“Who else, Emma?” I hear a small, almost imperceptible click, but I can’t turn my head because Isaac still has his hand on my jaw. “Who else is causing you pain? Who else has hurt you? Who else would you kill if there were no consequences, no judgement, no remorse? Who would you kill?”

The last twelve days flash through my mind like scenes from a silent film. Al and Leanne open-mouthed, laughing hysterically as Daisy takes the piss out of me. Daisy’s heel grinding against the gecko, the bitterness in her eyes when Isaac talked to me at the welcome meeting, the sneer on her face when she said “Hunt the Cunt”, the submissive tilt of her head when Isaac sent her back to the house after Frank attacked me, and her smug expression when one of the men called me a bitch when I walked into the dining room for breakfast.

This trip was supposed to be an adventure, the holiday of a lifetime, but I’ve never felt more lonely, more isolated or more disliked in my life. And it’s all down to her. She could have defended me, but instead she actively turned people against me. All the confusion, all the resentment, all the pain of the last few days burns in my chest and I open my eyes. “Daisy.”

There’s a gasp. But it’s not from Al or Leanne. It’s from someone else, standing in the open doorway. Someone who just heard every word I said.

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

I know who is standing in the doorway, even without turning my head. The energy in the room changes; the air doesn’t grow cold, but it does still. I can no longer hear Al’s slow, heavy breaths or Leanne’s light nasal whistle. Even Isaac, still astride me, his left hand holding my arms above my head, his right hand cupping my chin, is silent.

“Well, isn’t that charming?”

“Daisy, I didn’t mean it. I just … I was …”

As I try to explain Isaac vaults off me and crosses the room to the doorway.

“Daisy.” He puts a hand on her arm as he whispers her name. “Can you come back later?”

“Actually, darling” – she glares at me, her blue eyes glittering with anger – “I’d quite like to stay.”

“We were having a session. I’d like you to come back later, please.”

Daisy continues to stare at me for what feels like forever, her eyes narrowed, her lips a thin slash, then she takes a step backward. The hem of her long scarlet skirt swishes around her ankles as she turns and walks towards the kitchen. Her flip-flops slap against the wooden floor.

“I’d like you two to go too, please,” Isaac says.

“Us?” Leanne points at her chest.

“Yes, please.”