Chapter forty-two

Gonzalo

for Helena Fagundes

“I will not greet you with a brief hello, as senders are wont to do. Nor will I deceive you by saying I’m sorry for the confession that this letter carries. I do not feel. For you, I am incapable of feeling anything but pity. I write this letter only with the hope that it will be the courage you lack to put an end to your marriage for good. And to clear the way so that I can love Gonzalo without secrets. Firstly, I will introduce myself. I’m your husband’s mistress. My name doesn’t matter. But maybe you want to know that on the nights you slept alone, it was in my arms that he rested. That while you were crying hidden in the bathroom of your beautiful mansion, he was moaning, lost in my body. I am not sorry to inform you that Gonzalo has not loved her for a long time. You no longer want her. That you have become a weight on his heart. And these, for many nights, have been his confessions. I only ask that you have courage and end this marriage once and for a