Chapter 8 - Gabriel
Alessandro read the sentence three times.
Then he tore the letter in half.
Marco grabbed his arm.
“Boss.”
“Don’t.”
His voice was low enough to frighten me more than shouting would have.
He walked outside.
The front door slammed.
I looked at Marco.
“Is he going to do something stupid?”
Marco stared toward the door.
“Almost certainly.”
“Should we stop him?”
“I enjoy breathing.”
Fair.
I looked at Logan.
If David’s letter was true, Alessandro wasn’t simply protecting my child.
He was protecting his nephew.
And his brother—the man he mourned for six years—was apparently behind the organization trying to capture us.
None of it made sense.
Dr. Chen gathered the torn pages.
“Why would Gabriel run Halcyon after being tortured by them?”
“Maybe he didn’t have a choice,” I said.
Marco shook his head.
“If he controls Halcyon enough to send strike teams, he has choices.”
“Trauma changes people.”
“So does power.”
That sounded like experience.
I went outside.
Alessandro stood beside the fence staring at the fields.
His bandage was bleeding again.
“You’re going to reopen every wound you have.”
“Already did.”
“I mean physically.”
“I know what you meant.”
I stood beside him.
For a while, neither of us spoke.
Then he asked, “Do you believe David?”
“I don’t know what I believe anymore.”
“Good answer.”
“Do you?”
He stared at the horizon.
“My brother hated our family business.”
“Mafia.”
“Yes.”
“He wanted out?”
“He became an accountant because he thought numbers were cleaner than guns.”
Alessandro smiled bitterly.
“He used to tell me crime was just fear wearing expensive shoes.”
“I like him.”
“So did I.”
“If Gabriel runs Halcyon, maybe he thinks he’s doing something good.”
“No.”
Alessandro turned.
“Men who believe they’re doing good are usually more dangerous than men who know they’re evil.”
I couldn’t argue.
A vehicle approached in the distance.
Alessandro’s hand moved toward his waistband.
“No weapon,” I reminded him.
He sighed.
“Worst morning of my life.”
“That seems dramatic considering you died.”
He looked at me.
“Second worst.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
The vehicle stopped at the gate.
Marco’s men surrounded it.
A woman stepped out.
Hands raised.
Dark hair.
Bruised face.
Sofia Marquez.
Daniel ran from the house.
“Aunt Sofia!”
She collapsed to her knees.
“Danny!”
I started toward them.
Marco grabbed me.
“Wait.”
Daniel reached her.
Sofia held him desperately.
Then she looked at me.
Her face broke.
“Oh God.”
I knew.
She knew who I was.
“Catherine.”
My chest tightened.
We had never met.
But she said my name like someone who had carried guilt for years.
“How do you know me?”
Sofia stood.
“David showed me pictures.”
Of course.
“Where were you?”
“Halcyon took me.”
“How did you escape?”
“They let me go.”
Alessandro came closer.
“Why?”
Sofia looked at him.
Her face changed.
“Because Gabriel wants to meet you.”
Alessandro stopped.
“Where?”
“Tonight.”
“No.”
Sofia blinked.
“No?”
“He had six years.”
“He says he can explain.”
Alessandro laughed without humor.
“He always liked explanations.”
I stepped between them.
“Does Gabriel have David?”
Sofia looked at me.
“Yes.”
My heart stopped.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“With Gabriel.”
“Was David taken?”
Sofia’s silence told me everything.
“He went voluntarily?”
“He contacted Gabriel three weeks ago.”
I closed my eyes.
Again.
Again David had decided for everyone.
“Why?”
“To negotiate for the boys.”
“What kind of negotiation?”
“His life for theirs.”
Anger and fear collided.
“What does that mean?”
“David offered to return the original Lazarus archive if Gabriel agreed to leave you and both children alone.”
Alessandro’s voice turned cold.
“Gabriel agreed?”
“At first.”
“At first?”
Sofia looked at Logan.
“Then he learned Alessandro had been revived.”
Everyone went silent.
I looked at the mafia boss.
“What does your resurrection change?”
Dr. Chen answered.
“It proves the new formula works in adults.”
Sofia nodded.
“Gabriel believes Logan’s genetic profile is the key.”
I pulled Logan closer.
“No.”
“He wants one sample.”
“Everyone wants one sample.”
Sofia stepped toward me.
“I told him you’d never agree.”
“Good.”
“He said you might if David’s life depended on it.”
My body went cold.
Of course.
Leverage.
Always leverage.
Alessandro’s expression became terrifying.
“He threatens Catherine with her husband?”
“He didn’t phrase it that way.”
“He doesn’t need to.”
Sofia held out a folded note.
“He asked me to give you this.”
Alessandro took it.
Only four words were written.
Come home, little brother.
His face hardened.
“Where?”
Sofia named an abandoned pharmaceutical facility outside Baltimore.
Dr. Chen went pale.
“I know that place.”
“What is it?”
“Original Lazarus laboratory.”
