The One You Fear Read Online Free PDF

lunchtime, after exploring the shops of the high street, they grabbed some fish and chips and sat on the sea wall, just in front of the Tate gallery.
    ‘I couldn’t be happier,’ Emma said, popping a chip into her mouth and resting her shoulder against Dan’s.
    Dan brought his arm around her back. He looked off into the distance, far out to sea, as if searching for the right words. Emma watched his face. He looked troubled. ‘Me too,’ he said finally.
    ‘Are you okay?’
    He nodded unconvincingly. ‘You know, there was a time when I thought I’d never see you again.’ He traced his tongue along his top lip, which Emma knew meant he was struggling to contain his emotions.
    She squeezed his hand. ‘It’s okay; we can talk about this now. I know what we said back in the apartment, about forgetting it all while we’re away, but maybe this is the best place to deal with it.’
    There was a tear glinting in the corner of Dan’s eye. ‘I was so scared, Em.’ He shook his head. ‘I’ve never been as scared in my life.’
    ‘Scared of Peter Myers?’
    ‘No, scared of losing you.’
    ‘I was afraid of losing you, too,’ she said. ‘There were points when I thought you might already be…’
    ‘Dead?’
    Emma couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
    ‘Is that why…’ Dan stopped himself, looking out again towards open water.
    ‘What?’
    ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ he said, blowing out his cheeks.
    ‘No, Dan, don’t keep things bottled up. You’ve got to let these things out.’
    He gathered himself. ‘Is that why you got close to Stuart Harris again?’
    Emma wasn’t expecting that. She didn’t know what to say.
    Dan looked at her. ‘I saw the photographs on the Daily Post website. You were on the boat with him, sailing down the Thames, drinking champagne.’
    Immediately she felt on the defensive. The boat trip, to publicise the upcoming movie that she was then due to play a major role in, had been covered extensively by the newspaper. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but here it was, causing trouble. ‘I didn’t know he’d be there. It wasn’t planned, I promise.’
    ‘I know,’ he said sadly. ‘I know it wasn’t, I didn’t mean it like that.’
    Emma searched for the words. She didn’t feel angry at what Dan had suggested; she felt guilty. She had, for however short a period, got too close to Stuart Harris. Yes, he had used her, but she had been somewhat willing. Is this why Dan had been acting so strange since his release – had it not been about his incarceration at all? Had it been about them? If so, then for the good of their relationship it did need dealing with now.
    ‘I love you , Dan, not Stuart. Please believe me. I did love him, a long time ago, but honestly, he wasn’t half the man you are. And the way I feel about you, well, it’s totally different to anything I’ve ever felt before. It’s on another level – always has been, always will be.’
    Dan nodded. ‘I’m really sorry, Em. I shouldn’t have questioned you like that. I do trust you, totally. It’s just that when I saw those photos you looked… so happy.’
    Emma wanted to cry. She could empathise totally with how he must have felt seeing those images, taken at the time when he’d been imprisoned, with the world not knowing whether he was dead or alive. ‘Maybe for that split second,’ she admitted. ‘But you know what photos are like – sometimes they don’t tell the real story. I wasn’t really happy. How could I be? My fiancé was missing. In retrospect, I wish I hadn’t gone to that event, but I guess it was just how I got through it all. Peter Myers made me think that you’d left me.’
    ‘I’m being an idiot,’ he said. ‘We were having a lovely time, trying to get over things, and I’m going on like this, jealous about someone who isn’t even alive anymore.’
    ‘You’re not an idiot. You’re just being honest about how you feel. There’s nothing wrong with that. It would be wrong to