Georgio Brunos was capable of anything. Once he had talked about Thailand while visiting her house, had described to Davey how the women could be used. She had been in her kitchen listening. Unable to stop listening to the things Georgio was saying, was describing. She could still hear Davey’s excited voice, egging him on for more details, more stories. And she could hear Georgio’s voice, getting louder as he described the brothels, the bar girls, the absolute abuse possible in a country where willing bodies were cheap.

She had gone to bed, half-ashamed at eavesdropping, half-ashamed at not saying anything. When Davey had gone out there to look at the proposed hotel sites with Georgio, she had known exactly what was on the agenda. But she hadn’t said anything, because if she had voiced an opinion, she would have had to admit it was true, and that was the last thing she wanted. Once she admitted that, Davey and she would be over. Her marriage would be over. It was over now, she realised. It had been over from the moment she had walked into this house.

‘Do you know something, Donna? Inside, I knew about all this. I even knew when I was driving over here, only I didn’t admit it openly. It was more a subconscious thought. But there all the same. I just couldn’t admit to myself that Davey was involved in it. Oh, Georgio being involved don’t surprise me. He always was a slag. Always. He even tried it on with me when I was pregnant with Jamie. Said pregnant women turned him on.’

She saw the look of horror on Donna’s face and sighed.

‘You know something, Donna? I thought I was blinkered where Davey was concerned. But you with Georgio . . . Jesus wept, you were blind as a fucking bat!’

Because she was hurting so much she wanted someone else to hurt, too. Wanted Donna, the person who had blown her world wide open, to hurt more than she did.

‘Do you know what makes all this worse? Georgio’s got a child himself, a son.’

Dolly shook her head in disbelief.

‘Be quiet now, Carol. Leave it. This isn’t the time or the place . . .’

‘Oh fuck off, Dolly! Still protecting your Golden Boy, are you? She has a right to know. Once he’s out that’s where he’s going. Shall I tell you something else, Donna? You turned up there once, at Parkhurst, and she was there too, going in for a visit with the child. She’d come all the way from Marbella with Georgio junior. You even spoke to her. Davey told me. He said Georgio nearly fainted when you walked in instead of her.

‘He’s going to leave you high and dry, love. That’s why he wanted the house sold. He wanted it all, everything, and he would have left you with nothing!