Echoes at Dawn (KGI #5)(31)

Her dreams had been fractured, a mixture of reality and a product of her fears. She’d tried repeatedly to reach out to her sister, and at this point she hoped she hadn’t been successful because Shea would have been terrified for Grace, and the very last thing Grace wanted to do was upset her sister. Especially now that Rio had told her she was happy.

In love.

Protected.

Envy bit hard and guilt crowded swiftly in for thinking even for a moment that she was jealous of what her sister had.

She sat up, realizing that Rio had likely long vacated the bed. Sunlight streamed through the one window at the very top of the wall. She thought it odd that all the windows in the house were positioned that way. There was no view to the outside. Nor were they large enough for a person to fit through. She wondered if Rio had given thought to being able to escape in a fire.

She shook her head. Somehow she didn’t think such a thing would ever escape Rio’s planning. He seemed too focused and calculating to miss something so simple.

She moved slowly, though she did feel better and not as broken. She didn’t want to take anything for granted, however. She wanted—needed—to be whole again and not just physically. There was a need that transcended simple desire for the woman she’d been before this whole nightmare began.

She found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt on top of the dresser. Frowning, she let her fingers run over the worn softness of the material. She was struck by a longing sensation so keen that she yanked her hand away, palming her fingers with the other hand.

Tears stung her eyelids as she stared down at the clothing. Shea’s clothing. When had she been here? How had Rio gotten these things?

Her heartbeat thundered against her chest until she was dizzy and swaying. She hated the anxiety that gripped her every time she considered that she’d been too trusting of Rio and his men. What if they were the ones she should fear the most? Here she was in Belize, God knows where on some river way out in the middle of nowhere.

She closed her eyes and reached for Shea’s clothes again, pulling them to her chest for comfort. For a brief moment it was like holding her sister again.

She’d spent the night in Rio’s arms because she’d been lonely, afraid, and she’d trusted him. Now she wondered if she hadn’t been incredibly stupid, but then this was an argument she’d waged with herself since they’d been in the mountains.

More than anything, she was afraid of making the wrong choice and trusting the wrong people. For so long, she’d refused to trust anyone else. Only Shea. And now that link was gone.

She pulled Shea’s T-shirt over her head and down her body. Normally Shea’s clothing wouldn’t fit her. Shea was smaller, shorter, not as muscled as Grace, but Grace had suffered in the last months. Now Shea’s shirt hung loosely on her.

Next she put on the pants, and other than being a bit short in the length, they fit her fine. Grace had lost a lot of weight. She was afraid to know how much.

She closed her eyes and inhaled. She could smellhis b th Shea. Could feel her wrapped around her just like her clothing was. If Rio worked for the organization that was currently protecting Shea, then Grace should be able to talk to her, right?

Then she could put at least one worry to rest. Whether she should be wary of Rio and his team or whether they were really the good guys here.

For the time being, if they weren’t the good guys, she was at least being treated far better than she’d been with the last people who’d held her captive. So far…

She poked around in the bathroom until she found deodorant, a toothbrush and a brush for her hair. It was bedraggled from the night before when she’d washed it and gone straight to bed.

She settled on the bed and set to work on detangling the mass of hair. Cross-legged on the mattress, she didn’t overlook the normalcy of doing something so mundane as brushing her hair. Any other time she would have overlooked it, been in a hurry, not dwelled on something so everyday. Now, she was grateful for it.

Closing her eyes, she stroked the brush through the strands and tried to center her scattered emotions. She thought of Shea, focused intensely on the familiar path, but each time she reached for it, blackness swelled in her mind. Her despair heightened with each failed attempt to reconnect to her sister.

I’m so sorry, Shea. This is my fault. I shut you out. But I need you now.

Her hand slowed in its downward progression through her hair, and tears were hot at the edges of her eyes. She inhaled sharply through her nose and blinked them back. After several steadying breaths, she lifted her head, only to find Rio standing in the doorway, his gaze trained on her.

“Feeling better?” he asked.

She nodded slowly and retraced the same path with the brush, enjoying the soothing rhythm against her scalp.

“You seem upset.”

She sighed, put the brush down and flipped her hair back over her shoulder. She let her hands rest on her crossed ankles and threaded her fingers nervously.

“I need to talk to Shea. I can’t connect mentally with her, so I need for you to call her. You said she’s with people you work with, right? I want to talk to her.”

Rio leaned against the doorframe, cocked his head to the side and studied her a long moment. Then he smiled slightly, his eyes gleaming with amusement. That smile made her uncomfortable. Like he had secret knowledge she wasn’t aware of. She fidgeted under his scrutiny but refused to back down.