The Engagement

You thought you had escaped him. Until he proposed to your daughter.

‘There’s someone I want you to meet,’ Belle says, as a man draws up to her side. He’s tall with dark hair and stubble on his square jaw. He’s dressed in expensive-looking clothes – tan trousers and a fitted navy shirt. He’s not exactly smiling, but the corner of his mouth curls upwards as he slides his hand around my eighteen-year-old daughter’s waist.

I grab my husband’s arm to steady myself as my heart kicks into a thunderous gallop.

I’m frozen.

It’s as though I’m under water. The room spins around me.

I stare into his eyes – jet black. Nothing and everything hidden behind them.

Fear prickles my skin as I remember what he did.

How I only just escaped.

All the lies I’ve had to tell since.

‘I want you to meet Jack,’ Belle says, bouncing up and down with excitement. ‘He’s my fiancé.’ She rests her head on his shoulder. ‘Isn’t it exciting? We’re engaged!’

I have to stop this.

If I don’t, I’ll lose everything…