I wear his name like a scar.
Alessandro Rossi stole everything from me; my freedom, my future, the lie I told my father to keep him alive. He thinks I'm a tool to be used, a bride to be displayed, a Fraga to be broken. He thinks the ring on my finge...
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I'd been looking for Alessandro when I spotted Helena sitting alone in the gazebo, looking lost in thought and sad.
She rarely let her guard down, always the quiet and private one, even after all these months. But now, seeing her like this, I couldn't just walk by. If something was weighing her down, she'd bury it deep if I didn't step in.
I approached slowly, stepping into the gazebo and quietly taking a seat beside her on the wooden bench. The cool, sweet spring breeze drifted around us, and for a moment, I let it fill my lungs, feeling unexpectedly free.
Maybe it was just the night air, or maybe it was something else. For the first time in months, it felt like I could breathe a little easier.
Helena was trying to gather herself, wiping away stray tears with the tips of her fingers, hiding her face behind her short blonde hair. But I could see right through it.
"I thought we were friends, Helena," I murmured softly.
She took a shaky breath, still not looking at me. "I've never had friends, Yasenia," she admitted, her voice so quiet I barely caught it. "So I don't know how this works."
I reached out, gently turning her face so she'd meet my eyes. "It starts with you coming to me whenever you need someone to talk to," I told her softly. "We sit down, I get you your favorite drink, and then you just let it all out. I'm there, listening, no judgment—just there." I paused, letting my words sink in. "And hopefully, by the end, you feel a little better knowing I've got your back. I'm your friend, and that's what friends do."
Helena looked at me, her eyes filling with tears again. "We were talking about us, and when he mentioned marriage, I felt so happy, Yasenia. I could see how serious he is about us, how much he loves me." She paused, her voice dropping. " But then I said I'd like our first child to be a boy, to look just like him... and everything changed. He shut down completely, like I'd said something wrong." She took a shaky breath. "I tried to get him to tell me what was bothering him, but he just got up and left. I saw him pull into the driveway just now, and when I tried to talk to him, he ignored me and went straight to the garden room... where Alessandro is."
She looked away, hurt flickering in her eyes. "Did I say something wrong? What's he holding back?"
I pulled her close, wrapping my arms around her, feeling her pain and confusion in a way she probably didn't realize.
Alessandro and Andrea still had so many secrets, things they kept locked up tight. Whatever hell they'd gone through together, it was written in the way they trusted each other, the unbreakable bond they shared.
Alessandro was my husband, yet there was so much about him I didn't know. And Andrea was about to marry Helena, a woman who was just as much in the dark as I was.
They both shut us out, kept us at arm's length, leaving us to worry about them from the sidelines. We wanted to be there for them, to help carry whatever burdens they were still holding onto. But they wouldn't let us in. And it hurt—because we loved them, and because we cared more than they knew.
