Karen Clarke - The Secret Sister

KAREN CLARKElives in Buckinghamshire with her husband and three grown-up children, where she writes romantic comedy novels and psychological suspense.

When she’s not writing, she reads a lot, enjoys walking – which is good for plot-wrangling and ideas, watching Netflix, baking and eating cakes. And then more walking to work off the cakes.

AMANDA BRITTANYlives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two dogs. She is the bestselling author of Her Last Lie and Tell the Truth , and her third psychological thriller, Traces of Her , was published in October 2019 . Her debut, Her Last Lie , has raised almost £8,000 so far for Cancer Research UK from her ebook royalties, in memory of her sister.

When she’s not writing, Amanda loves reading, walking, travelling and going to the theatre.

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2020

Copyright © K A Clarke and A J Brittany

K A Clarke and A J Brittany assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

E-book Edition © January 2020 ISBN: 9780008376246

Version: 2019-12-10

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Authors

Title Page The Secret Sister K A CLARKE AND A J BRITTANY

Copyright HQ An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2020 Copyright © K A Clarke and A J Brittany K A Clarke and A J Brittany assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. E-book Edition © January 2020 ISBN: 9780008376246 Version: 2019-12-10

Dedication For our families, with love.

Prologue: Ella

Chapter 1: Colleen

Chapter 2: Ella

Chapter 3: Ella

Chapter 4: Colleen

Chapter 5: Ella

Chapter 6: Colleen

Chapter 7: Ella

Chapter 8: Colleen

Chapter 9: Ella

Chapter 10: Colleen

Chapter 11: Ella

Chapter 12: Colleen

Chapter 13: Colleen

Chapter 14: Ella

Chapter 15: Ella

Chapter 16: Colleen

Chapter 17: Ella

Chapter 18: Colleen

Chapter 19: Ella

Chapter 20: Ella

Chapter 21: Colleen

Chapter 22: Colleen

Chapter 23: Colleen

Chapter 24: Ella

Chapter 25: Ella

Chapter 26: Colleen

Chapter 27: Ella

Chapter 28: Colleen

Chapter 29: Ella

Chapter 30: Colleen

Chapter 31: Ella

Chapter 32: Colleen

Chapter 33: Colleen

Chapter 34: Ella

Chapter 35: Colleen

Epilogue: Anna

Acknowledgements

Dear Reader …

Keep Reading …

About the Publisher

For our families, with love.

When you’ve led a charmed life, I suppose it’s inevitable that it’ll fall apart at some point.

It happened to me after my mother died, though her death was the catalyst, not the cause.

Mum had been ill for a while and had come to terms with dying. She’d lived to see me happily married, and to meet her precious granddaughter. I thought we’d had time to say all the things that mattered.

When the end came it was peaceful, with her family gathered around, and I was holding her hand.

It was much later, while clearing out her bedroom, that I realised I hadn’t known my mother as well as I thought I had.

The one thing that really mattered had been left unsaid.

Saturday

The sun woke me, slanting through the half-open curtains, hurting my eyes. I rolled out of bed, pulled my hoodie on over my pants, and padded to the window.

My brain pulsed against my skull. I felt sick and fragile. It had been years since I’d suffered a hangover, but I’d never forgotten the feeling.

The view from the ground-floor window of the guesthouse was nothing special – an area for cars, a scruffy garden with plastic furniture and faded umbrellas – but there was something soothing about the silence. Apart from the occasional cry of a seagull it was a respite from my shite-awful life.

I squinted up at the sky as the sun grew bigger and rounder – a shiny ball of hope. It would disappear within hours, if the puffy grey clouds approaching were anything to go by. Hope never stayed around long.

A solitary magpie landed on the window ledge with a thud and a flap of wings, and I jumped. I’d been on hyper-alert since leaving my husband, nerves jangling at the slightest thing. I prayed Celia wouldn’t tell Jake where to find me – not that she cared. The woman I’d called mother for thirty-three years had long since lost interest in me.

I turned and scanned the room, trying to work out how I got so pissed the night before that I now barely remembered arriving.