Chapter 83: Seeking answers in Monaco

He followed her through the hallway, down the long staircase, and out into the cold street.

Rain had started to fall, thin and hesitant, blurring the city lights into soft streaks of gold and gray.

Sienna didn’t seem to notice. She walked fast, her hair damp, her bag clutched tightly to her side.

“Sienna, wait!”

She stopped at the curb, finally turning to face him. The streetlight above cast a faint halo over her pale skin, dark eyes, a kind of weary beauty that made Luca’s chest ache.

“Where are you going?” he asked.

She looked up at him, rain mixing with the tears she refused to shed. Her voice came out barely above a whisper. “To end this.”

The words sent a chill through him.

He took a cautious step closer. “End what?”

Sienna glanced away. “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“I believed you when no one else did,” he said quietly.

Something flickered across her expression of guilt, gratitude, something in between.

“This isn’t your fight, Luca.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “But I’m already in it.”

She stared at him for a long time, the rain glistening in her hair. He could see the conflict in her eyes, the part of her that wanted to push him away, and the part that needed someone to stay.

Finally, she exhaled. “I have to go to Monaco.”

He blinked. “Monaco?”

“There are things I need to find out. But first, I want to speak with Dante. I want to look him in the eyes while listening to him.”

Luca frowned. “Sienna, slow down. You’ve just been through hell, and now you’re talking about it.”

“I don’t have time,” she said firmly.“Please, Luca. I just need to go.”

Her voice broke on the last word, and that was all it took for him to stop arguing.

“Alright,” he said after a moment. “Then I’m coming with you.”

Her eyes widened. “No. You can’t..”

“I can,” he said simply. “And I will.”

Before she could protest again, he pulled his phone from his pocket and made a call. His tone was all business now, efficient, decisive.

“I need an emergency flight,” he told the person on the other end. “Two passengers. London to Monaco. I need it tonight.”

When he hung up, he looked back at her. “It’s arranged.”

Sienna stared at him, speechless. “How did you did do that?”

“Family perks,” he said with a faint smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Let’s go.”

The ride to the airport was quiet. Sienna sat pressed against the window, watching raindrops race down the glass. Each drop slid, merged, and disappeared just like the life she’d known.

Luca drove, his hands steady on the wheel. Every few minutes, he glanced at her, wanting to say something but never sure what words could fit this kind of silence.

She looked lost but not weak. There was something new about her now, something harder beneath the sorrow.

When they reached the private terminal, Sienna stepped out without waiting for him to open her door. The air smelled of jet fuel and rain. The plane waited at the far end of the tarmac, its lights blinking faintly in the mist.

They walked side by side, neither speaking until they were inside.

Once seated, Luca leaned forward slightly. “You can still change your mind,” he said quietly.

Sienna turned her head, looking at him. “Would you?”

He hesitated. “No.”

She nodded, almost smiling. “Then neither will I.”

The plane lifted off just after midnight.

City lights fell away beneath them with London shrinking to a distant glow.

Sienna stared out the window, her reflection faint in the glass. The sky was black, endless, and for a moment, she felt small beneath it all.

Luca sat across from her, his jacket draped over the armrest, watching her without speaking.

After a while, he said softly, “You’ve changed.”

She turned to him. “How?”

“You were fighting for your career,” he said. “Now it feels like you’re fighting for something else.”

Sienna looked down at her hands. “Because I am.”

He waited, but she didn’t elaborate.

She glanced at him then, meeting his gaze. “Do you ever wonder if loyalty is just another kind of blindness?”

He frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

She exhaled. “We stay loyal to people, to systems, to promises even when they’ve already betrayed us. And when we finally open our eyes, it’s too late.”

Her voice was calm, but there was a tremor underneath it.

Luca studied her face, then said quietly, “Maybe loyalty isn’t blindness. Maybe it’s love.”

She gave a small, sad laugh. “Love destroyed me.”

He leaned forward. “No, Sienna. Lies did. There’s a difference.”

For a moment, neither spoke. The hum of the engines filled the silence.

Sienna turned back to the window. The clouds below looked like a sea of white.

Her reflection in the glass looked like someone she didn’t quite recognize.

“I used to think everything had meaning,” she murmured. “That if I just did things right, if I worked hard enough, cared enough, life would be fair.”

