The Wife – Part Three Read online

  ‘Remember what I said, Ellie. We could leave all this behind. What I said before, I meant it. I can make this all go away, we can start again. You and me …’

  ‘Please, don’t do this. Don’t make this something it’s not.’

  ‘What happened, that almost killed you. Remember? She almost killed you, and Michael, he brought her to your door …’

  ‘It wasn’t his fault …’

  ‘She came to you because of him, Ellie. And he must’ve encouraged her, somehow, he must have given her some kind of sign …’

  I push past him, walk away from him. I don’t want to listen to this.

  ‘How can you be so sure he wasn’t sleeping with her? That something hadn’t been going on?’

  He wasn’t saying these things before, why is he saying them now?

  I stop. I turn around and face him. ‘Michael told me nothing had gone on. He gave her no signs, he didn’t encourage her.’

  ‘And you believed him?’

  I pause. Because I don’t know if I believe what Michael told me. I don’t know …

  ‘Do you believe him now?’

  I back up against the wall, I’m too tired for this fight. ‘This is different.’

  ‘Is it? How? How is this different, Ellie? You have no idea what went on with this student and Michael before she showed up in your house acting all crazy. You know nothing, except what he told you.’

  ‘She wasn’t well, Liam.’

  ‘What if he’d just driven her to that point, huh? Do you ever think about that?’

  ‘He – he wouldn’t do that …’

  ‘Because you know him so well, right?’

  ‘Why are you doing this?’

  ‘Because I care about you. I love you, Ellie. Does he?’

  ‘He loves me.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’

  ‘I’m not doing this …’

  I start to walk away but he grabs my arm, pushes me back against the wall. ‘You know what he’s like, what he’s always been like. The way he piles on the charm, isn’t afraid to be tactile, the flirting …’

  ‘It’s all harmless, Liam. That’s just who he is.’

  ‘When that crazy bitch was kicking your baby out of you, was that harmless?’

  ‘That wasn’t his fault …’

  ‘She wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for him. She wouldn’t have been here, in your home.’

  I feel tears start to stream down my face. He’s supposed to be the one keeping me safe, making me feel better, why is he doing this? Why is he hurting me?

  ‘Don’t, Liam, please …’

  ‘Let’s go, Ellie. Let’s get out of here, leave all this shit behind, what’s left for you here now, huh?’

  I feel something shift inside me, a kind of reset, kicking me into action and I push him away. I walk out of the room and into the hall, I don’t need this crap.

  ‘My businesses are here, Liam. My life is here, I’m not walking away. I’m not doing what Michael chose to do, I’m not turning my back on everything …’

  ‘Michael isn’t here, Ellie. I am.’

  I swing around to face him. I’m angry now, he isn’t being fair. ‘I don’t love you, Liam.’

  ‘Don’t you?’

  I narrow my eyes, I stare at him as he comes closer. ‘No. I don’t.’

  He leans in to me and kisses my open mouth before stepping back. ‘You need to face up to things, Ellie. You need to face up to the truth.’

  I watch as he picks up his jacket from the rack by the door and strides out without looking back.

  I need to face up to the truth.

  If I knew what that was …

  Chapter 15

  ‘You’ve seen him, haven’t you?’

  I wait for Liam to answer me. I wait for him to lie to me, but I hope he won’t.

  ‘No, Ellie, I haven’t. But I have spoken to him.’

  I turn away from him and look out of the window. It’s a grey day outside, weather to match my mood. ‘What did he say?’

  ‘We talked about football, a squash match we’ve got coming up …’

  ‘So, you will be seeing him, then?’ I turn around, my eyes locking on his. ‘At some point?’

  ‘Ellie, I don’t know. Okay? All of this, it feels like I’m losing him, too …’

  I laugh, I can’t help it. ‘This was never about you, Liam. What the hell do you care if you never see him again, huh? You told me you resented him, that you’ve resented him for years, because he had me … You’re not his friend. You never were, not really, or you wouldn’t feel those things. You wouldn’t say those things. You wouldn’t want to take me from him …’

  ‘He doesn’t deserve you, Ellie.’

  ‘Did you tell him that? Did you tell him he didn’t deserve me? Did you tell him how you really feel, about me?’

  ‘Of course I fucking didn’t. Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you?’

