“No! I didn’t know he would go that far, but you were never going to leave him. This was the best thing for you.”
“I nearly had my eye pulled out with a teaspoon. None of this is the best thing for me!”
“Jesus, Tom, let me come over now?”
I’m pacing without realising. The floorboards creak. My body doesn’t know where to put the anger. It’s burning holes through my skin. “You went into my phone too, didn’t you? Youblocked himfrom my calls too, didn’t you?”
Craig sighs. “Yes. I had to.”
“You had to?”
“He was trying to get back into your life again, Tom. After everything. After what he did to you. I couldn’t just watch you fall back into it. He manipulates you. You’re not yourself around him. I had to make it stop.”
“By spying on me?”
“By keeping you safe.”
“Safe?” I laugh again, though it sounds more like a choke. “You call this safe? He tied me up, Craig! He nearly killed me. And I think he killed Guy too.”
“What? Guy?”
“He more or less confessed to it! Said Guy got what was coming to him! And that was your doing, Craig! Daniel didn’t know who Guy was until you sent him those videos!”
“Tom—”
“And now he’s dead, and I don’t think I can ever forgive you for that.”
There’s silence again — heavy, electric. Then his voice, low and careful. “You need to calm down.”
“Don’ttell meto calm down.”
“I’m still sending the police, Tom. You need to stay put. Do you understand me? Don’t go anywhere. Don’t call anyone else. Just stay in the house.”
I swallow hard, my throat dry and sore. “I don’t want your help,” I say finally. “Not anymore.”
“Tom—”
“I mean it, Craig. Stay away.”
I hang up before he can answer.
For a moment, there’s only silence. The quiet kind that follows catastrophe. My reflection stares back at me in the dark TV screen — pale, hollow-eyed, something halfway between fury and disbelief.
The silence is shattered by sound of my doorbell, the shrill ring making me jump.
I look at my watch: 00:02
Midnight visitors don’t bring good news.
I’m frozen—terrified at who could be on the other side of the door.
The doorbell rings again.
Whatever’s waiting on the other side, it won’t find the same man it came for.
Chapter 54
PHIL
