"I didn’t want to cause any trouble for anyone," I mutter weakly, though I am not even sure whom I am addressing, but suddenly Blue appears in my field of vision.
He studies me for a moment with his head tilted, and then he calmly says,
"You see, as I mentioned, I am someone who enjoys digging into mysteries, not only the scientific ones but the family ones as well."
He throws a sour look at his older brother.
"Maybe I would never have taken this case so seriously, but it just so happened that two hours after you and I met, we had a small family gathering and I asked all my brothers if theyknew an Albert Strada. No one spoke up, but I noticed that my brother Sebastien reacted to that name with something like embarrassment, that is how I would describe it."
Sebastien, who had been leaning over me until now, straightens up and walks toward the window as if he does not want me to see his face while this conversation unfolds.
Meanwhile Blue pulls a chair to the sofa where I am lying, sitting down with an expression that suggests he is somewhat amused by all of this.
"So I decided to dig a little deeper, and before asking him directly, I looked around and discovered that Albert Strada really had helped Red Line Agency with a number of different matters many years ago, which made me almost certain that my brother’s silence had to be caused by something more than simple reluctance to admit to a business relationship. Because what would be wrong with that? The agency has many advisors. I see no reason to hide the fact that he knew Strada."
I glance uncertainly at Sebastien, who still stands with his back to us, staring out the window.
"In the end, I pulled him aside and asked him a question phrased like this: ‘Have you ever had yourself tested for sperm viability?’"
A faintly mocking smirk appears on Blue’s face.
"Quite a question, isn’t it? Not the sort one usually asks one’s own brother."
"True," I mumble.
"But once again his reaction surprised me. Sebastien admitted that while he was studying, and you should know he studied in the mathematics and statistics department, there had been a group fertility study on omegas conducted at that college, and he volunteered for it. The study was meant to determine what percentage of omegas had sperm capable of fertilizing an egg. As it turned out, out of seven thousand omegas testedthere was only ONE such case. So as you can see, it is an extremely rare phenomenon, and that one case is standing right here… Sebastien Lowen." Blue makes a light gesture toward his brother. "Such omegas are called the gamma subtype."
I stare at him. His profile is outlined against the window. Sebastien looks like a classic omega, on top of that one with very delicate, sweet features.
His brother Jacob, the owner of DevApp, also an omega of the gamma subtype, is completely different. Tall, more beta-like, with sharper facial features and alpha-leaning mannerisms.
Sebastien, on the other hand, has nothing alpha or even beta-like in him, which makes this all doubly interesting.
He still does not look at us, stubbornly staring through the window.
"Only then did I push him and tell him I had an interesting encounter with a young man who looked like he could be my brother, except his hair had more of a pink tint. And that man told me that his dad, Albert Strada, said one of the Lowens was his father."
Blue laces his fingers together.
"The only thing left was to get confirmation from him as to whether he had ever had a closer-than-usual interaction with Prosecutor Strada."
Only then does Sebastien slowly turn back toward us, and on his face I see a particular mixture of mild embarrassment and determination.
"Thank you, dear brother, for that… unnecessarily long introduction."
He turns toward me.
His eyes now hold something different, something that could be described as a shadow of sadness, perhaps even guilt.
"Yes, your dad reached out to me shortly before his death and told me that our very brief interaction… years earlier, had consequences."
He falls silent for a moment as if weighing his words, uncertain how he should put them, whether he should say them at all.
"So I have had almost five years to process that thought, which shocked me at first."
He approaches me slowly, stopping at the foot of the sofa where I am lying.
"I knew your dad for many years and respected him a great deal. Let me explain the reasons why everything unfolded the way it did. When I married Rhys Red, I entered a family known throughout the country, Omega Red Line Agency was already prestigious back then, although much smaller. Rhys was an only child, and my father considered it a very good marriage, he put a lot of pressure on us to marry even though our compatibility was in the lower range, just slightly above Low Mates."
