Page 94 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

Between us, the coffee table remains there.

Solid.

Real.

Like a barrier neither of us yet knows how to cross.

25. You’re Wrong

Dante

Without releasing Valeria’s hands, I go over every detail of her attack in my head.

I know I’ll remember for the rest of my life the way her voice faltered when she described the exact moment she realized Bianca wasn’t going to help her.

Bianca, who led Valeria into that room… then stood there watching another man hurt her without doing anything.

My stomach turns.

I let her into my life.

Worse—I let her take Valeria’s place.

A cold, visceral hatred unfurls inside me, and with it comes certainty.

She will pay for her complicity.

For her cowardice.

And yet… she still isn’t the person I hate most.

It’s me.

For letting her get close. For failing to protect my wife.

How could I have been so blind? How did I not see any of it? But I wasn’t the only one deceived. Valeria believed Bianca was sincere too. Are we naïve… or simply incapable of believing that people so close to us could betray us so completely?

“Tell me what happened after that.”

She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again to stare at our intertwined fingers.

“I woke up a few weeks later. Skull fracture. Brain trauma.”

Despite her calm tone, every word still carries traces of what she endured.

I suddenly realize I’m gripping her fingers too tightly.

I immediately loosen my hold, and she frees one hand to brush a strand of hair aside.

Behind her ear, there’s a thin, discreet scar. Unbearable.

I brush it gently with trembling knuckles.

“When I woke up… my memories were confused. I couldn’t clearly remember the attack, just this constant feeling of danger. The first few months were… dark. Light hurt. Noise made me feel like my skull was splitting open. I had panic attacks without understanding why. I was exhausted all the time. And above all, I constantly felt unsafe. The worst part was knowing someone had tried to kill me… but not knowing who.”

She speaks calmly, but her dilated pupils betray her.

Part of her is still there.