He smiled at her, the way he did when he knew he’d won. She hated that smile. She wanted to rip it from his face. She’d seen it so many times. She leaned against the kitchen counter for support. This couldn’t be happening. She was the one in control now. Not him. Not anymore. But how could she fight this without hurting Jake?

‘I warned you to be careful, Grace. I tried the nice approach and you were having none of it. Thought you were too good for me now that you’ve grown up a bit. Well it’s about time that you learn, once and for all, who has all the power here. Me. You have none, Grace. You do what I say, when I say it, from now on. Do you understand?’

She could feel the blood draining from her face, as though it trickled from her head, all the way down her body and out through her feet. Time stood still. She needed to wake up from this dream, this nightmare, but she had a horrible feeling that it was all real. How could she be here again? She was free. She’d changed so much. Changed who she was. Done things that kept her awake at night. All to protect her and Jake so they would never be at the mercy of this bastard ever again. And yet here they were. Her heart felt like it had stopped beating, frozen in the eternal misery of this awful moment. She held her breath, because to breathe would be to go on living in this hell that had once again become her life.

A part of her couldn’t believe what he was saying. She knew better than anyone that Nathan was a monster, an animal. She’d always known what he was capable of, or at least she thought she had. But to be willing to send his own son to prison, and to ruin his promising young life, just so that he could drag her back down into the gutter with him? Just to prove that he could still control her. She wanted to scream at him – why can’t you just let me go?

It was almost as if her brain refused to accept what he was saying. She kept shaking her head like some crazy woman. She started to reason with herself. Trying to find some sense in his senseless words.

No, he would never carry out his threat. As callous and as cruel as he was, Jake was his child. She refused to believe he would do such a thing. She called his bluff.

‘Even you wouldn’t do that to your own son, Nathan,’ she said confidently.