Prologue
It’s pitch-black outside with just a few feeble stars breaking through the clouds, and the cold is as sharp as needles as it seeps into my skin.
I’m crouching down with my hood up, hidden in the bushes, watching her through the window as she tidies away their plates and makes her modern kitchen sparkle.
He finishes the washing-up and kisses her, and I feel my insides clench with anger.
She really has it all; a perfect wife with a perfect life.
But she doesn’t know that when the time is right, I’m going to take everything away from her. The life she has stolen is nothing more than a tight knot ready to unravel, and I know exactly which pieces to pull, where to rip, and when to let go of the damaged strands. I have it all planned out.
She straightens her back and peers out of the kitchen window, so I step back and hide deeper within the shadows of the bushes.
When she looks away again, I light a cigarette and savor the burn of the smoke in my throat, then I wait for a while, until the lights go out and I’m certain they have gone to bed.
Finally, I toss the cigarette to the ground, crushing it with the bottom of my shoe before I emerge from my hiding place, my knees creaking as I walk softly up to the backdoor.
The key turns slowly in the lock, and with my ears attuned to every sound, I enter the house I know like the back of my hand.
Enjoying the thrill of creeping around in the dark, I listen hard for the sound of someone coming down the stairs and quietly make myself a cup of coffee.
It’s that expensive coffee that she always buys, because of course she always has to have the best. Gradually, my invasion of her space soothes my anger, just as the coffee melts away the cold that has now reached my bones.
Then I leave her silly little terracotta and cream mug in the pristine sink for her to find.
A little reminder that she is far from safe. Her days are numbered.
I have come for her.
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