Miracle Ch. 04

"That's correct. Now, go get me the paddle from the drawer over there." Evander ordered sternly. He always made her select or bring the implement for the punishment herself. It really prolonged the psychological agony.

"Here." Tania offered the offending paddle to her brother as she stood in front of him. She was trying to be brave. But even thinking of the magnitude of the punishment, shook her to the core.

"Tania......please sit down" Evander patted the place beside him as he sighed.

"Tania, the truth is that you deserve to get punished for the stunt you pulled with exactly forty strokes of this paddle. But you were truly amazing yesterday. You pleased me and Dad immensely. You behaved very maturely and wisely. The fact of the matter is that I fucked up, and it was you who saved both me and Alyia. And I can't ignore that. I'm extremely proud of the woman you have become. You handled an impossible situation very well. So, I have decided to reduce this punishment to only five strokes." Her brother let out with a small smile on his lips. He really was proud of her.

"Really?" Tania couldn't believe her eyes. She didn't expect this. Evander never backed down or changed his mind about a punishment. She really had made an impression on him.

"Yes. Now, go get ready for your punishment. I want you bend over the desk. Just pull down your panties to your knees. " Evander pointed to his desk as he rose.

Tania was bent over the desk in a second. She had pulled down her Jeans and her panties to her knees. Since Evander's desk was huge, she could not reach the other end of the desk to grab it with her hands. So she just stretched her arms above her head as far as she could. She put her entire upper torso and the palms of her both hands flat on the desk. She knew exactly how he wanted her.

Tania felt her brother's hand on the small of her back as he pushed her down toward the table. She was effectively pinned down. Nowhere to go.

"Tania. Please don't move. Are you ready?" Evander asked, his hand still resting on her back.

"Yes sir. I'm ready" Tania replied in a clear voice. She would be a good as she could and would try her best to cooperate.

"Please count for me after each stroke Tania." Evander ordered gently.

The first stroke of the paddle came down, hitting her bottom hard. It really hurt. However, she knew that her brother wasn't using all his force.

"One, sir." Tania didn't forget to count.

The second and third blow came swiftly, causing her to yelp. They were harder. Tania braced herself for the rest of the punishment. This was a very light punishment for her.

Evander paused for a while and caressed his sister's hair. He always hated punishing Tania. Probably more than anything in this world. It broke the heart, that he didn't even know he had. But it was for her own good. She needed discipline in her life. Everyone needed discipline from time to time. Even him. And that reminded him again that he really needed to talk to his own mentor, which happened to be his father. Sooner rather than later about his own punishment.

Evander unleashed the paddle two more times.

"Four....five." Tania's breathing was labored. She was in a lot of pain.

She heard her brother threw down the paddle on the table. She couldn't stop her tears. But they were not because of the pain. They were because of the magnitude of the love she felt for her brother at that moment. She remembered that he never wanted to be her mentor in the first place. And that was the exact reason. He had told her before, that punishing her was painful to him. But despite that, he always took time to actually guide her. Talk to her patiently. Make her understand her mistakes.

Tania remained exactly where she was. She knew she wasn't allowed to move until she was given direct permission.

"Why were you punished Tania? tell me." Evander demanded firmly.

"Because I broke the rules and revealed our private information Sir. I'm really sorry. I would never repeat that mistake again. Please forgive me." Tania answered dutifully. At that moment Evander was even more proud of her. She had come a very long way from the scared little girl on the streets of the New York. She was now a wise, responsible, amazing young woman, who could help other's with their problems. She was polite, disciplined and very successful.

"Thank you sweetie. You can stand up now." Her brother helped her to her feet, and also helped her put her Jeans back up, just like he had always done for her from the first time he had punished her. He remembered that day clearly. She had received a punishment for stealing their mother's jewelry. It was the first month she was staying with them. She was still accustomed to her old habits on the streets. Which, was mainly pickpocketing.

