Page 238 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

For the first time, she looks away.

“You have no right to judge me.”

“Maybe.”

I stand.

“But I have every right to protect us from you.”

She rises too, panic finally slipping through.

“Wait.”

I stop.

“Why did you come here?”

I turn toward her.

“To close a chapter. To move on. To forgive myself for believing you—for once believing I could build a future with you.”

Suddenly, naked anger flashes in her eyes.

“You think you won because she came back?”

I look at her for a moment.

“No.”

I straighten my jacket.

“I won the day I stopped believing you.”

She opens her mouth, still searching for a weapon, an angle, one last wound to inflict.

I don’t give her the chance.

“When all of this is over, we’ll move forward.”

I take a step back.

“You’ll stay here with what you’ve done.”

I pause to say the last thing I came to tell her.

“The paternity test confirmed what we already knew. The baby isn’t mine.”

I turn away.

“Dante!”

I keep walking without looking back.

Her voice follows me one last time—broken, furious, powerless.

Then the door closes behind me.

Something inside me finally loosens.