I lie in bed with Isis every day, staring at the ceiling, then I make myself get up at four o’clock in the afternoon to take a bath, get dressed and cook dinner, making sure it’s piping hot and on the table at six on the dot. Three courses, every day, as Liam requests. He checks the fridge and cupboards every day to make sure I’m not sneaking food when he’s out of the house. The one time that he believes, wrongly, that I’ve eaten something in his absence, he removes all the food from the cupboards and padlocks the fridge, leaving out only what I need to make dinner.

I wonder how the bills are being paid and keep expecting red notices to fall through the letterbox, until one day I notice that Liam is flush with cash. He has sold my mother’s belongings. I wonder if he’s banking on selling my mum’s house and then using the money. I almost hope that he takes it and runs, but the more acquiescent I get, the happier he gets, and I know that I’m digging my own grave either way.

One day Liam comes home early. He finds me in the bath. I’m crying without even realising it. He kicks open the door and looks at me in fury. ‘Why are you crying?’ he demands. ‘I am sick to death of your crying and moping and your sad face. You were supposed to be better than all the others.’

I stifle my tears.

‘Do I not do everything to make you happy? Do I not worship and adore you?’ he asks.

I nod.

He lunges forward, takes my head in his hands and thrusts me under the water. I struggle but he holds me under. He’s going to kill me. I realise it with a shock. I swallow a lungful of water, my chest exploding with pain. I can see him grimacing as he forces me under. I kick and thrash but I’m no match for him.

I start to lose consciousness and he suddenly lets go and hauls me upright. Coughing and spluttering, I hang over the edge of the bath, gasping for breath. I know not to let out another sob in case he thrusts me under again.

Liam gets up and walks out of the room. I sink back into the bath.

PART FOUR

Chapter Thirty-Two

Mia

‘Laura!’ Ethan yells again, looking past me to where Laura is standing with her back pressed to the tree. She doesn’t move.

‘She’s not going to help you,’ I say to him.

He glowers at me, his lips white, stretched taut against the pain of the trap snapped around his leg.

‘Do you know why?’ I ask him.

I see the understanding start to seep in even before I tell him.