Vati grunts. I close my eyes. I’m in freefall. I prop myself against the wall, breathless with terror. Walter comes to me, behind my eyelids. His presence is calming. Strength returns to my limbs.

‘For heaven’s sake, tell me!’ Mutti pleads.

‘It’s that Jew.’ Vati’s voice is dangerously low. ‘That bastard who used to come here all the time. We showed him kindness and tolerance, back then, and this is how he repays us!’ Mutti gasps and the vision of Walter is lost. I snap my eyes open. ‘Karl warned me but Herta swore it was nothing. I even helped the evil swine leave the country. If he were here, I’d murder him with my own hands. I can’t bear to think of him violating her. It’s – it’s…’

I draw a deep, deep breath and swing the door open.

They stare at me. Both of them. Ragdoll Mutti with her eyes popping out. And Vati.

Oh, Vati, with your lies and your deceit. You might not recognise it, but we are the same, you and me.

I hold my head up high and meet his eyes, full of hate.

His fury hits me with the force of a hurricane.

‘You disgusting, filthy— How could you do such a thing? You are vile! You make me sick… Ruined us… Downfall!’ He yells incomprehensible words at me. He lunges and I step back, too slow, as he hits my face so hard I stagger sideways, lose balance. The corner of the dining table smacks the side of my head hard as I fall. I land awkwardly on all fours and roll into a ball to protect my belly.

Blotchy faced, he towers over me, eyes tiny blue-black holes in the furrows of his shaking flesh. Mutti is grabbing his arm and shouting, ‘Stop, stop, please, Franz!’

‘It wasn’t Walter,’ I scream. ‘He never touched me, I swear!’

‘I don’t believe you, you lying little bitch.’ He shakes Mutti’s arm off. ‘You’ve turned into one of them! Manipulating, scheming and plotting. Blackmailing your own father! Look at you – nothing but a filthy whore!’

He aims a boot at me, but I roll away and he misses.

He will go for my belly; kick the baby from my body.

‘What do you mean, blackmailing? Franz! Have you lost your mind?’ Mutti grabs him again, both arms this time. ‘Get up, Hetty, get out of this room, NOW.’

Vati is trying to shake her off, but she is gripping him as though her life depends on it. I pull myself up, holding the table. My head throbs and I stumble for the door. Someone is there, standing in the doorway. Vera? Another nosy little cow. She’ll gossip with all her stupid maid-friends and by tomorrow the entire neighbourhood will know the shameful truth.

But it isn’t Vera. This person is too tall. A man’s silhouette. The door swings wider and Tomas’s lanky frame comes towards me.

Could this get any worse? I wish I was dead.