The Wife's Mistake by Lorna Dounaeva

Author:Lorna Dounaeva [Dounaeva, Lorna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-19T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-SEVEN

NATALIE

She stared at the grainy black and white footage, her heart pounding madly. The figure, who moved with a strange, graceful gait, had gone out of frame. Fear squeezed her chest tight as she swallowed hard, her mind conjuring up an impossible thought: what if they had never left?

She shivered, despite the warm day. Taking a deep breath to steady her nerves, she went inside and checked each room, one by one. Every window was closed, she could control that from her phone. Every external door locked.

How did they get out?

She sank down on a sunlounger and watched the footage again. This time she left it running long enough to see Hayden jump into the pool. She saw herself run out of the house. She almost missed the shadowy face at the kitchen window, watching as they plunged into the pool and tried to resuscitate the doll. As she and Hayden had flopped down in the sunloungers, the hooded figure walked out of the house and stood behind them for a while before disappearing out of sight.

Natalie froze as Hayden walked towards her. Should she tell him there had been an intruder in the house? Her heart raced as she weighed her options, fear and uncertainty washing over her. If they went to the police, they might discover that the intruder was her own daughter and then what? If she was ever going to tell him, that time was over a year ago, before they got married. Silently, she slipped her phone into her pocket.

Hayden cleared his throat. ‘I was thinking I might set up a charity.’

Natalie leaned forward. ‘Really?’

‘We’re getting so many requests for help. I’d like to go through them all and see where we could really make a difference. Maybe I could get into fundraising too. It would feel good to give back.’

Natalie’s heart swelled with pride as she looked at her husband. He had seemed a little restless since leaving his job, but now he was brimming with energy and purpose. This was exactly what he needed.

‘That sounds like a wonderful idea. We can turn the study into your office.’

He beamed. ‘That would be great.’

He headed indoors and she turned her attention back to the CCTV. The footage chilled her to the bone. She really ought to do something. At the very least, she should warn Hayden. Cheeks flushing with shame, she clicked delete.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.