Page 99 of My Husband’s New Fiancée

I see the exact moment she thinks everything is over.

“No… I should’ve destroyed them… This is my fault. How could I ever believe I was strong enough to fight people like them?”

“Valeria, they don’t have anything. Do you hear me?”

But she’s in shock, crushed beneath her guilt.

I cup her face in my hands. She instinctively tries to pull away, but I don’t let go.

“Look at me. Valeria, look at me.”

My voice finally reaches her. She lifts her eyes to mine.

“They have nothing.”

“W-what?”

“Yasin stepped in yesterday. He moved all the NRX-889 research onto a server isolated from the main network. Everything: the formula, the protocols, the test reports. Impossible to access from the outside.”

I pause before adding:

“The files they copied only contain abandoned leads and unusable data.”

Her eyes widen.

“You did that?”

“Did you really think I was going to leave your work unprotected after everything you risked to defend it?”

“But…”

“I know. I let you believe otherwise.”

My voice lowers slightly.

“But you’re my wife. And even when we’re angry with each other, even when we disagree… I’ll always have your back.”

The last time she’d needed me, I hadn’t been there.

I couldn’t change the past.

But I would never let her fight alone again.

The tension drains from her shoulders.

She leans against me for a few seconds.

“Thank you…”

My arms close around her and I savor the moment, knowing it won’t last.

I missed her so much.

But the woman standing in front of me isn’t entirely the same one I once knew.

My wife was betrayed. Left for dead.

She came back carrying so many scars that it hurts just thinking about them.