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Back The Other Husband Save as PDF
Chapters (67)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. PROLOGUE
  4. PART ONE
  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. PART TWO
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. PART THREE
  36. THIRTY
  37. THIRTY-ONE
  38. THIRTY-TWO
  39. THIRTY-THREE
  40. THIRTY-FOUR
  41. THIRTY-FIVE
  42. THIRTY-SIX
  43. THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. THIRTY-NINE
  46. PART FOUR
  47. FORTY
  48. FORTY-ONE
  49. FORTY-TWO
  50. FORTY-THREE
  51. FORTY-FOUR
  52. FORTY-FIVE
  53. FORTY-SIX
  54. FORTY-SEVEN
  55. FORTY-EIGHT
  56. FORTY-NINE
  57. FIFTY
  58. FIFTY-ONE
  59. FIFTY-TWO
  60. FIFTY-THREE
  61. FIFTY-FOUR
  62. EPILOGUE
  63. Mailing list
  64. A Letter from Kathryn
  65. Acknowledgements
  66. About the Author
  67. Also by Kathryn Croft

She stares at her phone, willing the message to disappear, for it to have been something her imagination has conjured up out of her paranoia. She closes her eyes, opens them again – a futile action – and Sienna’s words are there, as clear as glass.

It would make her a callous person to ignore Sienna’s plea for help. She taps a reply, trying to be supportive without addressing the request to come over. It’s awful of her, probably passive-aggressive in some way – she is no better than Lillian – yet she can’t be around her friend.

I’m so sorry, Sienna. Have the police said anything else? Can I do anything?

When no reply comes, Abby begins to believe that Sienna has understood her silent message to keep a distance between them.

It’s hours before Rob will be home from work, and she’ll at least have the task of cooking dinner to immerse herself in. Time stretches before her, endless while simultaneously ticking louder and louder, reminding her that she can’t stay safely in the bubble of her home forever. Sooner or later, she will have to confront what she’s done.

Heading upstairs, she finds her laptop, placing it on her lap as she sits on the floor. This time she doesn’t check that email again. She’s only on here for an internet search. Another hunt for information on Greg, even though nothing will have changed since she last looked. It’s all about algorithms; she knows that much, even though she can’t explain in any detail exactly what they are. There might just be something here that hasn’t appeared before.

Finding nothing new, she loses herself in copying links to every page that mentions his name, pasting them into a blank Word document. She names it ‘Summer Term’, and safely buries it in one of her teaching folders.

There’s no denying that she’s become obsessed, no different to a stalker, even though she believes she’s justified in what she’s doing. Greg had that email evidence, and there’s no way to know what he’s done with it. Will the police check his computer? Then the link to her will be right there for anyone to piece together.

It rains in the evening when she goes to her Pilates class. Warmth and drizzle, a combination that makes her skin uncomfortable. Rob has been held up at work, so she’s left the dinner she’s made wrapped in foil in the oven. She knows Sienna won’t be here; she stopped going weeks ago, saying that evenings were the only quality time she could spend with Greg. So many of them were spent working at home, so she had to make the most of any time she could grab with him. Oh, Sienna. She has no idea she was fighting a battle she’d never be able to win.