“Hannah…”
My knees nearly give out.
“No,” I whisper. “No, I would remember—”
“They took it from you.”
Wu finally speaks again.
Cold.
Controlled.
“She became emotionally dependent on him after initial family-link exposure. We corrected the attachment.”
Corrected.
I physically recoil.
Gabriel’s fury detonates instantly.
“That’s enough!”
Every Sentinel weapon rises again.
Gabriel steps in front of me automatically.
Protective.
Instinctive.
And suddenly I know.
Not conditioning.
Family.
My brother.
My actual brother.
Memory slams into me again—
holding his hand while crossing a flooded street.
Calling him Gabe.
Him carrying me after I scraped my knees.
Then later—
both of us inside Sentinel.
Older.
Terrified.
Trying to survive.
