Her body freezes. She swallows, her throat aching, and ducks out of his grip, inching away.

‘Are you hurt?’

She meets his gaze. ‘Someone attacked me.’

‘What?’ He looks around, muscles tensing. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes.’ Her deep voice is especially flat.

‘Where?’

‘Here. On the doorstep.’

He looks confused. Tilts his head. ‘I don’t understand.’

A strange sense of calm washes over her. Dean is lying, just like he always does.

‘Oli, hey, tell me what happened.’ A soft dent appears on his tan forehead. ‘Who did this?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she mutters. She just needs to get away from him. Where the hell is her phone?

He rocks backwards onto his feet, towering over her. ‘Jesus, Oli, let me help you. I know I fucked up, okay? I’m so sorry, but I’m also worried about you. You’re not yourself.’

‘I know about the IVF.’

‘What?’

‘I know that the twins weren’t conceived naturally.’

He crosses his arms, face reddening. ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’

‘I think you should go,’ she says.

‘What?’ He seems incredulous. ‘There’s no way I’m leaving you here if someone attacked you.’

Oli stares at him. Maybe he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Could he be having episodes? Blackouts?

‘Why are you even here?’ she spits back. ‘Why aren’t you with the girls?’

Now he just looks perplexed. ‘Because of your message.’

‘What message?’

‘The one you sent me.’

Her gut clenching, she staggers to her feet. ‘I haven’t been in touch with you since yesterday.’

‘Oli, come on, this is crazy.’ He reaches out his hand.

She yanks it away. ‘Don’t call me crazy!’

‘Fine.’ He pulls his phone from his pocket and thrusts it toward her. ‘Look.’

She does, still slightly dizzy, and reads a text from her phone sent at 4.17 pm: We need to talk. Please come home asap.

She shakes her head vigorously, ignoring the pain. ‘I didn’t send that.’

His nostrils flare. ‘Oli, come on.’

‘I didn’t!’ Her voice catches as she backs away from him. ‘You sent it to yourself, you must have.’

‘What the fuck are you talking about? I only just drove here. Stop doing this.’ Dean lurches toward her, and she screams. He grabs her arm, pulling her elbow so hard that it almost slips from the socket.

‘You’re hurting me!’

When he lets her go she reels back, falling hard against the floor. He scrambles after her. She kicks at his face, and he twists his head to avoid the heel of her boot. ‘Oli, stop it.’

‘No!’ Still kicking at him, she half crawls toward the tiles, then turns and backs into the wall, holding her hands out in front of her. ‘No. No. Stay right there. Get out of here or I’ll call the cops.’

‘Oli, this is insane.’

She bares her teeth, eyes wild. ‘You need to leave.’

‘Oli.’