A New Player
Dante
I have a meeting with Bianca this morning.
We used to go over the most important files together so we could coordinate before board meetings.
Looking back, what I realize most is just how much access that gave her to sensitive information.
This time, we’re playing by my rules.
“Any news about the cyberattack?” she asks as soon as she walks into my office.
“No. According to Valeria, they cut the connection too early.”
“You don’t have direct access to the information?”
“No.”
At my apparent frustration, a subtle tension leaves her shoulders.
Almost imperceptible. But I see it.
I decide to push further.
“I’ve taken some time to reconsider Valeria’s return from another angle.”
Bianca lifts her eyes to me.
“What do you mean?”
“This attack happening right after her return… the timing is suspicious.”
I pause briefly.
“What if the encryption attempt, the empty files, and the trackers were just a way to divert attention?”
Bianca stays silent for a second.
Too long.
“You think she could be connected to the hackers?”
Her tone is controlled, but something in her gaze hardens.
Suspicion? Or hope?
“I’m not ruling out any possibility.”
She lowers her eyes to the documents in front of her, as if thinking it over.
“That would make sense,” she finally murmurs. “She knew better than anyone how valuable this research was.”
I watch her carefully.
No obvious sign of nervousness.
Nothing that resembles panic.
Bianca lies with remarkable composure.
“What are you planning to do?”
“Keep a close eye on her.”
She stares at me.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
I slowly lean back in my chair.
“If she’s hiding something, she’ll eventually make a mistake.”
Bianca nods, her eyes fixed on her hands.
“You’re right to be cautious. Me too… even though it pains me to admit it, I don’t fully trust her anymore.”
The room falls quiet.
“Are you sure about the wedding?” she asks.
She’s persistent. I’ll give her that, at least.
“Bianca…”
“Don’t tell me not to make things difficult. You’re the one deciding to call everything off two days before the ceremony.”
I don’t answer.
She shifts tactics. Her voice lowers, almost cautious.
“Are you with her?”
“No. Why would I go back to a woman who abandoned me and let me believe she was dead for two years?”
“Then I don’t understand. Why now? Why like this?”
I choose my words carefully. Cruel enough to hurt her, but not enough to reveal what I truly think of her.
“I’ve realized our relationship was built on the wrong foundation. To me, you were never more than a friend.”
The blow lands. She goes completely still.
And yet, I keep going.
“I’m incapable of loving you the way you deserve to be loved. You filled a void in my life, but it wasn’t love. Staying in this relationship wouldn’t be fair to either of us.”
The silence that follows is colder. Tighter.
I recognize that look.
She doesn’t believe it’s over.
She still thinks she can regain control.
“What if we gave it a few weeks? We could talk again once things have settled down...”
“It won’t change anything, Bianca.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
She gets to her feet. The way she leaves the room—without slamming the door, without a single unnecessary word—confirms exactly what I was hoping for.
She still thinks she has a chance.
She took the bait.
*
At lunch break, I head to the boxing gym located ten minutes from the office. I’ve always been highly athletic. Boxing, just like swimming, has long helped me relieve the pressure that comes with my position. After Valeria disappeared, boxing became my escape.
Today, after my meeting with Bianca, I need to hit something until I stop thinking.
That woman who claimed to love me had used my grief as a way into my life.
I replay every conversation we’ve had over the past two years. The skillful way she used my pain to make herself indispensable. All she had to do was mention Valeria’s name, and I would cling to every word she said.
Now I find myself wondering how much of what she told me was sincere.
All this time, all she really wanted was to take her place.
I unleash my frustration on the punching bag with barely controlled violence. But I’m no longer sure whether all this rage is directed at Bianca or at myself.
By the time I step into the shower, I feel slightly calmer.
Then, as I eat lunch alone in one of my favorite places, only one thought keeps crossing my mind: going to Valeria.
But that’s impossible. Not now.
The more our enemies believe nothing has been resolved between us, the easier they’ll be to manipulate. The easier it will be for them to believe I’m still blind to their schemes.
I return to the office shortly before the meeting with Ciphera.
