Aylin slowly shakes her head, then looks up and meets her eyes for a second before averting them again.

‘I’m so ashamed, Karen. And I know what you want me to do but reporting him will only make it worse. I’m to blame too, you know, for things having ended up like this.’

‘I’m not going to force you do anything,’ Karen replies gently. ‘From now on, you make all the decisions. Except for one.’

Aylin stares mutely at her mug.

‘I never want to hear you say this is your fault again. I don’t want you to even think it. Am I making myself clear?’

Aylin still doesn’t respond, just sniffles and wipes her nose on her wrist.

‘I’ve seen this before,’ Karen says, ‘so I know what’s going to happen if you change your mind and go back. It’s only a matter of time.’

Aylin slowly shakes her head.

‘He’s never going to let me get away.’

‘You did get away. You’ve already left him; the hardest part is behind you.’

Aylin lifts up her head at that, looks Karen straight in the eye and gives her an almost pitying smile.

‘This is only the beginning,’ she says. ‘Don’t you see that?’

Karen waits for her to continue.

‘You’ve tried before?’ she asks eventually.

‘Twice. Once just after Mikkel was born and again early last year.’

‘What happened? Drink some of your hot chocolate before it gets cold,’ she adds and watches as Aylin obediently raises her mug and grimaces when it bumps against her split lip.

Karen doesn’t touch her own glass.

‘The first time, I made it a few blocks down the street. I just took the children and walked out the front door without any idea where I was going. Stupid, obviously; he noticed within five minutes and caught up before we had even crossed Kaupinggate.’

‘What happened afterwards?’

‘He actually calmed down for a while after that, as though what he’d done had scared him, too. He promised it would never happen again, but, well, you know . . .’

‘Was that the first time he hit you?’

‘It was the first time he drew blood. Before then, it was mostly grabbing and the occasional slap. I think maybe that was what made me walk out that time, seeing the blood on the sofa. He accidentally got my nose,’ she adds. ‘I don’t think he meant to.’

Karen closes her eyes briefly and forces her anger down. Not now, not yet.

‘And the time after that, what happened then?’

Aylin raises her mug again but puts it back down without drinking.