When she was all covered, he took her in to his arms. "Please Tania, will you do me the favor of staying out of trouble for the coming days? I will have my hands full, having to deal with the troubles I already have. And DO NOT make me punish you for this reason again, because I won't be this lenient ever again. You are a smart young lady. You can make good choices. "Her brother told her as he patted her back.

"I'm sorry Evander. I won't do this again. I have learned my lesson." Tania responded, her eyes full of tears. The tears weren't because of the physical pain induced by the punishment, but the pain of making her brother disappointed.

"It's okay Tania. You know that when a punishment is over everything is all done. Forgiven. It's now in the past. "

That was absolutely correct. One of the advantages of that type of discipline was the fact, that it never hovered above her head. When it was over.....it meant that it truly was over and they never scolded her for that offense. Her brother always comforted her after a punishment. He believed it was a crucial part of the healing process. There shouldn't be any feeling of guilt lingering at the end of a punishment.

"Just.....Evander...... can I ask you a question?" Tania stared in to her brother's comforting eyes in confusion. "I....um....." She was torn between asking the question which was stuck in her mind since yesterday. She was just standing there staring down at her fingers.

"Tania?" Evander tipped her chin up gently, with his thumb and forefinger so that she was looking in to his eyes. "You know that you can ask me anything."

Tania could hear total honesty in his voice and also see it clearly in his eyes.

"The truth is that I can't believe you punished Alyia like that. What happened? What did she do to deserve that?" Tania wasn't sure she wanted to actually hear the answer to that question. She had heard a lot of awful things about her brother through the years. She had never cared. Or maybe she was too afraid to ask. Terrified that somehow the pristine picture she had of her brother inside her mind somehow becomes distorted.

Contrary to her expectation her brother didn't close up completely like always, whenever a personal question was asked. He just sighed in what Tania felt like desperation.

"Okay. Considering you are now totally involved in this, I guess you deserve to know everything. Just go lie down over there on the sofa on your side. I'll explain as much as I know."

Evander pointed to the sofa across the room, which was directly in front of his desk.

Soon Tania was lying down on the sofa, one of her hands tucked beneath her head, facing her brother, who was seating behind his desk. At that moment, he didn't radiate force as he always did. He was in immense pain.

Evander glanced at the monitor on his desk. Just Before delivering Tania's punishment, he had put in a code in to his computer to slide open a window in Alyia's guestroom. The room was equipped with a sliding panel that covered the windows completely. When the panel was closed, it seemed just like another wall in the room. He thought that maybe she enjoyed the view. Which, now seemed ridiculous. They were up in the middle of skies and surrounded by nothing other than dessert. She had been standing beside that window the last time he glanced at her and she was still there. He would give all his life, just to know what was going on inside her mind at that exact moment. He had never had difficulty reading people. It was one of his greatest skills. However when it came to her, there was total darkness.

"I don't know anything about my birth parents Tania. My earliest memory of my childhood is of living in a foster home and she is in each and every one of those memories. The sound of her laughter and the scent of rose is everywhere in my mind. Mira was another foster child in that house. She was two years younger than me. I don't remember where she came from. We grew up together. And I gradually fell in love with her. She was the reason I woke up in the morning. I had a lot of plans for the two of us. A house in the shore. A big family. All of that disappeared in to the thin air one day, when I was thirteen and she was eleven. I just returned home and found her lying on the stairs. She loved to slide down from the stair railing. I warned her multiple times, that she was going to fall down and hurt herself. She never listened. Apparently she had been on the railing again and had fallen down. I called for help. I did everything I could. She was dead by the time I found her. I refused to accept that, until I saw her at the funeral. I left the house after the funeral and never returned to our foster home. There was no reason. The only reason I was there, was because of her. I was on the streets until Dad found me. That girl.....Alyia Monroe. Her resemblance to Alyia is ....is ....unnerving. Mira would have looked exactly like Alyia, if she had a chance to grow up. Yesterday, when I first walked in to Zero Hall, I was bombarded by all sorts of nostalgic feelings. I was furious at her for no reason. I just lost control. I broke all the rules and protocols I had set myself.

