Hollie arrived in Brighton just after half past eight. Her mobile was out of battery, so she had no choice but to find her way to Jo and Sam's house on her own. She'd done it before, several times, but this seemed different. Hollie had never headed to their new house without her mother knowing where she was before.

Leaving the station, Hollie got on the bus that would take her to a stop a couple of streets from her aunts' house and paid the fare. She was almost bouncing with nervous energy as the bus neared her destination and she was on her feet by the door before they rounded the corner into the street where her stop was.

Anxiously shouldering her bag, the teenager walked up the gravel driveway to the front door and reached out to ring the bell. She was exhausted, not having slept much on the sleeper train, but the tension of everything that was going on was keeping her running.

The door was opened by a bleary eyed Jo, dressed in her pyjamas and running a hand through her dishevelled hair. She blinked several times at the sight of the teenager on the doorstep, as though she was checking she wasn't seeing things.

"Hol? Hollie, what are you…?"

"I've left, Auntie Jo." The teenager choked out. "I'm not going back."

"What's happened?" The detective asked, ushering Hollie into the house and closing the door. She put her hand on the girl's cheek, tilting her head to look at her appraisingly. "Are you hurt?"

"No…"

"Hollie?"

"It's Mum… I went home last night and… then Vix told me that Mum thinks it's my fault that Kevin had the stroke because we argued." Hollie sobbed, burying herself in the woman's arms. "So I went out and got drunk and then… Mum didn't even check I was OK. She just called me names and said it was my fault, so I left."

"That doesn't sound like your mum…" Jo mused, totally confused about what had happened. "Let me ring her."

"No!"

"Hollie, she'll be going out of her mind with worry."

The teenager shook her head. "She won't."

"We both know that's not true." Jo pointed out. Then she tilted her head to the side and looked appraisingly at her niece. "What else happened?"

"Nothing."

"Why don't I believe you?"

Hollie sighed. "I slept with Barry… again."

"What? That creep from before? Why?"

"Because he doesn't pity me. He doesn't look at me like I'm damaged goods. He doesn't treat me carefully like everyone else does."

"No one thinks you're damaged goods." Jo tried to reassure her gently, stroking a hand through her hair.

"They do." Hollie retorted with a snort. "Everyone does. They just try to pretend it doesn't bother them."

There was a long pause as Jo mused over the facts, deciding to approach the situation as a case. "Has this got something to do with Ashton's release? Are you trying to protect your family and friends by not being there?"

Hollie scowled at her. "So you think I'd come here and put your family in danger?"

"No." Her aunt said calmly. "I think you're intending to treat this as a stopgap. I think you decided to come here to gather your thoughts, assure people that you're alright and make your plans. Then I think you're intending to leave without warning. What? You thought I'd agree to let you stay here. Then I'd wake up one morning and find that you've disappeared in the night?" When the teenager just made a disgruntled noise in response, Jo knew she was right. "Hollie… no one is going to let anything happen to you. We have more chance of keeping you safe if we know where you are!"

"I don't care about me!" She exploded. "He can kill me for all I care, as long as he stays away from everyone else. But I know Gavin. He wants to make me suffer and he'll use everyone I love to do it!"

"We have to tell your mum where you are." Jo said firmly.

"No."

"Hollie!"

"I'll tell her I'm in Manchester with Paula and my dad."

Jo frowned. "Why?"

"Because if Gavin goes looking for me and hears that, he won't come here."

"Sweetheart…"

"I'm not crazy, Auntie Jo." Hollie told her, almost pleading with the detective to believe her. "It's the safest way. Please… please don't tell her I'm here."

"I can't lie to her." Jo replied firmly. "I have never lied to Nikki in my entire life. Hollie, I'm not about to start lying now."

"Please… it's for her own good. I just want to keep her safe."

"By letting her think you've run away from her? You're going to destroy her."

"Like she hasn't destroyed me?" The teenager spat, suddenly furious. "After everything, everything she's put me through she was too busy covering her tracks after cheating on Vix to be there for me when Kevin had a stroke! I needed her and she was saving her own ass!" Hollie covered her mouth, not having meant to tell Jo what Nikki had done. Her tone was measured, careful when she spoke again. "She probably won't even notice I'm gone. She'll think I've just left early or gone to see Kev or something."

"You're being ridiculous. She's probably–"

"Get real."

Sighing, Jo decided to take a different tack. She moved across the kitchen and flicked the switch on the kettle, lining up mugs and dropping tea bags into them. The sound of movement from upstairs accompanied her tea making and Hollie guessed that, at least, Sam was going through her morning routine.

"I shouldn't have shouted." The teenager apologised. "I'm sorry."

"I understand that you're scared, honey." Jo sympathised soothingly. "But you need your mum more than ever. Pushing her away isn't going to help."

"She's too busy for me and my messes. She's got her own problems to deal with."

"Hollie… what did you mean Nikki cheated on Vix? When did that happen? Did it come out last night? Is that why she was so angry?"

Shaking her head, the teenager accepted the mug that her aunt passed her. "No… I shouldn't really be telling you. She wouldn't like it."

"I won't tell her you've said anything, but I need to know."

Gritting her teeth and staring at the table, the eighteen-year-old clenched her fists. "Don't tell her I told you, OK?"

"Hollie, I can't make that promise."

"Why?"

"Because if she needs my help then I'll have to tell her how I knew."

"She doesn't need your help." Hollie stated. "I can't judge her because it's something I've done too. I can't take the moral high ground over this, but you probably can and I don't… I don't want…"

Taking her hands gently, Jo squeezed them reassuringly. "I promise you that there is nothing you can say about Nikki that will surprise me. I've known her my whole life and there's nothing that will make me hate her or turn my back on her or judge her or whatever it is you think might happen. She's basically my little sister and I will always, always look after her. I just want to help."

