The man shook his head. ‘This is the only life. The only place your light is safe. I won’t make the same mistake again, Maggie. I loved your mother. Loved her like no man has ever loved a woman before, and if only she had known it, if only I had been able to tell her, we could have made a beautiful life together. But it was impossible. And even if that boy hadn’t ruined her, people’ – he spat the word out – ‘society, wouldn’t allow it. They were blind to the truth. They saw only my age. And it was all ruined. Ruined forever.’ He wagged his finger. ‘And then you came into my life and I had another chance. And I’m not going to miss it.’ He looked around. ‘This is the only way. If it wasn’t for this, you would not give me a second look. You – like your mother – have been conditioned by society to think of age as an insurmountable obstacle to love. Buy why? In other areas society has moved on. Black people used to be unable to marry white people. Men could not have sex with men. The poor could not marry the rich. But all these things have become acceptable. So why is age still such a problem?’

He tapped his feet on the floor.

‘It won’t be, eventually. But I cannot wait for that day to come. I love you, Maggie, and this – all this – I did for you. One day you will understand.’

Maggie hugged her knees to her chest and closed her eyes.

‘Please,’ she said. ‘Please go. I need to be alone.’

She heard footsteps, then felt a hand on her shoulder. He kissed her head with his soft, fleshy lips.

‘This is the only way we can be together,’ he said. ‘Goodnight, my love.’

4

One thing was clear now. Among all the uncertainty, all the doubt, one thing was clear.

She had to get out of there.

The man wasn’t going to let her go. He wasn’t going to relent and start feeling sorry for her. This wasn’t some temporary imprisonment that he would end once he had what he wanted.

No, this was for good. This went back to her mum, went back decades. She was important to him in ways she couldn’t begin to understand, but she understood what that meant.

It meant that, unless she escaped, she’d be here forever.

And there was no time like the present.

She was awake the entire night, turning over her options.

And there weren’t many. She couldn’t hide, she had no weapons. Her only advantage was that he wasn’t expecting her to fight, which meant she’d have one chance to surprise him and get away.

She pictured his routine when he came into the room. He closed the door, then locked it with a key he kept on a chain around his wrist.