Chapter 40 The wrong monster
Flora
I stared at Isabella in disbelief.
Isabella. Eva's best friend. The woman who'd been helping us.
"No," I said. "You killed Dr. Russo. You were trying to help us."
"I killed Dr. Russo because she was greedy," Isabella corrected. "She was blackmailing me. Threatening to expose everything unless I paid her more money. So I eliminated her."
"But you gave us the journal," Rafael said. "You showed us Father Matthews's confession."
"I gave you what I wanted you to find," Isabella smiled. "Carefully curated clues. Breadcrumbs leading exactly where I wanted you to go. First to Antonio. Then to Marco. Always one step behind. Always confused."
"Why?" I asked. "Why do all this?"
"Because Eva was my sister!" Isabella's voice cracked with emotion. "Not by blood, but by choice. We became close. We told each other everything. And then you…" She pointed the gun at Rafael. "Then she wanted to leave you because you became selfish."
"I loved Eva," Rafael said.
"You controlled her!" Isabella shouted. "You locked her away like a possession! You tried to shape her into your perfect wife!"
"And when she wanted to leave, you killed her." Rafael whispered.
"Yes." Isabella said. But her tone didn't sit well with me. It felt forced.
She wasn't the one who killed Eva.
She wasn't the architect.
"Why create me when you had no plans of taking Eva out?" I asked, looking closely at her.
"Because I knew my cousin. He could be difficult sometimes." Isabella replied. "I made Dr. Vasquez a deal. To activate Lucia and bring you into the world."
My stomach turned. "You've been manipulating me from the start."
"I've been guiding you," Isabella said. "The apartment you woke up in? I arranged it. The job you had? I got it for you. The random meeting where Rafael first saw you? I orchestrated every detail."
"Why not just kill me?" Rafael asked. "Why go through all this?"
"Because death is too easy," Isabella said. "I wanted you to suffer. I wanted you to feel the same helplessness Eva felt. The same desperation. So I made you fall for a woman you could never truly have. Made you realize too late that she wasn't Eva."
"You killed Father Matthews." Marco said.
"Father Matthews knew too much," Isabella said. "He was Eva's confessor. She told him things. Things that could have led you to the truth too quickly. So I eliminated him."
"Where's Antonio’s daughter?" Rafael demanded.
"Safe," Isabella said. "For now. In a location only I know. If I don't check in every twelve hours, she dies. So I suggest you don't try anything stupid."
"You're insane," I said.
"I'm grieving," Isabella corrected.
"There's a difference. You see, all of this, the plan, the manipulation, the revenge. It was supposed to end with Rafael broken and alone. With you dead, Flora. With everything he loved destroyed. But then something unexpected happened."
"What?" Rafael asked.
"You stopped trying to make Flora into Eva," Isabella said. " You started falling for her. And that..." Isabella's smile turned bitter. "That I can't allow."
She raised the gun and pointed it directly at my head.
"I'm sorry, Flora," she said. "You seem like a sweet girl. But you're a tool. Nothing more. And tools can be discarded when they're no longer useful."
"Wait!" Rafael stepped in front of me. "If you kill her, you get nothing. I won't break. I'll just hunt you down and make you suffer."
"Will you?" Isabella asked. "Or will you drown in guilt? Knowing that another woman died because of you? Knowing you couldn't save her either?"
"I know you loved Eva," Rafael said. "I know you're hurting. But Eva wouldn't want this. She wouldn't want you to become a monster in her name."
"Don't you dare tell me what Eva would want!" Isabella screamed. "You didn't know her! You never knew the real her!"
"Then help me understand," Rafael said gently. "Tell me who Eva really was. Help me see what I missed."
Isabella's hand wavered slightly.
"She was kind," Isabella whispered. "Gentle. She loved art and music. She wanted to travel the world. She had dreams, Rafael. So many dreams. And you crushed every single one of them."
"I know," Rafael said. "And I'm sorry. Truly sorry. I was selfish and controlling. I tried to keep her locked away because I was afraid of losing her. And in the end, I lost her anyway."
Tears streamed down Isabella's face. "She called me the night before she died. Said she'd finally found the courage to leave you. Said she was going to file for divorce in the morning. She sounded so happy. So free. And then..." Her voice broke.
"You killed her," Rafael said quietly. "And you blame me. You think it's my fault that she's dead." His eyes darkened. “It's your fault for being a psychopath.”
"NO!" Isabella raised the gun again. "It wasn't my fault! It was yours! If you hadn't been such a monster, she never would have needed to leave! And I would never have…"
A gunshot rang out.
Isabella jerked. And fell to her knees.
Behind her stood one of the guards. The one I'd sent outside.
"I'm sorry, sir," the guard said to Rafael. "I heard shouting. I thought…"
"You did the right thing," Rafael said. He was already moving towards Isabella.
I got there first.
I knelt beside her, pressing my hands against the wound. Blood poured between my fingers.
"Stay with me," I said. "Isabella, stay with me."
"Where's Maria?" Rafael asked urgently. "Isabella, where's Maria Martinez? Tell me before you die!"
"She's not dying!" I yelled.
Isabella coughed blood. "Maria is at St. Augustine. Storage room. She's… safe. I was going to let her go. I swear."
"Who's the real Architect?" I demanded. "Isabella, please. Who killed Eva?"
Rafael looked at me, shocked. "She's the architect. She just cobfessed to killing my wife."
I ignored him and lifted Isabella. Her eyes glazed over.
She was dying.
I wasn't going to let her die like this.
I wasn't going to let the architect win.
"She's not the architect." I said firmly.
"You don't know that." Rafael said, staring at me like I was nuts.
Marco knelt down and checked Isabella's pockets. He pulled out a phone. "Her phone is locked," he said. "But we might be able to…"
The phone buzzed with an incoming message from an unknown number.
Marco held it up so we could all see the screen.
"Is it done? Is the girl dead?"