CHAPTER 19

PAUL

January 2016

Genevieve wants Emma out of my life, but she doesn’t want to be dragged into anything as sordid as a divorce.

I’ve blundered into this situation. I didn’t see the trap until it closed over my head but, since Dorek’s accident, my future—even my freedom—is in her hands and it comes at a price.

“Crack on with building your place in France and let them settle there,” she says.

“For fuck’s sake, Genevieve!”

This is beyond a nightmare.

“Emma speaks French, doesn’t she? They’ll get used to it.”

“I’m not having this conversation.” I turn and walk out of her sitting room, slamming the door behind me.

Genevieve controls everything: communication with the investigators, witness statements, evidence, the company budget for legal advice.

Genevieve wants children—her own—she’s thirty-eight and she thinks time is running out. Sometimes I think a prison sentence would be a doddle compared to a lifetime with Genevieve and the baby she wants to bring into the world: my baby—a punishment to last an eternity.