Page 20 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

“I lived on an isolated estate in the Sarthe region. Wonderful people took me in and helped me rebuild myself.”

“Rebuild yourself?” Amelia asks, a worried crease forming between her brows.

“I… had some health issues.”

Vadim narrows his eyes, as if trying to see through my secrets.

“Wait… don’t tell me you were in the kitchen when it caught fire,” he whispers.

I hesitate for a moment over how to answer. They shouldn’t be the first people I tell something like this to… but the person I should have told first isn’t here.

Still, my silence is confession enough.

“You were there.”

This time, it isn’t a question.

“Yes,” I finally admit. “I was locked inside and left for dead.”

Amelia covers her mouth in horror. Vadim’s hand settles on her knee. I don’t know whether he’s comforting her or looking for support himself.

“Someone tried to silence me.”

“But who?”

“I can’t tell you anything for now. I only have suspicions at this point. Just know that there’s an official investigation underway.”

“But why didn’t you contact us sooner?” Vadim asks.

“At first, it was impossible. After that… I tried to contact Dante, but he never answered.”

My voice breaks on the confession, and Amelia gently squeezes my hand.

“But when? And how?” she asks. “He searched for you for months.”

“Five months later. By phone. Then by letter.”

She lowers her eyes, searching her memory.

“I remember that time. So many people claimed to be you or said they had leads about you. Every time it turned into a dead end, it destroyed him. Eventually, he stopped listening to the messages. But the letters… I don’t understand.”

“After the fire, Bianca handled everything around him,” Vadim says quietly. “She probably assumed it was just another false lead.”

That would explain why Dante never answered me.

“The police found your phone in the wreckage. Despite the investigation concluding that you had disappeared and were presumed dead in the fire and the Seine, Dante turned the world upside down looking for you.”

“Maybe… but when I finally managed to go back home, I was waiting in the car. Then he arrived with Bianca. And I watched them disappear inside together.”

I don’t tell them how badly my heart shattered that day. Or that, for the first time, I wondered whether Dante had been involved.

Still recovering, I didn’t have the strength to confront them.

And nothing guaranteed another tragic accident wouldn’t happen to me.

Horror spreads across their faces.

“Oh my God…” Amelia whispers. “It’s all been a terrible misunderstanding. There was never anything between them before last July. And even now, it has nothing to do with the love you and he shared.”