LILY

Nick’s striped shirt was erupting from his waistband, his blonde hair tousled in a way that made his thinning patches a little too obvious. I chided myself. I was only stripping him down for parts because I felt so wretched.

‘Coercion!’ he said, leaning over his desk and jabbing at the computer’s keyboard. ‘I’ve been researching it properly and I spoke to a mate at the CPS, too. The law’s changed a lot in the last couple of years. Trust me, it’s going to be our friend here.’

Sophie, sat in the grey B&B Italia sofa that stretched out across the length of the wall, pulled up her knees and looped her arms around them, making herself into a little cosmic egg. It looked so infuriatingly childish.

‘Are you sure it’s right to get legal?’ she said, nervously twirling her fingers in her frizzy curls. ‘So she didn’t spend Christmas with us, and Amber’s fees are greedy: is it really enough for you to start suing her? I just don’t want Rachel to take herself even further away from us because she thinks we’re tormenting this woman she worships.’

To my relief, Nick jumped in before I had to. It wasn’t just me playing the Big Bad Wolf with our snowflake offspring.

‘For Christ’s sake, Sophie, this woman’s taking the piss. Did you hear what your mother said about the state Rachel’s in? Ranting and raving, talking about suicide.’

Had I really said that? I was in such a state when I’d arrived home the night before that it was hard to remember. The large gin and tonic I’d poured myself before I went upstairs and found him had certainly helped to take the edge off, but its after-effects also seemed to be blunting my memory.

‘But it’s Rachel!’ said Sophie, flushed and pleading. ‘She’s still just Rachel. I’m as pissed off as anyone with her, but she needs our love to get better. I hung up on her yesterday, even though she sounded completely desperate.’

‘Yeah, tough love,’ grunted Nick, studying his computer. ‘We go to the police first off, lodge a formal complaint.’ I studied Sophie’s face, the contempt that was blooming there as she watched her father’s narrowed eyes scanning his screen. ‘We tell them how she’s been manipulating Rachel when she’s at her most vulnerable, stealing from her and alienating her from her family. Coercive control. That’s what this is – mental abuse.’