Todos los capítulos de The Wife They Tried To Replace: Capítulo 41 - Capítulo 50

Valentina’s POVThe French doors leading out to the south garden were propped open, letting in the sharp, clean scent of damp grass and blooming jasmine.I stood on the stone terrace with a cup of espresso warming my hands, watching Isabella chase a golden retriever across the lawn.She had been awake for less than an hour, and already she had managed to convince Thomas that the dog belonged to her.Her laughter carried across the garden.I still wasn’t used to that sound.Sometimes I caught myself listening for it, almost afraid it would disappear if I stopped paying attention.Four years.I had spent four years believing that this house would always feel empty.Now there were tiny shoes beside the back door. A wooden rabbit on the breakfast table. A pink blanket thrown over the arm of a chair because Isabella had decided it belonged there.Little things.Things I had once thought I would never have.Footsteps sounded behind me.Dante stepped onto the terrace, his sleeves rolled up t

Dante’s POVBy the time we reached the dining room, the smell of roasted chicken and fresh bread had replaced the cold coffee and stale air of the boardroom.Valentina stopped just inside the doorway.Isabella was sitting at the far end of the table, her feet swinging beneath her chair while Thomas tried to convince her that vegetables were not, in fact, optional.She spotted us before Thomas finished his sentence.“Mommy!”She pushed herself out of the chair.Valentina barely had time to put down her bag before Isabella ran toward her.I watched Valentina catch her.She laughed as Isabella wrapped both arms around her waist.“Did you eat anything?”Isabella shook her head.Thomas sighed.“She had three bites of bread.”Valentina looked at him.“Three?”“Very determined bites.”Isabella looked up at her mother.“No green.”Valentina glanced at the plate.There were several pieces of broccoli sitting untouched beside the chicken.She crouched.“You don’t like broccoli?”Isabella shook

Dante’s POVFor several seconds, neither of us moved.My name remained on the screen.DANTE FERRARO.Beneath it was a timestamp.Four years ago.The night Isabella was born.Valentina stood beside me, staring at the monitor as if the letters might rearrange themselves into something less impossible if she looked long enough.They didn’t.“That’s not possible,” she whispered.I didn’t answer.My mind was already moving through every conversation I’d ever had with her father.Every meeting.Every transaction.Every time his name had appeared in a report.I had known Carlo Ricci.I’d negotiated with him.I’d competed against him.I’d hated him.But I had never known that he had been keeping a file on me.Valentina stepped closer to the terminal.“Open it.”I reached for the keyboard.“Wait.”She looked at me.“What?”“This could be a trap.”“Dante, my name is on a file from the night my daughter was born.”“I know.”“Then open it.”I entered the command.The system asked for a password.

Valentina’s POVI couldn’t move.The voice continued to come from the speakers, calm and measured, completely unaware of what it was doing to the room around us.“I am your father.”Dante stood beside me.Neither of us spoke.The recording continued.“My name is Matteo Ferraro. If this message has been recovered, then Carlo is dead, and the truth about the children can no longer be buried.”Children.The word caught in my mind.Not child.Children.I looked at Dante.He was already staring at the screen.The video finally appeared.A man sat behind a desk.Older than Dante.Dark hair streaked with gray.The same sharp eyes.The same controlled expression.There was no mistaking him.I had never met Matteo Ferraro.But I had seen his face.In Dante.The resemblance was suddenly unbearable.The recording continued.“Carlo Ricci was my closest friend before he became my greatest enemy. We built companies together. We made enemies together. We made mistakes that eventually became impossib

Valentina’s POVI stared at the address on my phone until the numbers blurred.Dante didn’t move.Neither did I.The message was still open on the screen.NOW YOU KNOW WHY ISABELLA WAS NEVER SAFE WITH YOU.Beneath it was an address.I knew the street.Dante knew it too.I looked up.“Your family house.”His jaw tightened.“My father’s old residence.”“You told me it had been sold.”“It was.”“To whom?”He didn’t answer.That was enough.I stepped toward him.“Dante.”“I don’t know.”“You don’t know who owns your family’s house?”“Not anymore.”The words came out harder than he intended.I understood.He was frightened.Not for himself.For the first time since I’d met him, Dante looked like a man standing in front of something he couldn’t control.I held up my phone.“She has Isabella.”“I know.”“My mother has Isabella.”“I know.”“And she says Matteo was hiding me from you.”He looked away.“Valentina—”“What aren’t you telling me?”“Nothing.”“Don’t lie to me.”His eyes snapped bac