I was going to be sick. Could feel bile rising as his words painted horror over every gentle moment, every careful touch. Nathan holding me through nightmares—managing assets. Nathan teaching me to trust again—ensuring compliance. Nathan making me feel human—preparing product for market.
"How much?" The question tore from somewhere primal. "What am I worth?"
"Eight figures, minimum. More with your unique training. The things I taught you to crave, to need—there's a very specific clientele for that level of conditioning." He leaned closer, breathwarm against my ear. "Did you think Nathan's attraction was genuine? You're brilliant, yes, but you're also a perfectly crafted instrument of surrender. Of course he responded. He's still human, even if his humanity serves terrible ends."
My mind was fracturing, splitting between truths that couldn't coexist. Nathan who saved me. Nathan who was preparing me for sale. Gabriel who broke me. Gabriel who was trying to keep me from worse breaking.
"If you're brothers, you're the same."
"Biology doesn't determine destiny." His hands moved to my shoulders, holding me steady as I shook. "I chose research over retrieval. Building rather than breaking. Until you made me want things I'd trained myself not to need."
"Don't." But I was crying now, everything I'd built with Nathan crumbling into ash. "Don't pretend you care. You're both monsters using different methods."
"Yes." Simple agreement. "But I'm the monster who wants to keep you. He's the one with a buyer waiting."
The truth of it hit like a physical blow. Whatever Gabriel's methods, however twisted his version of care, he'd never tried to sell me. Had fought to keep me when the Institute wanted disposal. Had built me up even as he broke me down.
"I need to think."
"No, you need to accept." His hands tightened slightly. "The chemical fog is clearing. Memory blocks degrading. Soon you'll remember everything—your time at the Institute, your real training, the gaps Nathan filled with false narrative. And when you do—"
The door exploded inward.
Nathan stood in the wreckage, violence written in every line of his body. Not the careful soldier I knew—something rawer, more dangerous. Blood on his knuckles suggested the security outside hadn't stopped him easily.
"Let her go."
"Brother." Gabriel didn't move, didn't even tense. "Dramatic entrance. Very on-brand."
"I am not your brother, and I said let her go."
"She's not yours to retrieve anymore." Gabriel's voice stayed conversational even as the room crackled with threat. "Game's over. She knows what you are. What you intended."
Nathan's eyes found mine, and something cracked in his expression. "Bunny—"
The sound that tore from my throat wasn't human. Conditioning collided with three months of careful trust, and what emerged was pure animal instinct. I moved without thought, launching myself not away but toward—
Toward Gabriel. Putting my body between them, feral protection for the monster who'd made me over the one who'd tried to steal me. My hands were claws, voice breaking on sounds that might have been screams or sobs or Daddy repeated like a broken prayer.
"Don't touch him don't hurt him don't don't don't—"
"Bunny, please." Nathan's voice broke, hands raising in surrender even as I tried to savage him. "It's me. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt anyone."
But I was beyond words, beyond reason. My nails found skin, drawing blood as I fought to protect Gabriel from this threat. This liar who'd worn kindness like a mask while preparing me for market.
"My Daddy," I sobbed, grinding against Nathan in confused aggression, body trying to hurt and claim and protect all at once. "Mine. Don't take him. Please. Please don't take him away again."
Nathan went perfectly still, letting me attack without defending. Tears streamed down his face as I clawed and sobbed and broke apart completely.
"I'm sorry." Whispered, wrecked. "God, Bunny, I'm so sorry. This isn't—I didn't—"
"Fascinating response." Gabriel's clinical voice cut through my frenzy. "Complete psychological fracture resulting in protective imprinting. The conditioning holds even against recent attachment. Really quite remarkable."
"Shut up." Nathan's voice was raw. "Just shut up and help her you fucking ass."
"I am helping her." Gabriel's hands found my shoulders, gentle but firm, pulling me back against his chest. "Shh, sweetheart. You're safe. Daddy's here. No one's taking me anywhere."
The words worked like a key in a lock. My body went limp, fight draining out as quickly as it had emerged. I curled into Gabriel's hold, shaking and sobbing while Nathan watched with devastated eyes.
