The message remained on Luca's phone.
Ask Isabella what happened the night your mother disappeared.
Simple words.
But they carried the weight of a weapon.
Because Luca understood people.
He understood manipulation.
He understood fear.
And whoever sent that message knew exactly where to strike.
Not at his empire.
Not at his reputation.
At his trust.
At the one thing he had spent his entire life avoiding.
Attachment.
Isabella noticed the change in him immediately.
She always did.
That was one of the things that both fascinated and terrified Luca.
Everyone else saw what he allowed them to see.
Isabella saw what he tried to hide.
"What is it?"
Her voice was calm.
But her eyes searched his face.
Luca stared at the phone.
For a moment, he considered lying.
Not because he wanted to deceive her.
Because he wanted to protect her.
But then he remembered their agreement.
No more secrets.
No more protecting each other with half-truths.
He handed her the phone.
She read the message.
And the expression on her face changed.
Not guilt.
Not fear.
Confusion.
Pure confusion.
"I don't understand."
Luca studied her carefully.
"What happened that night?"
The question was quiet.
But the meaning behind it was heavy.
Isabella looked at him.
"What night?"
"The night my mother disappeared."
Silence.
A painful silence.
Because Luca hated that he had to ask.
And Isabella hated that she didn't have an answer.
"I don't know."
The words came softly.
Luca looked away.
Not because he didn't believe her.
Because he believed her.
And somehow, that made it more frightening.
"You don't remember?"
She shook her head.
"No."
A pause.
"Luca, I was young."
He knew.
But knowing didn't make it easier.
Because now there was another mystery.
Another missing piece.
Another part of the past hidden from them.
Isabella walked closer.
"I need you to understand something."
He looked at her.
"I have spent my entire life discovering that people lied to me."
Her voice became softer.
"My family.
Your family.
Everyone seems to know things about my life that I don't."
She looked at the message again.
"So if there is something connected to me, I want to know too."
Those words mattered.
Because Luca saw the same frustration in her that he felt.
They were both victims of the same thing.
A past they didn't choose.
A story they were forced into.
The investigation changed direction.
They stopped searching only for Luca's mother.
Now they searched for that night.
The night everything changed.
The night two families lost something.
The night that created the path leading Luca and Isabella to each other.
Hours turned into days.
Records were uncovered.
Old photographs were examined.
People were questioned.
But every answer created another question.
Then Isabella found something.
A small detail hidden in one of the documents.
A medical record.
A name.
Her own.
She stared at it.
"That's impossible."
Luca moved beside her.
"What?"
"This date."
She pointed.
"This was the year I was born."
He looked at the document.
The information was incomplete.
But enough to create suspicion.
"What does it mean?"
Isabella swallowed.
"I don't know."
And that scared her.
Because Isabella had always considered herself someone who knew who she was.
Now she wasn't sure.
The truth about Luca's family was breaking his world apart.
But the truth about her own family was breaking hers.
That night, Luca found her alone.
Not crying.
Not panicking.
Just sitting quietly.
Thinking.
"You're blaming yourself."
She looked up.
"No."
"Yes."
A small smile appeared.
"You're becoming annoying."
"I learned from you."
That almost made her laugh.
Almost.
But the sadness remained.
"I don't know who I am anymore."
Luca sat beside her.
"You're Isabella."
"That's not enough."
"It is for me."
She looked at him.
"You don't understand."
"I do."
"No, Luca. Your entire identity is built on something powerful. Your name. Your family. Your empire."
She looked down.
"What if everything I know is fake?"
Luca was quiet.
Because he understood that feeling.
More than anyone.
He had spent weeks discovering that his own memories were incomplete.
His family was not what he believed.
His enemies were closer than he thought.
His past was full of secrets.
But there was one thing he had learned.
"You are not the things people hide from you."
She looked at him.
"You believe that?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because I had to learn it too."
The answer softened something inside her.
Because Luca wasn't giving advice.
He was sharing a wound.
And that made it different.
The journal sat between them.
Their 90-day journey.
The thing that had started everything.
Isabella opened it.
"We should write today."
Luca looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because one day we'll look back at this."
A pause.
"And I don't want to remember only the pain."
Luca watched her write.
Day Thirty-Two.
She paused.
"What should I write?"
He thought.
Then answered.
"The truth."
She smiled.
"You always say that."
"Because it matters."
She began writing.
Today we learned that the past can hurt us even when we didn't live it.
Today we learned that secrets can make us question ourselves.
But today we also learned that love is not about having all the answers.
It is about choosing someone while searching for them.
Luca read the words.
Then he added one sentence.
Isabella looked at him.
"What did you write?"
He closed the journal.
"Something you need to remember."
She opened it.
His handwriting was underneath hers.
No matter what the truth reveals, I will not become another person who leaves you.
Her eyes softened.
Because that was Luca's biggest promise.
Not that he could fix everything.
Not that he could protect her from every danger.
But that he would stay.
Later that night, they received another piece of information.
A location.
A place connected to the night his mother disappeared.
The old clinic.
The place where the final records from that night were stored.
Luca looked at Isabella.
"We go tomorrow."
She nodded.
But neither of them knew what waited there.
Because the clinic held the answer to the question they had been avoiding.
Why their families were connected.
Why they were brought together.
And why someone had spent years making sure they never discovered the truth.
As they prepared to leave, Luca held Isabella close.
Not because he thought she was fragile.
Because he knew the world was trying to take her away from him.
And for the first time in his life…
Luca Moretti was not fighting for an empire.
He was fighting for the woman who had become his home.
But somewhere in the darkness, someone watched their preparation.
Someone who knew they were finally going to the place where everything began.
And that person smiled.
Because the truth they were searching for…
Was the same truth that could destroy them.