Chapter 198
Amboni said calmly, "I think you should tell Isabella. Tell her everything that's happened here, including the heart. She'll understand. After all, she's the woman you chose."
Amboni's words were like a needle, piercing through the fog of Vitale's chaotic thoughts.
He looked at Amboni, the rage and pain in his eyes slowly replaced by a cold, resolute determination.
"Yes, I have to tell her. Isabella will understand."
"She's kinder than anyone and cares more about the meaning of family than anyone else."
Vitale took a deep breath, as if making up his mind, "Eva's amnesia is the best proof right now. It proves Marco's cruelty and the twisted joke of fate. I'll tell Isabella everything, and then we'll go see Eva together."
When Vitale returned, Isabella was already awake, sitting on the sofa by the window, wrapped in a soft blanket, staring out at the gradually brightening sky.
Her face was still a bit pale, but her eyes had regained most of their clarity, though a trace of exhaustion and worry lingered between her brows.
Hearing the door open, she turned her head. Seeing Vitale, she smiled, "Vitale, you're back. How's Eva? What did Jerry say?"
Vitale walked over to her but didn't sit down right away. Instead, he crouched in front of her, holding her slightly cold hands in his and looking up at her.
His gaze was so complex, so heavy, that the smile on Isabella's face slowly faded.
"Isabella," Vitale's voice was hoarse and serious, "I have something very important and hard to believe to tell you. It's about Eva."
Over the next half hour, Vitale, in the clearest tone he could manage, told Isabella everything he had learned from Jerry and Victor.
From Jerry discovering that Eva had undergone a heart transplant, to his suspicion that the heart might belong to Liliana.
From Victor uncovering details about Eva's background and the inside story of Marco saving her.
To Marco's possible true identity and the brutal conspiracy he orchestrated against the Luca family to save Liliana...
The amount of information was overwhelming and shocking. Every word challenged Isabella's understanding of reality.
She covered her mouth, her blue eyes filled with shock, sadness, anger, and a deep empathy for Vitale's profound pain.
She couldn't imagine the torment Vitale must be going through.
"So..." Isabella choked out, gripping Vitale's hand tightly, "the amnesiac Eva, who sees us as good people, has Liliana's heart beating inside her?"
Vitale nodded heavily.
"We have to tell her, Vitale," Isabella said, wiping away her tears, her gaze becoming firm and protective, "no matter how harsh the truth is, she has the right to know her past, to know who used her, and what her body has been through."
"And if she was really manipulated and hurt by Marco like this, then she's not our enemy. She's another victim. She's your sister."
Isabella's words gave Vitale the final strength he needed.
He nodded, "we'll go to her together."
When they entered Eva's hospital room again, the atmosphere was completely different from before.
Eva had finished her IV drip and was half-sitting on the bed, fiddling with her fingers out of boredom.
Seeing Vitale and Isabella come in together, a bright, pure smile instantly lit up her pale face. Her joy and reliance were especially evident when she saw Isabella.
"Isabella! You're here! I missed you so much! Vitale said you were exhausted. Did you rest well?" Eva's voice was full of excitement, sounding just like any ordinary girl seeing a close friend.
Looking at Eva like this, and thinking of the cruel truth she might be carrying, Isabella felt a pang of sadness.
She walked to the bedside, took Eva's hand, and tried to keep her voice steady and gentle, "Eva, I'm fine. Thanks for worrying about me. We have something very important to talk to you about, regarding your past. Is that okay?"
The smile on Eva's face dimmed a little, a flash of confusion and instinctive caution in her eyes, but more than that, there was trust in Isabella.
She nodded, "go ahead. If it's you saying it, I'll believe it."
The conversation that followed was led by Isabella, with Vitale adding key details when needed. Jerry stood a little farther away, ready to step in if any medical issues arose.
They tried to be as gentle as possible while still being honest about the core issues. Step by step, they told Eva about the discovery of the heart transplant, the suspicion that Marco might be her brother, and the conspiracy Marco may have planned to save her.
