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Back The Marriage Trap: A completely addictive psychological thriller Save as PDF
Chapters (60)
  1. Cover
  2. Books by Sheryl Browne
  3. Dedication
  4. KARLA
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Twenty-Four
  29. Twenty-Five
  30. Twenty-Six
  31. Twenty-Seven
  32. Twenty-Eight
  33. Twenty-Nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-One
  36. Thirty-Two
  37. Thirty-Three
  38. Thirty-Four
  39. Thirty-Five
  40. Thirty-Six
  41. Thirty-Seven
  42. Thirty-Eight
  43. Thirty-Nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-One
  46. Forty-Two
  47. Forty-Three
  48. Forty-Four
  49. Forty-Five
  50. Forty-Six
  51. Forty-Seven
  52. Forty-Eight
  53. Epilogue
  54. The Affair
  55. Hear more from Sheryl
  56. Books by Sheryl Browne
  57. A Letter from Sheryl
  58. The Babysitter
  59. The Second Wife
  60. Acknowledgements

Diana moved to help her. She didn’t look better. If anything, she looked utterly exhausted, and so young and vulnerable, suddenly, that she could almost be the child who’d lain in this same bed twenty-five years back, not eating, unresponsive and unsmiling. She’d gone into herself after they lost Sarah, hardly talking for several weeks. In her sleep she would talk, cry out, her voice filled with anguish as she called Sarah’s name. In her nightmares, Karla relived the horror of the bleak morning she’d discovered her sister lying dead, over and over. All Diana had been able to do was rock her gently back to sleep, try to softly reassure her, be there for her; hope that, even if she could never forget it, she would come through it. That she would eventually stop blaming herself. And Karla had come through it. Diana had been proud of the way her girl had pulled herself up, determined to live life to the full and make something of herself.

When she’d first brought Jason home, confided she was pregnant by him, that she was in love with him and that they intended to have the baby and marry, Diana had worried for her. She’d hardly been able to sleep. Seeing that she’d found someone who quite clearly loved her back, who cared for her, someone who could make her smile again, she’d buried her worries. She’d thwarted Robert’s attempts to interfere, and prayed that things would work out for them; that her daughter’s marriage would be a better one than hers – a happy one, filled with love and, importantly, trust. And now this. Her marriage destroyed. Her confidence and belief in herself shattered, thanks to Robert, a man who imagined he was so important he was infallible, untouchable; that he wouldn’t reap what he sowed. He would. If Diana hadn’t achieved much in her own life, she was determined to succeed in one thing, and that was to ensure Robert’s abominable behaviour caught up with him.

‘Thanks, Mum.’ Leaning back, Karla smiled sadly. ‘For everything, I mean, as well as coming to collect me. I didn’t know who else to call.’

Her husband would have gone to her, but Karla would rather have died than allow him to see her like that, lying emotionally broken on a hospital trolley. Diana’s heart grew heavier. ‘Did you think I wouldn’t?’ She gave her a mock scowl.