Luca's Confession

Luca's Confession
LUCA ROMANO POV

The secret sits in my chest like something rotting.

Six months I've carried it. Six months of Isabella touching my arm, my hand, my shoulder. The bond pulsing between us. Every single time feeling the lie burn hotter. Deeper. The thing I'm hiding while pretending to be the protector. The honest one.

I'm not protecting her. I'm protecting myself from what telling the truth will cost.

Sarah Hart's message glows on Dante's laptop. Three words. Don't trust Marcus.

"My mother." Isabella's voice shakes. "How did she get Dante's number? Why now?"

Dante's already typing. His fingers stabbing keys harder than necessary. "Burner phone. Disposable. She knew how to stay hidden."

"Someone taught her that." Marco wheels closer. His hands tight on the armrests. "Sarah Hart's a nurse. Not a spy. Someone showed her operational security."

The rot in my chest spreads. Eating through my ribs.

I know who taught her. Know because I gave her the burner phone six months ago. Told her to keep it charged. Use it only if Marcus made contact. Only for emergencies.

"Luca." Isabella turns. Those eyes finding mine. Seeing too much. Always seeing too much. "Why are you so quiet?"

I'm always quiet. It's what I do. Act instead of talk. But this silence weighs different. Tastes different. Like copper. Like guilt.

"I need to tell you something." The words scrape my throat raw.

Marco's jaw sets. "What did you do?"

"Six months back I ran collections. Guy owed Vincent. Hiding in a compound outside Billings, Montana." I make myself look at Isabella. Force my eyes to stay on hers even though it hurts. "When I got there the place was empty. Recent empty. Coffee still warm. Computer logged in. But it wasn't a safehouse. It was a lab. Medical equipment. Research files everywhere."

"You found Marcus." Dante's voice flattens. He's already three steps ahead. Already seeing the whole picture.

"Found evidence he was alive. There was a file on the desk. Open. Isabella's name on it. Medical records. Enhancement protocols. Something labeled Treatment Reversal." My hands curl into fists. Nails biting palms. "I took it. Two days later he contacted me."

Isabella's face drains of color. Goes gray. "What kind of treatment?"

"Reversal. Removal. He was working on undoing the genetic modifications. Making you normal again." Each word tastes like betrayal. "I took the file. And he emailed me. Untraceable address. Said he'd left it for me to find. That he wanted to talk."

"How many messages?" Marco's voice cuts like a blade.

I pull out my phone. Show them. "Hundred and forty three over six months."

Isabella grabs it from my hand. Scrolls fast. Her breathing getting shorter. Faster. "You've been talking to him this whole time. While I thought he was dead. While I was grieving."

"He asked me not to tell you. Said you deserved to live without fear until he perfected the cure. Until he had something real to offer. A real choice."

"That wasn't your call." Her voice stays level but I hear the rage underneath. Controlled. Deadly. "You don't get to decide what I can handle."

"I know." My chest aches. Physical pain. "But he was convincing. Sent research data. Test results on animals. On tissue samples. It looked legitimate. Real. Like he was actually trying to help."

"When did it change?" Dante leans forward. Reading my face. My tells. "When did you realize he wasn't trying to help?"

"Three weeks ago. The messages got different." I pull up recent texts. My hands aren't steady. "Stopped talking about cures. Started using words like correcting. Ending. Cleansing. Said the enhancements were corrupting you from inside."

Isabella reads aloud. Voice shaking now. "Subject One shows increasing psychological degradation. Contamination spreading through bond connections. Termination may be only viable option." She looks up. Eyes wet. "Termination. He wants to kill me."

"I don't know what he wants anymore." The truth. Finally. "That's why I didn't tell you. Why I kept monitoring. Trying to figure out if he was still Marcus Hart or if Vincent's experiments broke him into something else."

"You should have told us the second you knew." Marco's voice goes cold. That controlled fury that's worse than screaming. "The moment you confirmed he was alive. The instant his language shifted. You betrayed our trust."

"I was trying to protect her."

"By lying?" Nico's voice from the doorway. I didn't hear him come in. Don't know how long he's been listening. "That's not protection. That's control. That's Vincent's whole playbook."

The comparison hits like a fist to the gut. Knocks the air out. "I'm nothing like Vincent."

"No?" Marco wheels toward me. His chair silent on carpet. "You decided what Isabella should know. What she could handle. What choices she deserved to make about her own life. Explain how that's different."

"I thought I was doing right."