  I laugh again. He really has to ask that? ‘Did he say anything, about me?’

  Liam looks away. I don’t often come here, to his laboratories, but I was travelling through Newcastle, and I guess I needed to see him, even if all I’ve done since I got here is be defensive. Angry. I need someone to take my frustration out on, and Liam’s my go-to person for that.

  ‘He asked how you were. Asked me to make sure you’re all right.’

  I turn my head to look back out of the window. Out at the rain starting to fall from that gunmetal-grey sky. I don’t know what to say. I’m not sleeping all that well, I’d rather lie awake and imagine what my husband’s doing. Where he is. Who he’s with. I’d rather torture myself than get the rest I need.

  ‘Why don’t I move in, Ellie. You shouldn’t be on your own …’

  ‘I’m not ill, Liam.’

  I don’t like being alone in that house for too long, but I’m not sure I want Liam there permanently. It doesn’t feel right, it feels like I’m giving up. Like I’m accepting that Michael’s never coming back, and I can’t do that. I’ll never accept that. I can’t give up.

  ‘I don’t want you to move in. I’m fine.’

  ‘You hate being alone in that house.’

  ‘I’m not there that often.’

  That’s true. I’ve started working later, avoiding going home until I have to. I even went out with Carmen and some of the girls from the spa a couple of nights ago, anything to keep me from going home too early.

  ‘Ellie? Look at me.’

  He’s right beside me now. He’s almost touching me, and I hate that I feel a weakness hit me whenever he’s this near; the power he has over me – how did I let that happen? How did I let him be this person, the one thing I need to keep me from completely falling apart?

  ‘Ellie?’

  I slowly turn my head towards him, and I’m fighting it now. That power, that hold he has over me. I’m fighting it.

  ‘I should go. I’ve got a meeting in Durham in an hour.’

  He grabs hold of my wrist, forcing me to stay where I am. ‘I used to watch him all the time, the way he’d act around other women, not caring that you were in the same room. That you could see what he was doing.’

  ‘He wasn’t doing anything, Liam. That’s just who Michael is, you know that …’

  He bends down, lowers his mouth so it almost touches mine. ‘Open your eyes, Ellie. See what’s right in front of you.’

  I shake my head. I try to tug my wrist free of his grip, but do I really want to leave?

  My phone ringing suddenly distracts me, and I reach into my pocket, pull out my phone, and I look at the screen.

  ‘It’s Karl. I’m taking this.’

  Liam lets go of me and I step away, holding my phone to my ear as I listen to what Karl has to tell me. And as he speaks I feel my heart start to race, my gut twist up into a knot.

  I end the call and look over at Liam. He’s leaning back against his desk, his arms folded, his expression impassive.

  ‘He’s got something. He wants
to meet me …’

  Liam comes over, takes my hand, makes me look at him. ‘What does he have?’

  ‘He didn’t say. Just that – that it might be important.’

  ‘Are you meeting him now?’

  I nod. And then I realize I need to call Carmen, tell her to take over the meeting we had planned for this afternoon. I won’t be able to make it. I need to meet Karl, I need to know what he’s got. What he’s found out.

  ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

  Liam’s right there in front of me but it sounds like he’s miles away.

  ‘Ellie?’

  My mind snaps back into focus, and I look at him. ‘Yes, I – I want you to come with me.’ I need him there. I don’t know what Karl’s going to show me, I just know that I want Liam there.

  ‘Okay. Come on, let’s go.’

  This time it’s me who stops him from leaving. I grab his hand, make him stay where he is. ‘Liam, I … thank you. For being here. For listening to me.’

  He takes my face in his hand and kisses me, his mouth warm against mine, and I fall against him. I let his arms hold me, his body shield me, he keeps me safe.

  But I don’t love him.

  I don’t …

  *

  The rain’s eased off as we head towards the coffee shop in the centre of Durham Karl asked us to meet him in. I don’t even know how I managed to get here; my head was all over the place, imagining every scenario, anything that Karl could have found. Something I missed? Or something new? Why is this meeting so important? I’ve had updates from him before over the past few days, but so far he hasn’t come up with anything concrete, nothing to prove that Michael is doing anything wrong. He’s visited the pub with some of his university colleagues for lunch or after-work drinks and then he goes back to the hotel he’s staying at. That’s all that’s happened, so far. He goes to work. He goes back to the hotel. And I don’t know whether I’m frustrated, that he’s doing nothing out of the ordinary, that he isn’t seeing her, or whether I’m angry at myself for thinking he was capable of that. Of cheating. Have I really been making something out of nothing? Could I have been wrong?