"Why?"

"I don't trust Vix." Jo said simply. "There's something about her… I can't put my finger on what it is, but I have a feeling in my gut…" She shook her head. "Who did Nikki sleep with? Tom?"

Hollie sighed. "I wish. No she slept with Mr Reid, my PE teacher, the night we came back from the Resilience camp. He's… there's something about him that I don't like. I like to think I'm quite a good judge of men and I doubt this is the first time he's broken up a relationship…"

"But that camp was last week, wasn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Does Vix not know? Is that what the problem between you two is?"

"No. Gabriella, this complete bitch in my year, somehow found out and yesterday she told Vix in front of everyone. She has a huge crush on Mr Reid and hates Mum… I got sent to the Cooler for attacking her. Attacking Gabriella, I mean. Everyone thought she was lying, but it was true."

"So Vix didn't believe it?"

"At first she must have because she ended it… told Mum she never wanted to see her again." Hollie shrugged. "It was weird. When I went home after speaking to you last night they were back on. Vix gave Mum the ring and everything. It's… well, it's a bit weird."

"What d'you know about her?"

Laughing softly, the teenager shook her head. "What? You think she's dodgy or something?"

"It won't do any harm to do a bit of digging, will it?" Jo pointed out with a wink. "I can't have Nikki getting engaged to someone without doing a background check on them, can I now?"

"She's quite posh… her dad's some important person in education I think. Her sister, Sue, is a science teacher at school and her brother-in-law is the deputy head, Mr Lowsley."

"That school…" The detective muttered, shaking her head. "What's her full name?"

"Victoria Spark."

"Date of birth?"

Hollie shrugged. "She's thirty-two and her birthday is in June."

"I'll see what I can find out." Jo told her niece with a determined nod. "But you, young lady, are going to call your mother and tell her where you are or I'll do it myself."

Nikki went ballistic when her daughter called to tell her where she was. Jo had to take the phone off her niece and attempt to calm the woman down. That didn't go down too well, either, considering things between them were still a little difficult. In the end, Sam took over, attempting to diffuse the situation and promising Nikki that she would personally drive Hollie home to ensure she got there.

"I'm eighteen!" The teenager argued, irritated at being treated like a child. "I'm an adult. I can do what I want."

"Hollie, love, you need to go home."

"I don't want to!"

Sam sighed. "Look, I can't take you until Wednesday, anyway, because I'm working today and tomorrow. You've got two days to calm down. And don't even think about running away, because I will be incredibly pissed off."

"She means it." Jo muttered as the petite blonde left the room.

"Yeah, well, whatever."

"Hollie… I know things are tough between you and your mum at the moment. What's really happened? There has to be something that's kicked off to change things so quickly."

The teenager shrugged and wrapped her hands around her, now cold, mug of coffee. "Kevin, my boyfriend, has had a stoke. He's eighteen. How is that fair? Kev's never done anything to hurt anyone."

"It's shit." Jo agreed, sitting beside her and squeezing her forearm briefly. "But that's not your mum's fault."

"I never said it was." Hollie snapped. Then she sighed. "She doesn't seem to care. She's too wrapped up in Vix to bother about anything else. She hasn't even asked me how he is. It's probably because she thinks it's my fault it happened…"

Frowning, Jo rubbed her neck thoughtfully. "That doesn't sound like Nikki."

"And I know she wants to spend time with Vix and make things better after she cheated on her, but... I can't tell her about Ashton now."

"She's still your mum, sweetheart. She'd still want to know."

Hollie shrugged. "I'm not telling her."

"You do realise you might not have a choice." Jo pointed out. "If the police phone to pass on the news that he's been released and you're not there they'll tell her. If she had reported you as missing they would have told her then. They'd have put two and two together and flagged it up as a possible abduction."

"But they obviously haven't yet if she didn't say anything."

"So what's your plan?" Jo asked, arching an eyebrow. "You keep it a secret for as long as you can? Then what?"

"I don't know." Hollie admitted. "I just know that I don't want Gavin anywhere near them."

Glancing at the clock on the wall above her niece's head, Jo realised that she was running late for work. Reaching out, she pulled Hollie into a tight hug. "Just, please, promise me you'll stay here until I come home, OK? We can work out the next step together."

Hollie nodded wordlessly. Then she pulled away. "I promise I won't leave without seeing you."

Jo said nothing, but it was clear from her expression that she was thinking that Hollie wouldn't be going anywhere whether she saw her or not. While she got changed she filled Sam in on everything that Hollie had told her, voicing her suspicions about Vix. Sam nodded slowly, admitting that she, too, hadn't felt completely at ease in the woman's company.

They headed off to the station, each giving the teenager a kiss on the cheek and telling her to help herself to anything in the kitchen for her lunch. When she was alone, Hollie flopped onto the sofa and flicked through the channels on the TV. She didn't take any of it in, her mind racing with everything that was going through it.

She was relieved that her mobile battery had died and she hadn't plugged it in to charge it yet. Hollie wasn't in any hurry to deal with the questions as to her whereabouts or what was going on. She knew that her mother would be furious and Tom would be concerned and her friends would be confused, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Slipping from the sofa, she crossed the living room and pulled the blind aside, peeking out at the street. For a moment she thought that the man walking along on the pavement on the other side of the road was Gavin. Then she took a breath and shook her head. Just like in the forest on the Resilience Camp she was just imagining things. There was no way he would know where she was, let alone be hanging around Jo and Sam's house watching her. It was impossible.