"You thought you knew better than her." Isabella's crying now. Silent tears tracking down her face. Worse than yelling. So much worse. "You're supposed to be different, Luca. The honest one. The one who doesn't play games. But you're exactly like them. Just better at hiding it."

Each word cuts. Deep. Clean. True.

"I'm sorry." Worthless words. Empty. But all I have.

"Sorry doesn't fix this." She turns to Dante. Dismissing me. "Show me everything. Every single message. Every file Luca's been hiding."

Dante looks at me. Asking permission. I nod. She deserves it all now.

He pulls up the archive. Six months of correspondence displayed chronologically. We watch Marcus's deterioration in real time. Messages starting clinical. Professional. Research focused. Then slowly twisting. Getting darker. More obsessed. More broken.

Isabella reads them all. Silent. Watching her father lose his mind in text messages. His concern becoming fanaticism. His cure becoming execution protocol.

"He's insane." She says it flat. Matter of fact. "Not trying to save me. Trying to destroy his mistake. I'm his failure and he wants to erase the evidence."

"We don't know that for sure," I try. Weak.

"Don't we?" She shoves my phone at my chest. I catch it. Barely. "Quote. Subject One must be neutralized before contamination spreads to other enhanced individuals. Romano bonds accelerating degradation. Separation and cleansing required for optimal outcome. Unquote." Her voice breaks. "That's not medical language. That's extermination protocol."

"Which is why I was monitoring. Assessing threat level before bringing everyone in."

"You don't get to make that decision." Marco's voice cuts final. Absolute. "You betrayed us. Put Isabella at risk. Withheld vital intelligence. That's unforgivable."

"Marco." Isabella's voice softens. Slightly. "He thought he was helping."

"Good intentions don't excuse betrayal." He looks at me like I'm a stranger. Like six months of lies erased years of brotherhood. "Vincent taught us that lesson. Cost us everything. You should understand better than anyone."

The bond between us fractures. I feel it crack. Splinter. The connection that's held us together since childhood breaking under the weight of my lies.

"What now?" Nico asks. "Marcus is alive. Unstable. Wants Isabella in Montana in forty eight hours. Clock's ticking."

"We go." Isabella's voice firms. Certain. "I go to Montana. Face him. Get answers."

"That's his trap." Dante shakes his head. "His facility. His territory. His rules."

"Then we change the rules." She looks at each of us. "Go prepared. Armed. Expecting ambush. But I need to see him. Need to understand why. Why he did this. Why he's still doing this."

My phone buzzes. Everyone freezes.

New message. Marcus Hart.

I open it. Read aloud because hiding is over. "Isabella. I know you found the files. Know you've been talking to Luca. Everything I've done is to save you. Come to Montana. Let me explain. Let me show you the truth. Forty eight hours. Come alone or don't come at all."

"He's been watching us." Dante's typing again. Faster. Checking for surveillance. Malware. "Knew about Luca's betrayal. Probably knows about these files. We're completely compromised."

Isabella's phone rings. Loud in the silent room. Unknown number. She stares at it. At us. Answers on speaker.

"Hello?"

Woman's voice. Panicked. Breathing wrong. "Isabella? Oh god baby is that you?"

"Mom?" Isabella's face goes white. Bone white. "How did you get this number?"

"Luca gave me a phone. Months ago. Told me to call if Marcus contacted me. Baby he called yesterday. He's not okay. Something's very wrong."

"Mom slow down. What did he say?"

"Said he needs to fix his mistakes before it's too late. That you're sick. Dying. That he has to cure you." Sarah Hart's sobbing now. Words breaking apart. "But Isabella the way he talked. It wasn't healing language. It was ending language. Stopping language. He kept saying contamination. Spread. Cleanse. Like you're a disease."

"What contamination?"

"You. The enhancements. The bonds with those boys." Her voice cracks completely. "Isabella don't trust him. Whatever he's planning it's not a cure. Marcus isn't the man I married. He's not your father anymore. He's something broken. Something dangerous. Please don't go to Montana. Please baby don't."

The line cuts. Dead air. Gone.

Isabella stares at her phone. Face blank. Shock settling deep.

"Forty eight hours," she whispers.

"We're not going." Marco's voice. Final. "Too dangerous. Your mother confirmed he's unstable. Montana is a death trap."

"We don't have a choice." Isabella looks up. "Because if we don't go to him, eventually he'll come to us. And I'd rather face him on any terms than wait for him to pick the time and place."

The bonds pulse. Fear. Anger. Determination. Love. All bleeding together.

Marcus Hart is alive. Insane. Coming for his daughter.

Whether he wants to save her or kill her, we're about to find out.