Page 131 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

My voice lowers slightly.

“I don’t want to become that kind of man. The kind who hurts people… and then calls it love.”

Neither of us speaks for a while.

She lowers her eyes, and that simple gesture tightens something in my chest.

“Guilt made me cruel too.”

I look away.

“When you came back, all I could think about was everything I had done wrong.”

My throat tightens.

“That I hadn’t searched hard enough for you. That I had eventually accepted your death. That I had let someone else into my life.”

A humorless laugh escapes me.

“And instead of facing that shame... I turned you into the guilty one.”

Silence settles between us.

“It was easier to blame you than to look at myself. And... I was a coward too.”

She frowns.

“A coward?”

“I was afraid. Afraid to believe in us again and risk losing you all over again. Keeping you at a distance felt safer.”

I close my eyes briefly.

“I’ll never forgive myself for that.”

A long silence stretches between us.

Valeria slowly draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them without looking at me.

“It wasn’t just your words that hurt me,” she whispers. “It was also the fact that you replaced me so quickly with Bianca.”

Her fingers tighten around her legs.

“A part of me can’t stop wondering if there was already something between you before.”

My head snaps up.

“Never. How can you even think that?”

Her voice cracks slightly.

“Because I don’t know what to believe anymore, Dante. I want to trust you… but I can’t.”

Her confession settles between us like an invisible wall.

I want to tear it down. Find the words that would erase her fear. But I know only time and my actions can do that.

So I simply nod.