BooksBarbecue
Back One Mistake Save as PDF
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. *

‘Fiona’s picking them up just before lunch, so we’ll have all afternoon to try and get into Matt’s office and find evidence of what he’s up to.’ Sara was looking at her notebook, scanning through all the things she’d jotted down, which now amounted to a few pages. ‘That’s got to be a priority, hasn’t it? When he was telling me about his contract, he said he just did the nuts-and-bolts work, but I suppose he has to check that the website’s working, and verify users and all that stuff?’ She scrunched up her nose. ‘What do you think, Hailey? Are we jumping to conclusions, or do you think the video of me was posted on whatever site he’s been building?’

Hailey was deep in thought, tracing the pattern of knots in the wood of the kitchen table with a finger. When she didn’t respond, Sara carried on with her train of logic, arriving at the question she couldn’t answer. ‘Why else would someone send it to him?’

Hailey looked up and leant across the table.

‘Like I said before, what if it’s someone who wants to break up your marriage? Someone like James. As I see it, he’s using this debt to slowly take control of your life.’ Their eyes met, Hailey’s words articulating thoughts that had already been gathering in Sara’s mind, like storm clouds massing in the distance. ‘The video has separated you from your husband and broken up your family. Then there’s this new job offer, which is just another way of getting closer to you, manipulating you, because as a single mum you’ll be dependent on him for your income.’ Hailey gave her a hard stare. ‘And he still hasn’t told you the terms of the deal, has he?’ Sara shook her head. ‘It’s not a deal at all. He’s bought you. I think that’s how he sees it. He’s playing a game, getting his kicks from knowing what’s going on, while you’re clueless.’

Sara sighed, certain her sister was right. ‘He said I could stay with him as well, if I was stuck.’

Hailey snorted. ‘Yeah, like that’s going to happen. No way are you going to do that.’ She stared at Sara, eyes narrowing. ‘Tell me you didn’t actually consider it.’