JULIAN

I stood before michael as he held the letter in his hand, and my stomach rolled over. He was suited, fresh from the office, in the same style I’d been wearing myself for years, but he was a lot more muscular than I was. I was still gaunt in comparison, and I felt it. For a fleeting moment I was a shell again, fragile before his stare. Instinct. But no. I wasn’t a shell anymore. I was the total opposite.

And that was down to my princess. The girl looking between us with nervous eyes.

“I’ll, um, nip down and see Mum and Tom,” she said, and I held...