Page 213 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

“I’m listening.”

“Offshore accounts. Shell companies. Cypriot holdings. Everything’s activating at once.”

Inside the car, no one moves.

The vehicle keeps rolling through the city in an almost unreal silence.

Even the sound of the engine seems distant.

“He’s draining his reserves,” Valeria realizes.

Stephen glances at us in the rearview mirror while Mara allows herself a faint smile.

“And he’s moving so fast he’s not even taking the time to properly hide the financial trails anymore,” Andrea continues.

I squeeze Valeria’s hand.

Finally.

“Perfect.”

“Three shell companies linked to Ciphera just transferred forty million euros to a Dutch subsidiary created less than two weeks ago.”

Valeria immediately frowns.

“A pharmaceutical subsidiary?”

“Officially specialized in biotechnology and clinical manufacturing. Unofficially? A money-laundering machine.”

I exchange a look with Valeria.

“He took the bait.”

Laundered money. Offshore accounts. Shell companies.

We’ve got him.

57. Unexpected Visit

Gaspard

Saturday, January 28

Sitting in the living room, I drink my coffee quietly, staring into space.

I think about Bianca. About our last conversation.

Bianca really believed I was going to leave Nora for her—leave my house, my children, my life—to move in with a woman who had still been ready to marry another man just a few weeks ago while carrying my child.

The irony would almost be funny if the situation weren’t such a mess.

She doesn’t scare me. She can’t afford to scare me. If she talks, she goes down with me. She knows that.

I scroll distractedly through my emails. On the couch across from me, Lucas and Inès are arguing over which series to watch. Fifteen and seventeen, and they agree on nothing.

Some things, at least, never change.

Nothing that hints at what’s coming next.