As the truth unfolded, the color drained from Eva's face bit by bit.
Her deep green eyes shifted from confusion to shock, then to disbelief, and finally to a profound pain and nausea, as if her entire worldview had collapsed.
Instinctively, she clutched her chest, where the transplanted heart was beating steadily and strongly.
So, this new life was built on the brutal murder of another innocent girl.
It was something her so-called brother had obtained through the most despicable and bloody means.
"No, it can't be. Marco, he..." Eva's voice trembled uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face, "he told me it was a new life granted by God. He said my family was killed by the mafia."
"He saved me. He gave me a new life and the strength to seek revenge. How could it be? How could it be like this?"
Eva looked up at Vitale, her eyes filled with desperate need for confirmation, "was Liliana really a cheerful girl, like you said?"
Vitale saw a glimmer in her eyes that resembled Liliana's, and it felt like his heart was being squeezed tightly.
He nodded with difficulty, his throat tight, "yes, she was my most beloved sister."
That sentence became the final weight that broke Eva.
She hadn't expected that regaining her memories at this moment would come with such painful revelations.
Overwhelming guilt, anger at being deceived and used, and a complete doubt about the meaning of her own existence drowned her in an instant.
She broke down, sobbing uncontrollably, her body trembling slightly from the intense emotional turmoil.
Isabella held her tightly, comforting her over and over, "it's not your fault, Eva. It's not your fault. You're a victim too. It's Marco, that monster, who twisted everything."
After crying for a long time, Eva's emotions slowly calmed down.
She leaned into Isabella's embrace, her gaze empty, but a certain decision was gradually taking shape.
She pushed Isabella away slightly, wiping the tears from her face roughly with the back of her hand, and looked at Vitale.
In her deep green eyes, the pain was still there, but now there was also a clear, resolute determination to cut ties with the past.
"Vitale," Eva's voice was hoarse but unusually clear, "I don't remember who my real parents were or what I was supposed to be like. Marco, that monster, gave me fake memories and hatred, turning me into a monster who hurt innocent people. He bound me with your sister's heart."
She took a deep breath, as if summoning all her strength, "but I know Liliana was a good girl. She shouldn't have died."
"You've gone through so much pain to avenge your family, and this heart of mine is the second chance at life that Liliana gave me."
Eva looked up, meeting Vitale's complex gaze, and said word by word, "if you're willing, if you don't hate this body of mine that carries both sin and a gift..."
"I want to call you my brother. Not to replace Liliana—no one can replace her—but as Eva, someone awakened by the truth, someone who wants to atone and start over."
"I want to use this heart that Liliana gave me to help her brother, to fight against the real monster, Marco."
This request caught everyone by surprise, yet it somehow made sense.
It was the hardest and bravest choice a lost soul could make after discovering the brutal truth.
Vitale looked at Eva, at the plea and determination in her eyes, so different from Liliana's yet equally sincere. A crack seemed to form in the corner of his heart that had been frozen by hatred, letting in a sliver of complex, warm light.
He didn't agree right away, nor did he refuse.
He just stayed silent for a long time.
Finally, Vitale slowly nodded, his voice low, "Eva."
He didn't call her sister, but that single word was already a form of acceptance.
A smile appeared on Eva's face again.
This time, it wasn't the naive, confused brightness from before, but a heavy yet determined light, forged through the baptism of pain.
Just then, Jerry's encrypted communicator buzzed.
He glanced at it, his expression changing slightly, and quickly walked over to Vitale, whispering, "our outer sentries reported a suspicious woman trying to approach the medical base under the pretense of visiting a critically ill relative. She was flagged by our identity recognition system."
"Though her disguise was very clever, some biometric scans and gait analysis matched over 85% with Marco's residual data in our database."
Vitale's gaze instantly sharpened, like a predator catching the scent of prey.
Marco couldn't sit still any longer and had come in person.
This feud, spanning years and soaked in blood and betrayal, had finally reached the moment of a face-to-face reckoning.