Page 75 of Luca

The ride passes in silence. She sits perfectly still in the backseat, staring out the window at Prague's darkened streets.No more attempts at conversation or explanation. She's done pretending.

And I'm trying to process the magnitude of what I've just discovered.

The woman beside me orchestrated the most elaborate deception I've ever encountered. She walked into my family, into my bed, into my life, and convinced everyone—including me—that she was someone else entirely.

The question that's burning in my mind isn't how she did it.

It's why.

Why did the real Sofia go along with the deception?

And what the fuck I'm supposed to do about it now?

Because despite everything—despite the lies and the deception and the growing certainty that nothing about our marriage is what I thought it was—the idea of losing her makes something twist violently inside me.

I don't know who she really is.

But I know I'm not ready to let her go.

Chapter 29: Gabriella

Back in our hotel suite, Luca immediately pours himself a whiskey. I notice he doesn't offer me one. The days of him playing the polite husband are over. He stands by the window, looking out at Prague's skyline, and the silence stretches between us.

I sit on the edge of the bed, and wait for him to speak first. There's no point in trying to control this conversation. The truth is out, and whatever happens next is up to him.

"What's your real name?" he asks finally, not turning around.

"Gabriella. Gabriella Arcari."

"And Sofia?"

"Is my twin sister. I’m older by six minutes, if it matters."

He takes a sip of whiskey, and I can see his reflection in the window glass. His face is carefully controlled, tight with suppressed rage.

"Tell me about the wedding day."

“What do you want to know?”

“Everything.”

I close my eyes, remembering. "Sofia called me the night before. She was having a complete emotional breakdown. She'd spent months researching your family, readingeverything she could find about what you really do. She was terrified."

"Of me?"

"Yes, and of your world. Of what marriage to you would mean. She knew she couldn't survive it." I open my eyes and stare at his back, willing him to face me. "Sofia has always been fragile. When she was in university, she had a complete psychological break. Anxiety, depression, self-harm. She spent three months in a private clinic. I was very worried about her back then."

"I know about the clinic."

That surprises me. "You investigated her? Why? Wasn’t she good enough for you?"

"I investigate everyone who enters my life." He turns around to face me. "Continue."

"She begged me to come home. Said she couldn't go through with the marriage but couldn't back out either. She knew what it would mean for Papa's business, for the family alliance. You know more than anyone what it would’ve meant had she abandoned you at the altar. Backing out of the wedding wasn’t an option."

"You asked you to take her place?"

I shake my head. “No, I offered. It was all my idea. I would do anything to protect her. I thought maybe I could stall the wedding, find another solution. But when I got there and saw how desperate she was." I shrug. "I couldn't let her destroy herself for a business arrangement."