Page 67 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

Stephen taps his fingers lightly against the steering wheel.

“Tell me what happened at the lab,” he says eventually.

I stare at the red taillights ahead of us.

“Dante was waiting for me. He saw everything through the monitor in the bathroom.”

Those words contain everything.

The anticipation.

The trap.

The failure.

“Everything we did was pointless. He must’ve backed up all the files before I got there and probably set up a tracking system on the sensitive directories. By now, he knows exactly what I tried to do.”

“That might not be a bad thing. He knows you didn’t steal anything. And he let you leave.”

I don’t answer immediately.

Let you leave.

Like someone releasing a person they no longer consider dangerous.

Or no longer care about at all.

At least she doesn’t push me away.

The echo of his words feels both like an accusation and a declaration.

A painful reminder of our new reality.

He’s with her now.

“Maybe. But we’re back where we started. The files I tried to encrypt are still unprotected.”

Stephen nods slowly.

I rub my temples.

Outside, Paris slips by—indifferent, glowing, utterly unaware of what has just collapsed.

No element of surprise left.

No backup plan.

*

Back at the manor, I dial Hugo’s number.

“Valeria, I’m glad to hear your voice,” he says the moment he picks up. “How are you?”

His voice is strangely rough. Concern immediately twists in my chest.

“What’s wrong?”

A long sigh crackles through the line.