"I wasn't feeling well, so I came home early to rest. Forgot to tell you."
Maybe it was all the years spent living alongside lies, but I could spin an excuse now without so much as a flicker of expression.
Dante looked shaken, as if something terrible had almost happened. He climbed into bed and pulled me tight against him, holding on like he was afraid I'd vanish.
"Next time you have to tell me where you are, okay? I'll worry. If you ever disappeared on me, I'd search every corner of this city until I found you."
I closed my eyes and didn't answer.
In three days, he'd never find me again.
The next morning, guilt must have been eating at him, because a jewelry set arrived at the compound before I'd even finished getting dressed. One of his soldiers had carried it up from the front gate, the velvet box still warm from the courier's hands.
"Baby, last night was my fault. Please don't be mad at me."
I glanced at the jewelry, set it aside, and picked up a different box to hand to him.
"I'm not mad. This is the anniversary gift I got you. Don't open it for two days."
I'd originally commissioned a custom brooch from a craftsman overseas as his feast-night present. But the day I discovered his goomah, I threw the brooch away, slipped off the family ring I'd never once removed, and placed it inside the box instead.
It would be the only thing I left behind for him.
Dante took the box, curiosity flickering across his face.
"Baby, yesterday was our anniversary. Why do I have to wait two days to open it?"
I smiled.
"There's a special surprise inside. It'll only mean something if you wait."
Anticipation lit up his eyes.
"Alright. I promise I'll do what you say and wait two days."
The words had barely left his mouth when the gate buzzer sounded through the house.
The door opened to reveal Adriana, her face streaked with tears, eyes swollen and red.
Dante's expression faltered for a split second before he took her arm and steered her toward the back garden, past the stone wall where two of his soldiers stood smoking. They looked away without being told.
"Baby, Adriana needs me for something urgent. We'll talk in the garden so we don't bother your breakfast."
I walked to the second-floor window. Below, Adriana had thrown herself into Dante's arms.
His face twisted with anger and he shoved her back.
"Have you lost your mind? I told you never to come to my house. If Bianca catches on to us, I will make you regret it."
Adriana flinched at his voice. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she pulled a piece of paper from her bag and held it out to him.
"I know I shouldn't have come. But I'm pregnant."
"The doctor said last night was too rough. The pregnancy isn't stable. I'm scared. Will our baby be okay? This is our first child."
Every muscle in my body locked. It felt like a fist had closed around my heart and was squeezing the air out of me.
Adriana was pregnant.
Early in our marriage, Dante and I had talked about having children. He told me a baby would split our attention, that he wanted to keep our love whole and undivided. He didn't want kids.
I'd been so moved by that devotion that I agreed without a second thought.
Now I understood. He had no interest in having children with me. That didn't stop him from getting another woman pregnant. My thumb drifted to the pale band of skin where my ring used to sit, pressing the bare place as though I could feel the weight of something already gone.
Shock crossed Dante's face first. Then he read the paper, and his brow smoothed out entirely.
"Nine weeks? You need to be resting."
"Go wait in the car. I'll take you to the hospital myself for another checkup. Nothing is going to happen to this baby."
Adriana's tears dissolved into a smile. She leaned in and kissed him.
Dante's gaze darkened. He cupped the back of her head and took over the kiss.
The two of them clung to each other, Adriana's arms looped around his neck, until Dante finally pushed her away, his voice rough.
