Aria didn't stop running until she reached the far end of the terrace. The cold bit through the silk at her shoulders, but she didn't care. Behind her, the music throbbed on, pretending nothing had happened.
"Aria."
She closed her eyes. Of course he had followed.
"Go back inside," she said, voice tight. "Your fiancée is probably still trying to remember how to breathe."
"Please," Luca murmured. "Just listen."
"Listen?" She spun on him, the moonlight cutting across her face. "After what you did to my family? After you helped destroy us so the Morettis could look clean again?"
His breath caught. "It wasn't like that."
"Then how was it, Luca?" Her tone was sharp, shaking. "You leaked the deal, you fed the press those stories, you let everyone believe my father stole from yours—and now you want me to listen?"
He stepped closer, desperate. "I was trying to protect you."
Her laugh was short and broken. "Protect me? You watched my family burn."
"I thought I could fix it," he said, words tumbling out. "Your father was going to be arrested. I made a deal with the Dantes—marry Bianca, and they'd bury the evidence. I thought it would keep your name safe."
"It didn't," she whispered. "It ruined us."
He moved another step. "It ruined me too."
She shook her head. "You still have everything."
"No," he said quietly. "Everything looks the same, but it isn't real anymore. I can't sleep. I can't breathe. Every time I close my eyes I see you walking away."
Aria turned away, arms wrapped around herself. "Don't do this. Don't make yourself the victim."
"I'm not," he said, voice cracking. "I'm the one who lost you. And I deserve it."
The wind rustled the ivy along the wall. For a long moment, neither spoke.
Then he said, softer, "I never stopped loving you, Aria. Not for a single day."
Her shoulders stiffened.
He took one more step, close enough that his words brushed against her ear. "You can hate me all you want. But I swear—every decision I made, every lie, every deal—it was all because I couldn't stand the thought of seeing you destroyed."
She turned to face him, eyes wet but burning. "And look what your love did."
He flinched, the truth hitting harder than any slap.
"Go back to your perfect world, Luca," she said. "Tell them whatever you need to. But don't come looking for me again."
"Aria—"
She cut him off, voice shaking but firm. "You said you wanted to protect me. Then protect me from you."
And with that, she walked away—heels clicking against marble, the sound fading into the hum of the city.
Luca stood alone on the terrace, the night colder than before. The violins inside shifted to another song, lighter, happier, cruel.
He stayed until the music ended, staring at the door she'd vanished through, knowing that this time, she meant it.