Course not, darling.

He didn't do a goldfish gape, with his mouth flapping in shock or anything – like maybe he'd expected me to ask. This seemed like a bad thing to me, for two main reasons: 1. If he was expecting the question then he must have done something to feel guilty about. 2. That being the case, he'd had time to prepare for the question and come up with some dodgy story to make himself look innocent.

As I stood waiting for his reply he just stared at me, not coldly, more like he was studying me and judging how I'd react. Not that he'd ever be able to work that out. I tried to keep my eyes blank of emotion – they usually gave away by emotions and were the major centre of all my facial expressions. They say you can see into a soul through someone's eyes, so I tried desperately to keep mine hidden.

After a while of tense silence, with Josh observing what was surely an argument about to erupt, he looked resigned (to a planned answer?) and told me to sit down.

I refused of course, replying with "Just tell me."

He looked annoyed and I saw the colour begin to rise in his face. "Now is not the time. I will tell you later, in private (he gestured at Josh) and when you have calmed down."

"I'm calm." I retorted. "Now is the time and I will not sit down."

He repeated himself as he told me to sit down again.

Two can play that game. I turned around slowly, strode towards the door, flung it open and walked through. At that moment I really couldn't care less what he'd do. I walked down the hall as quickly as I could. Sure, I didn't have a clue where I was going and also knew that there was almost certainly no escape from this place, but I needed some space. I needed information; I needed to know what had happened.

I heard his footsteps behind me this time. Tapping lightly as he easily drew closer to me even though I'd set off about a minute before him.

"Ari."

I carried on walking, though he was walking next to me by now.

"Ari." He meant for me to stop, so I carried on.

He caught my arm roughly and I drew in a sharp breath as I was turned to face him.

I looked straight ahead, at his chest because of my shortness, and tried to ignore the hard ache of my arm and his steely gaze on the top of my head.

"Look at me."

I was – just not at his eyes.

"Look UP." His voice was sharper and more commanding. It scared me a bit, but I still didn't give in. I tried to pull away from him, which only resulted in the tightening of his persistent grip on my arm.

I heard him growl angrily, shake himself and then felt his grip on my arm loosen.

"Look up, Ari, please." His voice was softer, less cold than before. I risked a glance up and then lowered my eyes again. I didn't want to see that he was concerned about me, I didn't care that he was trying to control his anger - I just wanted answers, right now, and I was unsure whether he was going to give them to me.

"Look – I can't just answer your questions when we're in the middle of something. I have things to do, we need to eat and I said I'd talk to you later. Don't just walk out because you can't get your own way."

That was what angered me most – that he had the audacity to tell me what I could and couldn't do, when he'd kidnapped me! Talk about being a hypocrite. The result was that I blew. I finally looked up at him, managed to pull my arm from his grip and let the hate that I was feeling towards him filled my words. Shouting wasn't needed; the venom behind the words was stronger than the loudest volume.

"My own way? My own way?! Yeah, of course I got my own way coming to this shit-hole and I really, really wanted to be kidnapped by my own father in the middle of the night. I'm not a piece of your property that you can just move around when you feel like it! You're a hypocrite! I HATE YOU!"

Maybe during that outburst I accidentally let him see the edge of my soul. It was a bugger, I admit, but I couldn't help myself. My brain had been on the verge of exploding.

He stared at me and this time I stared back at the eyes that mirrored my own. I sincerely hoped that my eyes didn't look as unfeeling and callous as his.

As he hadn't uttered any words, I decided to fill the silence once more. "Did you kill her?" I asked. "Did you? I want to know what happened. I can't wait 'til later – it matters to me now and it's not going to go away until I've got some answers."

I gazed at him, wondering what he'd decide to do. I was pretty sure that he wouldn't give in, but he seemed to be fighting a battle with himself over whether to do something that somebody else wanted for once.

That was when another voice cut in. Not Josh – someone I hadn't seen before.