Page 81 of Whispers in the Dark
Fields didn’t speak. Didn’t move. But her eyes said everything. The way they brimmed, the way she stared at the floor instead of denying it—that was the tell.
Brad stepped in. “You didn’t just treat Gideon Ward. You loved him.”
Her lip trembled. Just once.
“You were here when they brought him in,” Brad said, voice precise, eyes drilling into her. “Brought in bleeding—what was it? A fall? A shiv? Didn’t matter. He played it cool. Calm. Charming.”
Fields didn’t deny it. Her silence was confirmation.
“You were a young doctor. Lonely. Isolated,” he went on. “He saw it. Used it. Pulled you in.”
Her lips parted, but still no words.
“You slept with him,” Brad said flatly. “And you got pregnant.”
Alex’s voice was softer but just as pointed. “It wasn’t just manipulation, was it? You cared about him. Loved him?”
Her eyes flicked to him. There was pain there. Regret. But not denial.
“It was okay… until you told…” Alex guessed. “You told someone else?”
She exhaled, a shaky breath like breaking glass. “A friend. I thought I could trust her.”
Brad nodded slowly. “And she betrayed you.”
Her voice cracked. “I didn’t know what they were planning. I just—he had a right to know. That’s all I wanted.”
“And when they found out about the child…”
She swallowed hard, eyes distant. “I helped them speak with Gideon regularly. He knew something was off. He wanted to know what the facility was really doing, what they were hiding beneath the research and reports. So he told them about Elias—offered him up, but not blindly. Not as a pawn.”
Her voice dropped lower. “At sixteen, Elias became his eyes inside. Gideon thought he could protect him… thought he could use the connection to uncover the truth. But whatever he suspected—it was worse. Much worse. They tried to turn him into a blueprint,” she whispered. “They made Elias the project. Tried to erase everything else—his past, his family, even his name. They never realized Gideon was still in control. Elias played along.”
Alex leaned forward, voice like a thread. “And you stayed. You didn’t run.”
She looked up, eyes wet. “I thought if I stayed, I could protect him. Watch him mature. But they turned him into a mission.”
Brad didn’t blink. “So now your son’s out there. Not a boy. Not a man. A weapon.”
Dr. Fields spoke distantly. “In chess, the rook is a powerful piece—strong, straight-moving, capable of major impact—but only when directed. It doesn’t lead. It follows orders. It’s not the queen, not the king. It’s a weapon.” She teared up. “For Elias, it was a double-edged title—proof he mattered, but only because of what he could do, not who he was. And that’s what Gideon missed until it was too late.”
She shook her head, the weight of it collapsing her shoulders. “Gideon counter-trained him to finish what he started… on his terms.” She swiped away her tears. “It was only in the last year, when his body was failing, did he realize he loved Elias.”
Brad leaned in, voice low. “Where is he, Dr. Fields?”
Another tear slid down her cheek, and she didn’t bother to wipe it. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
Brad didn’t blink. “But you think he’s alive.”
She nodded.
Alex knelt in front of her, gentler. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
Her voice cracked. “Because if Elias is out there… he doesn’t trust anyone. And if he thinks I’m leading someone to him—he won’t run. He’ll vanish. Or worse.”
Killian’s tone turned ice-cold. “Worse?”
She looked up at him, hollow-eyed. “He’ll finish what they started… and burn it all to the ground.”
