She shook her head, tears blurring her eyes. “No. But before I’d have even finished telling him, Dad would be locked up for assault or murder. He wouldn’t care about the consequences. He hates Chris already and that’s only because he thinks he left because of the baby’s diagnosis of childhood leukaemia.”

I leaned forward, my elbows on my knees. “Is that not what happened?”

She closed her eyes briefly. “No. I left him. Because I was scared of him. Scared for both of us.”

I sat back. “I think you need to tell me everything from the beginning.”

“Okay.” Lissa took a deep shuddering breath. “When I met Chris, I thought he was perfect. He was handsome and kind.” She smiled weakly. “Really fit too. We got married quickly and I had Peadar. He gave us the best of everything, we wanted for nothing – he treated me like a princess.” She swallowed.

“Go on.”

“But then I started to wonder where all the money was coming from. He worked as a lorry driver – there was no way he’d have been able to afford the things he was giving us, the holidays he was taking us on – on the wages he was making. My dad’s an accountant and he was never able to afford the things that Chris was. So, one day I challenged him. We were having a row. We’d been talking about possible bone marrow transplants for Peadar and I didn’t think he was listening to me.” She paused.

“What happened?”

“He hit me,” she said flatly. “Just once, but hard. No questions asked. Nearly broke my jaw. Didn’t do the classic apology afterwards, saying he regretted it and begging me to forgive him. There was none of that. He just pretended it never happened.” Her eyes welled and she rubbed her sleeve against her nose.

I placed my hand on her arm. “And you didn’t tell anyone? A friend maybe? Not even your sister?”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t. I just stayed in, hid away until the bruising cleared. Pretended I’d gone to a spa.” She gave a thin smile. “Chris was always sending me to places like that. Sue said I was lucky to have a man who spoiled me.”

“But you stayed with him?”

She nodded. “Stupid maybe, but I did. I was distracted by Peadar’s treatment and thought that was more important. Things just went back to the way they were, as if the punch truly had never happened.”

“As long as you didn’t challenge him.”