Chapter 2

I nodded like none of it mattered.

"Fine."

Without another look at them, I went upstairs to pack what little was mine. Since I was leaving for good, I didn't want to leave anything of myself behind.

Their celebration still carried through the walls. My hands stopped over an old coat when I heard Valen's voice.

"We should call him Alessio," he said softly. "Even if someone else raises him, no one will forget who his real mother is."

I didn't need to see his face to know the look he wore when he spoke to Sabina like that.

My chest tightened, and I suddenly thought of the day I returned fifteen days earlier.

I had come home full of hope, carrying a slim insulated case I'd bought with nearly all my savings in Geneva—a custom formula from a private clinic meant to help with stress, circulation, and recovery. Valen ran himself into the ground. I had wanted to bring him something no one else would think to get him.

But when the car rolled through the estate gates, I saw him coming back from the gardens with Sabina at his side.

He froze when he saw me.

Sabina didn't. She looked at me with mild confusion, as if I were a stranger who had wandered onto private property.

"I'm sorry," she said. "Can I help you? This is a private residence."

I said nothing. My eyes had already dropped to the curve of her stomach.

Ten months away, and my husband had moved another woman into my house and put a child in her.

The whole truth was standing in front of me.

Valen recovered first. He stepped in front of her at once, shielding her with his body.

"This is Nerina," he said too quickly. "My wife."

I thought that might shame her.

It didn't.

Instead, Sabina smiled like she belonged there and moved aside as if inviting me in. When she passed me, she lowered her voice so only I could hear.

"I know who you are," she said. "Three years with his name and you still ended up temporary. The real thing always comes back."

Then she added, "The minute I returned, you were already done."

Ten months of longing curdled into disgust.

I turned toward her. Something sharp flashed across her face.

"You're in my way," she snapped, and lifted her hand as if to slap me.

I stepped back on instinct.

Her hand hit nothing but air, and the motion sent her off balance. She went down hard, clutching her stomach before she even hit the stone.

Then she screamed.

"Nerina! Why would you shove me?"

Security was on us in seconds. There was shouting, too many hands, too many voices. By the time the family attorneys and senior staff stepped in, the whole thing had already been repackaged as a private domestic matter, something to be handled quietly inside the family.

The moment we returned to the house, Valen's parents turned on me.

They accused me of causing a scandal the day I came home, of humiliating the family, of acting like a jealous outsider instead of a wife who understood what duty required.

Then his mother said what none of them had bothered to hide anymore.

"Stop standing there as if you've been deceived," she said. "We've known about Sabina for months. We were the ones who told Valen to go to her."

His father didn't soften it.

"Did you think we would let the Varesi line end because of an infertile wife? We needed an heir. If that meant looking elsewhere, then that's what had to be done."

In less than a year, Sabina had become everything they wanted.

And I had been turned into a fool without ever being told the rules had changed.

Valen came toward me then, eyes bloodshot, and reached for my hand.

"Nerina, I never meant to betray you," he said. "Sabina is seriously ill. The doctors say she may have six months, maybe less. The only thing she wanted was to leave something behind."

He swallowed.

"She saved my life. I couldn't let her die with that regret."

His voice softened, as if softness could make any of it easier to bear.

"I wanted to talk to you first. I did. But you were in the middle of your training, and I didn't want to distract you. I thought I would explain everything when you came home."

"If you can accept this, we can raise the child together."