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CHAPTER ONE

THE CAR PARK was as quiet as she’d hoped it would be Inside her trusted Mini’s soothing cocoon, Perla Lowell bit the tip of her pen and searched fruitlessly for the right words

Four lines Four paltry lines in two hours were all she’d ed to come up with She sed her despair Three short days from now she’d have to stand up in front of friends and family and make a speech

And she had no words

No, scratch that She had words But none rang true Because the truth No, she couldn’twouldn’t subject anyone to the truth Her whole life for the past three years had been a colossal lie Was it any wonder her hands shook every time she tried to write? That her heart pounded with self-loathing for the lies she had to perpetuate for the sake of appearances?

But how could she do anything else? How could she repay kindness with hu else other than as expected would bring devastation that she couldn’t live with

Anger led with despair With a vicious twist she ripped the paper in two The cathartic sound echoed through the car and spilled out into the night air As if loosening the stranglehold she’d exercised on her eer than she cared to remember, the tears she’d been unable to shed so far now pierced through her tightened chest into her throat

Her fingers gained a life of their oo halves of paper becaain, until the sheet spilled through her hands in little wisps of illegible confetti She upended her hands and watched the roan, she buried her face in her hands, expecting finally, finally, to shed a tear

The tears never came They remained locked inside, as they had been for the last teeks, taunting her, punishing her for daring to wish for them when deep down she knew to cry would be shaenuous

Because, deep inside, she feltrelieved At a tihtening of being!

Slowly, she dropped her hands and stared through the windscreen Her vision cleared and she focused on the palatial Georgian structure in front of her

Despite its recent multi-million-pound revalish char with its exclusive membership-by-invitation-only Macdonald Club, and the extensive gold standard golf course that lay beyond the i façade

The centuries-old establishment’s only nod to the common man was the cocktail bar, which was open to the public froht