‘They’re Nikes. You can’t buy them in Europe. My dad got them for me.’

His initials – his birthright initials – had been embroidered across the back – LVG. It was an aggressive move. Bell glanced at Max, and saw from his ashen expression that he had spotted it too.

‘Did he indeed?’ Hanna asked in a bemused, indulgent tone, kissing the top of his head. ‘Well, I shall have to speak to him about that. That’s far too extravagant for a boy of ten.’

‘I want some!’ Tilde cried.

‘Well, you can’t. My dad’s rich, that’s why he can get them, but I already told you – they’re not available in Sweden.’ Linus shrugged, beginning to walk ahead, leading the way.

Hanna and Max stared after him, mouths agape. Hanna went to run after him, but Max caught her by the arm and shook his head. ‘Let it be. He’s had a lot to deal with.’

He had. But was this how it was going to be? Bell felt a kernel of dread settle in her gut. She had been gone only four days, Hanna only one. How much could the child have been altered – spoiled – in that time? What else had Emil done to buy back his love?

They followed after him, into the trees. The shade was a welcome respite from the muggy heat as they trod the path in silence, single file; it was a chance for them not only to escape the glare and pounding heat, but to collect their thoughts before a meeting that was inevitably going to be fractious.

She reminded herself this was not her family; theirs were not her dramas. She was merely a bystander, a paid agent for the welfare of the children. She had nothing to worry about. But as they emerged from the trees and she saw the blue helicopter sitting on the lawn, blades drooping like a resting dragonfly, she felt her heart leap like a bucking horse.

Hanna too, seemingly. ‘Fuck,’ she muttered, stopping dead at the sight of it. ‘He never said she was going to be here.’

‘Nina,’ Max said under his breath, with the weariness of a parent saying ‘teenagers’.

The girls ran straight towards it, led by Linus, who couldn’t stop himself from boasting. ‘We went out on that last night. We went really high. You’d have been terrified.’

‘No I wouldn’t! I want to go on it,’ Elise hollered, suddenly close to tears, and Bell ran forward, scooping her into her arms. She knew the toddler sensed Linus’s hostility, his anger and defiance, and she felt a stab of remorse that she had left him here alone. This was her fault. She had indulged her own feelings of humiliation, and put her own need to get away above his need to have her stay.

‘Linus, that wasn’t kind,’ she said firmly. ‘Apologize to your sister, please.’

‘No! She’s not my sister! I don’t have to be nice to her, and you can’t make me. You’re just the nanny.’ And he suddenly sprinted away, up the lawn and into the house, his arms pounding like pistons.