Chapters (60)
- Cover
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- Dedication
- KARLA
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Epilogue
- The Affair
- Hear more from Sheryl
- Books by Sheryl Browne
- A Letter from Sheryl
- The Babysitter
- The Second Wife
- Acknowledgements
Robert had hardly been able to contain his fury as the impudent bastard calmly tore the cheque up in front of him and tossed it at his feet. He’d sealed his daughter’s fate that day. Short of telling her the truth, which would mean losing all that was dear to him, nothing could persuade her not to marry this man who would ruin her life.
So much for his principles: Jason hadn’t quibbled too much when Robert paid for their house, rather than allow his daughter and future grandchild to live in a shoebox of a flat on some common estate while her husband fucked about, attempting to start up a company with nil experience. Having spent his own childhood in such a place, Robert had shuddered at that thought. Karla had talked Jason round, Robert suspected. It was a wedding gift, after all, and being the penniless prat that he was, Jason had been in no position to turn it down.
Robert wasn’t completely heartless where Jason was concerned; he did have a begrudging respect for his efforts to keep his floundering business afloat without adequate financial backing. He’d agreed to offer him a business loan when Karla had asked. She’d clearly found out what a stubborn son of a bitch he was, when, yet again, he dug his heels in. He would change his mind. Jason Connolly would realise he had no choice but to swallow his pride and come to him, and then they would get to the real deal on the table: Robert’s silence in exchange for Jason’s. It was that simple. If he truly cared about Karla, Jason would realise the truth could never come out and, finally, he would walk away. He could take the money Robert was prepared to offer him to soften the blow, or he could leave it. That was up to him.
Glancing into the lounge, he noted that Holly and Josh were superglued to some alien thing on the TV. He wasn’t sure it was suitable viewing for an eleven and ten-year-old, but it was more than he dared do to question Karla’s parenting skills. She would jump down his throat in an instant.
She’d been emotionally delicate after Sarah’s death, alternating between withdrawal and raging grief in the months afterwards. Robert had been frightened for a while that she might tell the secret he’d made her promise to keep. She’d finally come to her senses when he’d pointed out that it wasn’t just her world that had been torn apart. His had too. Her mother’s had. Diana wasn’t coping with any of it because of her inability to move on, he’d explained to her carefully. Did she want to lose her mother too?