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Luca survived the surgery. The knife had missed every crucial organ by what the surgeon called miraculous centimeters. The knife had plunged between his ribs, and through muscle and tissue, but by some miracle had missed his heart and lungs by such a close distance that the doctors could only shake their heads in disbelief. They informed Valentina that Luca had been incredibly lucky. There must have been someone up there looking out for him.

Valentina had not moved from his side for three days after the surgery. She was in an uncomfortable chair by his hospital bed, her hand covering his own on the white sheets. She was pregnant and frazzled before any of this started. Now she was pregnant, she was exhausted and traumatized in a way she was still trying to comprehend. As the days passed, the machines beeped constantly around her in a steady rhythm that seems to have been the soundtrack of her vigil. The IV lines snaked into Luca’s arm. The monitors monitored his heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen levels. The world had become this room, just these two people, the sound of his breathing and the beeping machines.

Luca eyes opened slowly after a long sleep. He swam up through very deep water, struggling his way back to consciousness. The first things he said were little more than whispers, barely audible.

"The baby?" he asked.

Valentina's tears came immediately. She had been restraining them for so long. Now they were streaming down her face in a flood that wouldn’t end. For so long, she had been strong. Now she allowed herself to collapse, just a little.

“She’s fine,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. "We are both perfectly fine. The doctor said it’s all good.”

Luca couldn't concentrate on her features. His blue inquiring eyes stared as if through her for some disclosure they sought. He felt he had to believe this, more than anything else in the world.

"Marco?" he asked.

"Dead," Valentina said simply. "It is finally over. All of it is finally over."

They embraced tenderly for a long time, trying to wrap their heads around the reality that the nightmare had finally come to a close. That they had survived. That the baby had survived. They had both somehow made it through the fire, on through to the other side — alive and barely whole.

Valentina was seen by a doctor an hour later. She listened to Valentina's heart. She checked her blood pressure. She inquired about how Valentina had been feeling. Her face grew serious.

“Your stress holds a risk to the pregnancy, she’s dangerous,” said the doctor calmly but with sincerity. "You need to rest properly. You have to take help from other people. Your body and your baby need you take care of yourself now.”

“Luca made Valentina swear at that moment that she would follow the doctor’s orders. And she swore to me, and you could tell.”

The weeks that followed brought an odd sort of peace, served with a side dish from the machinery of justice. Matteo and the remaining councillors were tried. There never seemed to be any doubt about the evidence. Videos. Financial records. Testimonies from dozens of witnesses. The courtroom was filled with journalists reporting on the biggest corruption scandal in Italian history, each jockeying for the best angles. Camera flashes went off constantly.

The convictions came swiftly. And one by one the men who had hidden their crimes behind badges and suits and positions of authority were led away in handcuffs. The people of Naples watched on television and they felt something heal inside them. The system had worked. The corruption had been exposed. Justice had been served.

Marcus survived his leg wound. He agreed to be a state’s witness and gave extensive evidence against all those he had worked with. His prize for that was to have his sentence cut to a mere twenty years in prison, instead of life. He would have time to live with his choices, but not a lot.

The ring had been shattered. Dozens of survivors were retrieved with extensive help. That the networks that had concealed children were now being dismantled and brought into the light. Some of those kids could bounce back fast. Some would suffer throughout their lives. But they were not property anymore. They were no longer invisible.

Bianca was offered a plea bargain. She agreed, and testified in great detail about the ring’s workings in return for a lesser sentence. She was sentenced to 15 years in prison with parole after seven if she behaved well. She would have time to consider the choices she had made.

It was initially that the De Luca family name got trashed. Media vultures were swirling, hungry for details of scandal and betrayal and corruption. But as Antonio’s need and desperation came to light, along with the truth about his debt, and as Valentina testified powerfully on behalf of her grandfather and put all of her mother’s evidence before the court themselves public opinion turned. Valentina and Alecia were also not treated as victims or criminals. They were hailed as heroes who had put their own lives in jeopardy to end a system of cruelty.

Two months later, on the lawns of a spectacular villa outside Naples, Valentina and Lucas basked in the sunshine. The home had stunning sea views. On one side of them all was a large garden, where every sort of flower bloomed in brilliant beauty. A peaceful place. A safe place. A place for them to make something good.

The only thing they hadn't done was to sell any of the mafia-related properties. Every warehouse. Every penthouse. Every shadowy place in which Luca’s former business had taken place. The funds were poured into legitimate businesses. Real estate. Restaurants. Art galleries. Those that built communities instead of tearing them down. Happenings of which Luca could be proud.

Alecia lodged in a cottage built on to the estate. She started seeing a practitioner who specialized in trauma and family dysfunction for intensive therapy that would ultimately undo years of psychic damage and rebuild her shattered sense of self. The rebellion that had once propelled her was being replaced by something quieter. Something that was at once more real and more sustainable.

Kennedy and Liv visited regularly. The friendship troika that came out of the fire was tighter than ever, bonded by common shared trauma, shared salvations. They laughed together on Valentina’s new terrace. They planned the nursery together. They spoke of the future, and let themselves believe in it.

Elena emerged as the unexpected grandmother. She was older, her hair now all silver, but her eyes remained keen and kind. She helped prepare the nursery. She offered counsel on pregnancy and birth, on motherhood. She told stories about Valentina’s mother that elicited both tears and laughter from Valentina. She was there, in a manner that stitched something together in the family.

Luca found he couldn’t leave his old life entirely behind him. For so long the ruthlessness had been inside him that sometimes he did not know who he was without it. But he dove all in with Valentina and their future. He learned to be gentle. He learned to be patient. He discovered that strength is not always what you think it would be.

On a calm, golden-pink evening Valentina and Lucas planted a tree in the garden. It was a lemon tree, tiny and delicate, with tender green leaves that appeared to glow in the dimming light.

“Isabella’s tree,” said Valentina, gazing at what they had planted. "For my mother. So she grows with them. So she is always here in this place.”

Luca rested his arm around his wife, and together they made a vow in the dying light. Their daughter would know love, not fear. She would grow up in safety. She would grow up being wanted and being cherished and treasured.

At Valentina’s six-month checkup, the doctor beamed. She rested the ultrasound wand lightly against Valentina’s belly and looked at the screen with satisfaction, and professional curiosity.
“Everything looks perfect, absolutely perfect,” the doctor said. "You are measuring spot on. Do you want to verify that the baby is still measuring a girl??”

Valentina and Luca nodded eagerly. Alecia, who had joined them for the appointment, sat in a corner with her phone at the ready to record the moment.

The doctor's smile widened significantly. She drew a few more lines on the screen and checked the numbers again.

“Well, there is something new from your last scan,” the doctor said in an awe-struck tone. "You are having twins. Two healthy baby girls."

Valentina and Luca locked eyes to find that they were both equally shocked. Their hands met and clasped tightly. Twins. Two babies instead of one. Two daughters instead of one. Indeed, their world was transformed and widened, all of a sudden it seemed much larger and fuller than before.

Alecia, who was seated and watching, cackled. She walked over and held Valentina’s hand, making it squeeze hard.

“How history does repeat itself, doesn’t it?”

"Well said Pere Alecia," she added with a smile and shaking her head. "Twins just like we were. This time, though, these twins are going to have it so much better than we did. I promise you that."