Chapter 24 A coincidence too perfect
Flora
I lay awake long after Rafael's breathing evened out.
My mind kept replaying everything I'd read in Eva's diary.
Eva had been adopted at five years old. But she had no memories from before that.
Just like me.
I had fuzzy memories before I turned sixteen.
Was that normal? Or was something wrong with both of us?
But that wasn't the worst part.
The worst part was what Eva had written about Rafael.
She'd described him perfectly as both a gentle, loving husband and a cold, brutal man who came home with blood on his hands.
She'd loved him. But she'd also been terrified of him.
And in the last entries, written just weeks before her death, her fear had grown stronger.
"I can't do this anymore. I love Rafael, but I'm losing myself. He wants me to be perfect. To be exactly what he needs. But I'm human. I make mistakes. I have my own thoughts and feelings. And lately, he can't accept that. He wants to control everything about me. Where I go. What I wear. Who I talk to. It's suffocating."
I'd read those words three times with shaking hands.
Eva had felt trapped, controlled and suffocated.
Just like I felt now.
And then there was the final entry. The one that made my blood run cold.
"Sometimes I think about leaving. But I love him too much. And I'm scared of what he might do if I try. I've seen what he does to people who betray him. Would he do that to me? I don't know. And I'm too afraid to find out."
I carefully slipped out of bed again. Rafael didn't stir.
I walked to the window and looked out at the dark grounds. Guards patrolled with flashlights. This beautiful estate was still a prison.
I heard movement behind me. Rafael was sitting up.
"Can't sleep again?" His voice was gentle.
"Too many thoughts," I admitted.
He got out of bed, walked over to me and pulled me back towards the bed.
"Put them aside. You need rest."
I climbed back into bed, staying on my side.
I could feel Rafael's eyes on me in the darkness.
"Eva?"
"Yes?" I whispered.
"I know you're hiding something from me." His voice was calm."I know you read more in that diary than you're telling me."
I didn't respond.
"I can see it in your eyes. The way you look at me now, like you're afraid." He shifted closer. His voice dropped. "What did you read?"
"Nothing. Just entries about your life together."
"Don't lie to me." His hand found my wrist in the darkness. His grip was gentle but firm. "I've read every word in that diary a hundred times. I know what's in there. So tell me. What did you find?"
My mind raced. I couldn't tell him the truth. If he knew I'd read about Eva feeling trapped, about her thinking of leaving, what would he do?
"I read that she was adopted," I said, choosing a safer truth. "That she didn't remember her childhood before age five like me."
His grip loosened slightly. "What else?"
"That she sometimes had nightmares."
"What else?"
"Nothing. That's all."
He was silent for a long moment. Then he released my wrist.
"You're lying. But I'll let it go for now." He turned away from me. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow we start working on recovering your memories. Seriously this time."
"What do you mean?"
"I'm hiring specialists, therapists, hypnotists. Whatever it takes to unlock what's buried in your mind."
Fear shot through me. "That's not necessary…"
"Yes, it is." His voice was cold now. "You've had weeks to remember on your own. It's time to take more direct measures."
"Rafael, please…"
"This conversation is over. Go to sleep."
I lay there in the darkness, my heart was racing.
He was going to force the memories out. Whether they existed or not.
And if they didn't exist? What would he do to me?
I thought about Eva's last entry. She was wondering what he would do to her if she tried to escape.
Two weeks after writing that, Eva was dead.
Was it really a rival family that killed her? Or was it someone else?
I pushed the thought away. It was too terrible to consider.
But it lingered in the back of my mind like poison.
Hours passed. Rafael's breathing evened out. He was asleep.
I carefully got out of bed one more time. I couldn't help myself.
I went back to his office to the drawer where the diary had been.
I pulled it out and flipped to the very last page.
There was one more entry. One I hadn't read carefully before.
"Tomorrow I have an appointment with a lawyer. I haven't told Rafael about it. I'm going to ask about my options about what would happen if I wanted to leave. I love him, but I need to know I have a choice. That I'm not completely trapped. I'll hide this diary somewhere safe after I write this. Somewhere he won't find it. Just in case something happens to me. Just in case I need proof of what my life has really been like."
The entry was dated the day before Eva died.
She'd been planning to see a lawyer to find out about leaving Rafael and the next day, she was killed.
My hands shook as I closed the diary.
I heard a sound behind me. I spun around.
Rafael stood in the doorway.
"I knew you'd come back," he said quietly. "I knew you couldn't resist."
I clutched the diary to my chest. "I'm sorry. I just…"
"What did you find this time?" He stepped into the room. "What other secrets did Eva share?"
I couldn't speak.
He walked closer. "Show me what you're reading."
"It's nothing. Just…"
He grabbed the diary from my hands and flipped to the last entry. His eyes scanned the words.
I watched his face change into something dark.
"She was going to leave me," he whispered.
"Rafael…"
"She was going to leave me!" He threw the diary against the wall. "And she died the next day. Do you think that's a coincidence?"
My whole body was trembling. I could barely stand. "I don't know…"
"Do you think I killed her?" He grabbed my shoulders. "Is that what you think? That I murdered my own wife because she wanted to leave?"
"No! I don't think that."
"You're lying!" He shook me. "I can see it in your eyes! You think I'm a monster who killed the woman I loved!"
"Rafael, please…"
He released me suddenly and stepped back. His whole body was shaking.
"Get out," he said, his voice deadly quiet.
"What?"
"Get out of my office before I do something we'll both regret."
I ran.
I ran back to the bedroom and locked myself in the bathroom.
I heard him destroying the office, shattering glass, breaking furniture, roaring like a wounded animal.
The monster had fully taken over.
And I'd just discovered that Eva had died the day after planning to leave him.
That couldn't be a coincidence.
Could it?