Bianca intercepts me in the lobby, smiling. Peltier arrives right behind her.
“Gaspard. You’re early.”
He greets me warmly before turning to Bianca.
Her smile, on the other hand, looks far more forced.
We walk into the meeting room just as Wald and his lawyers arrive. Smiling. Relaxed.
By now, he probably already knows about the trackers and the disappearance of the NRX-889 file.
The handshake he offers me practically burns my skin.
Bianca is about to speak, but Wald cuts her off immediately.
“Ms. Delorme won’t be joining us?”
“No. She had another commitment this afternoon.”
Wald freezes for a fraction of a second before adjusting the cuff of his sleeve.
“In any case, there’s no urgency,” I say calmly. “Everything is frozen until her legal situation has been clarified.”
“How long do you think it will take before discussions can resume?” Wald asks evenly.
“We should expect a delay of two to three months. Though I’ll admit the situation is becoming more complicated. For reasons she refuses to disclose, Valeria seems reluctant to sign with you.”
“That was never part of the discussion,” Peltier suddenly cuts in. “Where is this coming from?”
I slowly turn my eyes toward him.
“Being a shareholder does not give you the right to speak to me that way.”
Wald grows thoughtful.
“Why not consider a technology-sharing agreement?” he suggests. “As CEO, you don’t need Ms. Delorme’s approval to give us access to the R&D department. In exchange, we could already transfer part of the promised funding.”
“That’s generous of you, but I can’t afford to alienate my best researcher.”
Peltier lets out a short, humorless laugh.
“And you’re not afraid of alienating me? We made commitments to Mr. Wald. We can’t throw everything away just because Ms. Delorme came back from the dead.”
I don’t like his tone.
Why is he being so aggressive?
Is this really just about money?
Or is there something else behind all this?
“What exactly are you trying to say?” Wald asks, his patience already beginning to wear thin.
I hold his gaze.
“That I’ll probably have to start looking for other partners.”
I expected a reaction.
But not this one.
For a very brief moment, all of them freeze.
The same tension flashes through the eyes of Wald, Bianca… and Peltier.
Then Peltier shoots a quick glance toward Wald. Like a reflex.
And suddenly, the memory comes back.
He’s the one who introduced us to Wald.
Four years ago, during a pharmaceutical conference.
How the hell did I forget that?
Peltier is the first to recover.
“Other partners?”
“Yes. Negotiations are still ongoing, but they’re progressing well.”
“And how is it possible that we weren’t informed?”
“Until further notice, I’m still the CEO of this company. The fact that you’re a minority shareholder and a member of the board does not entitle you to demand anything from me. Especially not in that tone.”
Annoyed, Peltier gathers his belongings stiffly.
Realizing quickly that I’m in no mood to answer more questions, the others begin leaving the room as well.
Including Bianca.
The information I just dropped will keep them busy for a while.
They’re already worried about competition.
Good.
That gives us time to prepare our trap.
*
When I get back to the manor and see Valeria, I immediately notice what this day has cost her.
Her features are drawn. The shadows beneath her eyes darker than before.
I pull her against me and wrap my arms around her.
Her body tenses at first, then relaxes. And all the tension leaves mine.
Her scent—green tea and sunlight—surrounds me. And her warmth seeps through every layer of clothing between us.
Against my will, my body reacts instantly to her closeness.
She lets out a small laugh when she feels me harden against her.
God, I missed that sound.
“Are you enjoying watching me suffer?”
“Yes. A little,” she replies playfully.
“You’re not very compassionate for a wife.”
She stares at me, stunned.
“Dante...”
“Don’t say anything you don’t truly mean,” I cut in.
Hesitation crosses her face.
“You want us to divorce?” I ask.
“Uh... no.”
“Then consider yourself married. I don’t give a damn about administrative details.”
Silence settles between us.
Valeria keeps staring at me like she doesn’t know whether to argue or kiss me.
Honestly, I’m not sure which one I’d prefer either.
I force myself to loosen my grip on her waist before I do something reckless.
Then I glance around the room.
