As if in slow motion, I climbed off him and stood up. I looked down at myself, frowning at the deep, dark stains on the front of the pale green mac I was wearing. I didn’t understand what the stains were or how they had come to be there. I unbuckled the mac and carefully folded it in on itself, so that the stains weren’t visible. I didn’t want to be able to see them.

I looked down at Ben. His eyes were closed and he seemed as if he was sleeping peacefully. All the angst had left his face, despite the tracks of sweat and tears that remained on his skin. Feeling a sudden tug of affection for him. I knelt down beside him and kissed his cheek. ‘Goodbye, Ben,’ I whispered.

The sound of a car pulling up in front of the gate caused me to snap back into focus, my heart suddenly racing with panic that it might be the police. I look around me wildly, checking that we weren’t overlooked by anyone who might have witnessed what happened and dialled 999. But I already knew we weren’t and mentally said a prayer of thanks that I had insisted on such a private and secluded property.

Stay calm, I told myself. He had a knife. It was self-defence. I would say he had battered me for the past two years and I’d had enough. No jury in the land would convict me. Now I just needed to find out where Elodie was and get her back so that we could disappear. Just the two of us, like it always should have been.

I crept towards the large, wrought-iron gates, trying to see who was in the car, without them seeing me. Although it was dark and I didn’t recognize the small Volkswagen hatchback, from the brightness of the streetlights, I could just about make out the silhouette of a woman sitting at the wheel. I could see that she had shoulder-length, straight hair but as she was facing slightly away from me, I couldn’t see her face.

Just as I was straining to get a better look, she reached up and switched on the internal light, revealing that it was Ben’s ex-girlfriend. I jumped in shock, which was quickly replaced by blind rage, as she turned to hand something to a child sitting in a car-seat in the back. It was Elodie. What the hell was she doing with my child?

Instinctively, I grabbed the knife that Ben had dropped when he fell and pressed the release button to open the gates. I waited impatiently for them to glide open, before striding through them towards the car.

The smile died on Charlotte’s lips as she caught sight of me and she reached for the lock button, her eyes wide with panic, but I was too quick for her.

I wrenched open the passenger door and leaned in.

‘Get out!’ I screamed, pointing the knife in her direction.