Chapter 17 Proof
Rafael
I stood frozen in the hallway outside Flora's door. Marco's voice drifted through the wood.
"Hide this. Don't let anyone see it."
My blood turned to ice.
I’d never thought Marco would betray me. Not after twenty years of loyalty.
I watched him leave the room from where I was hiding.
After I had made sure he was gone, I pushed her door open violently. It slammed against the wall with a bang that echoed through the room.
"Who gave you that phone?" My voice was deadly quiet.
Flora's eyes went wide with terror.
I walked slowly into the room.
"I asked you a question, Eva." I held out my hand. "Give me the phone."
She shook her head, backing against the headboard. "I don't have a phone."
"Don't lie to me!" My voice exploded through the room. "I know Marco gave you one! Give it to me now!"
She clutched it tighter. Tears streamed down her face.
"Guards!" I shouted.
Four men rushed into the room immediately.
"Go take Marco from wherever he is to the courtyard,. Now." I said coldly. "Restrain him."
The guards hesitated. Marco had been second in command for two decades. They respected him.
"That's an order!" I roared.
They moved out quickly.
I grabbed the phone from Flora's hands. She tried to hold on but I was stronger. I looked at the screen.
Messages from Isabella.
"You will stay in here, locked up until I say otherwise." I said to Flora.
Minutes later, the guards arrived at the courtyard with Marco bound behind them.
The household staff gathered, whispering among themselves. They'd never seen me punish one of my own before.
The guards tied Marco's hands and hung him upside down from a metal hook. His face turned red from the blood rushing to his head.
I picked up a thick piece of plywood from the shed. It was heavy and solid.
Good.
"Fifty strokes," I announced to everyone watching. "This is what happens to traitors. To those who betray the family."
I swung the plywood hard against Marco's back. The crack echoed through the courtyard. Marco grunted but didn't scream.
I swung it again. And again. And again.
By the tenth stroke, his shirt was torn. Blood seeped through the fabric.
By the twentieth, he was cursing under his breath. But he still didn't apologize.
"Say you're sorry!" I growled, raising the plywood again. "Apologize and I'll stop!"
"No!" Marco's voice was strained with pain. "I won't apologize for trying to do the right thing! I won't apologize for trying to save you from yourself!"
His defiance only made me angrier. I continued the punishment. Thirty strokes. Forty. Fifty.
When I finished, Marco was barely conscious. Blood dripped from his back onto the ground below his head.
"Take him to the dungeon," I ordered the guards. "Lock him in the spider cell. Give him no food. No water."
The guards untied Marco and dragged him away. I turned to the rest of the staff watching with horrified faces.
"Let this be a lesson. Loyalty to this family is everything. Betray me, and you'll suffer worse than Marco." I pointed at them. "Now get back to work!"
They scattered like frightened birds.
I walked to my office, still holding the phone. I pulled up Isabella's number and called her.
She answered on the second ring.
"Flora? Are you okay?" Her voice came.
"This isn't Flora," I said coldly. "This is Rafael."
"What did you do to her?" Her voice rose.
"Nothing compared to what I'm about to do to you." I sat at my desk. "You've been building a case against me. Talking to witnesses. Gathering evidence."
"To save that girl from you!"
"She doesn't need saving. She's my wife."
"She's not Eva! She's Flora Rossi! An innocent woman you kidnapped!"
"That's where you're wrong, Isabella. And I'm going to prove it to you. But first, there are consequences for your betrayal."
"I'm not afraid of you, Rafael."
"You should be." I opened my computer and pulled up the family accounts. "As of now, your allowance is cut in half. Your guards are dismissed. Your immunity in family matters is revoked. You're vulnerable now, Isabella. Anything that happens to you now, is your own fault."
"You wouldn't dare!"
"I just did. Check your accounts. You'll see." I paused. "And Isabella? If you go public with any of this, I'll destroy you completely. You'll be an outcast."
"I will save Flora!"
"There is no Flora! There's only Eva! And tomorrow, I'll prove it to everyone!" I hung up before she could respond.
My hands were shaking from anger.
I called Dr. Elena Marchetti again. "Rafael? I said I'd come tomorrow."
"Come now. Tonight. I'll pay you triple your usual fee."
She sighed. "Fine. I'll be there in an hour."
I hung up and walked back to Flora's room. She was still crying on the bed, the IV still dripping into her arm.
"That was your fault," I said quietly. "Marco wouldn't have been punished if you hadn't tried to betray me."
"I hate you!" She screamed. "You're a monster!"
"Dr. Marchetti is coming. She's going to run a DNA test. And when it matches, everyone will have to believe me."
"It won't match! Because I'm not Eva!"
"We'll see."
We sat together in silence.
An hour later, Dr. Elena Marchetti arrived. She was a tall woman in her fifties, with sharp eyes and gray hair pulled back in a tight bun. She'd been Eva's therapist for three years before her death.
I led her to Flora's room.
The moment Dr. Marchetti saw Flora, she stopped dead in her tracks. Her face went completely white.
"My God," she whispered. "The resemblance is impossible."
"It's not just resemblance," I said. "It's her. It's Eva."
Dr. Marchetti walked closer to Flora, studying her face. "The facial structure is identical." She looked at me. "Rafael, this is extraordinary. But it doesn't mean she's Eva."
"She has Eva's birthmark. Same shape. Same location."
Dr. Marchetti's eyes widened. "That is unusual. But still not proof of reincarnation."
"Then give me scientific proof. Run a DNA test. I have samples of Eva's hair and blood. Compare them to her DNA."
Dr. Marchetti looked at Flora, who was trembling on the bed. "And does she consent to this test?"
"I don't care if she consents. Do it anyway."
Dr. Marchetti hesitated. Then she nodded. "Fine. But I need a blood sample from her."
She pulled out a needle and vial from her bag. Flora tried to pull away but I held her arm still.
"Don't make this harder than it has to be," I said quietly.
Flora was crying and screaming as Dr. Marchetti drew her blood.
She took the blood sample and Eva's preserved samples to her portable lab equipment. She worked in silence for twenty minutes while Flora sobbed and I paced.
Finally, she looked up. Her face was pale.
"The results are in," she said quietly.
"And?" I asked quietly.
She showed me the screen. "The DNA matches. Perfectly. This girl has the same DNA as Eva Valserro."