The Silent Bride

ALSO BY SHALINI BOLAND The Daughter-in-Law A Perfect Stranger The Family Holiday The Couple Upstairs My Little Girl The Wife One Of Us Is Lying The Other Daughter The Marriage Betrayal The Girl From The Sea The Best Friend The Perfect Family The Silent Sister The Millionaire’s Wife The Child Next Door The Secret Mother Marchwood Vampire Series Outside Series This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2023 by Shalini Boland All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Thomas and Mercer, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Thomas and Mercer are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781662507083 eISBN: 9781662507076 Cover design by Faceout Studio, Spencer Fuller Cover image: © Evgenyrychko / Shutterstock; © ModernewWorld / Getty Images For Pete – I’m glad it was you at the altar CONTENTS Prologue Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Chapter Twenty-Six Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Chapter Twenty-Nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-One Chapter Thirty-Two Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Chapter Thirty-Six Chapter Thirty-Seven Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Chapter Forty-Three Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Epilogue ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS A LETTER FROM THE AUTHOR ABOUT THE AUTHOR Follow the Author on Amazon Prologue I shouldn’t have come here today. If I hadn’t come, then it would never have happened. He wouldn’t have seen the expression on my face. But when he turned to look at me, he froze for a second. His eyes widened and I could tell he knew. The knife in his fist was proof of that. My chest went so tight it felt as though someone was sitting on it. Even now, I’m massaging the spot between my ribs to try to loosen it. To get my breathing under control instead of these rough gasps squeezing from my lungs. A sound I’ve never heard before. There was no time to think. I just lifted the brass lamp and threw it as hard as I could. She screamed, of course she did. But now she’s as quiet as the grave. And me? Well . . . despite my jagged breathing and shaking fingers, all I feel right now is an overwhelming sense of relief. Chapter One NOW, 10 JUNE This is it. The moment. After all the years of daydreaming, of failed dates and underwhelming relationships, and of finally finding the one, this, right here, right now, is the culmination of it all. The moment that I, Alice Porter, walk down the aisle to marry Seth Evans, man of my dreams. Dad takes my arm. He’s looking dapper in a charcoal suit and burgundy silk tie, a white rose in his buttonhole, same as all the groomsmen and, of course, the groom. I can tell by the softening of his gaze that Dad is happy. He’s always been ambitious for me and my sister Elizabeth. Wanted us to have good careers and good husbands. My father is the VP of a large logistics company. Almost at retirement age, he jets across the world as though he’s twenty years younger. Seth, my husband-to-be, is a successful London doctor, an endocrinologist, who also happens to be the only child of wealthy parents. We met in a local pub just over a year ago when he was staying in his parents’ New Forest holiday cottage with friends. I was supposed to be on a blind date that night, but got stood up. It was shaping up to be an awful evening until Seth came over and saved me from swearing off men for life. It’s been a whirlwind romance ever since. ‘Ready?’ Dad asks. I take a deep breath and gaze down at my simple bouquet of ferns and roses, at the beaded lace bodice and silk organza skirt of my wedding gown. At the tips of my satin shoes peeking out beneath layers of tulle. Of course I’m ready. From my manicured French-tipped nails to my gleaming dark curls, I’m more than ready. I swallow, trying to summon a reply for my father, but emotion has stopped up my throat. Instead, I nod and blink, glancing ahead to see my bridesmaids come to a graceful halt at the end of the aisle. As the Wedding March begins to play, my heart lifts. All my hopes and ambitions are finally coming true. I’m marrying my handsome fiancé, we’re moving into a beautiful home, even my career is heading in the right direction. Why am I thinking about work? Plenty of time to concentrate on that when we’re back from our honeymoon. Right now I need to soak up every second of my wedding day because I don’t plan on doing this more than once. I want this to be forever. The day that kick-starts the rest of my life. Dad and I begin walking down the aisle, approaching familiar faces. Friends, colleagues, aunts, uncles, cousins. Everybody is here. Seth and I invited an almost equal number of guests, which is great as it balances out the church. The pews on both sides are full. Everyone is smiling, eyes filled with love, mouthing that I look beautiful. A packed church means that it’s more than a little warm in here. We’re having a June heatwave at the moment and guests are using the order-of-service booklets as fans. But I’d rather have heat and sunshine than chilly rain.