PART 5 — THE FIFTH MEMBER
The Black Council raised their crystal glasses.
"To the end of the De Luca bloodline."
Five glasses touched.
A soft chime echoed through the luxurious penthouse.
None of them noticed the tiny recording device hidden beneath the cufflink of the fifth member.
He remained silent.
Watching.
Listening.
Memorizing every word.
The leader spoke first.
"Our assassin failed."
A woman sitting across the table smiled coldly.
"She escaped."
"That's enough."
Another member leaned back in his chair.
"The hospital confirmed both children died."
"The official records have already been filed."
The room relaxed.
Someone laughed.
"Lorenzo finally lost everything."
Only the fifth member didn't raise his glass.
His eyes remained fixed on the table.
He knew Lorenzo too well.
If the Mafia King accepted the deaths so quietly...
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
* * *
At Lorenzo's private estate...
The twins were no longer in the hospital.
Just after sunrise, a heavily armored ambulance quietly left through an underground tunnel connected to Saint Mary's.
No lights.
No sirens.
Inside...
The babies slept peacefully.
The driver wasn't a paramedic.
He was one of Lorenzo's oldest soldiers.
The ambulance arrived beneath Lorenzo's mountain estate, where an underground medical wing had been built years earlier for emergencies.
Only seven people in the world knew it existed.
The pediatric specialists entered immediately.
The little boy stretched and let out a tiny cry.
His sister instinctively reached toward him.
The doctor smiled.
"They already recognize each other."
Lorenzo stood beside the incubators.
He hadn't slept.
Hadn't eaten.
Hadn't changed clothes.
His entire world now fit inside two transparent bassinets.
Matteo approached quietly.
"The hospital has released the official announcement."
Lorenzo nodded.
"And?"
"The Black Council believes the twins are dead."
"Good."
Matteo hesitated.
"There is... another problem."
Lorenzo looked up.
"Isabella."
The single word changed everything.
* * *
She was still unconscious.
But her condition had stabilized enough for transport.
Now she rested inside the secure medical wing beneath Lorenzo's estate.
Only trusted physicians were allowed inside.
Lorenzo entered her room alone.
Morning sunlight filtered through reinforced glass.
She looked peaceful for the first time in months.
The bruises of exhaustion remained.
The dark circles beneath her eyes hadn't disappeared.
But she was alive.
He slowly sat beside her bed.
"I'm sorry."
The words barely escaped his lips.
No audience.
No witnesses.
Only the woman he had failed.
"I thought divorcing you would keep you safe."
"I thought giving you freedom would remove the target from your back."
He looked down at her hand.
"You disappeared because you believed I couldn't protect you."
He swallowed hard.
"You were right."
Silence filled the room.
Then he gently placed their wedding ring on the bedside table.
"I never stopped wearing it."
* * *
Hours later...
Deep underground...
Marco Bellini finally spoke again.
"I remembered something."
Lorenzo entered the interrogation room.
"What?"
Marco's face looked twenty years older.
"The Black Council never trusted phones."
"They communicate another way."
"How?"
"Old banking ledgers."
Lorenzo frowned.
Marco explained.
"Every month..."
"A different safety deposit box."
"Inside is a handwritten message."
"They read it."
"They burn it."
"They leave another."
"No electronics."
"No surveillance."
"No digital trail."
Matteo immediately understood.
"Dead drops."
Marco nodded.
"Exactly."
Lorenzo looked toward Matteo.
"Find every safety deposit box Bellini ever rented."
Matteo smiled.
"It'll take time."
Lorenzo answered calmly.
"We have time."
"No."
Marco whispered.
"You don't."
Both men looked at him.
"The Council meets tomorrow night."
Silence.
Lorenzo slowly asked,
"Where?"
Marco closed his eyes.
"I don't know."
"They never tell anyone until the last minute."
"Then how do they notify members?"
Marco looked up.
"Each member receives..."
"...a black envelope."
* * *
That evening...
A courier wearing an expensive suit walked through downtown Milan.
He carried five identical black envelopes.
No return address.
No names.
Only symbols.
At precisely the same time...
Five envelopes were delivered.
One to a luxury hotel.
One to a law office.
One to a shipping company.
One to a private art gallery.
And the fifth...
To Lorenzo De Luca's own headquarters.
Matteo stared at the envelope in disbelief.
"Boss..."
Lorenzo took it.
There was only one sentence inside.
Welcome back to the Council.
Neither man spoke.
Then Matteo whispered,
"They think..."
"...you're one of them?"
Lorenzo looked at the elegant black card again.
"No."
"They think someone close to me is."
The realization hit them both simultaneously.
Someone inside Lorenzo's inner circle...
Had been receiving these invitations.
For years.
* * *
That night...
Every member of Lorenzo's organization was secretly investigated.
Financial records.
Phone logs.
Family histories.
Travel patterns.
No exceptions.
By midnight...
Only twelve people still had unrestricted access to Lorenzo.
At 2:13 a.m...
That list became three.
Matteo stared at the report.
"It can't be."
Lorenzo took the file.
The first name...
Was the estate's chief accountant.
The second...
His longtime legal adviser.
The third...
Made Lorenzo's blood run cold.
Dr. Alessandro Moretti.
Isabella's personal physician.
The same doctor who had supervised her pregnancy...
Before she disappeared.
The same doctor who had access to every ultrasound.
Every blood test.
Every appointment.
Everything.
Matteo whispered,
"If he's part of the Council..."
"He knew about the twins from the beginning."
Lorenzo's expression darkened.
"He also knew exactly where Isabella would go."
* * *
At that exact moment...
Dr. Moretti quietly entered Isabella's hospital room.
He smiled politely at the nurse.
"I'd like to examine my patient."
The nurse checked the authorization.
Everything appeared legitimate.
She stepped outside.
The doctor locked the door behind him.
He walked toward Isabella's bed.
Slowly removed a syringe from his medical bag.
Its contents were completely clear.
Colorless.
Odorless.
A drug that would cause cardiac arrest within minutes.
No one would suspect murder.
He gently lifted Isabella's IV line.
Then—
A calm voice came from the darkest corner of the room.
"I've been waiting for you."
The doctor froze.
Hidden in the shadows...
Lorenzo De Luca stood with a pistol aimed directly at his heart.
He wasn't alone.
Matteo and four elite guards emerged silently from behind the curtains.
The syringe slipped from the doctor's fingers.
Lorenzo stepped forward.
His voice was terrifyingly calm.
"I have only one question."
He looked at the syringe on the floor.
"Who ordered you to kill the mother of my children?"
The doctor smiled.
Not with fear.
With confidence.
"You still don't understand, Lorenzo."
He slowly raised both hands.
"This was never about Isabella."
Lorenzo narrowed his eyes.
The doctor's smile widened.
"It was always..."
"...about your twins."
Then, before anyone could stop him—
The doctor bit down hard on something hidden inside one of his teeth.
A capsule.
Within seconds, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Matteo lunged forward.
"Stop him!"
Too late.
The doctor collapsed to the floor, smiling until his final breath.
But as Lorenzo knelt beside the body...
He noticed a tiny folded piece of paper tucked inside the doctor's watch strap.
He unfolded it.
Only four handwritten words appeared.
One child isn't yours.
