“I can’t believe I was so stupid,” she continued, her voice filled with bitter disbelief. “I actually started to believe that maybe this marriage wasn’t so bad. That maybe you weren’t so bad. That maybe—” her voice cracked, her heart aching with the weight of her words, “maybe you cared about me. Maybe you loved me.”
At that, Enrico’s jaw clenched, but he still didn’t speak. He didn’t deny it. He didn’t confirm it. His silence cut deeper than any words could have.
Isabella’s vision blurred with unshed tears, but she refused to let them fall. She wouldn’t cry in front of him. Not now. Not after everything. She wiped at her eyes angrily and glared at him, her chest tightening with a pain that was far worse than any anger she had felt before.
“I was so stupid,” she repeated, her voice holl
