I Will Not Run by Elizabeth Preston Read Free Book Online

you’re sure. But you know as well as I do that emotional blackmail has a lingering insidious effect. It takes its toll, and lasts a lifetime.”
    “Yep. Look, thanks for the chat, Jack my mate, but I’d better get on.” I bolted for the door.
    “I’ll be out this afternoon. I’m down at the cop shop again at three. I’m sitting in on another interrogation. And, you know, today, I’m looking forward to it. I’m right in the mood.”
    Jack stared at me.
    “And mate, despite what you just implied, I want Winter back for all the right reasons. But you were spot on about something. I’m done with losing.”
    I walked out and let the door swing hard behind me.

Chapter 6
    Winter
    Monday 14 th July
    I need to finish telling you, dear diary, what happened yesterday. I got up to the bit where Dom and I were in the kitchen talking and Bruno was in our bedroom listening. I had to be so careful, had to think every sentence through before opening my mouth, otherwise I risked giving us away. It was tricky because I was ridiculously excited, butterflies and all that, and strangely angry too. I know that sounds weird, but I was angry because Dom looked so carefree and handsome and in comparison, I knew I looked downtrodden and pathetic.
    With all that torrid emotion inside me, I had to act like nothing was up. Cripes, indifference was the very last thing I was feeling.
    Every time I opened my mouth, I felt like I was tiptoeing through a pit of snakes. Imagine if I’d forgotten myself for a second and had said something dumb like, How’s your Mum, Dominic? How suspicious would that have sounded to eavesdropping Bruno?
    So instead I said, “So, Dom, do you live in Galston somewhere?” and silently congratulated myself for sounding normal.
    I dropped the coffee capsule into the machine and tried to think straight, tried to remember how to make coffee. There was a sequence, I do it every day, but for the life of me I couldn’t think how it went. My head was spinning.
    Heat the milk first. Have I changed the water in the machine? Who cares! The coffee started to drip into the tray because I’d forgotten to put a mug under the spout. Damn it all.
    “In the village,” he answered. “And in Sydney too.”
    In the village? What’s that? He lives in the village. I think that’s what he meant.
    Everywhere felt like no-go territory. I had a million real questions. I was desperate to know where exactly he lived and who exactly he was with, but those questions had to be stowed away for later. Bruno might not be in the room, but he was listening, guaranteed.
    “Came back to live in the village over a year ago now,” he answered, his perfectly shaped butt pressed against the edge of my stone bench.
    “You’ve got a young family, I suppose?” I asked, knowing I was on shaky ground with that question. Would Bruno, with his ear pressed flat against the wall, think village equals young family equals sane enough question to ask a stranger? I doubted it. Instead he’d jump to conclusions. He’d decide that I was interested in this ridiculously talented, confident man standing in front of me. I was being as subtle as a storm trooper. I might as well have come out and asked, Are you single?
    I heard, actually heard, Dominic grin. “Nope. No wife or young family. I guess I’m still waiting for the right girl.”
    I blushed, heaven knows why. Nothing he said related to me. I was married already, so he can’t have been referring to me. And that was annoying in itself. He was staring again. Where did he get all his confidence from?
    I heard the shower in our en-suite fire up. But that still did not mean we were safe to talk. The shower could be a decoy. Bruno might be behind our bedroom wall right now taking notes. If he caught me flirting or being over familiar with a stranger, he’d lose it. He could feed off one sin of mine for months.
    Thinking of months of suffering, I tried to improve my cover. “Do you realise, Dominic, just