The Sunday Wife: A Lockdown Thriller

by Adriane Leigh

  My eyes hovered on the screen that showed Freya as she moved across the bedroom and began to dig through the closet in her mountaintop chalet. She pulled out a backpack, clothes, and her hiking boots, and then sat back on her heels.

  She looked tired, worn out from this life already. I’d hoped she’d adapt more quickly to her new reality. Instead she’d struggled with the isolation and retreated into herself and her past. Most of her days were spent rifling through her mother’s things in search of answers, the nights long and lonely as she tossed and turned. That’s why I’d made a point to visit her most weekends. If I didn’t, I was worried I’d lose her totally.

  She’d asked me to stay longer, but my obligations to powerful people were a priority. Lucky for her, they wanted her alive.

  For now.

  The landscaping company was a good cover for a while, but I’d have to elevate my game if I hoped to follow her to Colorado.

  Freya was worried about telling me she was leaving, but no matter what she thinks, it won’t be the last time she sees me. Not by a long shot. Not as long as both of our lives depend on it.

  Freya’s head bent then, eyes closing as her lips moved in a slow rhythm. She was praying. I couldn't help myself and unmuted the audio feed.

  “Please, God, help me find peace. Guide my loved ones to make the right decisions and keep them safe. No matter what happens to me, please keep them safe. And please...give extra strength to Bradley if...if I never see my best friend again.”

  She whispered a quick Amen and then wiped at tears in her eyes.

  She looked emotionally devastated, overcome with the guilt of leaving without telling me.

  My finger hovered over the microphone switch. Every muscle in me wanted to reach out to her, let her know I was still there with her. How could I ever let her go? She’d been the only stabilizing force in my life. How could I tell the woman I loved with all of my heart that I wasn’t who she thought I was? That I’d been living a double life and she was in the thick of it with me, only she didn’t know?

  But she does know. Sort of.

  If I flipped on the microphone right now and told her everything that had happened, my advanced training and experience tracking humans around the globe, she would forgive and forget. Her bleeding heart could never be mad at me for long. But then I put both of us at risk, and I’d lose everything I’d worked so hard for in the process. For what—love?

  And even though I’d blocked it out, there was the minor fact that I’d facilitated her mother’s demise. I’d placed her under surveillance, it was my system that was hacked by an anonymous group and released to the wrong people. I was convinced she was killed to send a message to Tav about the dirty money he’d taken to buy access to his powerful father, but who had orchestrated the hit? I still couldn’t be sure. When I’d been tasked with keeping assets on Freya’s mom, I wasn’t privy to why. I only assumed it was because of the possible political implications if Freya’s mother decided to name names when it came to her sketchy past with the Senator. My sense now is that it goes much deeper.

  I pulled my hand away from the microphone switch, choosing instead to cut the audio feed and leave Freya to her peace again. If Tav wanted her to believe she was having fugue states to justify the true darkness of her reality, maybe it was for the better.

  Maybe the Senator's son knew best after all.

  A wry grin pulled at my lips. His lies brought her comfort. His lies made her feel safe. If Freya thought lies could bring her peace, then I would respect that.

  Freya deserves peace and it’s not me that can give it to her.

  I pulled up my encrypted email server on the desktop computer screen and typed out a quick sentence to a colleague in the tech department at the Pentagon.

  Need a geo-location on a call coming out of The Rocky Mountains. It’s urgent.

  I’d saved her from herself once already and I would stop at nothing to do it again and again. I still had a few more surprises up my sleeve for Freya. She didn't know it yet, but our forever was far from over, even if her time at Deception was.

  Long ago her bleeding heart caged mine, her fatal flaw was falling in love with lies.

  THE END.

  BEFORE SHE LIED

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  Best friends Morrissey, Lennox, and Kal witness a tragic accident in their teens that shapes each of their futures differently. Years later, with the worst night of their lives forgotten, Lennox and Morrissey are now living the perfect life happily married with a newborn son and a wealthy estate at their fingertips.

  Until another horrific night changes everything.

  They soon discover that the accident long ago was only the beginning, the troubling circumstances it unravelled too chilling to be ignored. After a series of mysterious events occur, neighbor is suddenly pitted against neighbor, suspicion poisoning each of their friendships and an entire community.

  With perfect lies crumbling and the perfect family cracking at the seams, heartbreak, jealousy, and double lives threaten the safety of each involved. Especially when the most precious victims of that night are yet to be revealed and before it's all over at least one of them will be dead.

  "A riveting page-turner _with jaw-dropping twists and turns right to the very end. I couldn't put it down." -_ Nelle L'Amour, New York Times Bestselling Author

  "Fans of Riley Sager will love The Last Writer. An addictive, bone-chilling book! Be sure to keep the lights on!" - Nelle L'Amour, New York Times Bestselling Author of That Man

  THE LAST WRITER

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  READ on KINDLE

  When amateur thriller writer Ryn Weaver is accepted for the prestigious Writer-in-Residence program at The New York Public Library, she never expected to stumble into a real-life mystery surrounding the famous children’s book, Lillies in the Cellar. Inspired by Yara and her twin Yarrow Thornberry's eccentric upbringing raised behind the walls of the library, the siblings have long-buried their infamous literary past as Yara now mentors young authors to follow in the footsteps of her best-selling success. But at what price?

  Before night falls on her first day, Ryn is left with three haunting questions: did the unspeakable horrors that unfolded in the children’s book occur not just in fiction, but in reality too? Is she destined for the same fate? And how did the last writer end up dead?

  A terrifying twist on classic gothic suspense from a USA Today bestselling author about an ambitious writer and the cracks that fracture a famous literary family. Perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Riley Sager, and Lisa Jewell.

  Sign up for new release alerts at https://www.adrianeleigh.com

  Adriane Leigh is an

  Amazon Top 20 and USA Today Bestselling Author,

  creator of RARE: Romance Author & Reader Events, and host of The Rebel Artist podcast.

  She loves sweatpants, anything with cheese, and working with her pups in her lap while she writes. She’s been featured in VOGUE Magazine and The Montreal Gazette, and her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Portuguese.

  Visit adrianeleigh.com for more.