POV: Ariella DeLuca Kael's Safehouse, Siena – 3:02 A.M.
Ariella woke in the darkness. Her breath was ragged. Chest rising and falling rapidly, as if she had just fought a battle in her dreams. But it wasn't just a dream. It was a confession her body could no longer hide — she was scared.
She sat up slowly, leaning back against the cold brick wall. Sweat clung to her temples, her hands trembled faintly. She rubbed her arms, trying to calm the storm still raging inside.
Kael's face flashed through her mind — silent, steady, always watching. He had saved her… yet at the same time, he remained the most dangerous puzzle she'd ever encountered.
The digital clock blinked: 3:02 A.M.
She rose and walked quietly to the small kitchen. Water filled her glass, but her hand still shook.
"Am I changing… or being shaped into something I'm not?"
Her eyes drifted to the tiny window — dim stars flickered above, but the sky felt restless. Just like her.
Soft footsteps approached.
"Can't sleep?" Kael's voice broke the silence.
Ariella didn't turn. "Bad dreams."
"About your father?"
She shook her head. "About myself."
Kael stood beside her, dressed in only a grey t-shirt and black pants. The bandage on his arm was fresh, but his expression was tight — like sleep was the least of his priorities.
"Sometimes, dreams aren't warnings," he said quietly. "They're mirrors."
Ariella swallowed. "This mirror shows a side of me I don't recognize."
"Or a side you've hidden for too long."
Their eyes met.
In that silence, their gaze was sharper than any blade. The tension between them hung like a wire—too close to ignore, too fragile to grasp.
She turned away again. "You know… I once thought you were the enemy."
Kael gave a faint smile. "And now?"
"I'm still not sure."
He let out a short chuckle. "Good. Don't trust too easily, Ariella. This world eats people like you alive."
She looked at him. "People like me?"
"People who still have a heart."
POV: Raven Outside Safehouse – 3:17 A.M.
Raven stood in the shadows behind the building. Eyes sharp. Ears sharper. His wristwatch vibrated — an incoming message.
[Unknown Source]: Your location is no longer safe. Target has been spotted.
He narrowed his eyes. "Damn it."
He tapped the earpiece. Silent comms activated. A drone above scanned the area.
Movement in the eastern perimeter. Too slow for wind. Too smart for animals.
Human.
He drew his pistol.
"Time to choose, Raven. Follow Kael… or follow the money."
He stepped into the alley, shadows swallowing his figure. The early morning wind brushed his cheek — damp earth and silent tension thick in the air.
His device buzzed again. Identity overlay appeared on the lens:
[Giuliano DeLuca – Status: UNKNOWN | Location: Approaching perimeter]
He cursed under his breath. "What the hell is the third DeLuca doing here?"
A faint squelch from the wet soil behind the wall made him spin. Gun raised. But the shot never came.
"If I wanted you dead, you'd already be down," said a calm voice.
Giuliano stepped from the darkness, hands raised — unarmed.
Raven lowered his gun slightly but kept his finger on the trigger. "I don't trust a guy who vanished from the mafia world for over a decade. What do you want?"
Giuliano stepped closer, his gaze unreadable. "I'm not here to fight Kael… I'm here to prove something. I never agreed with my father's ways. And Ariella… she's not just a pawn."
Raven scoffed. "And I'm supposed to believe you're the 'nice' DeLuca?"
"No. But we both know… Matteo's going to cross every line this time. Even if it means killing his own blood."
Silence.
Raven's gun stayed up, but his mind calculated risks. In this power game, one truth was undeniable — Kael couldn't protect Ariella forever… not without allies.
"If you're lying, I'll bury you myself," Raven said.
Giuliano smirked. "Wouldn't be the first time someone threatened that."
The drone above flashed red — alert.
Raven tapped his lens, sent Kael their location, and doubled perimeter security.
"Your path's not clear yet, DeLuca. But for now… we've got a bigger enemy."
In the distance, the low rumble of tires and flickering infrared scanners lit up the trees.
Delta Team was closing in.And time was running out.
POV: Ariella Back Inside the Safehouse
She sat in the living room, flipping through old files — stolen intel on Operation LUNA. Her eyes locked on a single name:
Prototype X: Giuliano.
"My second brother… he's alive?"
Her breath caught in her throat. The file nearly slipped from her hands.Giuliano's image — cold eyes, a body scarred with procedure marks — looked nothing like the boy who once lifted her up and played piano with her on Sundays.
Footsteps.
Kael entered. "You found something?"
She held up the file. "Giuliano. He's part of LUNA?"
Kael nodded slowly. "That's why I came to get you. Salvatore reactivated LUNA to hunt you. But he didn't send mercenaries. He sent family."
Ariella stood. "You mean Giuliano is going to hunt me?"
"He's not the same. They changed him."
Her heart raced. Betrayal didn't just come from enemies — it came from blood.
She moved toward the window, staring into the black veil outside. A world that once felt safe… now a trap.
"He was the first one who taught me about pride… about honor," she whispered. "He was the gentlest brother. When I was sick, he made soup. When Matteo got mad, Giuliano stopped him."
Kael approached from behind. "They didn't just alter his body, Ella. They killed his memories. He's not your Giuliano anymore."
She turned to him. Tears didn't fall, but her eyes gleamed with heartbreak.
"If he remembers me… maybe there's hope."
Kael didn't speak. But his look said it all — that hope was fragile.
Ariella sat down again. Her hands trembled, but her gaze was steady. She pulled out a blank page and began to write — something that might one day reach her brother.
A letter to the sibling who forgot who he was.
POV: Giuliano Pine Forest Outside the Safehouse – 3:48 A.M.
Giuliano moved through the pines, hidden from sight and drones above. The sky above was bleak — his thoughts darker still.
His left hand trembled slightly — not from the cold, but from what had just happened.
Raven. And the name — Ariella.
"Ariella…"
He whispered it.
A name that had become a ghost in his mind. But when Raven spoke it, something stirred deep inside. Something that shouldn't exist in a LUNA operative.
He leaned against a tree, breathing short and shallow. In his hand, he clutched a small pendant — the only item he had kept since the day he "died" as Giuliano DeLuca.
The locket was cracked. But inside…
A photo of two children.
A boy and a little girl with curly hair.
Him. And Ariella.
"I shouldn't remember this…"
His voice disappeared into the wind.
They erased his memories. Rewired his brain. Then why… why could he still feel this pain?
Flashes came. Ariella crying when Matteo broke her doll. Ariella sick in bed — him singing their made-up lullaby to soothe her.
"Ella… I remember the song."
Giuliano dropped to his knees, head bowed. His body fought something stronger than any bullet — a war fiercer than any battlefield.
A red light blinked on his wrist — a call from LUNA HQ.
[Operation LUNA-Δ – Status: ACTIVE][Order: Target location confirmed. Code A113: Terminate if necessary.]
He stared at the screen.
Terminate if necessary. Terminate… his own sister?
His finger hovered over the confirm button.
Then, Ariella's voice returned in his mind:
"If he remembers me… maybe there's hope."
Giuliano clenched his eyes shut.
And did something no LUNA operative had ever done.
He deleted the order.
The file vanished into the void — a move that, if discovered, would mean his own erasure.
But he didn't care.
"I'm not a machine," he whispered.
He rose slowly, gripping the pendant.
And that night, for the first time...
Giuliano DeLuca chose to live as a man.