“No.” I turn to run, but Johan’s too fast. He scoops me up off my feet and presses a hand to my mouth. His lips brush my ear.

“Don’t scream.”

I twist and kick but he holds me firm.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Emma. I’m going to help you escape. Al’s leaving tonight and she wants you to come too, but I had to check we could trust you. That’s why I asked you to throw her passport into the fire. It was her idea. She knew I still had Frank’s passport. She said we’d know if you’d bought Isaac’s bullshit if you threw it in the fire. Leanne betrayed her, and she had to check if you would, too.”

“Leanne?”

“The knife, Emma. Al was the only other person in the kitchen apart from Leanne, Sally and Raj when the knife disappeared, so they knew she must have taken it to give to you. Isaac wanted to find out if you were still loyal to Al – that’s why Cera asked you where you got it from – and when it turned out you still were, that was it, the decision was made for Gabe to kill Al. Isaac thought it was too dangerous if she stayed in Ekanta Yatra.”

“So why not kill me, too?”

“Because he wants to break you. That’s what the detox was about. If he can’t seduce or manipulate people into this way of thinking, he tries to break them physically instead. There was no detox when we first started this place. There was no law about not being in a couple. There was no reserving the new joiners for sex. I had to pretend I wanted to have sex with you to protect you.”

“From who?”

“Kane. He wanted to sleep with you. He’s only a junior member of Ekanta Yatra so he would have had to wait until after I’d slept with you.”

“But you slept with Daisy after her massage. Cera said Isaac was supposed to sleep with everyone first.”

“He wasn’t interested in her; he was after you. I didn’t want to sleep with Daisy, but I couldn’t arouse suspicion, not after what happened with Ruth.” He glances up towards the patio. The fire is still burning and Paula, and someone else, are running around it, jumping and skipping. “Ruth came here as a visitor, with Sally, a couple of months before you guys. She was different from anyone who’d been here before. She was strong and feisty and opinionated and—”

“Like Daisy.”