The Day My Survival Score Reached Zero Chapter 10
Luca looked at Dante without pity.
“Now you remember you’re her brother?” he said. “You were the one who signed the papers that locked her away.”
Dante flinched.
Luca turned to Julian. “And you were her doctor. You knew better than anyone that she was ill, but you let Sophia/make you call it manipulation.”
Julian said nothing.
Finally, Luca looked at Adrian.
“She stayed beside you when the Moretti ambush nearly killed you. She spent the only reward the Program ever gave her to save your life, and you thanked her by putting her ring on Sophia’s hand.”
Every word landed like a blade.
I saw guilt on their faces at last.
Pain too.
I did not know how Luca had learned so much, but I was grateful. He had given me freedom before I died, and now he had given me the truth after it.
None of them left that night.
Dante sat beside my body with an old music box from my childhood, winding it again and again as if I might wake for the sound. Julian stayed by the window with my medical file in his hands, rereading every page he had once dismissed. Adrian knelt beside the bed and held the ring he had taken from me, his eyes red and empty.
Only Luca moved.
He arranged the funeral, called the priest, handled the Bellandi staff, and kept everyone else away from me. His face showed almost nothing, but I knew he was the one hurting most.
People who truly break do not always make noise.
I went to the hospital to see Mother.
She had just woken after the doctors stabilized her, and the first thing she did was try to get out of bed.
“I need to see my daughter,” she said, voice hoarse.
The nurse stopped her gently. “Mrs. Bellandi, you can’t leave yet.”
I stood beside her bed, aching in a way I did not think a soul could ache,
“Mom,” I whispered, though I knew she should not hear me. “Please get better. I’ll come back to you in another lite.”
Mother went still.
Then she slowly turned her head toward me.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“My Bella,” she said softly. “Take care of yourself, wherever you are.”
I nodded, crying without a body that could cry.
The funeral was held on a bright morning.
Everyone wore black. Dante carried my ashes himself, walking toward the Bellandi family cemetery as if every step cost him blood. Julian and Adrian followed in silence, their eyes fixed on the photograph by my grave.
Dante set the urn down and whispered, “Be happy there, Bella. Eat well. Sleep well. Don’t wait for your useless brother ”
Julian lowered his head.
Adrian could not speak at all.
One by one, they apologized.
Mother came last. She kissed my photograph and touched the stone with trembling fingers before the staff led her away
Only then did I realize Luca was missing.
A strange emptiness opened in my chest.
He had not come to send me off.
After the burial, the cemetery grew quiet.
Then Luca appeared.
He was dressed in black, and Sophia walked in front of him with her hands bound, her face stripped of all the softness she used to fool them.
Dante looked up.
Luca’s voice was calm. “Are you ready?”
Dante closed his eyes.
“For Bella,” he said.
Sophia’s face changed. “You’re insane. All of you are insane.”
Luca looked at her coldly. “No. We’re late.”
Only then did I understand.
The Bellandi cemetery had been sealed.
The men stationed around the gates were not mourners.
They were there to make sure no one left.
Panic tore through me.
“Luca, don’t.”
He could not hear me.
Dante looked at my grave one last time.
“Bella,” he whispered, “I’m sorry I only learned how to be your brother after losing you.
Julian stepped forward, his face pale but steady. “I should have saved you.”
Adrian’s voice broke. “I loved you too late.”
Sophia tried to run.
Luca caught her before she reached the gate.
The ground shook.
Fire burst through the old mausoleum, swallowing the black coats, the white flowers, the graveyard, and every apology that had
come too late.
“No-!”
I screamed, but no one heard me.
I did not want Luca to die.
He was innocent.
He was the only one who had understood me.
The world went white.
Then the Survival Program sounded in my mind.
[Isabella, congratulations.]
[Dante Bellandi’s family-bond score has reached 100%.】
【Julian Vale’s Love Score has reached 100%.]
【Adrian Moretti’s Love Score has reached 100%.]
[Luca’s Love Score has reached 100%.】
[Mission complete.]
[You may now return to your real world and survive.]
