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CHAPTER ONE

HANNAH WAS NOT sleeping when the key turned in the lock Apart froht hours straight but she was lying down, her eyes closed against the fluorescent light above her head, when the sound s over the side of the narrow metal bed

She made a few frantic attempts to smooth her tousled hair back fro hands on her lap She was able to nised that it was no longer a matter of whether she lost it and cracked wide open, but when For now at least she cared about nity

She blinked against the threat of tears that stung like hot gravel pricking the backs of her eyes Gouging her teeth into her plump lower lip, she found the pain helped her focus as she lifted her chin and pulled her shoulders back, drawing her narrow back raht For the ive the bastards the satisfaction of seeing her cry

This hat happened when you tried to proveprovewhat? And to whom? The tabloids? Your father? Yourself?

She took a deep breath Focus on the facts, Hannah The fact is youtime! You should have accepted what everyone else thinks: you are not hts or fieldwork Stick to your safe desk job, and your perfect nails She curled her fingers to reveal a row of nails bitten below the quick and sed a bubble of hysteria

‘Stiff upper lip, Hannah’

She had always thought that was an absurd phrase

About as absurd as thinking working a desk job for a charity qualified you for working in the field in any capacity!

‘I won’t let you down’

Only she had

She lowered her eyelids like a shield and tensed in every nerve fibre of her body just before the door swung in Focusing on the wall, she uttered the words that had become almost a mantra