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The Wife – Part Four: Till Death Do Us Part
ML Roberts
If you can’t stop watching Doctor Foster and The Affair, you won’t be able to put down this chilling new four-part series.Michael and Ellie are that couple.The ones who have it all.Success, charm, trust…but no relationship is perfect and the events of the past cast a shadow over their charmed life together.When lecturer Michael starts to mentor a new student, Ellie fears that history is repeating itself. As paranoia takes its ugly hold, it’s clear some things just can’t be forgotten…or forgiven.
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First published in Great Britain by HarperImpulse 2018
Copyright © M L Roberts 2018
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com
Cover design by Ellie Game © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
M L Roberts 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.
Ebook Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 9780008259891
Version: 2018–01–18
Table of Contents
Cover (#ufd279536-bda2-5ada-9cb5-a34202749b4a)
Title Page (#u4545058a-a594-5033-b222-9808c78cbf50)
Copyright (#u4dad6dd2-b9f3-517c-865a-a8f7fab5cf47)
Dedication (#ub24882f6-aa7c-58ae-8e6c-c32d67b5ba93)
Prologue (#ue6768b47-3230-54d1-9ba3-b28b51226106)
Chapter 1 (#uf3088eda-b50b-5bc6-852b-addd3eaccc2b)
Chapter 2 (#u7d05c066-67e0-5072-aaf5-539e7cee7bf4)
Chapter 3 (#ua4daa261-2cd1-575d-bf97-b22c6e14ca3c)
Chapter 4 (#u4302b55d-f182-5fdb-aacb-7d777ca8f996)
Chapter 5 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 6 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 7 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 8 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 12 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 13 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 14 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 15 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 16 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 17 (#litres_trial_promo)
Chapter 18 (#litres_trial_promo)
Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)
Acknowledgements (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)
About HarperImpulse (#litres_trial_promo)
About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)
For my husband. His constant support has been everything.
Prologue (#u008f4f48-874c-51e9-a5b8-4601400b2caf)
Sirens.
Blue flashes, bouncing off the glass, blinding me.
Noise. So much noise.
Voices.
Shouting.
Words just merging into one long muffled sound.
The smell of chlorine.
Blood.
The pain, brutal and raw.
The fear…
What did we do…?
That night…
The night my life changed.
The night everything changed…
Chapter 1 (#u008f4f48-874c-51e9-a5b8-4601400b2caf)
Present Day …
‘Can you see it now, Ellie?’
He’s talking, but I’m not listening. I’m tuning him out, letting his voice fade into the background.
‘Can you see what’s happening?’
Why is he here? I’m almost sure I told him I wanted to be alone, so why is he in my kitchen?
‘You need to go, Liam.’
‘I’m not going anywhere. I’m not leaving you alone, not now.’
I raise my head slowly to look at him. ‘Why? What are you scared of? Do you think I’m going to do something stupid? Is that it?’
‘No…’
‘Then you can go, can’t you?’
‘Come home with me, Ellie. Please.’
I shake my head. I want to be on my own. For the first time in a long time I actually want to be alone, in this house.
He comes over to me, takes hold of my wrists and unfolds my arms. He takes my hands in his, his grip tight around my fingers.
‘I don’t think you should stay here. This house, it isn’t good for you.’
‘It’s my home.’
‘Pack a few things and come back to mine. Please, Ellie.’
I tug my hands free of his and walk over to the counter. I pour myself a large measure of whisky, but before I can drink it he’s taken the glass from me. Poured the whisky down the sink.
‘What the hell are you doing?’
‘Pack a bag and come home with me.’
‘Just go, Liam. Please.’
‘She’s pregnant, Ellie. You saw that, right? You saw Michael, with her…’
I swing around and stare at him. I’m tired of him now, I don’t want him here. I need to think. ‘We don’t know the baby is his.’
‘Jesus, Ellie, come on…!’
He rakes a hand through his hair, throws his head back and sighs heavily.
‘You want it to be true, don’t you? You want to believe that my husband is sleeping with her, that he got her pregnant, you want that to be true. Why, Liam? Because you think that’ll make me stop loving him? Make me run to you…?’
‘You’ve already run to me, Ellie.’ He moves a little closer, reaches out to touch my cheek. ‘And you didn’t do that for the hell of it. You did it for a reason, you’re just too scared to admit it.’
‘You need to go. Please.’
He pulls his hand back, steps away from me, but his eyes remain fixed on mine. ‘I love you, have you got that yet? I love you so much, and I won’t let him do this to you. I won’t let him hurt you like this.’
I say nothing. I just keep staring at him, hoping he’ll get the message. That he’ll leave, I really do need to be alone now.
‘This is killing you, he is killing you, and I can’t stand by and watch him do that.’
Still, I remain silent. I want him to go, I can’t think with him here, he’s too much of a distraction.
‘Ellie?’
I shake my head. He needs to go. And he does, eventually. But I wait until I hear his car leave the driveway before I move, before I head into the hall, pull the bolts across the door. Make myself safe. And as soon as that’s done I lean back against the wall, close my eyes, and take a second to breathe. A second to let what I saw today sink in.
Her.
Ava.
