‘Apart from to break your neck…’ he said, and paused, and watched as a slow swallow slid down Fenton’s throat, ‘from you, nothing, Fenton, other than to substantiate the bullshit you’ve been spouting – which is all you really have, isn’t it, at the end of the day: nothing?’

‘I’m going inside,’ Fenton muttered, attempting to push past him.

Jason didn’t budge. ‘A DNA test, is all,’ he said. ‘There isn’t anything else I want from you, Robert, trust me.’

Fenton looked at him in bemusement, and then spat out a derisory laugh. ‘Do you honestly think I wouldn’t have already taken steps to establish whether this nightmare was true?’ he asked him. ‘I’ve done the test,’ he went on, with another despairing shake of his head. ‘As soon as I learned Karla was pregnant, I did the test.’

When Karla was…? Jason felt as if someone had just punched him. Winded, physically, he stared incredulously at him, trying to understand what would drive someone to do the despicable things he did. Failing. ‘Why the fucking hell didn’t you say something?’ he yelled.

‘Say what?’ Fenton growled back. ‘When, precisely? I tried everything to dissuade her from having the baby. I begged her. She was adamant she was going to go through with it. Was I supposed to tell her after she’d given birth? When the child reached her first birthday? When?’

The child? Anger kicking ferociously inside him, Jason almost reeled where he stood.

‘She claimed she loved you. What in God’s name was I supposed to do?’ Fenton continued, actually imagining his actions were defensible? The man was inhuman. Jason squinted hard at him.

‘Of course, assuming you had any traits that were worthwhile, I considered you might at least provide for the child.’ Fenton’s laugh this time was a derogatory sneer. ‘You soon dispelled that hope, didn’t you?’

‘You’re talking about your grandchild,’ Jason could barely get the words out. ‘Your daughter.’

Fenton said nothing, merely held his gaze for a long, cold moment. Then, ‘I have the paperwork. I’ll email you a copy,’ he said, adjusting his shirt cuffs, and then continuing on past him.

Jason didn’t try to stop him. He didn’t dare touch him. If he did, he would kill him.

‘Oh.’ Fenton turned back from a safe distance off. ‘Note I said, ‘loved’. Not present tense, Jason.’ He smiled again, a gloating smile. ‘I couldn’t help overhearing Karla and her mother talking in the kitchen one evening. Karla was upset, as she often is lately. It was most telling, I thought, that when Diana asked her if she loved you, Karla said, she did… once.’