I SEE YOU an unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist by PATRICIA MACDONALD (bookstand for reading txt) 📗

He waited for her to say more but at the same time the realization dawned in his eyes that there was nothing more she needed to say. She was saying that there was nothing he had to prove to her. He had already proved it, over the course of their long life together. That’s what she was telling him. ‘You don’t know what that means to me,’ he said.

She could feel a wave of love emanating from him, threatening to inundate her and make her weak. He wanted to come and sit beside her and pull her to him and hold her in his arms. He wanted to soak in her warmth, and share everything he felt without saying another word. Hannah shook her head in warning.

‘I know exactly what it means,’ she said. ‘Don’t think I don’t.’

Adam’s brief smile was like a shaft of sunlight breaking through an overcast sky. ‘You’re amazing. It was my lucky day when I married you,’ he said.

‘Mine too,’ said Hannah.

Adam sighed. He understood why she was resisting that desire to find comfort in one another’s arms. There was still too much that they urgently needed to say.

‘I just keep seeing her face,’ he said. ‘I keep asking myself, why did she attack me like that?’

Hannah shook her head. ‘I guess she will say anything to get what she wants. You know, what’s mine is mine, and you can’t have it unless I say so.’

‘That’s just it,’ said Adam. ‘Is it really Sydney that she wants? Sometimes, I don’t even think she cares that much about her child. She never has any time for her. I always tried to make excuses for Lisa. Her youth. Her schoolwork.’

‘So did I,’ said Hannah. ‘Maybe more than you. After all, I was Lisa’s model as a mother. For a long time now, I’ve tried to tell myself that there is more than one way to be a mother. It’s really stupid, isn’t it? I was trying to convince myself that she was just a bit distant. More like my own mother.’

‘Well, I hate to say it, darling, but your mother is nobody’s idea of maternal devotion,’ said Adam.

Hannah sighed. ‘She tried. She was just . . .’

‘Neglectful,’ he said.

‘Not neglectful, exactly,’ Hannah protested. ‘Just . . . preoccupied with herself. But that’s another excuse. Inadequate as Pamela’s mothering was, she never did anything to hurt me. Not like what Lisa was proposing for Sydney. Good God. Pamela would never dream of such a thing. Not on her worst day.’

‘That’s true,’ Adam admitted.

‘No, it’s different with Lisa. I didn’t want to see what was staring me in the face.’

‘So now you think you understand her?’ Adam asked.

Hannah shook her head. ‘I wouldn’t say that. I will never understand her. That much I know for certain. But I can see now how volatile Lisa is if she doesn’t get her way. How dangerous.’

‘That’s why she is doing this!’ Adam cried.

‘She’s doing it because she knows what it means. If she says these things about you, it will be impossible for us to gain custody of Sydney. Even though Lisa can’t prove her claims against you, the court would never risk putting Sydney in our care. Lisa knows that. One accusation like that from her, and any chance we might have of gaining custody goes out the window.’

‘Even if we can show the court what she was planning to do with Sydney?’ he asked. ‘We do have those letters. We don’t have to admit how we got them. We have them, and we can use them. The court will see what she was planning.’

Hannah gazed at him dispassionately. ‘I didn’t say that they would give Sydney back to her. They probably wouldn’t. But they would never give her to us. Lisa’s counting on that. She figures that we won’t dare bring it up in court for that very reason. We would be taking a chance on losing Sydney forever.’

‘If we didn’t get her, what would happen to her?’ he asked. ‘To Sydney.’

‘Custodial care,’ said Hannah.

‘A foster home,’ said Adam.

‘Maybe more than one. These cases can drag on for years. In the meantime, Sydney could end up in a series of foster homes. With no one and nothing to call her own.’

Adam put his head in his hands and groaned. ‘Jesus. I can’t believe Lisa would risk that. That she would put her own defenseless, innocent child in the hands of strangers, just to spite us.’

‘There was a time I wouldn’t have believed it,’ said Hannah. ‘But not anymore.’

‘It’s a goddam catch-22,’ Adam cried. ‘If we keep quiet Lisa will be able to take her daughter wherever she wants. Do whatever she wants to her. And if we protest, if we try to block her, she can make these accusations against me, and we will lose our granddaughter.’

Hannah kneaded one hand with the other. ‘That’s pretty much it,’ she said.

They sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating the two grim scenarios.

‘Maybe . . .’ he said.

Hannah looked up at him. ‘What?’

‘Look, can we agree that the only thing that matters is Sydney?’ he said.

Hannah frowned. ‘Yes. That’s what’s important.’

‘More important than us. Or our lives. She’s an innocent child who deserves a chance in this world to be happy.’

‘Of course,’ said Hannah.

‘Then hear me out,’ he said. ‘I can hardly stand the thought of this but, Lisa’s got us in an impossible situation.’

‘The thought of what?’ Hannah asked, frowning. ‘What are you thinking?’

Adam took a deep breath and looked at her impassively. ‘Tell everyone that you believe her charges against me. Divorce me. I won’t contest it. We could make it quick. That way, with me gone, and out of the house, maybe they will give custody of Sydney to