‘Why did you say Mia is in danger?’ I say. ‘That I am in danger?’
‘Because it’s the truth.’
‘But Mia’s safe now, she’s with—’
‘She’s not safe. She’s in more danger now than ever, and there’s only one thing that will change that.’
‘What?’
‘If I tell you, you’re going to have to trust me first.’
‘After what you put me through?’
He stares, bright green eyes studying me, as if seeing me for the very first time. A gust of wind almost pushes me sideways but he is as steady as a rock, feet planted shoulder-width apart, black jacket flattened against the slab-like muscles of his shoulders and chest.
‘Kathryn made a good choice,’ he says, ‘when she picked you. The right choice. I understand that now.’ He nods. ‘She trusted you and now you’re going to have to trust me.’
Gilbourne’s words come back to me.Do not engage. Do not approach. Whatever you do, don’t trust either of them.
‘I can’t think of one reason why I should.’ I indicate the healing cut above my eye. ‘You kidnapped me, attacked me. Fifty-fifty you’ve been in my house too.’
He frowns. ‘Someone broke into your house?’
‘Twice.’
He shakes his head emphatically. ‘That wasn’t me.’
‘That’s exactly what the other guy said.’
‘I have no reason to lie.’
‘You haveeveryreason to lie.’
‘What did they take?’ He takes another step towards me. ‘When they broke in, what was stolen?’
‘Stay back!’ I move away, backing into the low concrete wall. ‘I told you to stay back.’
‘You’ve got this all wrong, Ellen, you’ve gotmewrong. I could have killed you three days ago, could have killed you and Mia both. There were a dozen opportunities to do it, but I didn’t. Ask yourself: why not?’
‘You were waiting for nightfall, so you could get rid of us under cover of darkness.’
‘I was. But I was going to drive you out into the countryside and leave you somewhere so you couldn’t identify me straight away, couldn’t stop me taking Mia to safety.’
‘Safety?’
‘I wasn’t going to harm you, or her. I swear on my mother’s life.’
I edge sideways along the wall, inching nearer to my car and ready to burst into a run if he makes another move towards me.
‘I’m leaving now, Dominic.’
‘You’re going to run away again?’
‘I’ve never run away from anything in my life.’
‘You ran away to your friend’s house to play happy families with her three little boys.’
I flinch, stopping in my tracks. ‘How did you know I was staying with Tara?’
