Chapter 6 - Why They Chose Gabriel
Gabriel stood across from his father.
“Explain.”
Matteo sat slowly.
“Your mother had the complementary mutation.”
Gabriel stared.
“What mutation?”
Nathan answered.
“Quinn carries a genetic variant associated with unusually strong resistance to a particular cellular pathway. Your family carries another variant affecting the same pathway from the opposite direction.”
I understood before Gabriel.
“They wanted offspring.”
Nathan nodded.
The room went silent.
I felt sick.
“They staged the alley to bring us together.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel’s expression became terrifying.
“They thought they could manipulate us into a relationship?”
“Not necessarily a real one,” Nathan said. “They needed biological samples and behavioral evidence. The photograph confirmed proximity. After that, they planned to manufacture whatever records they needed.”
Gabriel paced away.
“They turned our lives into breeding data.”
Nathan looked ashamed.
“That was Anthony’s end goal.”
I grabbed Gabriel’s hand.
He looked down.
“You’re not their experiment,” I said.
“Neither are you.”
That mattered.
Our relationship had started because someone manipulated circumstances.
But what happened afterward belonged to us.
Nobody ordered him to sit beside me while I cried.
Nobody ordered me to kiss him.
Nobody ordered him to threaten Liam for interrupting us, though I suspected he had enjoyed that part.
The ledger gave us enough evidence.
But Gabriel wanted more.
A confession.
Anthony was arrogant enough to provide one.
We created a trap.
The public story was simple.
Quinn Hayes had discovered the original research archive.
She would exchange it for her mother’s safety.
Anthony selected the location.
St. Catherine’s.
Of course.
The place where everything began.
Federal investigators were contacted through an attorney Gabriel trusted.
Evidence was duplicated.
Nothing depended on one drive.
At 1:00 a.m., I entered the old research floor.
Gabriel remained hidden nearby.
Anthony waited inside.
He looked healthier than a man recovering from a stroke.
“Quinn.”
“Anthony.”
“You look like Evelyn.”
“I’ll survive the insult.”
He smiled.
“I understand why Gabriel likes you.”
“Where’s Leo?”
“Dead.”
I froze.
“For real this time?”
Anthony laughed.
“Three days ago.”
“Did you kill him?”
“He became sentimental.”
That was confession number one.
The wire beneath my shirt recorded everything.
“Marco?”
“Disposable.”
“Dr. Warren?”
“Already gone.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere he won’t be questioned.”
Another confession.
I held up the drive.
“You ruined hundreds of lives for this research.”
“I funded a cure.”
“You experimented on people without consent.”
“History forgives successful medicine.”
“Not murder.”
His smile disappeared.
“Matteo should have understood that.”
There.
Gabriel heard it.
So did federal agents listening outside.
“What did you do to Matteo?”
“Not enough.”
Anthony stepped closer.
“I gave the order to sabotage his car.”
Confession.
Clear.
Complete.
I breathed slowly.
“And my mother?”
“She was supposed to die five years ago.”
My hands trembled.
Anthony saw it.
“You’re frightened.”
“No.”
“You should be.”
He pulled a gun.
Gabriel appeared instantly.
“Drop it.”
Anthony turned.
For the first time, fear crossed his face.
“Gabriel.”
“Gun.”
“You’re choosing her over family?”
Gabriel’s voice was cold.
“She didn’t try to murder my father.”
Anthony raised the weapon.
Everything happened quickly.
I moved.
Gabriel fired.
Anthony’s gun fell.
The bullet struck his shoulder.
Federal agents flooded the corridor.
Anthony survived.
That mattered.
Dead men could not testify.
Dr. Warren was arrested at Logan Airport.
Marco cooperated in exchange for reduced charges.
Leo’s body was recovered from a warehouse.
Anthony had killed him after Leo tried to warn Liam.
Hospital executives were arrested.
The research program was shut down.
Patients were contacted.
Families finally learned what happened.
And my name disappeared from their files as a subject.
I became Quinn Hayes again.
Not QH-01.
Not a mutation.
Not an asset.
A person.
Gabriel’s name was cleared from the medical conspiracy.
His organization was another matter.
I wasn’t naïve.
He had done illegal things.
He admitted that.
“I’m not asking you to pretend I’m good,” he told me.
“I wouldn’t.”
“Comforting.”
“I’m asking what you’re going to do next.”
He looked toward Boston Harbor.
“Change.”
“That’s vague.”
“I’m getting out of anything that requires men like Marco.”
“That could take time.”
“It will.”
“And if you don’t?”
“You leave.”
I appreciated that answer.
No promises that love magically transformed him.
No fairy tale.
Choice.
Accountability.
Work.
Weeks passed.
Nathan recovered.
I met him for coffee.
Then again.
I didn’t call him Dad.
Maybe someday.
My mother moved into a protected residence while the case proceeded.
Liam entered treatment for gambling addiction.
That might have been the greatest miracle of all.
Matteo stayed in Boston.
Gabriel struggled with him.
Seventeen lost years did not disappear because someone said sorry.
But sometimes I saw them having coffee without shouting.
Progress.
Then one evening Gabriel took me back to the alley behind St. Catherine’s.
I stared at him.
“Terrible date choice.”
“I know.”
“Trauma tourism?”
“Something like that.”
The pavement was dry.
No Marco.
No gun.
No fear.
Gabriel stood where he had first seen me.
“I’ve been thinking about something.”
“Dangerous.”
“You asked me to pretend I loved you.”
“I remember.”
“I never answered properly.”
“You wrapped your arm around me and threatened everyone in Boston.”
“Apparently subtlety wasn’t available.”
I smiled.
He took my hand.
“Quinn.”
My heart accelerated.
Then his phone rang.
He ignored it.
It rang again.
“Could be important.”
“Nothing is more important right now.”
“That line was almost romantic.”
“Almost?”
“Try harder.”
He leaned closer.
Then my phone rang.
Liam.
I groaned.
Gabriel looked offended by the universe.
I answered.
“This had better be an emergency.”
Liam didn’t speak.
My smile vanished.
“Liam?”
“I found something.”
“What?”
“Anthony had another file.”
Gabriel heard him.
“What file?”
“A birth record.”
My stomach tightened.
“Whose?”
Silence.
Then Liam said a name.
My name.
But the date was wrong.
The record showed another child born eleven minutes after me.
May you like
A twin.
And according to the document, that child was still alive.
