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The delay

Author: Ilma
last update publish date: 2026-06-09 22:44:13

Irene

“You are a million miles away.”

Julian’s voice pulled me back into the present.

First the sound of the piano returned. Then the low hum of conversation around us. Then the candlelight flickering across polished glass and white tablecloth.

Finally, his face came into focus.

Julian was sitting across from me in a quiet restaurant.

The lighting was amber and flattering, the wine was expensive enough to be unnecessary, and the world outside the windows felt distant, irrelevant, almost fictio
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  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Be that person

    IreneThe Galante estate had survived bullets, betrayals, and rival syndicates. It had survived blood in the halls and fire in its foundations. But nothing had ever hollowed it out the way silence did now.Five days.Five days since Isabella opened her eyes in the sterile light of the medical wing and looked at us like we were strangers standing in the wrong version of her life.The emergency delivery had gone as planned, in the way nothing ever truly goes as planned in a house like this. The baby lived. Isabella lived. But when she finally regained consciousness, something inside her mind had closed like a door that refused to open again.Retrograde amnesia.Eight years of her life gone without warning, without explanation, without mercy.She did not remember the wedding. She did not remember Dante. She did not remember the wars that had turned this estate into a fortress or the compromises that had kept it standing. She did not remember the life she had built inside violence and som

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Tell her the truth

    Romeo“What is going on between you and Irene?”The question didn’t belong in the air between us. It shouldn’t have existed at all in a moment like this. And yet it did, hanging there in the narrow hallway like something sharp I had no safe way to touch.I looked at Camilla. The face I had searched for in strangers for years. The voice I had reconstructed in memory until it became something larger than reality. For so long she had been the center of everything I could not let go of.But right now, none of that mattered.All I could hear was Irene’s footsteps disappearing down the corridor.I didn’t answer immediately. I couldn’t. The words refused to form in any order that felt survivable.Instead, I reached for Camilla’s hand. Her skin was cold, almost shockingly so. I held it tightly, as if warmth alone could reset everything inside me.“Let’s go back inside,” I said quietly. My voice came out rougher than I intended. “You’re freezing. You need to sit down.”Camilla didn’t move.She

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Something was off

    IreneI didn’t stop walking until I reached my room and shut the door.My hand remained still on the handle, as if my body hadn’t fully registered that I was finally alone. Then the strength left me without warning. My knees gave out and I slid down the door until I hit the floor.The silence in the room pressed against me from every side.I buried my face in my hands.After five years of carrying that truth like a blade pressed against my ribs, I had finally spoken it. Romeo knew now. There was no taking it back, no softening it, no pretending it had never existed.I thought it would feel like release.It didn’t. It felt like something inside me had been ripped open and left exposed.His face kept replaying in my mind. A sound broke out of me before I could stop it.Then another. And suddenly I wasn’t holding it together anymore at all.I had spent so many years being the one who stayed upright no matter what was happening around me. I had learned how to swallow pain, how to bury i

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   See what you have done?

    Romeo “Camilla. You called me Camilla.” The words hit me. It felt like something inside my chest collapsed the moment she said it. I could not breathe properly for a second and I could not understand what she meant because it did not fit anything I had believed for five years. For five years I had been certain of one thing. That Irene had been reckless that night. That she had stolen my car out of impulse or immaturity or some stupid need to provoke chaos in my life. That belief had been convenient. It had justified distance. It had justified control. It had justified everything I had done since. But now it did not hold. A memory surfaced that I had buried without realizing it. I saw the nightclub again, loud and suffocating, the kind of place where grief makes people reckless. I remembered drinking too much, barely holding myself together. I remembered her steadying me, holding me upright when I could not stand properly on my own. Though I was too lost inside myself to c

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   You called ne by a name

    IreneMy heart hit my ribs hard enough to hurt.My body moved before permission reached my mind. I began walking and heard the voice again.“Irene.”I forced myself forward, three quick, silent steps. Distance was the only thing I had left that felt like control. If I could reach the next corner, the next blind spot, the next camera line, I could become functional again. But Romeo moved faster than I expected.He grabbed my forearm from behind.I stopped instantly, my entire body locking into place. My back remained turned to him, my breath trapped somewhere between inhale and refusal.“Let go…” I said.For a moment, he didn’t obey.His grip lingered. And it was human in a way that made it unbearable.Then his fingers loosened, sliding away from my sleeve like he was forcing himself to remember I wasn’t something he could hold onto anymore.“Can we talk?” He asked.That almost made me laugh.I closed my eyes briefly, just once, as if that could seal whatever was trying to come apart

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   The delay

    Irene“You are a million miles away.”Julian’s voice pulled me back into the present.First the sound of the piano returned. Then the low hum of conversation around us. Then the candlelight flickering across polished glass and white tablecloth.Finally, his face came into focus.Julian was sitting across from me in a quiet restaurant. The lighting was amber and flattering, the wine was expensive enough to be unnecessary, and the world outside the windows felt distant, irrelevant, almost fictional.Everything about the evening was correct. Julian himself was correct. Perfectly so.He was attentive without being intrusive, charming without being performative. He listened like he actually heard me. When he smiled, it reached his eyes. By every measurable standard, there was nothing wrong with this moment.And yet my mind refused to stay inside it. It kept slipping. Back to glass breaking under chandelier light. Back to a library doorway left half-open. Back to a man finally exhaling aft

  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Let her go

    Dante Galante’s POVThe water in the sink turned pink as it went down the drain.I stared at it, holding the sink with my good hand. My other hand burnt under the running water. Small pieces of glass were still stuck in my palm. Wine covered my skin, looking too much like blood.The glass was flawe

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-22
  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   The Gallery

    Isabella’s POVDante hadn’t spoken to me since the dinner. He hadn't sent a text, hadn't checked on my plans, hadn't even hovered in the hallway when I went to tuck Elara in. He had stayed in his study, ignoring everyone.The "Machine" had reset. And it had excluded me from the system. I didn’t eve

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-22
  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Please come back, Bella

    Mateo’s POVThe alcohol in my glass was the only thing that felt warm. The rest of the house that I had built with Isabella by my side felt cold, suffocating.Five days.It had been five days since Valentina gave birth.Five days of crying. Five days of nurses running up and down the halls. Five da

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-21
  • I Faked My Death to Destroy My Husband   Galante

    Isabella’s POVThe world, which had been so slow and heavy for months, suddenly accelerated into a blur of motion.Romeo didn’t panic. He was at my side before the second wave of pain could hit. "Okay." He grabbed my shoulder gently. "Okay. Deep breaths. It’s time.""It’s too early," I gasped, clut

    last updateLast Updated : 2026-03-21
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