Books by Shalini Boland

One of Us Is Lying

The Other Daughter

The Marriage Betrayal

The Girl from the Sea

The Best Friend

The Perfect Family

The Silent Sister

The Millionaire’s Wife

The Child Next Door

The Secret Mother

Available in Audio

One of Us is Lying (Available in the UK and the US)

The Other Daughter (Available in the UK and the US)

The Marriage Betrayal (Available in the UK and the US)

The Perfect Family (Available in the UK and the US)

The Silent Sister (Available in the UK and the US)

The Child Next Door (Available in the UK and the US)

The Secret Mother (Available in the UK and the US)

Prologue

The skin beneath my fingers is warm and soft. Pliant. She’s stopped yelling now, but I’m drowning in shock as she beats her fists against me. Kicks, scratches, tries to spit in my face. I can’t let go. Can’t let her ruin everything. Although I think it’s already too late for that.

Her scent catches in the back of my throat. I grit my teeth. The world has suddenly and violently shrunk down to just me and her. Nothing else matters. Sweat beads on my forehead and under my arms. I should stop this. Release my grip. I should let her come for me again and take the consequences. But I can’t. I daren’t.

I have too much to lose.

One

THEN

The first thing I notice is the funny taste in my mouth – metallic and earthy. Blood. I run my tongue over my teeth and wince, realising I must have bitten my tongue. The second thing I notice is the worried face of my fiancé peering down at me.

‘Toby,’ I croak.

He crouches and takes my hand and I realise he’s trembling. ‘Are… are you okay? You really gave us a scare.’ His face is whiter than bone, his neck red and mottled beneath a partially open shirt, his black tie pulled undone. ‘We were so worried.’

‘Where…?’ I try to sit up, but my brain feels as though it’s floating loose in my skull, so I give up and sink back down. It’s then that I realise I’m lying on the floor, my head on a cushion. ‘What happened?’

‘Don’t you remember?’ he asks.

I try to think, but my mind is fuzzy. ‘What’s going on? Why do I feel weird?’

‘You fainted, love.’ Toby’s mum Celia kneels by my side, one hand on my forehead, the other on my wrist. She looks different somehow. Maybe it’s her hair – she’s had it cut or styled or something. It looks straighter than usual, and browner. She must have had the grey coloured. ‘Looks like you came down a real cropper.’