My Husband and My Best Friend Betrayed Me on Our Wedding Day. Twice. novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: Bianca's Fall

Bianca stood at the microphone with her hands twisted in front of her silver dress.

Two hundred people stared up at her.

Stefano stood a step behind her with his fingers hooked in her elbow.

"Go on," he said, close to her ear. "The way we practiced."

Bianca licked her lips.

"I want to say," she began, and her voice came out thin and sweet, the voice she used for brides. "I want to say that none of this is what it looks like."

Nobody answered.

"Three years ago, Luca came to me." She swallowed. "He was drinking. He said Valeria was cold to him. He pulled me into the room, and I was too scared to say no, and then Valeria walked in."

A murmur ran through the tables.

I did not move.

Beside me Luca's hand turned to stone on the cloth.

"I've kept it secret to protect her," Bianca said. "I'm so sorry, Valeria. I never wanted you to find out like this. Stefano only loved me and wanted to give me a home."

It was a good performance. She even found a tear.

Stefano's mouth curled.

My mother stood up at our table.

She did not say a word. She turned her head so that the room could see her cheek, and the mark that was still on it.

Bianca saw it.

I watched her see it.

She faltered.

"I was too scared," she said again, and the line came out flat.

"Bianca," said a voice at the back. "Is that why you hit Rosa Morandi in the bakery yesterday?"

It was the nurse from the clinic.

She stood by the door in a coat and church shoes, with two of the women from the waiting room beside her.

She had not been invited. She had come anyway.

"She had a towel strapped to her stomach," said the woman beside her, loudly. "I saw it fall."

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