‘Never,’ I sobbed. ‘I’ll never give in to you.’
‘Well, we’ll see about that. Now, here’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to get some sleep and tomorrow morning we’re going to go down to breakfast and, as we pass the reception desk, you’ll apologise for the fuss you caused this evening and say that of course you don’t want to go back to England. After breakfast, where you’ll look lovingly into my eyes, I’ll take some nice photographs of you outside the hotel so that we can show all our friends how happy you were here. Then, while I go out to take care of some business, you, my darling, will sunbathe on the balcony so that by the time we go back to England, you’ll have a lovely tan.’ He began to unlace his shoes. ‘After all that excitement, I suddenly feel quite tired.’
‘I’m not sleeping in the same bed as you!’
‘Then sleep on the floor. And don’t bother trying to escape, it really isn’t worth it.’
I dragged a cover from the bed and sat down on the floor, wrapping the cover around myself, numb with fear. Although instinct told me to escape as soon as any opportunity came, reason told me that it would be much easier to get away from him and to get him put away forever if I waited until we were back in England. If I tried again here in Thailand, and failed, I hated to think what he might do to me. He thought he knew me, he thought he knew how I would act, he had predicted that I would try to escape again. The only thing I could do was wrong-foot him, make him think that I had given in, that I had given up. Much as I wanted to get away from him, my main priority had to be getting back to England, getting back to Millie.
PRESENT
As we drive to Millie’s school on Sunday morning, I’m so stressed about why Mrs Goodrich has asked to see us that it’s a relief Jack didn’t bring me breakfast before leaving. He didn’t bring any food yesterday either, which means I’ve had nothing to eat since lunch in the restaurant on Friday. I don’t know why he chose not to feed me but it was probably because Esther helped me finish my dessert, which he would consider as cheating, knowing all too well that I wouldn’t have been able to eat it after the reference he made to Millie’s bedroom. In the sick world that Jack has created for me, there are many things I’m not allowed to do and wasting food is one of them.
My heart starts hammering as soon as we’re ushered into Mrs Goodrich’s office, especially when Janice sits down with us, her face grave. We haven’t seen Millie yet, so I presume that she doesn’t know Jack and I are already here. But I needn’t have worried; all they want to tell us is that because she’s been having trouble sleeping, which makes her irritable during the day, the school doctor has prescribed something to calm her before bedtime.
‘Do you mean sleeping pills?’ I ask.
‘Yes,’ Mrs Goodrich says. ‘To be administered—with your permission, of course—as and when she needs them.’
‘I don’t have a problem with that, do you, darling?’ Jack asks, turning to me. ‘If it’s in Millie’s interest.’
‘No, not if the doctor thinks she needs them,’ I say slowly. ‘It’s just that I don’t particularly want her to become dependent on drugs to help her sleep.’
‘He hasn’t prescribed anything too strong, I hope?’ Jack enquires.
‘No, not at all, they can be bought over the counter.’ Mrs Goodrich opens a folder on the desk in front of her, takes out a piece of paper and hands it to him.
‘Thank you. I’ll just make a note of the name, if you don’t mind.’
‘I actually gave her one last night because she seemed particularly disturbed,’ Janice says as he types the name of the pills into his phone. ‘I hope that was all right.’
‘Of course,’ I say, reassuringly. ‘You already have my written permission to take any action you see fit in my absence.’
‘What we are wondering,’ Mrs Goodrich goes on, ‘is if there is any reason why Millie should suddenly have trouble sleeping.’ She pauses delicately. ‘Did she seem anxious, or unhappy, when you visited last weekend, for example?’
Jack shakes his head. ‘She just seemed her usual self to me.’
‘To me too—although she was a little put out that we didn’t go to the hotel for lunch,’ I say. ‘For some reason, it’s her favourite place, although Jack and I prefer the restaurant by the lake. But she soon rallied round.’
Mrs Goodrich exchanges a glance with Janice. ‘We rather wondered if it’s because she hasn’t seen the house yet,’ she says.