Anna burst into tears and took hold of his wrist, pulling his hand to her lips and kissing his knuckles. ‘I can do better, Douglas. I love you. I promise I won’t get you into any trouble. But if you leave me, I might not have the strength to keep lying. There’ll be a lot of pressure.’

Douglas sighed, then his expression altered, his eyes softening. He touched her head briefly. ‘I didn’t mean it.’

She let go of the breath she was holding. ‘I knew you didn’t.’

‘Listen, get yourself better and then we’ll speak. Is there anyone you can stay with? You shouldn’t be here on your own.’

‘I’m all right. I won’t say anything to anyone. I promise. Please, Douglas.’

He shook his head impatiently. ‘One of us has to be sensible and make the difficult decisions. I’ve done little else but think since you’ve been in hospital and, believe me, it’s the only way. We can’t see each other until all this blows over.’

Her throat threatened to close up, to choke her. Her mind was fogged with misery.

His eyes narrowed. ‘Your pupils are different sizes.’

She stiffens, blindsided by the change of subject. ‘It’s the injury.’

‘And what else did the injury cause? Can I trust you?’

‘Of course you can.’ She snaked her body closer to his. ‘I’ll be fine here. We can meet secretly, like we used to.’

He moved her to one side and sat down on the stairs. ‘Anna. Anna. What am I going to do with you?’

She rested her hands on his knees. ‘We have each other. That’s all that matters.’

‘Don’t you understand anything? You’re going to need help and it can’t come from me. The best thing you can do is stay with your family. It’s what a normal person would do.’

‘But why? I can’t leave London. My friends will rally round. Grace has offered to help. She sent me a really lovely text.’

‘Jesus. You killed her bloody boyfriend. What’s wrong with you?’

She gasped, and he stood up abruptly, so that she had to grab hold of the banister to stop herself falling backwards.

‘How can I put it so that you understand? You have to take yourself right away. I don’t want to see or hear from you until all this blows over. It’s too dangerous.’ He put his hands on her shoulders where they rested, heavy and cold as chains. ‘When you’re back to your old self, we can meet properly, through Grace or the school or whatever, and start something then.’ He wiped a tear away from her cheek with the pad of his thumb. ‘Give it a year.’

‘A year!’