Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (free e novels TXT) 📗

her office. Then I saw what she was really doing. All the times she told me she was sitting at her desk or sharing a drink with several colleagues were, in fact, the times I saw her walking with that man. She went into pubs with him. She went into restaurants with him. And she even went into a hotel with him one time.

A quick check on the employee page of the company website where Laura works showed me the photo of this man who was with my wife, and that’s how I learnt the name of the person whom Laura was risking our marriage for.

It was while I was standing out there on the streets during those dreadful few weeks watching my wife going behind my back when I felt myself changing.

I wasn’t just broken.

I was destroyed.

I could feel the life leaving me. Colours became less vivid. Sounds were dulled. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. By the third evening of watching my wife run around the city with another man, I had given up. I didn’t care about anything, and I just wanted the pain to be gone.

My hands grip the steering wheel as I think back over that period in my life when I had hit rock bottom. It’s a wonder I didn’t kill myself or someone else. I had genuinely stopped caring about anything.

I became reckless. I started drinking heavily.

And I wasn’t afraid to get behind the wheel when I did it.

Through that difficult time, Laura never noticed the change in me. That’s because I was always there when she came home late from ‘work.’ I was always sleeping beside her in our bed. And I was always available to answer her calls and texts, just like a caring husband should be. On the outside, I still seemed like the same man. But on the inside, I had changed forever.

I was dead.

But it wasn’t long until I was reborn again.

I see the cottage up ahead as I turn onto the dirt track and it’s not long until I am parked up and heading inside. But I freeze just before I open the door because I catch a glimpse of something through the window.

The TV is on. Laura is watching it. And it looks like the lunchtime news is just starting.

This isn’t good.

This was not part of the plan.

33

LAURA

The news hasn’t been on yet, which is annoying. But Adam is back so at least I can show him what I have achieved since he has been gone.

‘Look! I got the TV working!’ I say as he walks through the door with a couple of carrier bags of supplies.

‘I can see that,’ he replies with a smile. ‘How did you manage it?’

‘I just turned all the switches on and off on the back.’

‘Oh. That’s weird. That was the first thing I tried.’

‘Maybe it just needed a woman’s touch.’

I join my husband in the kitchen where he is starting to unload the items he picked up, and I’m relieved to see the cartons of cranberry juice because I feel like I’ve already been having withdrawal symptoms.

‘We can get the news now without you having to look at the papers,’ I say as I pour myself a glass of my favourite drink. ‘That means you don’t have to go out as much.’

Adam nods his head. ‘Great. Has the news been on yet?’

‘No, but it’s almost lunchtime so there should be something on any minute.’

‘I was thinking we could unpack these and go for a walk,’ Adam suggests, and I frown because I can see how wet he got just walking inside from the car.

‘I’m not sure we’ve got the weather for a walk,’ I say. ‘Besides, we’ve finally got the TV working. It’ll be nice to just relax in front of it for a while. Maybe we can find a movie to take our mind off things.’

‘I don’t think a movie will do the trick.’

‘I know, but still, you have to admit this is much better now we actually have something to help us pass the time.’

Adam doesn’t reply and instead continues to busy himself with the unpacking of the shopping. I’m a little disappointed that he isn’t more enthusiastic about the fact that I have managed to get the TV working, but I suppose it is only a small victory. It’s hardly going to improve our situation massively in the grand scheme of things. Not if the police are looking for us.

‘The news is coming on!’ I call out when I hear the familiar music playing on the TV, and I rush back to the sofa to grab the remote and turn it up.

‘I doubt they’ll be reporting on hit and runs on the national news,’ Adam says from where he remains standing in the kitchen. ‘There must be dozens a day in the UK.’

‘They might be. You said it was in the national newspapers,’ I reply.

‘Yeah, but it’s a new day, and there must be a hundred new stories to fill the slots.’

‘Well, let’s hope there’s nothing but you never know,’ I tell him as I take my seat to watch the bulletin.

I don’t recognise the female newsreader behind the desk, but that’s only because I’ve never made a habit of watching the lunchtime news. I know who mans the desk for the 10 pm bulletins because we always watch them in bed, and I sometimes catch the early evening updates if I’m home from work in time or if I remember to put them on while I’m busy making dinner. But I can’t recall the last time I watched the news this early in the day, and I can tell the difference between the number of people who must be watching now compared to the peak times in the evenings.

This news presenter is nowhere near as glamorous as the woman who gets the evening slot.

The first couple of reports are about the usual hot topics that dominate the headlines. Conflict in the Middle