The room froze.
Julian Morello stood in the wreckage—dust coating his bloodied shirt, gun in one hand, chain around his neck, the same one from the vault.
No one moved.
No one breathed.
Because dead men don't walk into their own funeral.
Adrian's mouth opened—but no words came.
Julian's voice cut through the smoke like a scalpel:
"Don't look so surprised, brother. You were never meant to outlive me."
Isabella's blood went cold.
"You're alive? You've been alive this whole time?"
Julian's eyes met hers—and something unreadable passed between them.
"Alive? No. Preserved. Until now."
Flashback – Six Years Ago
A basement. Screams.
Julian chained to a surgical table.
Marco Romano and Don Morello stood over him, cloaked in the same ritual robes seen at the Rebirth Summit.
"You found the Protocol," Marco sneered. "Which means you know the truth."
"I know you've been using bloodlines like chess pieces," Julian spat. "Splicing DNA to create heirs. Forging paternity records. Breeding power, not raising it."
Morello whispered, "Legacy requires pruning."
Then darkness.
Then silence.
Then nothing.
Present – Summit Grounds
Adrian lowered his gun slowly. "Julian… how?"
Julian stepped into the room fully now. Eyes sharp. Voice colder than winter steel.
"Luciana resurrected me. Not out of loyalty. Out of necessity. The families were collapsing. They needed a ghost to unify them."
Luciana stepped forward, still poised. "He was the symbol they all feared. And the only one they'd follow blindly."
Adrian's voice cracked. "You were my brother."
"I still am. But I'm not your weapon anymore."
He turned to Isabella.
"You're the one the Protocol chose. My blood. Our heir."
Isabella shook her head. "You let me believe I was nothing. You watched as I fought to survive, when you could've—"
"—Protected you?" Julian interrupted. "No. If I had, you'd be dead already."
He tossed a USB drive onto the table.
"Every file. Every truth. Every lie. The Council isn't just about ruling the East. They've been breeding a superbloodline. Merging the dominant genes of every major family through arranged heirs. You are the final product."
Adrian stared. "You're saying… she was engineered?"
Julian's nod was slow. Grim.
"And she wasn't the only one."
Luciana turned to the Dons.
"Now the real vote begins. Between legacy… and evolution."
Elsewhere — Council Chambers, Security Room
Dante stood alone, watching the feed. Face unreadable.
Behind him, Eva—Isabella's mother—still shackled. Watching her daughter on the monitor.
"She's stronger than you think," Eva said.
Dante didn't respond. He pressed a button.
ACTIVATING PHOENIX FAILSAFE.
TARGET: ISABELLA MORELLO-ROMANO.
STATUS: INITIATED.
Back at the Summit
Alarms screamed.
Doors locked.
The summit chamber sealed itself shut.
Julian turned sharply. "What did you do?"
Luciana paled. "I didn't—"
But Dante's voice echoed over the loudspeaker.
"The Protocol always required one thing to reset the bloodline: a death. Either the heir… or the traitor."
Adrian turned to Isabella.
"They've marked you."
Julian looked at both of them—then whispered, "Then we give them someone else."
He pulled Adrian close, shoved a device into his brother's coat pocket.
"You don't stop this by dying, Adrian. You stop it by becoming worse than all of them combined."
Then he stepped away.
Lifted his gun.
And fired a single shot—into his own chest.
Isabella screamed.
Adrian lunged forward.
Julian dropped to his knees, blood pouring from his shirt.
He smiled through it.
"Rebirth always needed a fire. I just became it."
He collapsed.
Dead.
For real this time.