Gabriel was here. Close. The knowledge burned through me like fever, every trained synapse firing in recognition.
I should have gone back. Should have found another way to reach Nathan, maintained our tactical advantage. Instead, I moved deeper into the building, following a pull I couldn't name and couldn't resist.
The hallways remembered madness. Peeling paint like scabs, floors stained with decades of desperation. But underneath the decay, newer signs—medical equipment, freshbootprints, the antiseptic smell that meant someone was trying to impose order on chaos.
My body knew where to go. Muscle memory of spaces I'd never seen but somehow recognized. Third floor. East wing. Door at the end of the hall that my hand reached for without conscious thought.
I pushed it open.
And there he was.
The world tilted. Stopped. Reorganized itself around the fixed point of Gabriel's presence.
He looked... wrong. Still beautiful—that hadn't changed. Cheekbones that could cut glass, eyes the color of winter sky, mouth that knew every way to break someone apart. But his clothes were wrinkled. Hair disheveled. Shadows under those perfect eyes that spoke of sleepless nights.
He was standing by the window, silhouetted against grey morning light, and when he turned—
"Bunny." My name from his mouth hit like a physical blow. "Oh, sweetheart. What has he done to you?"
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. Every piece of conditioning activated at once, flooding my system with contradictory imperatives. Submit. Kill. Kneel. Run. Love. Hate. Need.
"Daddy." The word escaped before I could stop it, shameful and honest and everything I'd tried to burn away.
His face crumpled. Actually crumpled, like seeing me hurt him somehow. He stepped forward and I stepped back, some preservation instinct still firing despite the chaos in my skull.
"Don't." My voice cracked. "I'll kill you. I came here to kill you."
"I know." So gentle. So understanding. "I know what he told you, sweetheart. What he made you believe."
"You made me." Tears streaming down my face now, hot and humiliating. "You broke me and rebuilt me and—"
"To protect you." He took another step. I couldn't move. Frozen prey, conditioning and terror creating paralysis. "Everything I did was to protect you. To prepare you. And I failed."
"Stop."
"I couldn't get to you in time. After the Institute took you, phased you out to the final simulation, by the time I found where they'd taken you, he already had you." His voice broke on the words. "My perfect girl, in the hands of that monster. Can you ever forgive me?"
Nothing made sense. The world was inside out, backwards, every truth I'd built crumbling under the weight of his presence.
"You're lying." But even I could hear the doubt. "Nathan saved me. You're the one who—"
"Nathan Mire is my brother." Gabriel moved closer, slow like approaching a wounded animal. "He's the owner of the Institute, my boss. He usually prefers to hunt down escaped assets, return them for reconditioning, or do the reconditioning itself. He's been playing you, sweetheart. Building trust, creating trauma bonds, making you dependent so you'd come with him willingly."
"No."
"How do you think he found you so easily? Why do you think he was so ready to believe your story, to help you hunt me?" Another step. Close enough to touch now. "He needed you functional enough to lead him to me. To the others I freed. The ones I took with me when I burned his building to the ground."
My knees gave out. Just... stopped working, dropping me to the filthy floor. Nothing made sense. Everything made too much sense.
"You left me." The words ripped out, raw and childish. "You abandoned me at the Institute and they—they—"
"I came back for you." He knelt in front of me, hands hovering like he wanted to touch but didn't dare. "They weren't supposed to move you so early. We were going to run to my private house, off the grid, where no one could find us."
I was sobbing now. Ugly, body-shaking sobs that made it hard to breathe. Everything hurt. Everything was wrong. I didn't know what was real anymore.
"You said you loved me," I gasped between sobs. "Said I was special. But you left—"
"Shh." His hand finally touched my face, so gentle I wanted to die. "I'm here now. I've been looking for you for months. My perfect girl, lost and hurt and confused. But you're safe now. Daddy's here."
