‘She was sleeping,’ he said, looking down at his boots. ‘It was early morning. You were wide awake, lying in your crib, gurgling away. I looked in at you and you smiled up at me and I knew in that moment that I had to get you away from there. For your own sake. I found your birth certificate and some fresh clothes then took you back to the base, where I organized a flight back to the UK.’

‘And they let you take a baby?’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Just like that?’

‘They knew you were my daughter,’ he said, looking up at me, his eyes watering. ‘But I told them … I told them your mother was dead.’

A shiver went right through me when he said those words. I wanted to hit him. I wanted to hurt him the way he had hurt me. Hurt us.

‘All my life I had a mother,’ I cried. ‘A mother who loved and wanted me, and you took me away from her and brought me to that hellhole.’

His eyes blazed then and he raised his fists at me.

‘Hellhole?’ he screamed. ‘You think you know about hellholes? You think you know what it is to live like they were living? Snipers on every corner. Car bombs. Kidnappings. And I was meant to leave you there? My own flesh and blood. My child.’

‘It was my home,’ I cried, tears clouding my eyes.

‘It was a fucking war zone,’ he yelled. ‘If I’d left you there I would have been signing your death warrant. I might as well have dug your grave myself.’

‘You did that anyway,’ I said, wiping my eyes with the back of my hand. ‘I’ve never had a proper life. You made sure of that. I’ve lived like an animal, like the fox in that bloody trap.’

‘I gave you freedom,’ he said. ‘I took you away from all the wretchedness, all the dangers of the world.’

‘You made me scared of everything and everyone. Made me believe not only that my mother was dead but that I could never make a friend, never have a normal life, never trust anyone. And then you locked me up.’

‘I made a soldier out of you,’ he said, his voice low and ominous. ‘A survivor. You have to break someone to build them up again and when you do they come back stronger. Look at you, girl. You’re better than this.’

He gestured to Isobel and Steve, his face contorted with disgust.

‘These people aren’t your friends,’ he said. ‘They’re liars and criminals.’

‘You’re the criminal,’ I cried. ‘You kidnapped me. You broke the law. Isobel would never betray me or hurt me. She’d do anything for me.’

‘Is that so?’ he said, shaking his head. ‘Thing is, girl, you don’t seem to understand what a true battle feels like. You don’t seem to understand that I saved your life.’

‘You destroyed it,’ I cried. ‘You might as well have just left me there to die. In fact, I wish you had.’