Wedding Canceled
Valeria
I arrive at the office Thursday morning at eight-thirty, hoping to speak to Dante before his day begins.
I’m still standing in the lobby when they walk through the entrance side by side.
Jealousy twists through my gut.
Fuck... it hurts.
We walked through those doors together hundreds of times.
Now he walks through them with her.
I wipe every trace of emotion from my face as they approach me.
Dante is unreadable.
Bianca, on the other hand, hides nothing anymore. Her gaze drips with hatred. She’s stopped pretending to be the caring friend.
The mask has fallen.
I brace myself to face them together, but to my surprise, Dante turns to her instead.
“Have a good day, Bianca.”
She looks at him as though he just slapped her.
For a split second, something flashes across her face: helplessness, rage... maybe even pain.
Then she swallows whatever she was about to say, turns on her heel, and storms away.
Without sparing her another glance, Dante asks me,
“You were waiting for me?”
“Yes. I need to talk to you.”
He studies me, as though trying to decipher my real intentions.
Then he nods, his voice neutral.
“Come with me.”
Inside the elevator, several employees greet us before stepping aside to make room.
I can feel their curiosity settling on us, but what I notice most is his presence beside me.
His warmth only inches away.
His silence, heavier than any words.
How can he still affect me this much?
I hate that he still has this much power over me.
One by one, the employees step off at their floors until eventually, we’re alone.
The air between us is saturated with tension, and I know with painful certainty that the next few minutes could change my life completely.
When the doors open onto the twelfth floor, Dante stops beside his assistant’s desk.
“Good morning, Sandrine. Please bring us two coffees. Then contact a phone agency. Have them call the guest list for my wedding and inform everyone it’s canceled.”
No one moves.
For one second, even breathing feels impossible.
I stand frozen.
That’s not possible. I must’ve heard him wrong.
He’s canceling the wedding. He’s not marrying Bianca.
But why?
Sandrine looks just as stunned as I feel. She flicks a quick glance toward me before looking back at him.
“Also ask the communications team to prepare an official announcement and release it as soon as possible,” he continues.
My pulse roars in my ears.
He’s not marrying her.
The shock and relief hit so brutally my knees nearly buckle beneath me, and it takes every ounce of strength I have to remain standing.
Dante gives me a sharp look, as though he can guess the emotions tearing through me.
“Come.”
His voice remains neutral. No warmth. But no hostility either.
With one hand, he opens the door to his office. With the other, he gestures toward the sofa.
“Sit down.”
The words sound more like an order than an invitation, but I’m in no condition to argue.
He hesitates before asking,
“Are you okay? Do you need anything?”
I shake my head, unable to speak.
Even when he worries about me, his expression stays closed off, almost impossible to read.
There’s no way to tell what’s happening inside his mind.
He exhales slowly, as though the weight of the world rests on his shoulders.
Then he walks toward the floor-to-ceiling windows and turns his back to me.
“I didn’t do it for you.”
The clarification falls like a sentence. Urgent. Necessary.
As though he’s afraid I’ll get the wrong idea.
I absorb the blow. And the hope that had begun rising inside me collapses instantly.
I mentally rebuild my defenses before he notices me falter.
“You made it very clear what you think of me.”
My voice remains steady despite the storm raging inside me.
The echo of his words in the laboratory still hangs between us.
A heavy silence settles before he finally turns around.
“You wanted to talk to me?”
I’ve imagined this conversation hundreds of times.
There’s no good way to tell him the truth. Even so, I’m going to try to spare him as much as I can.
Just because he hurt me doesn’t mean I want to hurt him back.
Even now. Even after everything.
Maybe that’s what loving someone truly means: continuing to protect them even when they don’t deserve it.
So I start with the least brutal truth.
“The fire on the boat was intentional.”
Realizing I’m finally going to tell him what happened, he pulls out a chair and sits across from me.
“What they’re after is—”
“NRX-889,” he cuts in.
I nod slowly.
“Yes. And behind all of this is Hector Wald.”
He barely reacts. As though he already knows part of the story.
Still, I continue.
“He has deep connections within pharmaceutical trafficking networks. I’m convinced he wants to exploit NRX-889 exactly as it is... even though the molecule is deadly.”
“But how could he have known about it?”
I stay silent for a few seconds before admitting:
“I told Bianca about it.”
The admission detonates between us.
He almost flinches.
“There has to be another explanation. Bianca would never have betrayed us.”
A bitter smile tugs at my lips.
His loyalty to her hurts more than I’d like to admit.
He called off their wedding... but he still cares about her.
I don’t comment on it.
“Who was assigned to investigate Hector Wald and Ciphera Corp two years ago?”
His brows furrow.
“Bianca...”
He cuts himself off abruptly the moment something cracks inside his mind.
“She said they were legitimate...”
His voice fades.
Then slowly, he lifts his eyes back to mine.
The silence between us becomes almost tangible.
“You think Bianca is working with them. That the leak came from her.”
He sees the truth in my eyes, but he still can’t bring himself to say it out loud.
He sinks back against his chair.
I watch him fight the idea. Search desperately for another explanation. Another logic.
Then his gaze locks onto me.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
I give him a sad smile.
“Would you even believe me if I told you?”
His jaw tightens.
We stare at each other for a long moment. We’re the same, he and I. Too proud. Too stubborn. Two people who know exactly where to strike to hurt each other… and who, at different moments, chose not to hold back.
And yet one of us has to give in. Otherwise, we’ll never get anywhere. But the thought of falling back into that nightmare terrifies me.
“What happened?” he asks quietly.
Silence crashes down between us.
I close my eyes, force myself to take a difficult breath, and begin.