Page 201 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

“We’re going to become parents. Together.”

52. The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

Dante

Thursday, January 19

Valeria is pregnant.

I still can’t quite believe it. I think back to the boat engulfed in flames. The searches. The nights spent believing she was dead.

Then Bianca. Her lies. Everything she tried to steal from us.

And suddenly, one truth imposes itself.

She failed.

Despite everything they did. Despite the Seine. Despite the lies. Despite the two years we lost.

We’re still here.

Together.

And this time, it’s our future growing beneath Valeria’s heart. I’m going to become a father with the woman I love.

Henri and I had coordinated our arrival so we would enter the convention together. The journalists swarmed us immediately, firing questions about a possible partnership.

“No comment for now,” Henri said. “We’ll make our announcement tonight after our panel on the challenges and costs of pharmaceutical research.”

Without adding another word, we disappeared inside.

Like every year, we have our booth, mostly to stay visible to prescribers and pharmacists.

The real contracts are signed on golf courses or over outrageously expensive dinners.

We make a brief appearance. Today’s objective isn’t to sell.

It’s to be seen.

And to turn up the pressure.

A notification flashes across my phone.

ANDREA: Wald is here. He heard Henri’s answer. He’s nervous. Keep going.

I slide the phone back into my pocket without replying.

Beside me, Henri shakes hands with his usual detached ease. I do the same. No one would guess we’re laying a trap.

Our afternoon panel is packed—far more than expected.

Henri speaks first, calmly discussing research costs, time-to-market delays, and the risks investors assume.

Wald is there, sitting in the third row, perfectly still, his expression closed off.

Then Henri casually slips in that the Louvencourt Group is preparing to co-produce a treatment with Aurenza Biotech—a promising formula born from years of research.

Then he adds: