Chapter 44 The truth at the docks
Flora
My heart hammered as I stared at the detonator in Catherine's hand.
This was it. This was how we are going to die.
"What do you want?" Rafael asked. His voice was steady.
How was he so calm?
"I want the truth," Catherine said. "I want you to admit, in front of everyone, what you did to Eva.”
"I drove her to suicide," Rafael said without hesitation. "I controlled her, suffocated her. I made her life unbearable."
"It's a start," Catherine said. "But I want details. I want you to remember every horrible thing you did. Every time you made her feel small. Every time you made her afraid.”
Rafael was quiet for a moment.
Then he spoke.
"I tracked her phone," he said. "Every call. Every text. Every location."
Catherine nodded. "Go on."
"I monitored her bank accounts," Rafael continued. "I had to approve every purchase. Every expense. She couldn't even buy coffee without me knowing.”
"More," Catherine demanded. Her voice was fierce.
"I chose her friends," Rafael said. His voice was breaking now. "I decided who she could see. Who she could talk to. I isolated her from everyone who cared about her.”
Tears streamed down Catherine's face.
"And at the end?" she asked. "What did she say to you? Right before she died?"
Rafael closed his eyes. "She said... 'I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore.'"
"And what did you say?" Catherine pressed.
"I told her to stop being dramatic," Rafael whispered. "That she just needed to calm down."
"And then?"
"And then she grabbed my gun," Rafael said. "And she shot herself right in front of me."
The warehouse was silent except for Rafael's sobs.
Catherine lowered the detonator slightly.
"Do you know what the worst part is?" she asked. "Eva called me that morning. Told me she was going to do it. And I didn't believe her."
"Catherine…" I started.
"I could have saved her!" Catherine screamed.
She turned the gun on herself.
"So maybe you're not the only one to blame, Rafael. Maybe I'm just as guilty."
"Don't," Rafael said. "Don't do this, Catherine. Eva wouldn't want…"
"Don't you dare tell me what Eva would want!" Catherine shouted.
"You're right," Rafael said. "I didn't know her. But I know she loved you. And she wouldn't want you to do this."
Catherine's hand shook.
"Dr. Vasquez came to me twenty-four years ago. Offered me money to donate my eggs. I was desperate." Catherine cried.
My chest tightened.
"I didn't know they were going to split the embryo," Catherine continued. "Didn't know they were creating twins."
"And when Eva died?" I asked.
"Isabella found me," Catherine said. "She told me everything. And I saw an opportunity for revenge."
"So you activated me," I said.
"Yes," Catherine admitted. "I wanted Rafael to fall for you. And then I was going to take you away from him."
"But that's not what happened," Rafael said.
"No," Catherine agreed. "Because you actually started to see Flora as her own person."
She raised the detonator again.
"So here we are," she said. "Back in the warehouse where it all began." Catherine's face crumpled. "Eva was my everything. My whole world. And she chose to leave me."
"She was sick," I said gently.
"Depression. Trauma. Whatever it was, it made her believe death was the only way out. But that wasn't your fault. And it wasn't Rafael's fault either."
"Then whose fault was it?" Catherine screamed.
"No one's," I said. "Sometimes terrible things just happen. Sometimes people we love make choices we can't understand. And all we can do is try to survive it."
Catherine stared at me for a long moment. Then she raised the detonator. "I can't survive it," she said. "I've tried for five years. And every day the pain gets worse. Every day I wake up and remember she's gone. I can't do it anymore."
"So you'll kill us all?" Rafael asked.
Catherine hesitated.
"There are people who love you," I said. "Who need you. What about Isabella? She's in the hospital right now because she was trying to protect you. Are you going to make her sacrifice meaningless?"
"Isabella would understand," Catherine said.
"Would she?" I challenged. "Or would she spend the rest of her life blaming herself for not stopping you? Just like you blame yourself for not stopping Eva?"
Catherine's hand wavered.
"Put the detonator down," Rafael said. "Please, Catherine. Let's end this cycle. No more death. No more revenge. Just... let it end."
"I don't know how to stop hurting," Catherine whispered.
"Neither do I," Rafael admitted. "But we can figure it out together. Get Therapy. Whatever it takes."
Catherine looked at the detonator in her hand.
Then at me. Then at Rafael.
"I'm so tired," she said.
"I know," I said softly. "So let it go. Let all of it go."
Catherine's arm dropped slowly.
The detonator fell from her fingers.
Rafael moved fast, kicking it away before she could change her mind.
Catherine collapsed to her knees, sobbing.
I went to her, knelt beside her and put my arms around this woman who'd created me for revenge but couldn't go through with destroying me.
She was my actual mother? Can I even say that?
"It's over," I whispered. "It's finally over."
"What happens now?" Catherine asked through her tears.
"We all heal" I said.
Footsteps echoed through the warehouse.
Marco appeared from the shadows, along with several of Rafael's men.
"We heard everything, boss," Marco said. "What do you want us to do?"
Rafael looked at Catherine. Then at me.
"Call an ambulance," he said. "Catherine needs medical attention. Psychiatric evaluation. Not prison."
"Rafael…" Marco started.
"She's sick," Rafael said firmly. "She's not even the architect."
I chuckled. Was there even an architect to begin with? Or everything had just been a shadow fight?
We had thought someone killed Eva. Turns out, she killed herself.
And Eva and I were created out of greed not because some master player was working behind the scene.
Catherine looked up at him with surprise.
"Why?" she asked. "Why show me mercy after everything I've done?"
"Because,” Rafael took a deep breath. “I'm tired of choosing revenge.”
Then, suddenly we heard sirens wailing in the distance.
I froze.
Who called the them?