Hearing Andrew moving around downstairs, I go to my bedroom, closing the door behind me before going over to the window. I’d thought Niamh would embrace the chance to get away from her father. I never imagined she’d want to stay. I feel the walls close in, knowing that if she refuses to leave, I have to stay, too.

The sense of freedom I felt earlier evaporates. Instead, the future feels like a jail sentence, the house a prison, to which Niamh holds a key she can’t give me.

Knowing my only hope is to talk to her again, I get up. But as I reach her bedroom, I hear voices coming from downstairs. Crouching down at the top of the stairs, I try to make out what Andrew’s saying. But instead it’s Niamh’s words that reach me, filling me with dread as suddenly I realise what she’s doing.

My heart thumping, I tear down the stairs, almost tripping at the bottom, as Niamh rushes out of the kitchen and past me, her face ashen.

‘Niamh …’ But my cry is lost as she reaches her bedroom and slams the door behind her. Swallowing, I walk into the kitchen, my uneasiness building, knowing I have to face Andrew.

Leaning against the worktop, Andrew is cool as a cucumber as he watches me. For a few seconds, relief floods through me. Niamh hasn’t told him after all. He’d be ragingly angry if she had.

But if she hasn’t told him, what had upset her?

‘What did you say to Niamh?’ I stare at him, guarded.

Shaking his head, he smirks. ‘I simply told her that you and I were going to have a little chat.’

There’s a pit of dread in my stomach and my eyes are riveted to his. ‘What about, Andrew?’

His voice is deadly quiet. ‘Your naïve little plan, Elise. What else?’

So Niamh had told him. I stare at him. ‘You can’t force me to do anything. Not anymore.’

‘Can’t I?’ His upper lip curls into a snarl. ‘I can do whatever I like.’

Trying to suppress the fear rising inside me, I swallow again. ‘What do you want?’

‘I want my wife to stop dreaming up ludicrous ideas and feeding them to our daughter,’ he says lightly. ‘I’m not letting you leave, Elise. And I’ll do whatever it takes to stop you. You should know that.’

His threat isn’t even thinly veiled. As he steps towards me, fear swirls around me, so dense that I can almost grasp it. But I have to stop giving in to him. Nothing will change if I don’t stop this toxic cycle. ‘This is no way to live, Andrew.’ My voice is desperate. ‘You’ll have another affair – we both know that. It’s over between us. It’s been over for years. We don’t love each other. There’s no point.’