Lewis - The Girl Who Came Back

Almost thirty years ago, fourteen year old Penny had disappeared from her familys life, never to be heard from again. It is the missing child case that has haunted Andee her whole life; And now Penny Andees sister is back.

The question is: why?

Contents

Fiction

A Class Apart

Dance While You Can

Stolen Beginnings

Darkest Longings

Obsession

Vengeance

Summer Madness

Last Resort

Wildfire

Cruel Venus

Strange Allure

The Mill House

A French Affair

Missing

Out of the Shadows

Lost Innocence

The Choice

Forgotten

Stolen

No Turning Back

Losing You

The Truth About You

Never Say Goodbye

Behind Closed Doors

Too Close to Home

No Place to Hide

Books that run in sequence

Chasing Dreams

Taking Chances

No Child of Mine

Dont Let Me Go

Series featuring Laurie Forbes and Elliott Russell

Silent Truths

Wicked Beauty

Intimate Strangers

The Hornbeam Tree

Memoir

Just One More Day

One Day at a Time

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

Epub ISBN: 9781448183876

Version 1.0

Published by Century 2016

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Copyright Susan Lewis Ltd 2016

Susan Lewis has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Century

Century

The Random House Group Limited

20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Century is part of the Penguin Random House group of companies whose addresses can be found at global.penguinrandomhouse.com.

The Random House Group Limited Reg. No. 954009

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 9781780891828

To James, again and forever

It wasnt right to feel this way.

Not about her own daughter.

The child was only nine, for Gods sake. She was an innocent, a tender young soul still trying to find her way in the world. Except that wasnt how she seemed, innocent and tender, or how she behaved.

She wasnt like other children. She didnt run or skip or play childish games. She didnt sing or tease or sleep like an angel.

She didnt look at people, she stared; she didnt laugh, or when she did the sound was false, jarring, sadly humourless. Olivia had never heard girlish giggles erupting from bubbles of happiness or excitement inside Amelia. Little seemed to amuse her, or even please her, although she was often fascinated by things: insects, small animals, dolls; tools, gadgets, other childrens toys. She always wanted what wasnt hers, which perhaps didnt make her so very different from other children; Olivia had come across plenty of kids like that.

Amelia didnt speak very much either, at least not to her mother.

She chatted away with her father when he made time for her.

She was the apple of his eye, when he remembered she was there.

As far as he was concerned, nothing was too much for his girl, provided it didnt get in the way of his other commitments.

Olivia felt sure that Amelia was the only human being her husband had ever come close to loving, although shed thought he loved her once.

That seemed a very long time ago.

She wondered how shed ended up in this marriage, how shed allowed herself to become the victim of such an egotistical man with such a dismissive air towards those he considered of little use.

Olivia was never entirely sure how useful she was to him.

In a material sense she wanted for nothing. They lived in a large, imposing house a stones throw from Chelsea Bridge. She had her own suite of rooms, a fancy car, a generous allowance and all the freedoms she could wish for.

She also had a daughter who was healthy and intelligent, meticulously clean and tidy, but never seemed joyful or carefree. Amelia was sullen and sly.

Yes, really sullen and sly.

Olivia had never voiced her feelings about Amelia to anyone, least of all to her husband, Anton. Of course he would say the problem, if there was one and he probably wouldnt admit that there was, lay entirely with her. She was Amelias mother, therefore she was the person Amelia spent the most time with (when she wasnt away at school), so it stood to reason that she was the biggest influence on Amelias life.

Amelia was on her third school now, fifth if Olivia counted the two kindergartens shed attended.

Amelia couldnt settle. Other children didnt warm to her, or were afraid of her, or ruthlessly tormented her. Olivia felt sorry for her when she was bullied and tried to soothe her, but Amelia hated being babied.

What was to become of her?

Would she change as she got older, and start to understand that she needed to be more like others if she wanted to be accepted by them? It was pointless trying to have the conversation with her; she simply got up and walked away. Or shed tell her mother to shut up, or to leave her alone, she was busy.

Antons parents were bewildered by the girl, although most things bewildered them these days.

As for Olivias parents, theyd separated many years ago and she hadnt seen either of them in a very long while. She didnt even know where they were living now, though she guessed she could find out easily enough if she tried.

Shed felt so painfully alone since marrying Anton, which wasnt how shed felt when she was still single. Shed had lots of friends then, a career as a legal secretary, a great social life and shed always been up for something new. Anton had been like that too, dashing and daring, successful, romantic and always attentive.

So what had changed him?

Maybe his irresistible charm had been an act that hed simply dropped once hed made her his wife, seeing no need to go on pleasing her as he had when they first met.

She had no idea if he ever had affairs, but she hoped he did, they would provide her with a solid excuse to leave when the time was right.

Wasnt the time right now?

Not while Amelia was still so young.

So you see, Im not such a bad person. I really do care about my daughter, I want whats best for her, Ill never turn my back on her, Im determined to find a way through to her heart.