Take me back
Valeria
I close the door behind me, Dante’s words chasing after me.
“I will never ask you to sacrifice your happiness to keep me.”
I walk down the porch steps dusted with snow without looking back and climb into Hugo’s car.
He glances at my tear-streaked face. His jaw tightens, but he says nothing.
The car pulls away immediately, leaving the manor behind.
He drives in silence, instinctively understanding that what I need isn’t comfort, but space.
Room to breathe. Distance.
I stare at the road without really seeing it.
Did I do the right thing by leaving?
Am I giving up at the first real obstacle?
But how am I supposed to do otherwise?
I was betrayed by the woman I considered my sister. I would’ve given her a kidney without hesitation. And she tried to kill me.
And now she’s carrying my husband’s child.
No. Not my husband. He isn’t anymore.
And yet my heart never accepted that.
Even if he says he loves me, this baby changes everything.
A child is permanent.
Whether we want it or not, Bianca will always be part of our lives now.
He says he chooses me, that I’m his wife… but that was before.
Before he knew about the baby. Before he understood what this truly means.
The sleepless nights. The teething. The midnight fevers. The first steps. Everything I dreamed of sharing with him.
How am I supposed to survive that?
Watching them exchange messages and pictures. Watching him leave whenever she calls because she’s exhausted, because the baby won’t stop crying, because she feels overwhelmed.
She’ll cry.
And I know him. He won’t know how to keep his distance. Not from his own child. Because he’ll be a good father.
And that’s exactly why it’s destroying me.
Every time he leaves to see them, it’ll feel like slow poison.
Could I survive that? Or would I slowly disappear beneath the jealousy, the resentment, the constant comparisons?
Is love really enough to survive something like this?
I close my eyes.
I’ll never again underestimate what Bianca is capable of.
She will stop at nothing.
She’ll want to prove she can replace me. Steal Dante’s attention. His love. And if she has to, she’ll use this child as leverage, like a rope she can pull whenever she wants to drag him back into her orbit.
The baby is sick. He needs his father. You can’t expect me to handle this alone.
I curl in on myself.
Hugo pulls the car over along the curb. I don’t even know where we are. A quiet street lined with snow-covered trees, not another soul in sight.
The engine shuts off, and silence fills the car.
Without a word, he unbuckles his seatbelt and pulls me against him.
I break apart.
“Bianca… she’s pregnant with Dante’s baby,” I whisper.
He pulls me closer, but it’s not enough to loosen the tightness crushing my chest.
“For fuck’s sake, doesn’t he know how to use a condom or what?”
His comment almost makes me smile.
Almost.
“I’m not strong enough for this.”
“For what exactly?” he asks gently.
“To be the one who stays no matter what. To watch their life move forward without losing myself in the process.”
His hand slowly moves along my back.
“This isn’t about strength, Valeria. You’re capable of almost anything, and you know it. The real question is whether you want this—and you don’t have to answer that today.”
I stay motionless in his arms, eyes closed, letting his words settle inside me.
I think about last night. About him laughing while helping me make lasagna. Kissing my forehead while drinking his coffee this morning. The way his arms close around me like they’ve been searching for me this whole time.
I think about the child that’s going to be born. An innocent little life caught in the middle of all this.
I clutch Hugo’s clothes between my fingers.
After a few moments, I somehow manage to regain control of my emotions and straighten up.
“I don’t know what to do,” I admit.
My voice breaks on the last word.
“You don’t have to decide today,” he says calmly. “But don’t give up on him too quickly. I know how much you love him.”
My fingers tighten.
“If you walk away from him because of this child, then she wins. And that would be a decision driven by fear, not by love.”
He pauses before continuing in a softer voice.
“Yes, it’s going to be complicated. But will you be facing those challenges alone, or will Dante be by your side? Will he protect you? Will he set boundaries?”
“I know he’ll try to do the right thing... but she won’t stop at anything.”
“Do you think he’ll still fall for her manipulations?”
I think about it.
About his anger. His new clarity.
“No. Not anymore.”
“Then don’t let what she might do steal what’s right in front of you.”
I stare through the windshield at the empty street.
A life with a child who won’t be mine.
Shared weekends. Boundaries to enforce. Silent battles to fight.
Is this the life I would’ve chosen?
No.
And despite everything, the idea of losing him hurts worse.
“I’m not giving up on him,” I say at last. “Not as long as he’s willing to fight for us.”
Hugo smiles softly.
“Then don’t leave out of fear. Only leave if one day you lose yourself.”
I nod. Something inside me eases slightly. Not completely. But enough to breathe again.
I still don’t know how this ends. I don’t know if I’ll be strong enough.
But I know one thing: I don’t want our story to end with me running away.
“Take me back,” I say.
Hugo starts the engine again.