The truth of it hit like cold water. Every word about family business, about Nathan's complicity, about retrieval protocols—all of it designed to break the fragile trust we'd built. To make medoubt the one person who'd shown me gentleness after all the cruelty.
"You lied."
"No I didn't." Gabriel's voice stayed calm, but something shifted in his grip.
"I'm not a weapon." The words came out stronger. Nathan's hand on my face, Gabriel's hand on my shoulder—the difference suddenly so clear it hurt. "I'm a person you broke."
"Semantics." But Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "And you're still protecting me, aren't you? Still positioned to keep me safe from him. The conditioning runs deeper than revelation, sweetheart."
He was right. My body still angled to shield him, muscles ready to attack Nathan if he moved toward threatingly. The programming carved so deep that even clarity couldn't override it completely.
Or could it?
"Nathan." I kept my eyes on Gabriel but spoke to the man beneath me. "What happens when someone conditions response patterns? Builds specific triggers and rewards?"
"They create predictable behavior." His voice stayed careful. "Automatic responses that bypass conscious thought."
"And if someone wanted to break that conditioning?"
I felt him understand, his body tensing slightly beneath mine. "They'd have to redirect it. Use the same patterns but change the target."
"Clever girl." Gabriel's approval came automatic, and I felt my body respond to it with warmth that made me sick. "But theoretical knowledge isn't application. You can't simply decide to stop protecting me."
"No." I shifted slightly, weight redistributing in ways that looked like nothing. "But I can recognize who the real threat is."
The knife was already in my hand—pulled from Nathan's belt in a motion so smooth he hadn't noticed. Monthsof dedicated training in weapon acquisition, in silent threat assessment, in the perfect angle to slide between ribs and find the heart.
Gabriel saw it coming. Of course he did. He'd taught me every tell, every micro-movement that preceded violence. But he'd also taught me to hide them, to move like water when required.
His hand left my shoulder, moving to block. But I wasn't aiming for his chest.
The blade found the gap between his hip and ribs, sliding in smooth and deep. A wound to slow, to disable, to make running possible but fighting impossible. Just like he'd taught me—sometimes the cruelest cut is the one that doesn't kill clean.
Gabriel made a sound like surprise and pride mixed together. Blood joined blood on my hands, but this time I'd chosen whose to spill.
"My clever, broken girl." He pressed his hand to the wound, red seeping between his fingers. "Finally showing what I made you to be."
"You made me to survive." I pulled the knife free, watching him stumble back. "So I am."
Nathan moved then, fast but careful, rolling us away from Gabriel's reach. I let him, keeping the knife steady, pointed at my creator as he backed toward the door.
"This isn't over." Gabriel's voice came labored but certain. "You can't break what was done with one moment of clarity. You'll come back. The programming always wins."
Maybe. The pull was still there, the need to go to him, tend the wound I'd caused, beg forgiveness for harming Daddy. But Nathan's arms around me felt like anchors, holding me to a different truth.
"Run." The word came out raw. "Run before I remember why I shouldn't let you."
Gabriel studied me for a long moment, calculating odds with those winter eyes. Then he smiled—sharp and proud and terrible.
"My greatest creation." He pressed harder against the wound. "I'll be watching, sweetheart. Waiting for you to remember what you are."
He left. Not running but moving with purpose, leaving a trail of red that looked like ownership relinquished. The door closed behind him, and suddenly I couldn't breathe.
The knife fell from nerveless fingers. My whole body started shaking, violent tremors that had nothing to do with cold and everything to do with what I'd just done. I'd hurt him. Stabbed my creator, my trainer, my—
"Breathe." Nathan's voice in my ear, his arms solid around me. "Just breathe. You did it. You chose."
"I hurt him." The words came out destroyed. "I hurt Daddy."
