Town Under Siege (DI Olivia Austin Book 39): A fast-paced crime thriller by Nic Roberts

Author:Nic Roberts [Roberts, Nic]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Nikki knew she was going to be tense when she walked back into the house she’d shared with Enzo.

Enzo was due to head out to give a talk and she was delegated the role of babysitter, even though she reminded Enzo that she was the child’s mother, that should trump the need for any eager teenager looking to make some extra pocket money.

“Mummy!” Francesca exclaimed, running into her mother’s waiting arms while still clutching her stuffed bunny. Nikki made a mock show of being tackled to the ground as she let the little girl climb over her. “Are you back for good now?”

Nikki kept the smile frozen on her face. She looked to Enzo who was paying no attention to the scene between them, simply packing his case. There was a small part of her that did want to step back into her old life as if nothing had happened. But she knew then nothing would change. Enzo would constantly grow dissatisfied with the life they’d built for themselves, hold it against her for not being perfect wife material, and Nikki would seek solace elsewhere, they’d have a few falling outs and then they’d decide they needed to stay together, partly because Enzo was not big on divorce, and partly because they wanted to give their daughter a stable home. It was a vicious cycle that would have never ended.

But that was not why she was there that night.

“I tell you what,” she suggested, handing back the stuffed bunny. “Why don’t you bring down some of your favourite toys and we’ll have a little game with them. Turn the entire living room into a playroom. Would you like that?”

“Yay!,” Francesca happily squealed before darting out of the room.

“Nicely played,” Enzo commented as he finished packing up his case.

“No point in getting her hopes up and then crushing them,” Nikki replied as she pulled herself to her feet.

“I thought this was all about protecting our daughter’s feelings?” he noted, sitting down on the sofa, suddenly not in a rush to go out anymore.

“I know, and for a long time, I thought we were doing the right thing,” Nikki replied, remaining standing. She knew he’d taken a seat in the hopes of getting her to join him. But she wasn’t going to fall for those tactics anymore. “But I think if this marriage had gone on any longer, we probably would have ended up killing each other.

“You know it wasn’t all bad,” Enzo noted softly, and he seemed to make himself more vulnerable. “There were good times, you can’t say there weren’t.”

She thought back on their marriage, trying to remember the last time they had a truly positive memory. The only one that’d come to mind was in back in March six months prior when the weather had started clearing up and they’d decided to go for a picnic. They’d found a nice spot in the shade by an apple tree. Francesca had stuffed the picnic basket with so many stuffed animals…

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