She had failed. She was going to have to leave Ellie with him, this monster. Her inward moan of protest was like a physical pain. Walking across to the door she turned the key in the lock and opened it.

Daniel had moved back a couple of paces as he had heard the key click and was now leaning against the wall, his arms folded across his chest and his eyes narrowed. She watched his mouth stretch into a sneer as he realized Ellie was staying put. ‘You show your face here again, with or without the whore with the razor, and I’ll do for you,’ he said very softly. ‘That’s a promise.’

So Flo had shown him her razor, had she? Good for her. Ruby didn’t look back as she walked to the stairs, but as she reached the top one, his hand came out and gripped her arm. ‘One little push, that’s all it’d take,’ he murmured, still in the same quiet tone. ‘And it’d give me great pleasure to do it.’

‘Take your filthy hands off me.’ She didn’t shout or even raise her voice, but the steel-like quality was devoid of the fear she was feeling inside.

He let go of her but she could tell she’d got under his skin when he growled, ‘Ellie’s mine and she stays mine. Got it? She don’t want you here no more than I do.’

She didn’t reply to this but walked down the stairs to where Flo was standing with Bridget behind her. As she reached the hall, Flo said, ‘The other one’s in the kitchen with his lass nursing a cut lip. Daniel punched him in the gob when he found out Howard’d let us in.’

Ruby nodded. At this present moment words were beyond her. The thought of leaving Ellie here was almost more than she could bear.

‘He was about to have a go at us but Flo waved the razor under his nose,’ Bridget put in, her tone one of awe. She could never have squared up to him like Flo had.

‘She’s not coming?’ Flo looked up the stairs as she spoke. Daniel had gone into Ellie’s room and shut the door and all was quiet.

Ruby shook her head. ‘She’s too frightened of what he’d do to her.’

Flo nodded. ‘Aye, his type always pick a lass they know they can push around. I’ve seen it a hundred times. Meself, I’d wait till the swine was asleep and then use a knife on his wedding tackle. Still, we’re all different.’