Page 208 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

“You think you can threaten me? Go ahead.”

“And how exactly are you planning to stop me?”

“I filmed you that night.”

For a second, I forget how to breathe.

“You’re bluffing.”

“Am I?”

I stare at him in horror.

“Rule number one, Bianca: never trust anyone.”

I lean toward him.

“If I go down, you go down with me. You’re the one who contacted him and paid him. I’ll turn you in if I have to.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

His voice remains perfectly calm as he adds:

“But don’t ever threaten me again.”

The threat hangs heavily in the air.

We’re too much alike, and we both know it. If we go to war, we’ll burn together.

“Fine,” I say at last. “What’s the plan?”

He exhales slowly.

“Take a vacation. You’ve always wanted to see the Amalfi Coast. When you come back, I’ll set you up somewhere. You’ll focus on the baby. You won’t want for anything. I’ll come see you both.”

I lower my eyes.

He thinks he can control me.

Fine.

I don’t have a choice.

For now, I’ll smile… and wait.

55. Voicemails

Valeria

Saturday, January 28

Dante has been tense ever since the Pharmaceutical Convention. The lack of reaction from Wald is worrying him.

Did Wald realize the stolen file is incomplete? That he doesn’t have the parameters required for large-scale production?

Is that why he hasn’t made a move?

I’m asking myself the same questions, and the waiting is becoming harder and harder to bear.