Page 157 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

In the darkness, she curls closer against me. But even after she falls asleep, her hand remains clenched tightly in the bedsheet.

Even now, she still doesn’t feel safe.

Throughout the trip, our phones remain off. We check them once a day for emergencies only. Bianca’s calls keep piling up.

I don’t listen to a single voicemail.

The world can wait.

On the fifth day, we spend the afternoon resting in the dim light filtering through half-closed shutters, golden streaks spilling across the bed.

“When we get back,” I tell her, “I want us to start looking at houses together. I want to fall asleep with you in my arms every night.”

She starts to protest. I cut her off.

“We’ll reinforce security. You can even have your team inspect every place if you want. But I want us to start living.”

She nods, then adds quietly:

“I want that too. But I think it would be wiser if I didn’t go back to Aurenza.”

I look at her in surprise.

“You’d walk away from your work?”

“I’d keep working. Just somewhere else,” she replies lightly, though I don’t miss what’s underneath. “Now that Bianca is pregnant, having both of us there will become unbearable. I don’t want that kind of daily war.”

I understand her reasoning. But I refuse to let her abandon everything she built.

“Give me a month. I’ll find a solution. If I have to, I’ll open new offices on the other side of the city—and we’ll move there together.”

*

On New Year’s Eve, we watch the fireworks wrapped in each other’s arms.

I whisper against her ear:

“May every separation always lead me back to you.”

She closes her eyes, then murmurs against my lips:

“May every wound make us stronger.”

We stay in bed while the sun climbs high above the ocean. Valeria lies on her stomach, gazing out at the sea while my finger traces the curve of her skin.

“We’re going home tomorrow,” I say softly.

“I know.”

She moves closer and rests her head against me. We stay there without speaking, letting this fragile pause carry us a little longer.

Before the world catches up with us.

39. The Return

Valeria

Monday, January 2