Anniversary

~A week later~

Mateo’s POV

“Work, Bella. It’s always work. You know how the merger is killing me these days.” I pinched the bridge of my nose as I leaned back in my leather chair.

“I know, Mateo.” Isabella said softly. Before, that softness used to make me feel strong. Lately, it only made me feel tired. “It’s just… dinner is getting cold. Again.”

“I was wrapping up.” I lied easily. The merger had ended days ago. “I would be home by six. Exactly six. I promise.”

I didn’t wait for her to reply. I ended the call and dropped my phone onto the desk. It slid smoothly and stopped beside my glass of scotch.

Six o’clock.

I glanced at my watch. I still had plenty of time.

A faint smirk crossed my lips. She was still the same. The same clingy, always waiting, always worrying wife. Part of me hated it. But another part of me liked the attention. It reminded me that I was the center of her world.

I took a slow drink of scotch as my thoughts shifted to Valentina.

With her, it was different. Isabella was calm water. Valentina was fire. She was hunger, desire without rules. She was everything I could never bring home to my wife. But that was all she was meant to be. A release.

My heart still belonged to Isabella. It always had. I had needs, yes, but I wasn’t heartless. I knew where my home was.

My phone hummed again.

The caller id flashed Valentina.

I let it buzz twice before answering and put it on speaker. I stood up, adjusting my cufflinks.

“What?”

“You sound tense, darling.” She purred. “Come over. I bought that black lace slip you like. The one almost transparent…”

I paused for a moment, the image flashing in my mind. But I looked at the clock. 5:15.

“Not tonight.” I said flatly. “I’m going home.”

“Home?” Her voice sharpened. “To her? Again? You said you were free tonight.”

“Plans change,” I said, picking up my suit jacket. “I’m going back to Santiago Manor.”

She stayed silent only for a moment. Then, “Do you feel nothing, Mateo?” She asked. “When you leave my bed to go to hers… do you feel nothing at all?”

I sighed, already annoyed. “Don’t start this, Valentina.”

“Don’t do what?” She cried. “Ask if I mattered? After everything we did together?”

“I feel satisfaction with you.” I said coldly. “That’s what you are for. That was the deal.”

“The deal?” She sobbed loudly now. “I love you, Mateo.”

The words irritated me.

I took the phone off speaker and pressed it to my ear. “Know your place.” I reminded her. “I used you to satisfy my desires. Nothing more. I would give you money. Jewelry. An apartment. But love? You would never get that from me.”

“How could you say that?” She cried.

“Because it is true,” I answered. “I only love Bella. She is my wife. You are… just a distraction.”

“A distraction?” she screamed. “We are perfect together! You said it yourself! We are so in sync! Seven times, Mateo. Seven times in one night! You don't do with someone you don't care about.”

“I did that with someone who was good at what she did.” I said, checking my reflection in the glass. “That wasn’t love. It was just sex. Physical. Understand that, or this ended.”

I hung up without waiting for her answer.

I adjusted my collar and shook my head. Women always made things complicated. I had everything balanced perfectly. Why did they always want more?

I picked up my briefcase and headed for the door. Then my phone vibrated.

I frowned. If Valentina was begging again, I planned to block her number.

I unlocked the screen. It wasn’t a message but an image.

I stopped walking, freezing as I saw it. On the screen was a medical report.

Patient: Valentina Rossi

Test: hCG

Result: Positive

Gestational Age: 6 weeks

I stared at it. My vision blurred, then cleared. Seven times in one night. Her words echoed in my head.

My briefcase slipped from my hand and hit the floor. I didn’t react. I didn't know what to do. I just stood there, in the middle of everything I had built, staring at the screen.

She was pregnant. And for the first time in years, I didn’t know what to do.

Isabella’s POV

I had given the staff the day off.

It was a tradition. I had been following it for three years now. Every anniversary, I wanted it to be just us. No servants. No watching eyes. Just Mateo and me.

The thought tasted bitter in my mouth.

Earlier in the afternoon, Mrs. Higgins had stopped me in the kitchen. She smiled so warmly it almost hurt to look at her.

“Oh, Madam.” She said, shaking her head in admiration. “You are so lucky. Mr. Santiago works himself to the bone, yet he never forgets you. Flowers, kind words, always attentive. A devoted husband like that is rare these days.”

I had smiled back. I had even laughed. I let her believe the lie. The truth was too ugly to wear in daylight.

In this city, we were the perfect couple. No one knew that the “merger” keeping him away tonight likely smelled of lace and carried the perfume of my own step‑aunt.

I shook the thought away as I stopped at the table. I had prepared everything he loved.

The beef bourguignon he always praised. The Bordeaux I hunted down from a private collector because he once mentioned it casually. Candles burned low, dripping slowly onto the lace tablecloth.

The clock ticked on Seven. Then eight. Then nine.

My phone vibrated. A chuckle left my lips. I expected it much later.

Mateo:

Bella, I’m so sorry. Something urgent came up at the office. A problem with the overseas accounts. I won’t make it back tonight. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow with a gift. Let’s plan that Mediterranean cruise next month. Sleep well.

I read it once. Then I laughed. The pattern was so familiar it made me laugh.

I looked at the two places set at the table. For years, I had shaped my life around him. I had learned how to wait. How to be quiet. How to fold myself into the spaces he left behind. I told myself that if I was more patient, more beautiful, more understanding, he would eventually come home fully.

My hand drifted slowly to my stomach.

It was still flat. But I knew it was there. The small presence. A secret I had planned to reveal tonight.

“It’s just us.” I whispered. “You and me.” My voice cracked a bit.

The sadness inside me cooled as the realization hit. I wasn’t only a wife anymore. I was a mother.

“We’ll leave your daddy.” I said quietly as I smoothed my hand over my belly. “I’ll give you more than enough love. We don’t need a man who prefers another woman’s bed to his own home.”

I picked up my phone. My fingers were calm as I typed.

To Mateo:

Okay. I understand. By the way, your birthday is in a month from now. I’ve already started planning something special. I promise it will be a gift you’ll never forget. Love you.

I sent it.

He would read it and smile. He would think I was still the same devoted wife, planning his happiness months in advance.

He wouldn’t realize that one month was exactly how long I needed.