She shook her head slowly. “But it’s not fair. It’s not even close.”

Luca leaned back, watching her. “You’re still the same person who saved people for a living. That doesn’t disappear because others can’t see it.”

Sienna smiled faintly. “You sound like someone who still believes the world makes sense.”

He gave a small shrug. “Maybe I just believe you do.”

That silenced her. She turned to him, eyes glistening in the dim cabin light.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked softly. “Why are you helping me?”

Luca held her gaze. “Because someone has to.”

There was no hesitation in his voice, no doubt.

Sienna’s throat tightened. She looked away, blinking hard. “You don’t owe me anything.”

“I know,” he said simply. “That’s why it matters.”

For a long moment, they sat in silence again, not the heavy kind from before, but something gentler. A fragile peace, suspended in the hum of flight and stormlight.

Eventually, her eyes grew heavy. She leaned her head against the window, and without realizing it, drifted into a shallow sleep.

Luca watched her, the faint rise and fall of her breathing steadying something inside him. He knew the road ahead would be dangerous for both of them. But he also knew he couldn’t let her face it alone.

He turned his gaze out the window. The stars stretched endlessly over the wing, silver against the black sky.

For the first time in a long time, Luca let himself believe that maybe, just maybe the truth could still set someone free.

The air in Monaco felt heavier than she remembered. It felt Warmer too like the sun itself was pressing down, daring her to keep walking.

Sienna stepped out of the terminal first, her bag slung over one shoulder. The scent of saltwater hit her instantly, sharp and familiar. The city stretched out ahead glittering, deceptive, beautiful as ever. The same place that had once given her love and taken everything else away.

Luca followed, holding his jacket over one arm. He’d been quiet since the plane landed, studying her like he was trying to read her mind. He could sense the storm beneath her calm. The part of her that was still breaking, even as she pretended not to.

They got into a waiting car, one of Luca’s contacts already holding the keys. As they pulled out of the airport, the hum of the engine filled the silence between them.

“You don’t have to do this today,” Luca said finally. His voice was low, steady, the tone of someone who wasn’t trying to argue, just reason. “You haven’t slept. You’re not thinking clearly.”

Sienna stared out the window, her reflection pale against the moving city. “I’m thinking more clearly than I have in months.”

He frowned. “Seeing him won’t fix what’s been done.”

Her hand tightened on her bag strap. “I’m not going there to fix anything.”

“Then why are you going?” he asked, glancing at her. “You know what kind of man he’s become, Sienna. You saw it yourself.”

Sienna stayed silent. The villas flashed past, white walls, iron gates, glimpses of the sea. Every street carried memories: nights spent waiting for Dante to come home, mornings filled with laughter that now felt like another life.

“Isabelle will be there,” Luca added quietly, watching her reaction.

She didn’t flinch, but her jaw clenched.

“I know,” she said after a long pause.

Luca exhaled and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Then why walk into the fire?”

Her gaze stayed fixed on the passing coastline. “Because someone has to remind him what it feels like to burn.”

Luca’s eyes flicked toward her. He wasn’t sure if that was anger or heartbreak talking. Maybe both..“You don’t owe him that,” he said softly.

“I know,” she said again, this time almost to herself. “But I owe myself the truth.”

They drove in silence for a while. The sky was turning gold, waves crashing faintly against the cliffs below. Monaco looked peaceful, but Sienna could feel the tension under its calm the same way she could sense the ache under her own skin.

Luca glanced at her again. “Do you really think he’ll listen?”

“No,” she said simply. “But I need to look him in the eye and tell him what he refused to see.”

He nodded slowly. “Then I’ll go with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know.” His voice softened. “But you’re not walking into that house alone.”

Sienna almost smiled not because it was funny, but because it hurt less to pretend it was.

Sienna turned her face toward the window. The sea stretched out endlessly beside them, blue and bright and cruel.

Maybe this trip was a mistake. Maybe it was the start of everything she’d been running from.

Sienna watched the coastline fade behind the car window and whispered to herself,

“Maybe I didn’t come here for answers. Maybe I just needed to see how much I could still feel.”

And for the first time in days she wasn’t sure if her heart ached from loss or from something that was finally waking up again.