ML Roberts - The Wife - A gripping emotional thriller with a twist that will take your breath away

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

HarperImpulse an imprint of

HarperColl‌insPublishers

The News Building

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

This paperback edition 2018

First published in Great Britain in ebook format by HarperColl‌insPublishers 2018

Copyright © ML Roberts 2018

ML Roberts asserts the moral right to

be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library

ISBN: 9780008119461

eISBN: 9780008119454

Version: 2018-02-01

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. No part of this publication may be

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted,

in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,

photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior

permission of the publishers.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page A division of HarperCollins Publishers www.harpercollins.co.uk

Copyright HarperImpulse an imprint of HarperColl‌insPublishers The News Building 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF www.harpercollins.co.uk This paperback edition 2018 First published in Great Britain in ebook format by HarperColl‌insPublishers 2018 Copyright © ML Roberts 2018 ML Roberts asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 9780008119461 eISBN: 9780008119454 Version: 2018-02-01 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. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Dedication For my husband. His constant support has been everything.

Prologue Prologue Sometimes you look at people and you think their life is perfect. You envy them, what they have, what you assume they have. The perfect marriage, perfect careers, perfect home. They have it all, or that’s how it seems to those on the outside. But sometimes, behind those closed doors of that seemingly perfect home, secrets live in the shadows, just waiting to reveal themselves. Secrets that make that perfect life more fragile and fractured than anyone could imagine. Secrets that cast a darkness over everything, even when the sun is shining. I had secrets. And my life wasn’t perfect, even when I thought it was. We all had secrets. We all told lies. We all had a darkness that blocked out the sun. No … my life wasn’t perfect …

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

Epilogue

About the Author

About HarperImpulse

About the Publisher

For my husband. His constant support has been everything.

Sometimes you look at people and you think their life is perfect. You envy them, what they have, what you assume they have. The perfect marriage, perfect careers, perfect home. They have it all, or that’s how it seems to those on the outside. But sometimes, behind those closed doors of that seemingly perfect home, secrets live in the shadows, just waiting to reveal themselves. Secrets that make that perfect life more fragile and fractured than anyone could imagine. Secrets that cast a darkness over everything, even when the sun is shining.

I had secrets.

And my life wasn’t perfect, even when I thought it was.

We all had secrets.

We all told lies.

We all had a darkness that blocked out the sun.

No … my life wasn’t perfect …

‘Come on, Michael. Dance with me.’

‘When was the last time you saw me dance, Ellie?’

I lean back against the wall, the edge of my mouth twisting up into a smirk. ‘Our wedding.’

‘Almost fourteen years ago.’

I put down my gin and tonic and reach out and grab him by his belt, pulling him towards me, smiling as my mouth almost touches his. ‘But they’re playing our song.’

‘We have a song now?’ He arches an eyebrow and gives me the kind of grin that made me fall for him in the first place, all those years ago.

‘For a supposedly intelligent man you can be such a dick sometimes.’

He laughs, a low, husky laugh and I close my eyes as he kisses me, just a small kiss, his lips barely graze mine, but it’s enough. ‘We don’t have a song, Ellie,’ he whispers.

I let go of him and pick up my drink, taking another sip as my eyes scan the room. I’m not the biggest fan of Michael’s work gatherings, but as one of the university’s leading professors, a respected academic and head of the English Studies Department, it’s my duty, I suppose, to be by his side at these events. And I’m used to them now. In the beginning I’d always felt slightly out of place, as if I didn’t belong in this world. I never went to university, I wasn’t born into a family with those kind of aspirations. My family was nothing like Michael’s. My family was a mess, but I was determined not to go down the route everyone expected me to take. I was determined to become successful against all the odds, and so far I’ve been very lucky. I’ve achieved that success.

Michael leans back against the wall next me and I turn to face him. ‘We do, actually. We have a song. You just never remember what it is.’

He frowns and I look into his eyes and I can tell he genuinely wants to remember what that song is, but he can’t. And it doesn’t matter anyway, not really. I just like bringing it up, watching him squirm slightly as he tries his hardest to recall something that, in his world, isn’t all that important.

‘Liam’ll dance with me.’ I smile, and Michael returns it.

‘Any of the men in this room would dance with you, Ellie. You’re like a breath of fresh air around here.’

‘You’re hardly stuffy professor material yourself … Oh, hang on, there he is … Liam!’ I wave frantically across the room at Liam – Dr Liam Kennedy BS, MSc, PhD, to give him his full title, although, there are probably half a dozen letters I’ve missed off there – one of our closest friends and a visiting lecturer here at the university.