‘I’ve been watching them,’ she said. ‘Watching them for years. My brothers and sister, my father and his dear wife. Sometimes I’d go every day, catching the train over there, following them to school or work.’ She paused, raising her eyebrows at me. ‘They have a nice life, don’t they? A lovely, happy life. While I’ve been stuck here in this shit hole with you.’ I flinched, and she laughed. ‘How did my mother die, Beth? I heard you talk that day to Rose, I heard her say that she was with my mother when she died, about her body being found in the sea. Rose pushed her, didn’t she?’

My eyes widened in shock. ‘No! No, Hannah,’ I cried. ‘Of course not! Your mother jumped, she committed suicide.’

‘I don’t believe you. Rose killed her. Because my mother slept with her husband. Rose murdered her.’

I shook my head in shock and pity, that she had convinced herself of such a dreadful thing. ‘Hannah, your mother was very unhappy,’ I said firmly, ‘she was ill, she died by throwing herself into the sea.’

‘No! She wouldn’t have left me. I was her baby. I was all she had. Rose murdered her. My mother would never have left me alone like that.’

‘Hannah, that’s not true,’ I cried. ‘Your mother jumped, she took her own life. I’m sorry, but it’s true. It was suicide.’

A look of infinite hatred flashed in Hannah’s eyes then. ‘Rose did it, and then she and my father gave me away like I was a fucking stray puppy.’

‘Hannah—’

‘You all lied to me. All of you. You are all responsible, and you’re not going to get away with it. None of you.’

I stood up. ‘Hannah, please, Doug and I, we love you so much, we’ve looked after you since you were a baby, we have always thought of you as our daughter. I only ever wanted you to be happy!’

She turned on me then. ‘Happy? I have never been happy here. You never loved me, not like you love Toby. I felt it, always, and when I overheard you and Rose talking that day I finally understood why: because I’m not yours. You lied to me my whole life and I’ll make sure you get your fucking punishment too.’ She turned to go. ‘But first it’s Oliver and Rose’s turn.’

‘What are you going to do?’ I cried.

She glanced back at me. ‘All these years I’ve been watching them, following them, seeing how they doted on those kids of theirs. Those three spoilt little pricks have had everything they ever wanted. So one by one I’m going to show them what their father’s really like. Maybe then Oliver will wish he’d treated me a bit better, maybe he’ll regret how he threw me away.’