In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2)(83)

“Jesus, they put a toe tag on him like they do at the f*cking morgue,” Zack said in disgust.

And sure enough. When Eliza shone her light down the man’s legs, a notecard was affixed to his toe with a string.

“What does it say?” Dane demanded.

Zack shook his head, disgust evident in his features as he slipped the tag off and took out his own flashlight to shine on the words.

“Jesus,” Zack muttered. “This is goddamn unreal.”

“What for God’s sake?” Beau said through his teeth. “We don’t have time to be f*cking around here.”

Zack’s voice trembled with anger as he read what was scrawled on the card in small lettering.

We were much more merciful with him than we were with his wife, but only because we were on a tight timeline. We won’t show you any mercy. This is what happens to people who interfere with our cause in any way. Arial Rochester is ours. We created her. We are her blood. Back off before your entire organization is wiped out. We have more resources and power than you can ever imagine.

“Oh hell no,” Eliza said in a rage-induced, pissed-off voice. “Those *s are taunting us? I’d like to tell them exactly what they can do with their resources.”

Beau ran a hand over his face, closing his eyes, regret for Ari so strong. His heart ached for her. For all the hurt this would cause her. Her life would never be the same again. She’d know too much to ever live with the naïve innocence she once enjoyed. He didn’t normally advocate willful, ignorant bliss, but in this case, Ari would be so much better off if she had never known the truth. Because now that she had part of it—the most important part, that the Rochesters weren’t her biological parents—she’d want—demand—the rest of the story and she was entitled to it. She deserved the truth, no matter how much it hurt her. No matter how much it hurt him to have to be the one to give her all the damning evidence. But at the same time, he didn’t want it coming from anyone else. He wanted to tell her when he could hold her and offer comfort. Damn it. If he had his way he’d always be there to comfort her when she needed it.

Who the hell wanted to exist knowing they were merely an experiment? Meant to be a freak of nature. Molded and fashioned to be just that, so her powers could be utilized in a manner not of her choosing. Her life would have never been her own had her blood parents not reached out to his father in desperation.

He hated to give his father credit for anything. He was a selfish bastard who thought only of himself, and yet he’d done Ari a great kindness by sending her to Gavin and Ginger Rochester, because at least there, she was loved. Truly and deeply adored. Had his own father agreed to raise her, she would have grown up isolated and lonely, always an outsider.

“Our father has so much blood on his hands,” Caleb said in a flat voice. “I’m ashamed to share his blood—the blood of others. I’d give anything not to.”

Beau nodded grimly, unsure that he could put to voice his own thoughts without becoming utterly enraged, and right now he needed a clear head if they were going to ward off an outright attack on his home. Ari’s home. Her place was with him, whether she realized it or accepted it yet or not.

“His sins are not your own, Caleb,” Eliza said gently. “You’ve done much to atone for his crimes. No one can fault you for what he did. The choices he made when you were just a child. It’s what you did later that counts. And you did the right thing. You and Beau chose the right path, not only for yourselves, but for your younger siblings as well.”

She directed her statement as much toward Beau as she did to Caleb, but Beau was too lost in his own agonizing thoughts and realizations to pay any heed to her words.

How much more of this shit could Ari take?

Her parents who weren’t exactly her parents had been kidnapped, her birth mother had been tortured and eventually murdered and now her biological father had met the same fate. No doubt because he’d called to warn Beau, and the men responsible for Ari’s surrogacy had retaliated swiftly and viciously the instant her biological father had risked discovery by contacting Beau.

Who were these people to have such a vast, all-knowing network? The kind of technology they possessed was not civilian. Hell, it wasn’t even recognized military for that matter. They knew too much. They were too patient. Too exacting. And they hadn’t acted blindly the moment they wrested information on her whereabouts from her biological mother.

No, they’d waited, biding their time for the right moment to strike, and Beau would bet everything he owned that the video leaking was the very last thing the people hunting her had wanted. With her powers going public, or at least speculation about her powers, the men plotting to get their hands on Ari had been forced to speed up their timeline.

Beau doubted her parents would have even been targeted, because the more people involved, the more room for error. It would have far better suited their purposes to simply take Ari when she—and her parents—least expected, leaving Gavin powerless to help her. And to ensure her cooperation, they would have simply pulled a few surveillance feeds showing her they knew who her parents were and how to find them and that if she didn’t cooperate they’d die.

Ari would have given in without hesitation.

“Why leave him here?” Isaac asked, a worried expression tugging on his face. “I don’t get it. They’re sending a message but why? They’re here. We’re outnumbered. Why not just take us all out, grab Ari and make a run for it.”