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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

Karla dropped her gaze, and the unshed tears finally came. Pulling her tight to her, Diana held her while she cried, smoothing a hand over her hair. Her once beautiful, bouncy blonde hair, now shorn and coloured dark auburn – Sarah’s colour, almost. When Diana had first set eyes on her at the hospital, while Karla was still woozy, she’d realised that her daughter was deeply troubled. That the ghosts from her past had never truly been laid to rest. Feelings she’d never been able to process – her grief, her deep sense of loss – had resurfaced, been exacerbated by the prospect of losing her husband. Her daughter wasn’t coping. Diana had no choice but to find a way to help her.

‘I’m sorry, Mum.’ Karla sniffled shakily. ‘I didn’t mean to be so stupid.’

Diana reached for her hands. ‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Karla,’ she said firmly. ‘It happened. It’s over. You reached rock bottom and now you have to climb back up again, for yourself, for your children. They need you. No man’s worth this, sweetheart.’

Being arrested for killing a man of Robert’s ilk might possibly be worth it, Diana couldn’t help thinking, but slowly killing yourself, humiliating yourself, getting drunk at nightclubs over a man? Karla was worth more than this. It was about time she realised that.

‘I love him, Mum,’ Karla said, looking beseechingly at her, as if willing her to understand.

Diana did. More than her daughter knew. Her own heart would always bear the scars she’d inflicted on it the day she’d walked away from the man who truly loved her. Michael, though, had refused to let her go, staying in touch over the years. Diana was so glad that he had. Her life would have been intolerable without him to talk to. She needed to talk to him now.

‘But how will this help?’ Dismissing thoughts of Michael to concentrate on her daughter, she glanced worriedly across to the chair, on which were the questionable clothes Karla had been wearing in the nightclub: a minuscule black dress and thigh-high boots – a scream to be noticed. ‘What are you trying to prove, darling?’ she asked her, making sure to keep her tone non-judgemental.

‘I don’t know.’ Karla shrugged, looking as miserable as it was possible to be. ‘I suppose I wanted to remind Jason there was more to me than being a wife and a mother.’ She paused, her eyes downcast as she absent-mindedly traced the flower pattern on the duvet with a forefinger.