She shook her head. ‘Why do you need money so badly? Please don’t tell me you owe money to some drug dealer?’

Instead of answering, Jack stepped up to her and grabbed her by her arm. ‘Do it!’

She picked up her phone and tapped a few keys. ‘Yes, it’s there.’ She thought it might be a good idea to press the speed dial key for Fanshawe, there was something terribly wrong here, but before she could, Jack grabbed the phone from her hand.

He stared at it, then reached into his pocket for his wallet. He opened it, took out a card and handed it to her. ‘Right, transfer it to this card,’ he said, handing her back the phone.

‘What?’ she looked at him in dismay. ‘I need it to pay off the hotel where you ran up that ridiculous bill, and for the arrears on the mortgage.’

‘Transfer the damn money,’ he shouted, startling her.

Throwing the card back at him, she put all the energy she had left into one word. ‘No!’ Desperately, she tried to press the speed dial button for Fanshawe, but as she looked down to see it, she felt a blow to her cheek. It sent her reeling, the phone flying across the floor. Her hand went to her face. ‘Jack! What’s happened to you? To us?’

His laugh was hateful. ‘To us? You didn’t give us much thought when you were coming on to that stranger, did you?’

She shut her eyes. Was this the way it was going to be? He’d put all the blame on her, on that one crazy moment of weakness. How convenient for him. She felt anger bubble and pushed it away; it wasn’t going to help. Reaching a hand towards him, keeping her voice soft, she said, ‘We can get through this, Jack. We’ll get help for your addic–’

‘It’s too late,’ he snapped. ‘I have to get away. Transfer the damn money.’ His mouth contorted with anger when she shook her head. She watched with a dart of fear as his hands curled into fists. Maybe it would be safer to give him the money. But it was too late. With a growl, he grabbed her arm and flung her across the room. She landed hard against the edge of the granite worktop and heard the sickening crack as her arm broke seconds before excruciating pain shot through her. ‘Jack,’ she pleaded, seeing him approach with a raised fist. She was wasting her time, this drug-fuelled person wasn’t her husband.