For several seconds, nobody moved.
The person standing in the doorway looked like someone who had walked into the wrong place at the wrong time.
But Luca knew better.
Nothing about this situation was accidental.
Not the clinic.
Not the files.
Not the secrets.
And definitely not this.
His eyes narrowed.
"Say it again."
The person swallowed.
"I was hoping you would never find this place."
The words carried too much weight.
Because they weren't the words of someone surprised.
They were the words of someone who had been waiting.
Isabella looked between them.
"Why?"
The person looked at her.
And the sadness in their expression made something inside Isabella tighten.
Not guilt.
Not fear.
Regret.
"I wanted to protect you."
Luca's expression hardened.
"Protect us?"
A cold laugh escaped him.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
He stepped forward.
"Protect us from what?"
Silence.
That was the problem with secrets.
Everyone claimed they were hiding things for protection.
But nobody ever asked whether the person being protected wanted the truth.
Isabella moved beside Luca.
She didn't hide behind him.
She never did.
"Tell us."
The person looked at her.
"You really don't remember?"
The question unsettled her.
"Remember what?"
A long pause.
"The night you met Luca."
Isabella froze.
Because everyone kept saying the same thing.
That night.
That moment.
That memory.
Something important had happened.
Something someone had taken away from her.
"I was a child."
"Yes."
"And you expect me to remember something from years ago?"
"No."
The person looked at her sadly.
"I expect you to remember what they made you forget."
The room went silent.
Luca immediately reacted.
"What does that mean?"
The person looked at him.
"It means both of you were victims."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Explain."
The person walked closer and placed a small device on the table.
"A recording."
Isabella stared at it.
"Of what?"
"Of the night everything changed."
Luca looked at the device.
His instincts told him not to trust it.
But another part of him needed answers.
Needed to know why his life had been built on missing pieces.
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then voices.
A woman.
His mother.
His heart stopped.
"Luca…"
The sound of her voice from years ago filled the abandoned clinic.
A younger version of the woman he thought he had lost forever.
Then another voice.
A man.
Isabella's father.
They were arguing.
"She deserves to know."
"She's too young."
"She has a right to her own life."
"And if they find out?"
Silence.
Then Luca's mother spoke.
"They already know."
The recording continued.
"We have to separate them."
Isabella looked at Luca.
Her heartbeat increased.
Separate them.
Why?
The voices continued.
"If they grow up knowing the truth, they'll become targets."
"Then we protect them."
"How?"
A pause.
"By making sure they forget."
The recording stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Because suddenly, the mystery had changed.
The question was no longer whether their families had hidden something.
They had.
The question was why.
And what exactly had been taken from them.
Isabella stared at the device.
"They erased my memories?"
The person looked away.
"Not completely."
"Then what?"
"They buried them."
Luca's expression darkened.
"How?"
The person hesitated.
"Through trauma."
Isabella felt cold.
A memory buried because it was too painful.
A truth hidden because someone believed forgetting was safer.
Luca looked at the person.
"You knew."
"Yes."
"You knew all these years?"
"Yes."
His voice became dangerous.
"And you said nothing."
The person accepted the anger.
"I was ordered not to."
"By who?"
Silence.
Luca stepped closer.
"Who?"
The answer came quietly.
"Your mother."
That stopped him.
Because despite everything, Luca still loved her.
Even after the secrets.
Even after the pain.
His mother was still his mother.
"She wanted me to forget?"
"No."
The person shook their head.
"She wanted you to survive."
The words hit differently.
Because Luca understood survival.
Better than anyone.
The person continued.
"She knew if you remembered everything, you would spend your life searching for revenge."
Luca looked away.
Because they were right.
That was exactly what he would have done.
The person turned toward Isabella.
"And she knew you would do the same."
Isabella frowned.
"Me?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
The answer came softly.
"Because you and Luca were more alike than anyone realized."
That was something Isabella had always felt.
The connection.
The understanding.
The way they could look at each other and recognize the pain underneath.
They weren't the same.
But they carried similar wounds.
Both had grown up surrounded by missing truths.
Both had learned to survive without answers.
Both had been searching for something they couldn't name.
Until they found each other.
The 90-day journey had started as an experiment.
A way to discover attraction.
A way to explore a connection.
But now Isabella understood.
The reason Luca felt familiar wasn't because he was easy to understand.
It was because some part of her had known him before.
Before the secrets.
Before the danger.
Before the world told them who they were supposed to be.
Later, after the person left them with the recording and the remaining files, Luca and Isabella sat in silence.
Neither of them knew what to say.
Too many truths had arrived at once.
Finally, Isabella spoke.
"Do you hate me?"
Luca looked at her immediately.
"What?"
"The message."
She looked down.
"The person said I was the reason your mother disappeared."
Luca's expression changed.
Because he realized something.
Even after everything, Isabella was still carrying the blame.
He moved closer.
"Look at me."
She did.
"I don't know everything."
A pause.
"I don't have all the answers."
Another pause.
"But I know you."
Her eyes softened.
"And I know you are not my enemy."
The words broke something inside her.
Because she had spent her entire life wondering where she belonged.
And somehow, the one person whose world had been destroyed by secrets was the person making her feel safest.
"I'm scared," she admitted.
"So am I."
She looked surprised.
"You?"
"Yes."
Luca looked at her.
"But being scared doesn't mean I leave."
The words echoed.
Because that was the promise he had made.
Not that he could fix everything.
Not that he could erase the past.
Just that he would stay.
Outside the clinic, the wind grew stronger.
The files they uncovered changed everything.
But one thing remained unchanged.
Someone had planned their separation.
Someone had hidden their memories.
Someone had spent years controlling the truth.
And now Luca and Isabella were finally close enough to uncover it.
But they didn't know the final secret yet.
The one that would change everything.
Because the night they first met…
Was not the first time they had chosen each other.
It was the second.