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The Wife’s Secret: A dark psychological thriller with a stunning twist
Caroline England
Previously published as Beneath the Skin‘I was gripped immediately’ KATERINA DIAMOND, author of THE TEACHER‘Gripping, immersive, horribly believable’ SANJIDA KAY, author of BONE BY BONEThree women. Three secrets.Antonia is beautiful and happily married. Her life is perfect. So why does she hurt herself when nobody’s watching?Sophie is witty, smart and married to the best-looking man in town. She likes a drink, but who doesn’t?Olivia is pretending to be a happy wife and mother. But her secret could tear her family apart.Their lies start small, they always do. But if they don’t watch out, the consequences will be deadly.
CAROLINE ENGLAND
The Wife's Secret
Copyright (#u265633ce-2f1c-570c-b842-f70baec5c67a)
Published by Avon
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
The News Building
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2017
Copyright © Caroline England 2017
Caroline England asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008237523
Ebook Edition © October 2017 9780008215064
Version: 2018-07-24
Dedication (#u265633ce-2f1c-570c-b842-f70baec5c67a)
For my three gorgeous girls, Liz, Charl and Emily. And, of course, Jonathan. Love you all.
Table of Contents
Cover (#u83ff58a0-e7c1-5733-b195-a3a9f9f44b5b)
Title Page (#u366e17e1-1475-588b-8872-4855a3c3c425)
Copyright (#ucf0d8c1f-3e27-5db9-81c7-75205f8610df)
Dedication (#u4f5a0d2d-1f1a-5ec0-936f-ffef130ee612)
Part One (#u89052716-ce20-5e1a-a9ae-871e133e20e3)
Chapter One (#u5190def4-59a1-50b4-9fca-0c57cd5b72da)
Chapter Two (#udaa55d59-94cf-5a0a-bc87-d30fb565a264)
Chapter Three (#ub1bb7d7e-e0b6-52d8-a6e7-edf7b89aebca)
Chapter Four (#u2f8158f9-4319-5bef-ab21-59b459642771)
Chapter Five (#ud2794275-89e4-599f-9ef5-4c8cc16802d5)
Chapter Six (#u4ba2bf02-d30f-5ce3-a1ea-e8055a266f56)
Chapter Seven (#ud3aee64e-3032-5978-a575-ff80ccd3d1f9)
Chapter Eight (#ub8f4fae6-401e-5c3e-a08e-e6697f32a7b3)
Chapter Nine (#u05bd7a6c-0e90-50cc-888d-2be46606675d)
Chapter Ten (#u4ad452e8-4731-5c08-b37c-87b7e980dc44)
Chapter Eleven (#u080ce916-b8a4-55b2-81b8-6b46e9689723)
Chapter Twelve (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fourteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Fifteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Sixteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Seventeen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Eighteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Nineteen (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Twenty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Six (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Seven (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Eight (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Thirty-Nine (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-One (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Two (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Four (#litres_trial_promo)
Part Three (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter Forty-Five (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
Keep Reading… (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
PART ONE (#u265633ce-2f1c-570c-b842-f70baec5c67a)
CHAPTER ONE (#u265633ce-2f1c-570c-b842-f70baec5c67a)
‘Antonia, Antonia. My name is Antonia.’
It’s been her name for many years. But sometimes, like tonight, she forgets.
Lying in the bath, she stares at the naked razor blade. The tiny distorted reflection of a girl gazes back. If she was brave, if she was very brave, she’d use it on her wrists, two deep final lines. Then she’d close her eyes and let this masquerade slip away.
She removes a curl of damp hair stuck to her cheek. The thought of all the fuss her death would create is unbearable. Even in death, the notion of being the centre of attention, the talk of the town, even for fifteen minutes, is excruciating.
And she knows the pull is there. She can feel it inside, somewhere deep and hidden. That tiny pulse of life, drawing her back from the overwhelming desire to disappear, to become something, somebody. To live, to really live, instead of hiding in this bathroom, this house.
Rocking her head from side to side, she tries to expel the memory of the unexpected telephone call this afternoon. She doesn’t want to think of it now. She doesn’t want to think about it ever.
She adjusts the position of the razor blade, watches the imprint of her fingers disappear and takes a deep breath before slowly slicing into the soft flesh of her arm. Closing her eyes, she smiles, a small sigh escaping her lips. There’s always a moment, a throb of expectation, then the sharp pain sets in, taking her back to a moment of acute pleasure. Crisp and clear: the still of a film. Antonia and Sophie, Sophie and Antonia, smiling, naked and drunk. But today it’s of a girl on a swing, laughing with sheer happiness, her daddy pushing her high into the clouds.
But of course that wasn’t her.
Seconds pass and the intensity of the moment ebbs away to a moderate stinging sensation. She opens her eyes, shame and disgust replacing the delirium. The bath water has cooled, the mirrors weep with condensation. Her dark nipples skim her legs as she leans forward to drain the tepid water, now tinted salmon by blood. She covers the wound with a flannel, then steps on to the bathmat and into the chill of the newly tiled bathroom.
A cutter, she thinks, remembering the pretty girl in the razor blade. Cutting to cope. To forget the past. To replace the pain inside her head with one she could see. To watch it seep away. But what of the woman? The one called Antonia? Cutting to feel. To stop the numbness, the isolation. To scar the perfection. She is addicted to the high.
Or perhaps she just wants to see what’s beneath her skin.
‘My Friday night treat,’ she mutters. She glances at the woman in the mirror, flawless and perfect, no history, no past. With a small sigh, she peels away the crimson-stained flannel to study her artwork, then she blows out the candles and reaches for a towel.
‘Where’s bloody Sami?’ David Stafford asks, looking at his watch. ‘With his flunkeys, do you think? Mo and Salim and the rest of his ever-changing entourage?’ He scrapes back his chair across the slate floor as he stands. ‘Same again?’
Mike Turner glances down at his third pint: it’s hardly been touched and he already feels pissed. Bloody hell, David’s going for it tonight, he thinks. David’s breath has the acrid smell of an all-day session. But that isn’t particularly unusual.
He looks up and smiles. David appears as he always does. Tall, slightly overweight, tanned. Jeans with a stripy shirt tucked in. But something’s not quite right. His eyes, he decides. David’s eyes seem lifeless.
‘No, you go ahead,’ Mike replies. ‘I’m pacing myself. You’re a thirsty man tonight. Everything all right?’
‘It’s nothing that another pint won’t cure. Come on, Mikey, it’s the start of the weekend. I’ll get you one in.’
A busy September Friday night at the Royal Oak pub, composed of the usual mix of students and the long-standing faithful. Not a convenient venue for any of them now, but David, Mike and Sami have all lived in the leafy Withington area of South Manchester at some point in their lives. ‘Probably the only thing we have in common,’Sami once joked, which wasn’t entirely true.
David walks away, slightly unsteady, and dips his head to evade a low oak beam. He lifts his arm and wafts his empty pint glass above the heads of several people already waiting at the bar.