I think that subconsciously I knew from the first minute that she looked like Mira. I have tried for years to push all the memories relating to that part of my life in to an inaccessible corner of my brain. It wasn't until I boarded the plane to go get her father that I finally realized, why I was so mad at her. I have been intensely furious at Mira from the day that she died. I still am. Alyia just happened to look exactly like her. In fact her crime was her resemblance to Mira.This is the short version of all that I know so far Tania. "Evander concluded as he glanced again at his computer screen. His brow drew together. What was Alyia doing by the window.

Tania was silent all the while. She was just speechless. In all nine years that she knew her brother, he had never said a word about anything even remotely related to his childhood. She was both happy and sad at the same time. Happy that he had trusted her enough, to share his most private and apparently immensely painful experiences, and sad that he had endured such bitter days as a child.

However now that Tania thought about the whole situation deeper, suddenly she came up with a new realization. Alyia and Mira were both the same person! Her brother just couldn't see that, because he was too involved. Too angry.

"WOW.....Evander......hey.....guess what" She jumped out of her seat so quick that she startled her brother.

"Alyia is actually Mira!" She exclaimed loudly as she threw her arms in to the air animatedly.

"Tania you are not making any sense. Mira died fourteen years ago. I WAS at her funeral. It's not possible"Evander said as he narrowed her eyes at his sister.

"Evander didn't you listen to what her father said? He said that, when he found her body, her skull was broken. You just told me that she was eleven when she died and yesterday morning, you told me that she is now twenty five. Which means, that her father had found her body exactly fourteen years ago. They live in the suburbs of New York and you lived in New York too! And the most important thing is that she looks exactly like her! It can't all be a coincidence Evander! Just think about this." Tania was beside herself with excitement. Everything seemed crazy. Most of all accepting the fact that a dead person can come back to life but if they wanted to accept her father's claim, then, they had to admit that she was Mira as well.

"Tania we have not yet ascertained that Dr.Monroe's very bizarre statement is true and for all I know, there is a chance that we can never confirm such a crazy story. This could all be a distracting story he has cooked up for a thousands of reasons. They both could just be two spies sent here for information. I'm sure there are lots of people who know about my past or have the means to dig up what happened to me fourteen years ago. And we both know that with plastic surgery, you can never trust how anyone looks. If you think rationally, any other alternative looks more possible than a dead person coming to life."

"Okay. You are right the coming to life from dead part seems hard to swallow. "Tania contemplated what her brother had just said. Was it possible that Alyia was acting all that time? It was very hard to believe.

"But still would you ask her father about the date that he found her body? It's worth trying it. Just compare that date with Mira's funeral." Tania asked as she started walking out of her brother's office. If he needed more proof she could go get it for him.

Evander watched as his sister exited the room. He knew he didn't want to admit it, but what if Tania was right? Even if there was a very tiny chance of his sister being right, he had to find out the truth. The fact was that, despite very hard to read, Alyia didn't strike him as an actress at all or a spy. He had known that from the beginning and if he had listened to the voice of reason inside his head yesterday morning, he had not ended up punishing her like that. The problem with the scenario he had just pictured for his sister was that it didn't seem like her father was lying either! It was true that he wasn't very good at reading Alyia but her father was an entirely different story. He was like an open book. Quickly he was on the phone.

"Alex......this might seem weird but I want this done rapidly and discreetly. I will text you the address of a cemetery and the name of a grave. I want to know if there is a body inside or not. Also any indication of any recent digging or any other suspicious activity around. Send your most trusted men." Alex was the head of his security team, outside of Azure. He was very efficient.

Now it was time for another chat with Dr.Eric Monroe. Evander was keeping him at one of the detention centers inside Azure for now. If he was telling the truth, his life could be in danger by the people who were after his daughter. And if not....well that meant he was guilty of something. In any case Evander couldn't let him go. Not yet.

As he was waiting for his men to bring Dr. Monroe for a video chat, Evander glanced at his computer screen again.

