?’ She pointed towards the lounge. ‘And what’s the plan with taking Ezra?’