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THIRTY YEARS AGO

The flames had not yet taken hold of the entire building. Cuan’s facade was a red and yellow tableau. The heat reached out to them as they stood under the trees to one side. The day had started off like any other, and they had gathered on the steps with friends who were there that day, for a photo. And then Charlie had morphed into what they’d all suspected. A demon.

Gordon could not believe what he’d just heard from her lips. ‘You can’t be serious, Charlie.’

‘I’m very serious. I started the fire and I will burn her in it if you don’t take me away from here and marry me.’

‘But I can’t. I’m going out with Diana.’

‘You should have thought of that before you raped me.’

‘Rape? What are you talking about? We had a one-night stand. That’s all.’

‘It’s the same thing in my eyes. You used me as a whore, like my stepfather did. He ran this place like a tyrant and betrayed my mother by fucking me like he did his prostitutes. I had to live here with him, seeing all that. Seeing my mother die of a broken heart. Now I’m burning down everything he worked for, his stupid safe harbour, Cuan. Hah!’

‘You’re insane.’ He turned away.

She caught his sleeve and pulled him back forcefully.

‘Don’t you ever, ever say that to me!’

‘What is wrong with you?’ He tried to twist out of her grip, but there was no escape. She seemed possessed of an inhuman strength.

‘Me? I’m a sixteen-year-old abuse victim. You’re the one with the addiction issues, not me. So who will people believe when I tell them you raped me and got me pregnant?’

His resolve faltered. ‘It was consensual.’

‘I am sixteen years old!’

‘You told me you were eighteen. You followed me like a puppy until I gave in. You’re like a disease, Charlie. You need help. Cuan is no use to you because you’re addicted to causing pain. You and your lapdog brother.’

‘Stepbrother. Call him what you like, but he is not my blood.’

‘He’s still your lapdog.’ He tried to sound brave, but he felt only fear in her presence.

‘I’m burning fucking Cuan with your brat of a child in it. Do you not realise how serious I am?’

‘I do.’ The voice came from behind them, and he turned to see Diana walk from the shadows. ‘I’ll take the child and you can get on with your life.’

Charlie sneered. ‘Oh Gordon, you need your heroic girlfriend to bail you out. You’re not a man at all. You’re a mat.’

He caught Diana’s eye and shook his head, but she moved forward.

‘I want to help you,’ Diana said. ‘I understand you don’t want the child holding you back. Give her to me and I will make sure she’s cared for. We’ll find a family to rear her. Then you can be free.’

‘I’ll be free if I throw her on that fire.’ Charlie’s laugh sent an avalanche of terror down Gordon’s spine. He forced himself to reply.

‘But when her bones are found, she will be linked to you. You don’t want that, do you? Spending the best years of your life in prison?’

He caught the look in her eyes. The calculations going on behind their bleakness. The realisation that this was a way out lit them up like the flames beginning to burn out of control.

Eventually she spoke. ‘I’ll need money. You can pay me to leave the country. Me and Thomas. And I never want to see that child again. Never!’

‘Where is the baby?’ Diana asked.

Charlie turned to the tree trunk beside her. ‘Come out.’

Ten-year-old Thomas stepped forward carrying the newborn wrapped in a blanket. Charlie didn’t touch the baby, just indicated for Thomas to hand it over to Diana.

‘Here’s her birth cert.’ She held up a folded page. ‘I put my mother’s name, Christine McCabe, on it instead of mine. The stupid woman took my stepfather’s surname when she married him, but I still have my father’s surname, Lennon. This child will never be traced back to me. That cert must go with her wherever you take her. I don’t really care what you do with her, but I never want to lay eyes on her again. If I do, you and everyone you care for will pay. And so will she.’