Of course it was.
Alessandro looked at Marco.
“How many men?”
“Too many.”
“Bring half.”
“Boss.”
“Half.”
“You were dead six hours ago.”
“And now I’m irritated.”
Marco rubbed his face.
“I preferred you dead.”
“Liar.”
While they argued strategy, I looked at Sofia.
“Tell me about Daniel.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“His favorite food.”
“Macaroni.”
“Color?”
“Green.”
“Nightmares?”
“Thunder.”
“What was his first word?”
Her eyes filled.
“Dog.”
I nodded slowly.
“First steps?”
“Eleven months.”
“First fever?”
“Eight months. He screamed if I put him down.”
Each answer was a stolen memory.
But not stolen by Sofia.
She had raised him.
Loved him.
Protected him.
I couldn’t hate her.
That almost made it harder.
“He calls you Aunt.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“David thought one day you might get him back.”
My throat closed.
“He never let me call myself his mother.”
I looked at her.
“That hurt you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
She started crying.
“So am I.”
Daniel stood between us.
Confused.
I knelt.
“Sofia loves you very much.”
He nodded.
“I love her.”
“I know.”
“And Logan?”
He looked at my son.
“He’s funny.”
Logan made a dinosaur noise.
Daniel giggled.
Two boys.
Brothers by circumstance.
Cousins by blood.
Neither deserved any of this.
That decided it.
I turned toward Alessandro.
“I’m coming tonight.”
“No.”
I smiled coldly.
“You really need a new word.”
“Absolutely not.”
“David is my husband.”
“Debatable.”
“He is Daniel’s father.”
“Yes.”
“And Gabriel is Logan’s father.”
Alessandro stared at me.
“So this is my family whether I like it or not.”
“You’ll be a liability.”
“I know hospital systems, medical terminology, and Logan.”
“None of which helps in a gunfight.”
“I’m not planning to have one.”
Alessandro raised an eyebrow.
“What are you planning?”
“To talk.”
He laughed.
“That’s adorable.”
“Your brother wants something from me.”
“Yes.”
“Then I have leverage too.”
That evening, we approached the laboratory in three vehicles.
No sirens.
No headlights for the final mile.
The building appeared beyond dead trees.
Concrete.
Windowless.
Abandoned from the outside.
Completely lit inside.
At the entrance, men collected Alessandro’s weapons.
He allowed it.
That frightened Marco.
Sofia stayed behind with Daniel.
Logan remained at the farm.
I refused to bring either child.
Gabriel would get no blood.
No hostage.
No leverage.
We entered.
A long corridor led to a glass laboratory.
A man stood behind the glass.
Alessandro stopped walking.
Gabriel Romano turned.
He looked older.
Scarred.
Lean.
But unmistakably Alessandro’s brother.
For several seconds neither man moved.
Then Gabriel smiled sadly.
“Hello, Ale.”
Alessandro’s face broke.
Just for an instant.
Then became stone again.
“Where is David?”
Gabriel looked past him.
At me.
“Catherine Winters.”
I stepped forward.
“My husband.”
“He’s alive.”
“Show me.”
Gabriel pressed a button.
A door opened.
David stepped into the room.
My heart stopped.
He looked exactly like the video.
Scar.
Longer hair.
Alive.
Our eyes met.
“Cat.”
I slapped him.
Hard.
Nobody moved.
David touched his cheek.
“I deserved that.”
I slapped him again.
“That one was for two years.”
A tiny smile touched Alessandro’s mouth.
David looked at me with tears in his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I don’t have better words.”
“Find some.”
Gabriel watched us.
Then cleared his throat.
“We have limited time.”
I turned on him.
“You don’t have any time.”
His eyebrows rose.
“I came because you wanted a deal.”
“Yes.”
“Here’s mine. You leave both boys alone. You release David. You destroy every sample, file, and record connected to them.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
“And what do I receive?”
“Your brother.”
Alessandro looked at me sharply.
Gabriel’s smile disappeared.
I continued.
“You wanted him here. You have him.”
“What are you offering?”
“The chance to tell him why you became the monster who destroyed your own family.”
For the first time, Gabriel looked angry.
Then every door in the laboratory locked.
Red lights began flashing.
A computerized voice announced:
BIOLOGICAL MATCH CONFIRMED.
Gabriel turned pale.
I looked at Alessandro.
“What happened?”
Gabriel stared at me.
“No.”
“What?”
“Catherine.”
His voice changed.
“Where is Logan?”
“At the farm.”
Gabriel rushed to a computer.
“No.”
“What is wrong?”
He pulled up a tracking screen.
A blinking signal moved across a map.
Toward the laboratory.
My stomach dropped.
“Someone brought him.”
David turned.
“Who?”
The answer appeared on the security feed.
Sofia’s SUV entered the gates.
Logan was visible in the back seat.
And beside Sofia sat Daniel.
Both boys.
May you like
Gabriel whispered, “This isn’t my order.”
Then the laboratory lights went black.
