Now that I was in the flat with Anna, I felt safe enough to threaten him like this. The last time Mike had turned up, he’d gone away on his own, so I could assume he’d do the same this time. I turned round, however, to see Anna with my bag in one hand and my phone in the other. I’d dumped it on the floor when I came in.

What are you doing?

Finding Singh’s number.

Don’t, he’ll be asleep. I don’t want to bother him with this.

Call 999 then. She had a look of determination on her face that I didn’t want to argue with, but I took my phone off her and shook my head.

Mike’s not going to do anything. He’s drunk and stupid, that’s all. I’m not bothering the police with this.

‘Paige, please. Just open the door, sweetheart. I only want to talk. We need to talk, we never had any closure. I can’t stop thinking about you.’

When I didn’t reply, his tone suddenly flipped.

‘I can get you fired, you know. You think you’re so smart now, working for the police, as if they wouldn’t use a better interpreter than you if they could afford it. Cuts mean they only have the budget for someone mediocre, you do realise that? You’re not special, Paige.’

A shiver ran through me at his words, which echoed some of my own thoughts that came creeping in at early hours of the morning when I couldn’t sleep. Anna was standing against the wall, chewing her lip and watching me closely.

I stepped forward and hugged her. I’m sorry, I signed to her.

It’s okay. I know what he’s like. She paused and looked down at her feet. I’m sorry, too.

What for?

I already texted Singh. She held up her phone, where she’d obviously saved his number while I was messing about deciding what to do.

I squeezed my eyes shut. The last thing I wanted was to have Singh come out here in the middle of the night, thinking that I needed saving.

Did he reply? I asked her, trying to keep calm and not have a go at her. After all, she’d only done what she thought she needed to do to keep both of us safe.

She shook her head. Not yet.

I sighed. We don’t need Singh. I can get rid of Mike myself.

She shrugged. If you say so.

I quickly texted Singh to say it was a false alarm and we didn’t need any help. I could explain when I next saw him, but I didn’t want him here now. It was almost a point of pride – my friends had got Mike out of my life the first time, now I had to do it for myself.