Tension knotted Heather’s belly and for a moment all she could do was shake her head. “She married him,” Heather finally admitted once her throat relaxed enough to allow her to speak. “She made excuses for the bruises and convinced herself that she deserved his cruelty.”
“Did you have friends or other family members willing to help?” Patrick asked from across the room.
Heather had been so focused on Gabriel that she’d almost forgotten that Patrick was standing over by the door. “There was no one. My mother was an only child and my father’s family disliked her intensely. They had generational wealth and felt that my father had married way beneath his station.”
“How did they feel about you and your sisters?” Gabriel wanted to know.
“They were completely indifferent. They had other grandchildren so there was no reason to sully their reputation with the poor relations.”
Patrick moved closer. “You said your parents were financially secure. If your mother had plenty of money, why did she put up with the abuse?”
“Mom married Dad when she was nineteen and had three kids in five years. She never worked outside the home and had no marketable skills. Being a wife and mother was the only life she knew. Dad’s death was completely unexpected. He was in his early forties. Estate planning hadn’t even entered the conversation yet. She was lost when Dad died, utterly lost.” Patrick said nothing more, but Heather felt defensive. “She didn’t know what else to do, so she found a man to take care of her. That might seem weak, but she had no support and no resources.”
“Did the asshole ever raise a hand to you or your sisters?”
Gabriel’s question was logical, yet the subtle disapproval in his tone increased her defensiveness. She shifted on the chair and drew the blanket more tightly around her body. “There were the occasional slaps, but his weapon of choice was words, sarcastic, derogatory words. We learned to avoid him as much as possible.”
“When did you leave home?” Gabriel asked, his tone less autocratic.
She paused to gather her thoughts. The next phase in her life led quickly to her first real job, which was at Nuevo Biotech. “I received a full ride scholarship to Georgia Tech, so I was able tolive on campus. My older sister had already moved out, which left our younger sister, Rebecca, at home.”
“Did the abuse continue?” Patrick moved closer to the chairs, but didn’t sit down beside her.
His expression had shifted from open hostility to cold irritation. Heather considered that progress. “The asshole got tired of beating on Mom and turned his focus on Becca. She’d just turned sixteen and was exceptionally pretty. Unsurprisingly, he came into her bedroom one night and tried to rape her. She smacked him upside the head with her laptop and ran to our older sister’s apartment.”
“How did your mother react to what happened?” Patrick wanted to know.
“The asshole told her that Becca made it up because she wanted to live with Rachel. I don’t think Mom believed him. She never openly defied him, but she encouraged Becca to stay away.”
“How old was Rachel when this happened?” Gabriel wanted to know. “Did she have a steady income? Was she mature enough to deal with an emotional teenager?”
“Rachel was twenty-three. She was, and is, very maternal. She did a fabulous job with Becca and now has three children of her own.” Heather paused and licked her lips. The next subject was the one she preferred to avoid. “As for a steady income, Rachel was barely scraping by. There was no way she could have taken on Becca without help.”
“And that’s where you came in?” Gabriel asked.
Heather nodded. “I’d just graduated and knew I had to land a good job so I could help my sisters. There was no way in hell Becca was going back to our mother’s house.”
“And luckily for you the salaries at Nuevo Biotech are well above average.” Resentment crept into Gabriel’s tone.
“That’s only true for the outpost positions,” Heather reminded. “I didn’t want to move to the off-world complex, but I would have done anything to keep Becca safe.”
Gabriel looked at Patrick and their expressions intensified. She’d heard that many, if not most, of the hybrids were telepathic so it was likely they were conversing mind to mind.
She knew what came next. They would list her questionable actions and insist that she was just as guilty as the geneticists responsible for the transformations. “I know there was much more I could have done, but I was powerless too. The entire complex was under surveillance, and communications were monitored. I couldn’t leave the complex without permission and shuttles back to Earth were strictly controlled.” She stopped herself from saying that she was just as much a prisoner as they had been. The exaggeration served no purpose but to anger them.
After a long, silent pause, Gabriel drew his gaze back to her. “What were you told about your position when you were hired?”
Her throat grew tense and her mouth dried out, making it hard to swallow. She’d been suspicious of Nuevo’s excuses from the start, just not suspicious enough to take action. “I was told that a group of convicts had volunteered to test a variety of biological treatments and undergo experimental procedures.”
“Why would anyone agree to that?” Patrick sneered, crossing his arms over his chest.
She glanced at him then lowered her gaze as she repeated the familiar lie. “I was told that you’d agreed to the experiments in exchange for years off your sentences. I was warned that the—” she hesitated to use the term ‘test subjects,’ so she chose another word, “—prisoners were violent, often murderers, so it was best not to speak to them. I had never heard of the Griffin Project and had no idea of its true nature.”
“How long did it take you to figure out what was really going on?” Challenge hardened Gabriel’s voice and he scooted to the edge of his seat.
They were guiding her toward the portion of her life that she regretted the most. “It was apparent within a few months that something was seriously wrong, but it took the better part of two years to unravel the mystery.”
“All you had to do was ask,” Patrick snapped as he moved even closer. “I would have told you anything you wanted to know.”
