Robert looked bleary-eyed when he came down to the kitchen – unsurprising, given the time he’d come in last night. He’d obviously been hard at it at work, which had necessitated time to de-stress at the golf club, the bar of which had closed a good hour before he’d arrived home. He’d driven, of course, despite the weave to his walk and the fact that he’d reeked of whisky when he rolled in. Diana curtailed her rising contempt, preferring to remain calm until she was certain her suspicions were correct. She’d been the epitome of calm throughout their marriage, skilled in the art of maintaining a composed façade. As the wife of a prominent businessman who liked to move in the right social circles, she’d played her supporting role well, tolerating his behaviour at first. After losing Sarah, she was so broken, and she didn’t have the strength to walk away. Starting over, fighting him in court – it had all seemed too daunting a task. She’d stayed rather than cause any further upheaval in Karla’s life. And then, once Karla was married, she stayed because it suited her to do so until she was financially secure. The bonus of being with a wealthy man who didn’t care to notice her was that she could do exactly as she liked, which meant seeing Michael whenever she wanted, a fact Robert would wake up to one day. One day very soon.

‘You’re dressed early,’ he said, blinking and looking slightly disorientated. Possibly because Diana hadn’t dutifully brought him his cup of tea that morning, or his newspaper, the headlines of which he would browse before taking his shower and going off to his office to make his staff’s lives completely miserable. She’d made a mistake in staying with him. A dreadful mistake. Robert’s final cruel attempt to destroy Jason’s life, thereby robbing his daughter of her happiness, had brought that sharply home.

Diana regretted not having the will to walk away sooner, but there was nothing to be done about it. She couldn’t undo her life and get the years back. All she could do now was set her plan in motion. It was a pity, though, that she wouldn’t have the satisfaction of seeing Robert’s face when he realised the headlines were about himself.

‘I had some things on my mind. I couldn’t sleep,’ she informed him, walking across to the work surface to fill up the kettle.

‘Oh?’ Robert said, behind her.

He sounded guarded, Diana noted. Clearly, he thought she’d been up half the night tearing herself apart about where he’d been until the small hours, and who with. That she might be about to demand explanations. As if she hadn’t given that up years ago.

‘Tea?’ she asked him.