Page 68 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

“I saw Anita again.”

“Your ex-wife? And?”

What could have shaken him this badly?

“Nothing. I didn’t speak to her. She didn’t see me.”

I fall silent. I know his pain too well. There’s nothing I can do for him except be there.

He pulls himself together quickly.

“What about you? How did it go?”

He wants to change the subject.

So I tell him everything.

“So what are you going to do now?” he asks on the other end of the line.

I pace back and forth across my bedroom.

“I have no idea. I don’t even know if he’ll let me anywhere near the lab now.”

Silence stretches before he finally suggests:

“Why not go through Andrea? He’s less emotionally involved. Maybe you could talk to him. Tell him exactly what’s going on.”

I shake my head, even though he can’t see me.

“Ask him to go behind his brother’s back? No. I would never do that to them.”

I let out a long sigh, sit down on my bed, and lean against the wall.

“I have to tell Dante the truth. I should’ve done it from the start, but...”

“You’re not sure he’ll believe you,” Hugo finishes gently.

I close my eyes and exhale.

“No. It’s my word against Bianca’s. And I don’t know which one of us he’ll choose to believe.”

The silence that follows is heavy with unspoken thoughts before I finally confess to the man who’s become my brother in every way that matters:

“Sometimes when I look at him, I forget he isn’t mine anymore. That he’s with her now. It hurts. And at the same time... I resent him so much for replacing me.”

“It’s human to feel all of that,” Hugo says quietly.

A humorless laugh escapes me.

“The worst part is that since seeing him again, smelling him, hearing his voice... memories keep coming back. Gestures. Laughter. Promises. And all of it just to realize they’re only memories now. Nothing else.”

I close my eyes for a second and wipe away a tear with the back of my hand.

“Sorry for the self-pity session.”

“Don’t apologize,” Hugo says. “You still love him. There’s no shame in that.”

I don’t respond.