I sighed and rubbed my face. ‘I should have taken better care of my finances. One week, when I was really busy and stressed with work, he started talking about how he thought he could get our bills reduced. Things were starting to pinch with how much he was borrowing from me each month, so I gave him the log-in for my online banking. I was pretty lax then, and I never really looked at it, only checking my balance at cash machines, so it took me several months to realise he’d changed my passcode. When I asked him to tell me what it was, he agreed, but then “never got around to it”. If I pushed it, he’d get cross, and start accusing me of not trusting him. I was such an idiot.’

‘It sounds like you were being financially abused,’ Singh said gently. ‘It happens to more people than you’d think.’

I nodded. ‘It reached a head when he took my bank card then claimed he’d lost it. I tried calling the bank to get a new one, but it never arrived. Of course, he intercepted my post. He lost his job when we’d been living together for just over two years, but managed to hide it from me for another two. Two whole years I didn’t realise the man I was living with wasn’t going out to work every day, but was spending his entire time gambling online. He took out loans in my name, using my bank details, and by the time we split up I had thousands of pounds of debt. This was three years ago and I still haven’t paid even half of it off.’

Singh blew out slowly. ‘I’m really sorry, Paige, I never realised. But there’s more, isn’t there?’

I nodded. ‘How did you know?’

‘You flinch when you look at him. He was physically abusive, I assume?’

I shook my head. ‘No, actually. He was very clever, and he never laid a hand on me.’

Singh looked puzzled. ‘I assumed the scar …’