The Ultimate Betrayal Read Online Free PDF Page A

did. She’d been counting on this, but if for some reason he’d wanted to go inside with her, she would have purchased something for the general household and gone back to the grocery store later this evening.
    But again, he hadn’t joined her, and she was glad because right before crashing on any new diet, Melanie always ate whatever she wanted. That way she could make herself physically and mentally sick of all high-calorie, high-fat, high-carb foods, and she wouldn’t crave them as much. She’d be disgusted just by the mere thought of eating any junk food again.
    She was looking forward to devouring and enjoying every item she’d snatched up at the store—items Brad hadn’t noticed her carrying upstairs to their bedroom in the plastic bag because as soon as they’d arrived home, he’d shed his suit jacket, loosened and removed his tie, and flipped on the television. ESPN had been showing highlights from game one of the NBA Finals, which Brad had missed last Thursday because of the important trial he’d been preparing for well into the night. Although, as it had turned out, his client and the opposing side had agreed early Friday morning to settle out of court. Needless to say, Brad was ready and waiting for game two, which was airing this evening. That is, if he could stay awake. Melanie knew it wouldn’t be long before he dropped off to sleep on the sofa in the family room, taking at least a two-hour nap. This was his Sunday-after-church-after-dinner ritual, especially when he worked on tough cases for more than a couple of weeks straight; which suited Melanie just fine, because it meant he wouldn’t be coming upstairs anytime soon—it meant she could gorge herself one last time in peace. She could eat and drink every delicious item of junk food she loved: a family-size bag of Ole Salty’s potato chips, a large package of Chips Ahoy! cookies, a ten-pack box of Little Debbie Zebra Cakes, and a two-liter bottle of Nehi peach soda. She would definitely feel stuffed and ill when she finished, but she was still planning to eat all of it. She knew going nearly straight liquid might be tough for the first two or three days, because that’s how it had been when she’d done this a couple of times before, but after that, she’d be good. She’d feel fine, and it wouldn’t be long before she was ten pounds lighter. She would reach her goal and be happy.

Chapter 6
    I t was a gorgeous Monday, and Alicia couldn’t have felt better. The copyedited version of her manuscript had arrived an hour ago, and she was planning to start reading it this afternoon. It was only ten thirty, and she was glad her publisher had shipped it overnight on Friday for early-morning delivery today. Her fourth novel was being published in January, seven months from now, and she’d already written the synopsis and outline for her fifth. She was trying her best to stay on a one-book-a-year schedule, and so far she’d been able to do it. The production process was long, though. First, she submitted her manuscript to her editor, and when she heard back from her, she did rewrites and more rewrites, and then once a copyeditor reviewed it, checking for grammar, punctuation, and other minor issues, Alicia read it again. She made more changes and edits during this stage also. After that, her publisher sent her the proof pages to read one last time. They also gave it to professional proofreaders, making sure that as many typos as possible were found and corrected, but there was always at least something that was missed. There was just no getting around that when you were dealing with nearly a hundred thousand words, but Alicia always hoped for no more than one or two errors.
    Alicia was also excited about the national tour she’d be embarking on, because there was nothing like meeting and talking with her readers—the amazing people she never would have had the opportunity to connect with had she not become a writer. Her publisher was sending her