Chapter 6 - THE BLOOD TIE
The word hung in the air, thick and suffocating.
Grandpa.
I stared at Pierce, then at Sofia.
“He’s lying,” Sofia spat, pulling Lily tighter against her legs. “The guard was her father.”
Pierce chuckled, adjusting his expensive cuffs. “A lovely fiction, my dear. But surely you noticed her eyes? Her intellect? She’s a Pierce. I didn't just extract your blood in that basement, Sofia. I extracted your eggs.”
Bile rose in my throat.
Evelyn made a choked, horrific sound and collapsed completely.
Daniel lunged forward with a roar.
Two of Pierce’s men grabbed him, slamming him to his knees.
“Stop it!” I screamed, stepping between Pierce and the little girl. “You’re a doctor. You took an oath.”
“I took an oath to preserve life, Nurse Cooper,” Pierce said smoothly. “And I have. I preserved Julian. I preserved Evelyn. But my greatest achievement is Lily.”
He pulled a small, silver bracelet from his pocket.
It clinked softly as it dangled from his fingers.
“A perfect genetic hybrid,” Pierce whispered. “Gabriel’s resilience, combined with my intellect. She is the key to cellular regeneration.”
Answer one. Open two.
Lily wasn't just a child. She was a biological cure.
But why did Pierce need a cure?
I looked at his hands.
They were steady. Too steady.
But beneath his collar, I saw a faint, dark discoloration on his neck.
Necrosis.
“You’re dying,” I said aloud. “The plasma protocol didn't work on you.”
Pierce’s smile faltered. For a split second, the polished mask slipped, revealing pure, desperate terror.
“My biology is… resistant,” he muttered. “But Lily’s bone marrow will fix that.”
He stepped toward Sofia.
“Give her to me, and I’ll let you walk out of here. You and the nurse.”
“No,” Sofia said, her voice shaking.
“Mommy, I’m scared,” Lily cried, burying her face in the blue coat.
I noticed something then.
Julian, bleeding out on the floor, was inching his hand toward Thomas’s discarded gun.
I needed to buy him time.
“What about Catherine?” I asked loudly. “She’s outside with the police.”
Pierce laughed. “Catherine works for me. She always has. She provided the funding. I provided the science. We are partners.”
Just as he said it, a gunshot shattered the glass of the French doors.
One of Pierce’s men dropped to the floor.
A woman stepped through the broken glass.
She looked exactly like Evelyn must have looked fifty years ago. Cold, striking, and absolutely ruthless.
She held a smoking rifle.
“Partners share the profits, Leonard,” Catherine said coldly. “You got greedy.”
She aimed the rifle directly at Pierce.
May you like
But she didn't fire.
Because Pierce grabbed Lily by the hair and pressed his pistol to the little girl’s temple.