“Where’s your Saint Bernard?”
She snorts softly.
“Youri spotted a car circling nearby. He went to check it out.”
Stephen walks in at that exact moment.
“False alarm. Just someone who got lost.”
A few minutes later Mara joins us, and I tell them about my suspicions regarding Gaspard Peltier.
“We’ll dig into it,” Mara says. “I’ll handle it.”
She pauses.
“Now that I think about it, I saw Bianca and Gaspard together yesterday.”
The atmosphere changes instantly.
“Gaspard could be the third man,” Valeria says.
Our eyes meet.
We’re finally starting to see how it all connects.
*
The evening after Mara and Stephen leave, I call Andrea to keep him updated.
By the time I hang up, Valeria is still on the phone. I watch her quietly. Her voice has softened, grown lighter. It’s the kind of voice reserved for the rare people who stayed when everything was falling apart.
Hugo, most likely.
When she hangs up too, I can’t hold back the question any longer.
“There was never anything between you two?”
She looks at me for a moment, as if the question both amuses her and touches her.
“No. Even during the most confusing moments… I was still your wife. And he’s in love with someone else.”
“Oh yeah?”
“He didn’t want to go into details. Just that she was the love of his life. That he did something unforgivable. And she left him because of it.”
The words echo a little too loudly inside me.
I move closer slowly before sitting across from her.
The silence that follows feels heavy. Fragile. I search carefully for my words, as though one wrong move could reopen the distance between us. But avoiding this conversation any longer would be worse.
“I have a lot to apologize for too.”
I pause.
“When you came back, I never gave you the chance to explain yourself. Worse… I tried to hurt you. I was hurting, and I wanted you to hurt too. I truly regret it.”
My voice lowers slightly.
“I don’t want to become that kind of man. The kind who hurts people… and then calls it love.”
Neither of us speaks for a while.
She lowers her eyes, and that simple gesture tightens something in my chest.
“Guilt made me cruel too.”
I look away.
“When you came back, all I could think about was everything I had done wrong.”
My throat tightens.
“That I hadn’t searched hard enough for you. That I had eventually accepted your death. That I had let someone else into my life.”
A humorless laugh escapes me.
“And instead of facing that shame... I turned you into the guilty one.”
Silence settles between us.
“It was easier to blame you than to look at myself. And... I was a coward too.”
She frowns.
“A coward?”
“I was afraid. Afraid to believe in us again and risk losing you all over again. Keeping you at a distance felt safer.”
I close my eyes briefly.
“I’ll never forgive myself for that.”
A long silence stretches between us.
Valeria slowly draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them without looking at me.
“It wasn’t just your words that hurt me,” she whispers. “It was also the fact that you replaced me so quickly with Bianca.”
Her fingers tighten around her legs.
“A part of me can’t stop wondering if there was already something between you before.”
My head snaps up.
“Never. How can you even think that?”
Her voice cracks slightly.
“Because I don’t know what to believe anymore, Dante. I want to trust you… but I can’t.”
Her confession settles between us like an invisible wall.
I want to tear it down. Find the words that would erase her fear. But I know only time and my actions can do that.
So I simply nod.
“I understand.”
At last, she looks back up at me.
“But I promise you this: I’ll do everything I can to earn your trust again.”
The tension between us finally softens a little.
After that conversation, we grab snacks and settle in front of a Netflix series.
I couldn’t tell you what’s playing on the screen.
The only thing that matters to me is her presence against mine. The simple fact that she’s here.
I’m almost starting to believe the conversation is behind us when she suddenly murmurs:
“The next time you deliberately try to hurt me... your boxing lessons won’t do you any good against me.”
I turn to look at her, surprised.
“Excuse me?”
A slow smile curves her lips, and I understand.
“You heard me perfectly, Dante Ivanov.”
“Are you threatening me?”
“No. I’m making you a promise.”
I pretend to shiver.
“All this violence... I love it.”
A laugh escapes her before she lightly punches me in the shoulder.
I laugh too and pull her a little closer against me.
“Careful. I might start to enjoy it.”