Page 57 of A Mistake of Identity
Ellis
The metal around his wrists clinked against the bed frame. Ellis blinked at the ceiling, trying to make the water stains stop moving. The drugs weren't as heavy today. He could almost think.
Almost remember.
Days... weeks? How long? Time blurred between needle pricks and rough hands and... and...
He wanted to cry, but there didn't seem to be any tears left. Maybe they'd dried up somewhere between the first man and the tenth. Or the twentieth. He'd stopped counting. The drugs made everything hazy, made it almost bearable. Almost like it was happening to someone else.
Think of Gabriel instead.
Gabriel would be looking for him. Gabriel had to be looking for him. Unless... unless he thought Ellis had run. Left him. The thought made his chest tight. Or maybe... maybe Gabriel wouldn't want him anymore. Not after this. Not after so many men had...
Who would want him now?
No. Focus. Gabriel's hands. Gabriel's voice. The way he said 'mon coeur' like Ellis was precious. Before he was ruined. Before he was nothing but used goods again.
Somewhere nearby, water dripped. The sound echoed oddly, as if it were coming from far away. A warehouse, maybe?The air smelled of rust and river mud. Voices drifted through the walls, Paw-Paw French, the dialect of his childhood. Of the streets and the docks. Of people who stayed in shadows and moved things that shouldn't be moved.
His body ached. Everything ached. But the drugs made it distant, made it someone else's pain. Someone else's body being...
Think of Gabriel. Think of Gabriel. Think of Gabriel. Even if Gabriel would never touch him again.
The door creaked. Footsteps. Ellis turned his head away from the light spilling in, but not before catching glimpses: concrete walls, metal shelving, other beds.
"Holy shit." A whispered voice. Male. Young. "I think Lottie is looking for you."
A flash went off, searing white behind Ellis' closed eyes.
Then darkness again, but not before he caught the kid's face - barely more than a teenager, looking terrified.
Lottie?
The thought slipped away as new footsteps approached. The familiar sting of a needle. The world began to fade, but Ellis clung to two names now.
Gabriel.
Lottie.
Then nothing.
Gabriel
The familiar click of Jacob’s shoes in the hallway barely registered. Gabriel hadn’t moved from his desk since dawn, reviewing the preliminary findings from the Sentinelle investigation. Coffee had long since gone cold beside financial reports and surveillance photos. Lucas and Alain had taken up their usual positions, Lucas in one of the leather chairs reviewing security reports, Alain standing near the window, his attention split between the grounds and the conversation.
“Sir. Mr. Henri Rohan and—” Jacob’s formal announcement cut off as a blur of motion shot past him.
“Lucas!”
Gabriel looked up just in time to see Jean launch himself at Lucas, who caught him instinctively, stumbling back a step. Then Jean was kissing him, seemingly oblivious to their audience. The joyful reunion made Henri’s appearance in the doorway all the more stark. He looked like death warmed over, his usual polished facade cracking at the edges.
“I missed you so much!” Jean finally pulled away from Lucas, though he stayed in his arms. “Henri was amazing! He kept arguing with Father about letting me come back because everyone knows I was taken from Gabriel’s house and people were starting to talk and—” Jean’s rapid-fire explanation halted as he caught Gabriel’s expression. “What?”
“Why,” Gabriel kept his voice carefully controlled, “would Henri need to argue for your return?”
Jean’s brightness dimmed slightly. “Well, you know. Father likes to... share me. With his business associates. Has since I was fifteen.” He said it so casually, like discussing the weather. “But I couldn’t be passed around now because of all the gossip about where I’d disappeared to, and Henri kept pointing out how suspicious it looked, especially after your board presentation, and—”
“Jean—” Gabriel stared, horrified. But Lucas’s lack of surprise caught his attention. His friend’s face held pain and anger, but no shock at Jean’s revelation.
