BooksBarbecue
Back One Mistake
Chapters (56)
  1. Books by Rona Halsall
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Three weeks later
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  43. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  44. Chapter Forty
  45. Ten days later
  46. Chapter Forty-One
  47. Seven months later
  48. Love You Gone
  49. Hear More from Rona
  50. A Letter from Rona
  51. Books by Rona Halsall
  52. Her Mother’s Lies
  53. The Honeymoon
  54. Keep You Safe
  55. Acknowledgements
  56. *

She’d always prided herself on being a good judge of character, her natural instinct being to mistrust after the tribulations of her childhood, with its empty promises and deceptions. She could see now, though, that she’d been kidding herself. Look at Matt. Had he changed, or had he always had that short-tempered side to him and she’d chosen to ignore it? Or maybe she’d always done what he wanted up to now, and it was the fact that she was pushing against his will that had brought out his anger?

Was James just a lonely man with a crush on her, using the debt to buy her company? Was it manipulation, or was he genuinely trying to help? He’d seemed to enjoy giving her lovely things, wanting to treat her and make her feel like a princess. She gave a derisive laugh. A princess! Whichever way she turned things over in her mind, she couldn’t help thinking he must be involved in her abuse in some way; it was too much of a coincidence for him not to be.

She drained her glass, poured herself another, teeth grinding with frustration. Everything had been going round in her head all day and she wasn’t getting any further forward. What she needed was facts, not assumptions. She got out her notebook and jotted down other snippets that she remembered from the hotel that might be useful. Other guests she’d noticed staring at her, the staff members she’d been in contact with. Any of them could be involved.

She thought back to the previous occasion she’d been at the hotel – the networking event – and recalled how the atmosphere had changed over the course of the night. She’d definitely felt uncomfortable and had been glad to leave. Was there a connection? In her mind, her eyes travelled round the table she’d shared with four men and three other women. The guy next to her, Alan. He was definitely a slimeball, his arm creeping round the back of her chair as he leant in to talk to her, his leg brushing against hers. She’d remembered thinking that middle-aged men really shouldn’t dye their hair because it made their faces look older—

Her glass clattered onto the table, the remnants of her wine dripping to the floor.

Oh my God! The man messing with my feet in the video. It was Alan!