The change in him was instant, his handsome face distorted with rage. He took hold of her face with his hand, his fingers squeezing her cheeks. ‘You are playing a dangerous fucking game,’ he spat. ‘Be careful, Grace.’

And then he was gone.

She sat in the chair before her legs gave way beneath her. How had she once loved that man with every fibre of her being?

But that was a lifetime ago. Grace Sumner was no longer the naive little girl who’d fallen in love with the man of her dreams. She was a woman with a past of her own. Nathan thought he knew her. He had no idea.

Chapter Two

Replaying the events of the previous night over and over in her head, Grace pondered what a fool she’d been thinking Nathan might have changed. He’d made Grace’s life hell for the first couple of years he’d been in prison. First it was the constant phone calls, then there were the visits. Always someone sitting at the end of the bar glaring at her, watching her every move. Always someone to deliver a message that she’d better watch her back, because apparently, the only thing that kept her safe was being Mrs Conlon. What a laugh!

John Brennan was okay, though. She’d met him once before when he’d come to their flat one night when Nathan had almost died from an overdose of ketamine. He used to call in on his way home, go through the motions and reiterate the same tired threat. Then Grace would pull him a pint and make him a sandwich.

‘Can’t you just put up with being his missus, Grace?’ he’d ask her. ‘Isn’t it easier than all this?’

‘No, John. It’s not,’ she’d tell him.

It was a price worth paying for her freedom. After all, she’d endured much worse than the occasional threat and menacing glare.

Then one day it all stopped. No more threatening phone calls. No more visits from his henchmen to try and scare her. He’d signed the divorce papers she’d sent him and, except for the occasional phone call when he felt lonely, he’d left her in relative peace.

Then shortly before Jake’s sixteenth birthday, she asked him what he’d like for a present, thinking he’d ask for a new computer or some sort of gadget. Her head had almost popped off her shoulders when Jake had revealed that what he wanted more than anything was to visit his dad in prison. She couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d asked for a trip to the moon.