Page 38 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

I watch him walk toward the bedroom.

Why isn’t she dead?

The question comes back every single time, relentless and impossible to understand.

And yet, here she is. Smiling. Untouched. Dangerous.

Like a weed you rip out… only for it to grow back stronger.

The fire meant to cover our tracks accomplished nothing. Worse—it might hand her ammunition against us.

When I step into the bedroom, Dante is already lying down with his back turned toward me. I lean over and kiss his shoulder.

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

He grunts something that probably means goodnight.

“I love you.”

The words hang there between us.

He doesn’t answer.

He never does.

I swallow the knot tightening in my throat.

And watch him silently.

I think back to the first time Valeria introduced us.

That dinner at their apartment eight years ago. She’d been radiant. And him… He looked at her like she was the center of his universe.

That was the night I decided one day he would look at me that way too.

So I waited. I smiled. I cried with her when I needed to. Laughed with her while holding her hand, waiting for the right moment.

I became the perfect best friend. And now he sleeps in my bed.

I don’t know when I started loving him. Whether it was before or after Valeria disappeared.

If I were a better person, I’d give him time to sort through his feelings.

But I won’t.

I worked too hard to get him. There’s no way I’m giving up my place.

I wait until his breathing turns deep and steady.

Only then do I reach for my phone.

BIANCA: Any news?

FALCO: Nothing yet.

BIANCA: We need to move faster. I’m sure she’s planning something. The timing of her return isn’t random.

FALCO: Maybe she just wants to stop your wedding.