  That knot in my stomach twists tighter as we reach the coffee shop, and Liam reaches for my hand before we go in, squeezing it tight. I give him a small smile and I let him kiss me, a quick kiss. We shouldn’t even be risking that, not here. But I need him to make me feel safe, because right now I feel anything but.

  ‘It’s going to be okay, Ellie.’

  He can’t know that. How can anything ever be okay again? After everything we’ve done. Everything we’ve said. Every secret we’ve kept. Every lie we’ve told …

  I turn away and walk inside, scanning the room until I find Karl over in the corner of the coffee shop, his laptop open in front of him.

  My heart’s beating wild and fast as we make our way over to him, and while the bigger part of me desperately needs to see what he’s got that he thinks is so important, there’s another, smaller part of me that doesn’t want to see anything that could suddenly make it all real.

  I sit down and Liam slides into the booth beside me, his thigh resting against mine and I need him that close to me. I need to know he’s there.

  Karl smiles at us both, and I reach under the table for Liam’s hand. I don’t let out a breath until his fingers curl around mine. I’m not letting go of him.

  ‘You said you wanted me to see this as soon as possible.’

  Karl nods, and presses a few keys on his laptop, before he slowly turns the computer around to face me and Liam.

  ‘I took these this morning,’ Karl begins, and I look at the screen. At an image of Michael, getting out of his car. Going into a health centre that I know isn’t ours. ‘He left the university at about ten-thirty and drove into Chester-le-Street, to this doctors’ surgery.’

  I’m aware of my fingers tightening around Liam’s, of my heart beating faster, I’m confused. Is he ill? Is that what he’s hiding? Is something wrong with him? Oh, Jesus, what if he’s only been trying to protect me all this time?

  I look at Liam, but he’s as confused as I am.

  ‘Do you recognize that surgery, Ellie?’

  I shake my head, glance back down at the laptop screen.

  ‘He was inside for about fifteen minutes. And when he left …’ Karl presses another key, and another image pops up on the screen, one that makes that knot in my gut tighten even more, nausea rising up in my throat. ‘He wasn’t alone.’

  Liam’s hand squeezes mine even tighter as I stare at the screen. At my husband.

  With her.

  Ava.

  I watch as more images appear, of my husband and his distraction. I stare at her leaning into him as he talks to her. Comforts her.

  His pregnant whore …

  Acknowledgements

  I want to thank my publishers, HarperImpulse, for giving me the chance to write this story. And for believing I could do it. That means a lot.

  My husband, for pointing me in the right direction when it came to some of the research. His technical head is always appreciated.

  But, most importantly, I want to thank my editors Charlotte Ledger and Eloisa Clegg for their ideas, their help and support, and for pushing me into making this book something I’m so, so proud of. Their feedback has made me smile, made me believe in myself and I am incredibly grateful to them for everything. They’ve been amazing. Thank you.

  Find out what happens next as M L Robert’s thrilling new series returns

  in

  Till Death Do Us Part, The Wife Book 4

  About the Author

  M L Roberts writes chilling dramas and psychological thrillers that explore the darker side of family life, love and friendship.

  Born in the North East of England – where many of her books are based – she has a love of horror novels, all things Swedish and is slightly obsessed with ‘Breaking Bad’. She’s also proud to call herself a bit of a geek.

  When she’s not writing she can be found reading, listening to music and spending way too much time on Pinterest.

  She currently lives in County Durham with her husband and increasingly mischievous dog.

  @AuthorMLRoberts

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  About HarperImpulse

  HarperImpulse is an innovative, award-winning digital imprint. In the four years since launch, we have continually hit digital bestseller lists, hosted the UK’s first online romance festival, published into over ten countries and grown an exciting stable of commercial women’s fiction authors.

  Readers, come and say hi to the team and your next read…

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  Writers, our vision is to publish the very best in digital-first commercial women’s fiction and we are simply looking for good stories! So, what are you waiting for? To submit, e-mail us at [email protected].

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