Alyia was standing by the floor to ceiling window which had miraculously appeared before her. She really felt like she was inside a sci-fi movie. If her life had not just turned upside down in a matter of hours she would have enjoyed this place. There was a new wonder waiting for her at every corner.

Tania just entered the room. Her new friend had finished her breakfast and was now wearing a tight blue Jeans and a white lacy top. She looked exactly like an angel fallen from the skies. Evander had brought some of her clothes and even other stuff with himself from her house. Her ever meticulous brother always thought of everything.

"Tania?!! What the hell happened to you? Are you okay?" Alyia asked worriedly.

"Nothing is wrong Alyia. I'm very good. Well....someone has found her clothes. You look amazing." Tania said, attempting to change the subject.

"Tania? I know something has happened. You have cried. Please tell me the truth." Alyia wasn't going to back down.

That girl was clever. Tania thought to herself. She was torn between telling her the truth, which certainly would scare her and make her hate her brother more, and lying to her and risk losing their newly gained trust.

"Tania here in our family and generally in Azure if someone makes a mistake, they will get punished by their mentor. I'm fine. I just got a very minor punishment for a major crime. "Tania said in the calmest voice she knew.

"What does that mean? Who is a mentor? Did he hit you? What the hell is wrong with him? He punished you because you were nice to me and you answered my questions. Didn't he? "Alyia all but shrieked in fury. She couldn't believe the nerve of that bastard. He was one sick son of a bitch.

"Alyia....please just calm down. I'm fine. Really. This is what I want." Tania begged her friend.

"How can you be fine Tania? Huh? How? Why in the world do you let him hit you? It's just not right. "Alyia exclaimed angrily as she grabbed Tania's shoulders and shook her. She was staring right in to her brown big eyes, looking for an answer. There was none.

"Alyia.....I love my brother. There are a set of rules here for everyone to follow. Everyone knows all about those rules and the punishment for breaking them. If he wanted to be honest I would have been in a jail right now." Tania tried her best to placate her friend. Next thing she knew Alyia strode toward the door. Tania followed closely behind. Surprisingly it seemed that Alyia knew where she was going! Had she somehow noticed Evander standing upstairs by his office door, staring at them last night, when they were climbing the stairs to go to the guestroom? How did she find Evander's office? Soon they were standing in front of the double doors of Evander's office, still arguing.

Evander must have been listening to them as always. Because the door slid open quickly.

Alyia strode in with a bravery that she didn't know she possessed.

Evander had just finished talking to Alyia's father. Dr. Monroe's words had shaken him to his core. He claimed that he had found Alyia's body on his porch at the evening of seventh of august fourteen years ago. And the man was telling the truth.

Evander himself had found Mira's dead body in their house in the morning of that exact day. What the hell did that mean? Either someone out there knew every detail of his life and was trying to play mind games with him or she was really his Mira. He still believed that the former made a lot more sense.

Evander watched in admiration as the mystery girl barged inside his office like she owned the place. She possessed a type of bravery, that most his army men lacked. She was simply glorious. Her ocean blue eyes more radiant that ever.

Alyia stared at the King of Darkness. Sitting at his throne. Behind him, she could see the bluest skies on the horizon. It was like he was the master of the whole universe. He wasn't wearing the formal black suit anymore. Today he wore a deep red shirt, which reminded Alyia of the deepest levels of Hell. The color accentuated his green eyes and made them appear brighter. Contrary to the hotness of attire, those eyes screamed chilliness. What was wrong with that man? For a split second, she wondered what could make a person to become this draft of emotions.

However the truth was that at that point she just didn't care. She was just fed up with the whole punishment crap. Who the hell did he think he was?

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you hit people?" Alyia couldn't remember the last time she was so furious. In fact, there hasn't been a time in her life that she was so pissed at someone, that she was ready to do bodily harm!

Evander could see Tania's worried face as she watched from the doorway.

"Tania, would you please leave us alone." Evander requested as he stared briefly at his sister. Her brother didn't look specifically mad. He looked more curious. That was a good sign. Wasn't it?