‘Mummy!’ Elodie cried in alarm from the back seat.

Charlotte’s eyes flickered towards the knife, before looking up at me defiantly, as if she was weighing up her odds. ‘No,’ she said, her voice quiet but fierce. ‘Where’s Ben?’

‘Get out of this car now or I will kill you.’

A wave of fear crossed Charlotte’s face but she remained firm. ‘No. Tell me where Ben is.’

‘Want Daddy!’ Elodie wailed, before bursting into plaintive sobs.

‘It’s OK, darling,’ I reassured her, all the while keeping my gaze fixed on Charlotte. ‘Daddy’s just having a little sleep.’

Charlotte gasped and her eyes widened with shock.

‘And we’re just going for a little drive,’ I added, climbing into the passenger seat and slamming the door behind me. I pressed the tip of the knife into Charlotte’s thigh, just firmly enough for her to understand that I was serious.

‘Please,’ she mouthed, looking anguished, rather than scared. ‘Please don’t do this.’

I increased the pressure of the knife a tiny bit more. ‘Just drive.’

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Charlotte could feel the beads of sweat on her forehead and her hands were suddenly slippery on the steering wheel. She knew it was vital that she tried not to show any fear, but it was impossible as she had never felt so scared in her life. It wasn’t just the knife that was pressed with such delicate menace into her thigh, so much as the nightmarish thoughts that were racing through her mind about what Bella had done to Ben.

She knew she needed to call an ambulance and the police but couldn’t think how to do it without Bella noticing. She decided that honesty was her only option. ‘Can I at least call an ambulance?’ she asked, trying to keep her voice level and her breathing steady.

Bella shot her a look of utter contempt. ‘No. No need.’

Charlotte’s heart momentarily leaped with hope. Maybe that meant that Ben was absolutely fine. Then again, she realized with a creeping horror, maybe she meant instead that it was too late.

‘Where am I supposed to be going?’ Charlotte stole a glance in Bella’s direction, as she started to drive up the wide, dark road, as slowly and as carefully as possible. Elodie continued to cry piteously in the back seat and Charlotte’s heart constricted at the confusion and pain in her young voice.

Bella fixed her with a cold stare. ‘Just do what you’re told and keep driving. And for Christ’s sake, speed up,’ she added, pressing the tip of the knife further into her thigh, causing Charlotte to gasp with pain.

Charlotte’s eyes desperately scanned the road for other cars, but she couldn’t think how to attract attention without Bella noticing. Maybe if she broke the speed limit, they might be lucky enough to encounter a police car who would pull them over. With that faint hope, she depressed the accelerator and increased her speed a little more.

‘Stop bloody crying, Elodie!’ Bella yelled suddenly, confirming Charlotte’s suspicion that, despite her outward show of coolness, she was flustered and didn’t have a plan. Charlotte didn’t know whether to feel alarmed or reassured by this realization.