Page 40 of Forsaken Promises

To my horror, she begins to cry.

As Sofia’s tears begin to fall, I feel a sense of horror and helplessness wash over me. I’ve never been good at dealing with crying women, never known how to comfort them or ease their pain. And seeing Sofia, my strong, stubborn, beautiful wife reduced to this… it breaks something inside me.

I get off the bed, moving toward her with the intention of taking her in my arms, of offering her whatever solace I can. But she flinches away from me, her body tensing as if my touch is the last thing she wants.

“Sofia, please,” I beg, my voice rough with emotion. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

She shakes her head, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs. And I stand there, feeling utterly useless and lost, my hands clenching and unclenching at my sides as I watch her fall apart.

Finally, after what feels like an eternity, her tears begin to subside. She takes a shuddering breath, wiping at her face with the back of her hand. And then she looks up at me, her eyes red-rimmed and filled with a pain that I can't even begin to understand.

“How many women have you been with since me, Dominico?” she asks, her voice barely above a whisper. “How many girls have been in your bed and screamed your name?”

Dominico? We’re back to my full first name, are we?

But I tense, my jaw clenching as I feel a wave of annoyance and defensiveness wash over me. I know that no good can come of this line of questioning, that dwelling on the mistakes of the past can only poison the fragile bond we’re trying to build.

“Sofia, please don’t do this,” I say, my voice low and urgent. “The past is the past. We can’t change it, no matter how much we might want to. We need to focus on our future together, on the lifetime we have ahead of us. That’s too long to hold on to resentment and bitterness.”

She scoffs, her eyes flashing with anger. “That’s easy for you to say, isn’t it? You’re not the one who has to live with the knowledge that her husband has been with countless other women, that he’s perfected his techniques on someone else’s body.”

A flare of irritation courses through me at her words, at the accusation and judgment in her tone. “What did you expect, Sofia? That I would be a saint, that I would remain chaste and pure while we were broken up for four years? You don’t have a right to judge me for how many women I’ve been with.”

She flinches as if I’ve slapped her, her eyes widening with hurt and disbelief. “Are you seriously acting like I don’t have the right to be upset? Like I'm being unreasonable for not wanting to picture you with other women?”

I sigh, running a hand through my hair in frustration. “That’s not what I’m saying, Sofia. I know I hurt you, and I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to make up for that. But you can’t keep punishing me for my past mistakes, not if we’re going to have any chance at a future together.”

She’s silent for a long moment, her eyes searching mine as if looking for some hidden truth. “How would you feel if you knew I slept with multiple men?” she suddenly asks.

Sofia’s question hits me like a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of me and leaving me reeling. The thought of her with other men, of faceless strangers touching her and making her moan… it makes my blood boil and my stomach churn with a sickening mixture of jealousy and possessiveness.

I can’t help but imagine it, can’t help but picture her dark hair thrown back in ecstasy as she writhes beneath someone else’s body. The image is like a knife twisting in my heart.

But I force myself to take a deep breath, to push down the rage and the pain and the overwhelming desire to demand the names of every man who’s ever laid a finger on her. Because I know that I have no right to that information, no claim on the choices she made while we were apart.

“If I’m being honest, Sofia,” I say, my voice tight with barely controlled emotion, “I wouldn’t like it. The thought of you with other men… it makes me sick to my stomach. But I also know that I have no say in what you did during our breakup, no right to judge you or hold it against you.”

She stares at me for a long moment, her eyes searching mine as if looking for some hidden truth. And then she shakes her head, a bitter laugh escaping her lips.

“That’s not good enough, Dom. I want to know how many women you’ve been with. I want to know exactly how many girls have had the pleasure of your company, how many beds you’ve warmed and then left cold in the morning.”

I feel a surge of irritation at her words, at the demanding tone in her voice. Where does she get off acting like she’s entitled to every detail of my sex life, like she has the right to pry into the most intimate parts of my past?

“No, Sofia,” I say, my voice hard and unyielding. “You don’t get to demand that information from me. What I did during our breakup is my business, and mine alone. Just like what you did is yours. Besides, what will you get out of that information? Just more ammunition to throw at me whenever you see fit?”

Her eyes widen with hurt and disbelief, then they narrow. “Your unwillingness to answer must mean it’s more than you can remember.”

I feel a surge of anger and frustration boiling up inside me at her accusation, threatening to spill over into harsh words and biting sarcasm.

I throw my hands up in exasperation, my eyes narrowing as I stare her down. “Jesus Christ, Sofia, what is with you and twisting my words? How can you be this fucking obtuse?”

She flinches at my tone, but I’m too fired up to care. I’m sick and tired of her constantly using my past against me, of her throwing my mistakes in my face every time we have a disagreement.

“It doesn’t matter how many women I’ve been with,” I spit out, my voice rising with each word. “It’s none of your damn business, especially when I know you’ll just weaponize it against me. Why can’t you just let it go? Why do you insist on punishing me for things that happened years ago, things that have nothing to do with our relationship now?”

Sofia’s blue eyes flash with anger, her hands clenching into fists at her sides. “How can you say it has nothing to do with our relationship? How can you expect me to just forget all the times you’ve hurt me, all the ways you've betrayed my trust?”

I let out a harsh laugh, shaking my head in disbelief. “I'm not asking you to forget, Sofia. I'm asking you to forgive. To recognize that I’m not the same man I was back then, that I’ve changed and grown and done everything in my power to be the husband you deserve.”

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