Page 145 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

Silence stretches between us.

“And I will never ask you to sacrifice your happiness to keep me.”

His words shatter me.

I don’t turn around.

He doesn’t need to see my tears.

And I close the door behind me.

35. She’s gone

Dante

After Valeria leaves, I stand motionless in the entryway.

I mechanically empty her half-full coffee cup into the sink. Then I rinse both cups and place them side by side.

She’s gone.

I stay there, not knowing what to do with myself, before finally forcing myself to move.

I dial Andrea’s number.

“I need you.”

“Good morning, brother. Merry Christmas to you too,” he says, mocking.

“Sorry. I’m really not in the mood.”

A brief silence. He must hear the strain in my voice, because his tone shifts immediately.

“What’s going on?”

“Bianca says she’s pregnant.”

“She’s bluffing,” he replies.

“That’s what we thought too. But she has a blood test to prove it.”

“Shit,” he mutters. “Send me the document. I’ll have it analyzed.”

I forward it immediately.

“Got it. I’ll call you back as soon as we know something.”

I hang up and sit on the couch, elbows on my knees, hands clasped. I stare at the wall across from me as if it might eventually give me an answer.

My thoughts drift to Valeria. The devastation in her eyes haunts me—that exact moment when I saw her understand, when I saw something shut down inside her.

The guilt is suffocating.

Not for moving on when I believed she was dead, but for letting myself be manipulated—and for not being able to shield her from the consequences of my mistakes.

The wait is unbearable.

When Andrea calls back, I answer on the first ring.