Chapter 5 - Secrets in the VaultAn hour later, Leo was stable, drifting in a chemically induced sleep that kept his failing heart from tearing itself apart.
Nico sat in the VIP consultation room down the hall, rolling up the sleeve of his crisp, white dress shirt. A nurse stood nervously by with a sterile extraction tray, her hands shaking as she prepped the butterfly needle. I stood by the window, watching the rain streak down the thick glass, looking out over the city lights that twinkled like distant, uncaring stars.
"You're hiding something," I said without turning around.
"I am a man of many secrets, Claire. You knew that when you married me," Nico replied smoothly, his eyes fixed on the nurse as she slid the needle deep into the thick vein of his inner forearm. Dark red blood began to fill the collection vial, surging through the clear plastic tubing with a steady, pulsing rhythm.
"Military-grade somatic sequencing," I turned to face him, narrowing my eyes. "People don't just have universal compatibility markers stored in private Swiss vaults unless they’ve undergone experimental gene-splicing, Nico. What did you do? What did you sign away back in Zurich before we even met?"
Nico didn't flinch, even as a second vial began to fill. A dark, cynical smile touched his lips.
"Some doors are best left shut, darling," he murmured. "Especially the ones that protect you."
"Protect me?" I laughed bitterly, stepping closer to him. "You’ve made me a prisoner in my own life! Every time I think I’ve escaped your shadow, you show up with a medical miracle wrapped in a blackmail contract!"
"And yet," Nico interrupted softly, pulling his arm back as the nurse quickly slapped a gauze pad and tape over the puncture wound. He stood up, towering over me with an intensity that made the air feel thin. "When your son was dying on that cot three hours ago, who did you turn to? Not your lawyers. Not the police. You prayed to me."
The harsh truth of his words hit me like a physical blow. I stepped back, my breath catching in my throat. He was right. For all my hatred, for all my defiance, when death came knocking at Leo's door, I had instinctively crawled back into the monster's arms.
May you like
Before I could fire back, the heavy oak door of the consultation room banged open.
Dr. Vance stood in the doorway, breathless, clutching a newly printed lab report in her hand. Her face had gone completely pale, her eyes wide with a mixture of awe and sheer, unadulterated terror.
