The Secrets Next Door: A totally gripping psychological thriller with a heart-stopping twist by Sally Royer-Derr

Author:Sally Royer-Derr [Royer-Derr, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2024-03-04T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-TWO

TABITHA

Antonio’s buzzes with patrons all getting their Friday night pizza fix. Grant got home late from work, so we decide to leave early Saturday morning. He is tired and doesn’t feel like driving and I don’t care either way. It’s less time I have to spend with his mother. The family compound is quite large and spacious, but I doubt any space is large enough to avoid his mother completely. I said I’d grab a pizza for dinner, since our housekeeper has the week off, and Grant stayed home with Cole.

I make my way up to the counter, tell them my order number, and sit to wait a few minutes while they assemble it. I survey the area for a place to sit, but none is available, so I linger by the counter. I glance to the back of the restaurant, seeing a recognizable woman in a pink T-shirt with our cupcake logo, Little Beak Sweets, on the back. Talia.

Who is she here with? I strain my neck to see her slide into a booth set into an alcove toward the back. I wonder why she’s sitting all the way back there. I can’t see the other occupant of the booth, or if there is another person, until someone gets up and goes to the bathroom. Anne.

What the hell is she doing here with her? Unreal. Especially after what we found in her house! Anger surges through me and I feel heat rushing to my face. Damn it, Talia. She always does this to me. These secret friendships and excluding me—not that I want to be friends with Anne because I do not. Could Talia be working with Anne? Talia thought we’d have left for the Hamptons by now. She’d never expect me to be here getting a pizza. What kind of conversation could she be having with Anne?

“Number eighty-one,” the guy at the counter calls. “Large pepperoni.”

My order. I watch Anne walk out of the bathroom, her gaze meeting mine. No wave or acknowledgment of any kind. Just a dead stare directly at me. Her head cocks to the left and her lips pucker slightly as she sits down in the booth with Talia. Chills ripple through me at the familiar movement.

Just like…?

Impossible. A memory flashes in my mind, but I shut it down. I will not think about it. I wait a moment to see if Anne will tell Talia I’m here. A moment passes, then another. Nothing.

“Number eighty-one!” the guy calls again.

I grab my pizza and go out the door to my SUV. I sit in the driver’s seat and text Talia.

What are you doing?

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