“You should’ve waked me and I would have kissed it better,” Nicole said. She sat down to eat her cereal, but kept eyeing Val as if she were a stranger.

* * *

All week Val kept herself to herself, wearing huge Jackie O shades to hide the worst of the swelling and looping colored scarves around her neck. She left home only to ferry Nicole to and from school, to pick up groceries, or to go to her cleaning job in the evening. Her brain was ticking over constantly, trying to decide what to do, weighing up one option after another. Every night she lay awake working out the repercussions and pitfalls of each plan. Tiny noises startled her: was it Tony coming back? She bolted the door and wedged a chair under the handle so it would be hard for him to break down, but still she slept fitfully and wakened at sounds as faint as that of a moth fluttering against the windowpane.

By the end of the week she had made her decision. There was only one route open to her. It was a terrifying prospect, but she had run out of options.

“Shall we visit Aunt Peggy today?” she asked Nicole on the Saturday morning, and Nicole clapped her hands in excitement. She loved playing with Peggy’s son, Lenny.

“What the hell happened?” Peggy exclaimed, taking a step back in horror. “Did you get mugged?”

Although Val’s appearance was much improved, she still looked as though she had come off worse in a boxing match, and her throat bore the clear imprint of her husband’s fingers.

“Was it Tony?” Peggy mouthed, after checking Nicole was out of earshot, and Val nodded.

“He’s an animal! You have to go to the police,” Peggy’s husband, Ken, insisted. “I’ll come with you. He can’t get away with this.”

“I can’t.” Val shook her head. She had given it a lot of thought. “I’m not brave enough to stand up in court and accuse him. He would hire an expensive solicitor and get off scot-free, then he would come after me. He’d never let it rest.” She took a sip of coffee and winced at the sting of hot liquid on her lip. It was still difficult to swallow; the swelling made it feel as though there was a rock stuck in her throat. “No, I’ve decided that Nicole and I will go to China to see my mom. We’ll be gone a couple of months, and on our return I’ll find a new flat and a new job. I’ve started from scratch before, so I can do it again.”

Peggy and Ken looked at each other. Ken spoke first. “How will you raise the money? We would help, but—”