Chapter 41 The mother of lies
Rafael
I stared at the message on Isabella's phone.
"Is it done? Is the girl dead?"
My blood ran cold.
Isabella wasn't the Architect.
"We need to get her to a hospital,"
Flora said, still pressing down on Isabella's wound. "Now!"
"Marco, call Dr. Chen," I ordered. "Tell him we're bringing in a gunshot victim."
Marco was already on the phone.
I looked down at Isabella.
Her eyes were still open but unfocused. Blood pooled beneath her.
"Why did you pretend to be the Architect?" I asked quietly.
Isabella's lips moved but no sound came out.
"Don't talk," Flora said. "Save your strength."
But I needed answers.
I knelt beside Isabella and leaned close.
"Who is the real Architect?" I whispered. "Who are you protecting?"
Isabella's hand grabbed my shirt weakly. She pulled me closer. Her lips moved again. But I could barely hear her.
"Family," she breathed.
Then her hand went limp.
"No!" Flora pressed harder on the wound. "Stay with us, Isabella!"
The SUV screeched to a halt outside. Two of my men rushed in with a stretcher. We lifted Isabella onto it carefully. Flora climbed into the SUV with her.
"I'm coming too," I said.
"No," Flora replied firmly. "You need to go to St. Augustine to find Maria."
She was right.
"Marco, go with Flora," I ordered. "Make sure Isabella doesn't die. And get that phone unlocked. I need to know who sent that message."
"On it, boss," Marco said.
He climbed into the SUV. I watched them drive away. Then I turned to the remaining guards.
"Get me to St. Augustine," I said. "Now."
We drove fast through the city streets.
My mind was racing.
Isabella had confessed to killing Eva.
But Isabella loved Eva.
Why would she kill her?
Unless she was protecting someone.
Family, she had said.
But Isabella didn't have any family except me. She was an only child. Her parents died years ago.
So who was she protecting?
It couldn't be me.
We pulled up outside St. Augustine Church.
It was dark and quiet. The front doors were locked.
"Go around the back," I told my men. "Find another way in."
One of them kicked in a side door.
We entered quietly.
The church was empty.
"Where's the storage room?" I muttered.
We searched the building.
Finally we found a heavy wooden door with a padlock.
"Break it," I ordered.
One of my men shot the lock. We pushed the door open.
Inside was a small room filled with old furniture and boxes. And in the corner, tied to a chair, was a young woman. She had dark hair and wide, terrified eyes.
"Maria?" I asked.
She nodded frantically behind the gag.
I rushed over and untied her.
The moment the gag came off, she started crying.
"Thank you so much. I thought I was going to die."
"You're safe now," I said. "Did you see who took you?"
Maria nodded. "It was a woman. She wore a mask."
"What else do you remember?" I asked.
"She kept talking to someone on the phone," Maria said. "Kept saying everything was going according to plan."
"Did she say a name?" I pressed. "Did you hear anything?"
Maria thought for a moment.
"She called the person on the phone... Mama," Maria said quietly.
My heart stopped.
Mama.
Isabella called someone Mama.
But Isabella's mother was dead.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Yes," Maria said. "I'm sure. She said Yes, Mama. I understand, Mama. Over and over."
I helped Maria to her feet.
"We need to get you out of here," I said.
We made our way back through the church.
"Take her somewhere safe," I told my men. "And don't let anyone know where she is."
"Where are you going, boss?" One of them asked.
"To the hospital," I said. "I need to talk to Isabella."
I drove myself this time. Fast and reckless through the empty streets.
My phone rang.
It was Marco.
"Boss," he said. "We're at the hospital. Isabella's in surgery. They're trying to save her."
"What about the phone?" I asked. "Did you unlock it?"
"Yeah," Marco said. "And boss, you need to see this. There are messages from months ago. They were instructions."
"What kind of instructions?" I asked.
"Everything," Marco said. "When to approach you. What to say. How to manipulate the investigation. It's all here. Every move she made was planned by someone else."
"Send me screenshots," I ordered.
"Already done," Marco replied.
My phone buzzed with incoming messages.
I pulled over and looked at the screenshots.
Message after message.
Instructions, threats, promises
All leading Isabella like a puppet on strings. And at the end, was one final message.
"If you fail, your secret dies with you."
What secret?
What was Isabella hiding?
I drove to the hospital and rushed inside.
Marco met me at the entrance.
"She's still in surgery," he said. "They don't know if she'll make it."
"Where's Flora?" I asked.
"In the waiting room," Marco said.
I found Flora sitting alone. Her hands were still covered in Isabella's blood. She looked up when I entered.
"Did you find Maria?" she asked.
"Yes," I said. "She's safe. She told me Isabella kept calling someone Mama."
Flora's eyes widened. "Isabella's mom is the architect?"
"No," I said. "Isabella's mom is dead. But what if she faked her death?"
"Why would she do that?" Flora asked.
"I don't know," I admitted. "But Isabella said she was protecting family. What if that's who she meant?"
A doctor emerged from the operating room.
We both stood up.
"How is she?" I asked.
"Stable," the doctor said. "But there's a complication. The bullet damaged her vocal cords. She's alive, but she can't speak."
My heart sank.
"Will she ever be able to speak again?" Flora asked.
"It's too early to tell," the doctor replied. "But right now, she's unable to communicate verbally. I'm sorry."
He walked away.
I looked at Flora.
"We lost our only lead," I said.
"No," Flora said quietly. "We still have the phone. We can trace the number."
"Marco's already tried," I said. "It's a burner."
"Then we need to think," Flora said. "Isabella called someone Mama. But her mother is long dead."
"Eva's mother," I said suddenly.
Flora looked at me confused. "What?"
"Eva’s mother," I repeated.
"Catherine Rossi. What if she's the Architect?"
"But she's in Moscow," Flora said. "She went back after the funeral five years ago."
"Or that's what we were told," I said. "What if she never left?"
Flora stood up. "We need to find her," she said.
"I'll call my contacts in Moscow," I said.
I made the calls.
One after another.
Every contact I had in Moscow.
Finally, one of them gave me the answer I needed.
"Catherine Rossi never went back to Moscow" my contact said. "She sold her villa two years ago. No one knows where she went."
I hung up and looked at Flora.
"She's here," I said. "Catherine's here. In the city. And she's the Architect."
Before Flora could respond, my phone rang again. It was an unknown number.
I answered.
"Hello, Rafael," a woman's voice said.
"Catherine," I breathed. "Where are you?"
"Closer than you think," Catherine replied. "Rafael, how does it feel to know you're about to lose everything just like Eva did?"
"Eva's death wasn't my fault," I said.
"Wasn't it?" Catherine asked. "You controlled her, suffocated her and drove her to desperation. And when I tried to help her escape, you know what Eva did?"
My blood ran cold.
"What?" I whispered.
"She killed herself," Catherine said.