CHAPTER 10:The Night We Lost Each Other
847 Words
The photograph felt like a wound reopening.
Alessia had spent six years trying to bury that night.
The last night she saw Lorenzo as the man she loved.
The last night before everything changed.
The last night before she walked away.
And now someone had placed that memory in her hands again.
Not as a reminder.
As a question.
You left because they made you.
Lorenzo stood beside her, staring at the photograph.
She could feel his eyes on her.
Waiting.
Not angry.
Not accusing.
Just waiting for the truth.
And somehow, that was harder.
Because anger would have been easier.
Anger created distance.
But this?
This reminded her that beneath everything, Lorenzo still cared.
"Tell me what happened."
His voice was quiet.
Alessia looked down.
"I already told you."
"No."
The firmness in his voice surprised her.
"You told me what you wanted me to believe."
The words hurt.
Because they sounded cruel.
But deep down, she knew there was truth in them.
Six years earlier.
She had been twenty-two.
Young.
In love.
And completely unaware that the people around her were moving pieces on a board she couldn't see.
That night had started beautifully.
Lorenzo had taken her to a small restaurant overlooking Lake Como.
No business conversations.
No family expectations.
Just them.
For the first time in months, they had felt normal.
She remembered the way he smiled.
The way he talked about their future.
The way he made impossible dreams feel possible.
Then everything changed.
After dinner, Lorenzo received a phone call.
His father's name appeared on the screen.
He answered.
And something changed.
When he returned, he was different.
Distant.
Cold.
"What's wrong?"
She had asked.
He avoided her eyes.
"It's nothing."
But Alessia knew him.
It was never nothing.
That night, she went back to the Moretti villa.
She wanted answers.
Instead, she found Matteo Moretti waiting for her.
Alone.
Serious.
Terrifying.
"You need to leave my son."
Those were the first words he said.
Alessia remembered the shock.
The confusion.
The anger.
"Excuse me?"
Matteo placed a file on the table.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
Messages.
Evidence that appeared to show Lorenzo knew about her father's disappearance.
"He has been investigating your family."
Matteo's voice had been calm.
Too calm.
"He believes your father destroyed ours."
Alessia had refused to believe him.
"Lorenzo would never."
But then Matteo showed her something else.
A document with Lorenzo's signature.
A document connected to the investigation.
She remembered leaving the villa.
Broken.
Confused.
Terrified.
And when Lorenzo came to see her the next morning, she couldn't look at him the same way.
"You believed him."
Lorenzo's voice pulled her back.
Alessia looked at him.
"I was scared."
"Of me?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"Of losing you."
The confession surprised him.
She continued.
"I didn't leave because I stopped loving you."
Her voice became softer.
"I left because I thought staying would destroy both of us."
Lorenzo looked away.
For years, he had believed she abandoned him.
That she chose to leave.
That their love meant less to her than he thought.
Now he was hearing something different.
"Why didn't you ask me?"
The question broke her heart.
Because she had asked herself the same thing countless times.
"I tried."
"When?"
"The next morning."
She looked at him.
"You came to my apartment."
A pause.
"You were angry."
Lorenzo frowned.
"I wasn't angry."
"You were."
"No."
His expression changed.
"Alessia, I came to tell you my father was lying."
Silence.
The world seemed to stop.
"What?"
Lorenzo stared at her.
"I came because I found out my father had been investigating your family without telling me."
Her breath caught.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
A painful smile appeared.
"But you wouldn't let me explain."
Memories returned.
Not clearly.
Not completely.
But enough.
The argument.
The tears.
The fear.
The pain.
Two people who were both hurt.
Two people who believed they were protecting themselves.
"So we were both lied to."
Lorenzo nodded slowly.
"Yes."
A painful truth.
But a truth.
Before they could say more, Lorenzo's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
"What happened?"
A pause.
"Are you sure?"
He looked at Alessia.
Then lowered the phone.
"Security found Daniel."
Her heart jumped.
"Where?"
Lorenzo hesitated.
"At the old Conti residence."
Alessia froze.
"My father's house?"
He nodded.
"But that's not the worst part."
"What?"
Lorenzo looked at the photograph in her hand.
"The police found evidence that Daniel wasn't investigating the hotel."
A pause.
"He was investigating you."
Alessia felt cold.
"Why?"
Lorenzo looked at her.
Because neither of them wanted to say the answer.
Because the answer meant someone had been watching her for years.
Then Lorenzo's phone received another message.
Unknown number.
He opened it.
And his face changed.
"What is it?"
He turned the screen toward her.
One sentence.
Ask Alessia why her father really disappeared.
She stared at the message.
And for the first time...
She wondered if her father had not disappeared because of the Morettis.
Maybe he had disappeared because of her.
- Writer
