Davis’s grip on Dusty loosened, just the tiniest bit. ‘You deleted it,’ he said, as if trying to convince himself.

I half wanted to laugh. ‘It’s saved in the cloud, in case I lost my phone. I’m not stupid, and you’re not, either.’

His eyebrows knitted together. ‘You wouldn’t post it. You’d be too embarrassed.’

‘I have no shame,’ I snapped. ‘Not anymore. I would. And I will. Let Dusty go, leave him with me, and I’ll never tell another person, I swear. I won’t tell the police what you’ve done here. I won’t tell anyone you killed John.’

‘I don’t even know who John is,’ Davis said, an awful bitter laughter creeping into his voice. ‘You’re delusional. You always were.’

As if seeing his chance, quick as anything, Dusty turned his sweet little head and sank his teeth into Davis’s arm, hard enough to break the skin.

‘Christ,’ he said, tossing my baby across the room so violently that his body thunked into the nightstand.

Dusty yelped once more, and I pounced, scooping him into my arms, holding him gently, protecting him.

‘He’s yours,’ Davis said, his expression turning quickly to disgust. ‘He’s just as crazy as you. Stay away from me – and my sister. Or I will take him – I’ll take away everything you love, I swear to god.’

Then he turned around, walked out of the room. Leaving us there, saved and spared.

Only somehow more broken than we had been before.

I heard my name like an echo, bouncing around as if someone was yelling it from the end of a tunnel. Bright lights flooded the room, pressing against my eyelids.

Exhausted and weak, I opened my eyes to see Vera hovering over me.

‘Lucy. Oh my god, what happened?’

I blinked back sleep. I was still on the bed, in the fetal position, exactly where Davis had left me, where, at some point, half-drunk from the spike and fall of adrenaline, I’d drifted off. ‘What time is it?’

‘Almost eleven,’ she said. ‘You didn’t show up for dinner, and at first I didn’t worry, but then I tried calling and texting, and I couldn’t get an answer. I came over here, and I knocked a bunch of times, and the door was unlocked, so I let myself in. God, I thought … I don’t know what I thought.’

Her eyes froze, locked on my neck. ‘Lucy,’ she said. ‘Your neck is red.’

I nodded. ‘I know.’

‘Davis?’ she asked.

Tears dripped down my cheeks – the only answer she needed.

‘What did he do? You have to tell me what happened. You have to tell me right now.’