Page 88 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

Ahead of me: black night. Wind. Rain. Dark water crashing against the hull of the boat.

I clumsily climb onto the counter.

Screams echo in the distance. The gala has descended into chaos. But nobody knows I’m here.

Except the people who tried to kill me.

I stare at the black water several meters below.

I’m terrified.

Part of the ceiling suddenly collapses behind me, crashing less than a meter away.

I flinch.

Then I jump.

The freezing water hits me like a wall and immediately drags me under.

The shock steals my breath.

Every sense of direction disappears.

I choke.

My legs kick wildly without knowing whether they’re pulling me deeper or back toward the surface.

When my head finally breaks above the water, the current has already carried me far from the boat.

I can still see the glow of the flames in the darkness.

Several times, the water tries to drag me under again.

My arms grow heavy.

My legs burn.

The cold devours me from the inside out.

I think about Dante.

The warmth of his hand against the small of my back. The sound of his laughter against my mouth just hours earlier.

I have to fight.

For him.

For us.

But my movements slow anyway. The darkness thickens around me. The last thing I see is the distant glow of the flames reflecting on the surface of the Seine.

Then everything disappears.

*

The silence afterward is deafening.

I watch Dante absorb the truth.