I hadn’t been back for a whole day and already it felt like I had never been away. The only thing that was different was that the house I shared with Tony’s family felt more fraught than usual, which meant I hadn’t come face to face with Tony yet. But I knew that ultimately, that was only putting off the inevitable.

But for now, I would happily take the reprieve.

‘Choo, choo.’ I pushed the blue train around the track and listened to the happy squeals of my angelic son.

‘Through da tunnal, Mummy. Thomasss needs go through tunnal,’ he instructed me as we sat playing together on the floor of his bedroom.

‘OK, Harry. Through the tunnel, he goes.’

‘And down da hills.’ He stood up now, no longer being able to contain his excitement. I smiled up at him as I let his blue train sweep over the wooden track and quickly down the slope.

‘Weeeeeee!’ he shouted as he jumped up and down clapping his hands together. Then he flung himself into my arms.

I gathered him in tight to my chest and pushed my nose into his blond curls, taking in the smell of my baby boy. Seeing and being with him made my heart ache for everything Jack had missed out on. The guilt I felt was immense, guilt for the child and guilt for the daddy who would never know each other. I blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.

Once again, I pushed Jack away from the front of my mind. I had a job to do here and it was worth every single minute of my pain. To hear my baby boy’s laughter and share his joys, I would do whatever I had to do.

The white, glossed door of his train-filled bedroom opened. I looked up and saw Tony standing there and as usual my heart sank.

I felt Harry stiffen in my arms and I held him tighter trying to offer him my strength. I knew it wasn’t the sort of thing a two-year-old in a normal loving environment would do in the presence of his “father,” but even at his very young age he could sense that Tony wasn’t kind, and it broke my heart.

‘Welcome home, Lily. What a lovely sight, the two of you together.’ It was never the words that Tony spoke, but always his meaning behind them that you had to pay attention to. I had learnt this many a time to my own humiliation.

‘You want pay trains?’ Ever the peace maker, Harry spoke up.

‘No…’ That was it, no thank you, or… I’ll play later. ‘Lily, I need to see you in my office.’ He wrung his sweaty hands together and turned, closing the bedroom door behind him.

‘It’s alright, Harry. I’ll go and see what your father wants and then I’ll be straight back. Ok?’

I stood his little body up and away from me and directed a well-practised smile at him as I tried to convince him that everything was going to be alright.

For the first time ever, I could see he didn’t accept it.

For the first time ever, he didn’t believe me.

Not for the first time, I concluded that I had to get him out of here.

‘Strip.’

I had just closed the door to Tony’s office. I felt my eyes widen in panic as I heard his words and my heart accelerated in panic. I swallowed deeply.

My fingers, on instinct, went straight to the buttons of the blue shirt I was wearing before I had even turned to face him. I undid them, one at a time with every step I took towards his desk. My eyes were still cast to the floor. I dropped my shirt at my feet and started to loosen the plaited leather belt at the waist of my jeans.

‘See, she’s nothing special.’ Tony’s words had my eyes moving up to find his. He was speaking to Bogdan and his right-hand henchman, Sorin. My hands froze at the thought of having to bare myself and probably even more to the other men.

‘Carry on… or would you like me to help you?’ His words came out with a sneer crossing his features. Once again, his vile-smelling breath came across the desk and like normal my stomach turned over in revulsion. I saw the excited looks the others started to give each other and felt terror unfurl itself in my chest.

I carried on undressing in the silence with only their hungry looks for company. I pushed my jeans down over my hips. I was determined not to make a show of undressing for them. My hips remained firmly still and I made sure my plain cotton underwear stayed in place.

‘So, why the fuck are they willing to gamble so much money on her and the boy?’ I heard Sorin speak and my ears pricked up.

I heard the scrape of Tony’s chair as he moved himself up and away from the desk. It took a few short steps until he was by my side.

‘I wish I knew… let’s ask her. How do you know Alex and Nathan Blackmore?’ he questioned as he took a firm hold of my hair and wrenched my head backwards. I winced at the sudden pain in my scalp. My hands flew up to his as I instinctively grabbed his forearms to stop him pulling further.

They wanted me and Harry? A small glimmer of hope started to grow inside me.

‘I met them at a barbeque a couple of days ago.’ I wouldn’t give him any more. None of the snippets of information that Bella had shared with me. Tony used information to his advantage. I refused to give him any advantage.

‘Really.’ It wasn’t a question but a sarcastic retort.

‘Yes.’

‘So, why are you suddenly worth twenty-five million US dollars to them?’

I tried to shake my head, but his grip on my hair wouldn’t let me. ‘I don’t know, I’ve only met them once.’ That was at least the truth and luckily, he appeared to accept it. He let go of my hair and forcibly pushed me to the ground. I fell forward onto my hands and knees. I hated the position he loved to force me into, my palms were flat to the floor and my jeans were still around my ankles.

‘TONY!’ The shout from the doorway made everyone in the room freeze.

I hadn’t known that my “uncle” had entered the room, not until I heard his voice.

‘The very detailed set of instructions said that she was to be unharmed. Until they have seen her, you will abide by that rule… Once we have satisfied that criteria and have won the wager… then, my son, you can do whatever you like with her. We will win, then we keep her, her assets and their money. They have no idea of the ace up our sleeve.’ I peered upwards wondering what on earth he was talking about, just as Nicolae Vasile walked over to his son and placed a hand on either side of his face, bringing his forehead down to him so he could place a kiss on it.

‘No, they don’t… and I can do whatever I like, Tata?’ He was asking for permission to ultimately torture and kill me.

I watched as a completely deranged look came over his face and I visibly shrank further to the floor.

‘I always keep my promises, Tony.’ With that he turned and walked out of the room, beckoning to his henchman to exit with him.

Tony bent down next to me and placed his clammy hand down in between my shoulder blades, then he began to trail his fingers down my spine. He pushed his hand into my underwear and I started to shake. Forcibly he shoved one of his fingers straight into my anus and I bit my lip to stop myself from crying out loud. His finger plunged in and out several times. I heard his breathing change as he started to get excited. I had never been sure whether he got off on where his finger was or because he was causing me pain. The skin around the area of his intrusion started to sting as he shoved his finger in and out faster.

‘Mmmmm, I can’t wait.’ He pulled his hand away fast, making my body shudder once again at the pain he had caused, then he stood and left the room. I lifted my underwear up over my bottom and wrapped my shirt around me as I rolled onto my side and cried. I would allow myself this. These few minutes of self-pity.

Then, I needed to try to work out what Jack and his family had planned.