A Perfectly Nice Family: A totally addictive and gripping psychological thriller by Nicole Trope

Author:Nicole Trope [Trope, Nicole]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2026-03-06T00:00:00+00:00

SEVENTEEN

Cecelia

‘Just explain it to me again,’ I say and he goes through his conversation with Stephanie.

‘Shit, shit, shit,’ I say, pacing around the small space, feeling like I’m caged and trapped. ‘You screwed up,’ I spit at him.

‘Me?’ He jumps up from the chair and stomps over to me in two steps, looks down, his teeth bared. ‘This whole little charade is your project, Cecelia. I’ve done everything you’ve told me. I had no idea she would cotton on to something going on. Maybe you and that bitch’ – he gestures towards Polly – ‘should have been nicer.’

‘I think I was very nice, thank you,’ says Polly. She has a smirk on her face like this is just amusing and not some enormous screw-up.

‘I don’t think she appreciated you going after her son,’ I tell her. This is a colossal screw-up. She’s told us to leave. There’s no way we can stay now. She might get a lot more aggressive about it and bring in the police. And there’s no way we want the police involved, absolutely no way.

Polly shrugs, helping herself to a bag of chips to take back to the room where she will eat as she scrolls her phone and fill the air with the smell of salt and vinegar.

I want to yell at her not to do it but I don’t have the energy.

‘I’ll fix it, don’t worry,’ he tells me.

‘How? How will you fix it?’

‘I don’t know… I just… I’ll fix it, I promise you. I’ll get her to let us stay.’

I don’t know this man, not really. I don’t know what he’s capable of. I heard whispers, rumours about him beating people up in bar fights, just stuff that I’ve heard about everyone but looking at him, I wonder if there is more.

I wanted him here, in my life. I wanted him to make up part of the perfect family. But we’ve pushed Stephanie too far and although she was supposed to fold like a house of cards, it seems like she’s stronger than we thought.

‘Maybe we do have to just leave. I don’t want anyone to get hurt,’ I tell him and I move to the kitchen to make a vague attempt at dinner. I open the fridge door and stand and stare at cheese and eggs and a wilted lettuce as I attempt to distract my mind into figuring out a solution.

‘Well, I still get paid right?’

‘Don’t make me laugh,’ I tell him and his blue eyes darken.

‘You have to trust me, Cecelia. I’ll fix it so we stay and do what you need to do.’

Irritation rushes through me and I swing around to face him. ‘Don’t do one more thing until I’ve had a chance to think about this. Do you understand me?’

‘I’ve told you, I’ll sort this out and I will.’ He juts out his jaw, determined to get me to agree with him. What difference does it make now?

‘Fine,’ I yell. ‘You sort it out because if you don’t… that lovely cash bonus you’ve been waiting for disappears.

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