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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

‘I think we both know you have, Robert,’ Diana said, not even glancing in his direction as she headed for her walk in wardrobe.

‘Such as what, exactly?’ Watching her reappear, carrying a suitcase, Robert was uncomprehending for a second, and then a sharp knot of panic tightened inside him.

‘Where are you going?’ he asked her, his throat suddenly parched.

Her back to him, Diana placed the suitcase down on her dressing table, and picked up her handbag, casually flicking through the contents. ‘I’m leaving you,’ she said matter-of-factly, snapping her handbag shut and turning to face him.

Only then did she look at him. She looked at him full on for the first time in a very long time. And what Robert saw shook him to the core: hatred, unadulterated hatred, her ice-blue eyes hardening to flint.

‘But… why?’ he stammered, fear gripping his insides like a vice. But he knew. It wasn’t about this nonsense in the newspapers, which he’d tried to reassure her would disappear once he had his injunction in place. This simmering anger went back to the harrowing events of twenty-five years ago. She’d turned away from him in the bleak days following the funeral, making it clear that she couldn’t have cared less about his pain, the fact that he’d felt as if his heart had been ripped out of him. He’d needed her then, like never before. He’d needed to hold her, if nothing else, but she hadn’t been there for him. Instead, she looked at him with growing disdain if he came home late at night, as if a man was supposed to remain celibate all his life.

Every day, he’d acknowledged a quiet dread in the pit of his stomach that she might leave him. But not now. She couldn’t! The media would have a field day with it. It would be proof positive that he was guilty, in the eyes of the public. She knew that. He couldn’t do this on his own. Face the press, who – if, God forbid, he wasn’t granted an injunction – would dig mercilessly through every aspect of his life, seizing on anything to paint him as a bully and a sexual predator, no matter how baseless. Face the police, if these ludicrous claims were taken seriously. The courts! God help him.

‘It wasn’t true, Diana!’ Sweat wetting his forehead, he repeated what he’d always maintained. ‘I have no idea why Sarah’s friend would claim I did such a thing. She was a child – confused. A little liar, obviously. Karla was there, for God’s sake. She corroborated my story. I was nowhere near her.’