In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2)(94)

“They have monitors in here. They can’t see that I’m awake so don’t give it away that I am,” Ari said in the same whisper. “Look at Dad, so I know where he is, but don’t do or say anything to suggest I’m awake.”

Gavin controlled his frown. Barely. To Ginger’s credit, her expression remained worried and thoughtful just as it had in the last two hours Ari had slept. No betraying emotion or flicker of worry, excitement or anticipation reflected in her carefully controlled features.

Ginger glanced up at Gavin and held his gaze long enough for Ari to ascertain his whereabouts.

“Tell him not to move or rather continue doing whatever he was doing,” Ari continued to whisper so Gavin had to strain to hear. “Well, don’t say that,” she hastily amended. “They can hear you.”

“He can hear you, darling,” Ginger said without even moving her lips as she continued stroking Ari’s hair and holding Gavin’s gaze, just as she’d done the entire time Ari had slept.

Gavin saw Ari visibly relax. He hadn’t realized just how much tension was contained in her small frame until he saw her sink further into the bed.

“There are things you need to prepare yourselves for,” Ari continued.

Gavin walked over to the bed, just as he’d done several times over the past hours and peered down at her as if checking on her. Her words worried him and he needed reassurance. Just to look at her, touch her so he knew she was okay.

“Has she awakened at all?”

He directed the question to Ginger and reached down to lightly stroke Ari’s cheek with his finger, another thing he’d done many times in his worry since she’d fallen into sleep.

Tears glittered on Ari’s eyelashes, and Gavin’s chest tightened in emotion. Damn it! There was so much he wanted to ask. So much he needed to know and his hands were tied. He simmered with impatience, but forced himself to remain in character, not deviating from the pattern he’d established as he and Ginger had watched over their sleeping daughter.

“Not yet,” Ginger said in a louder tone. “I’m worried, Gavin. What if they did something terrible to her?”

His clever, clever girl. Finding a way to ask Ari the questions he was dying to ask without anyone being able to pick up on what they were doing.

“I had to let them,” Ari said, not moving or reacting to her father’s touch, though the tears he’d seen just seconds earlier told him a wealth of information. “It’s complicated.”

Ari took in a steadying breath, careful not to allow her body language to signal she was anything but deeply asleep. Everything hinged on their captors not picking up on her deception. The havoc she intended to wreak, the vengeance she planned to bring down on them like the wrath of God, had to be unexpected.

Her parents wouldn’t like what she had to say. Her father especially wouldn’t at all like that he would have to take no active part in her plan. That only Ari would face down their enemies. Alone.

“They want to use my powers. And they’re strong. My powers, I mean. So much more than we ever dreamed. In just a short time, I’ve managed feats I would have never believed myself capable of and yet I know I can do so much more.”

“Do you think she was experimented on?” her mother asked her husband, still playing her role to perfection. “Is that where the blood came from?”

“I don’t know,” Gavin murmured, injecting fatherly outrage and anger into his voice.

“Yes,” Ari whispered, slowly reaching for her mother’s hand. The one lying in the space between them. With her father standing behind her and her mother so close to her on the narrow cot, there was no way for the camera to pick up on the subtle movement.

She squeezed her mother’s hand, tears pricking her eyelids. These were her parents. Biological or not. These were the people who loved her, protected her, stood by her always.

“But I allowed them to,” Ari continued. “What I have to say, what you must hear from me will be very hard for you to hear. And even harder to accept. But I’m asking you to trust me. If you’ve ever loved me, as I know you do. If you’ve ever had faith in me, as you always have. Then trust me now and listen to what I must tell you.” Ari sucked in a shallow breath so her body wouldn’t betray a larger motion. “And accept what I must do.”

Worry flickered in her father’s eyes, raw emotion etched in his features. His back was to the cameras and he stood there a long moment before visibly composing himself and then straightening as if he’d simply shared a private, intimate moment with his wife and shared his worry for their daughter with her for the briefest of moments.

“I allowed them to overload me,” Ari said. “So much has happened since you went missing. So much I’ve learned about myself. My powers. Still so much untapped. Undiscovered. And yet I know there is so much I can do. More than I ever would have thought possible.”

Though her mother didn’t voice her question aloud, Ari could see it clearly in her eyes.

“I went through a series of tests that were in fact very easy,” she explained. “But I purposely thought of things that would put unbearable strain on me so they would see me in psychic overload. So they would see me experiencing a psychic bleed. I needed them to be disgusted or perhaps disappointed or even believe I was worthless to them. At least until I could find you and Dad. Because when they come for me again—and they will—you have to be ready. And you must do exactly as I tell you. It’s the only way I can keep you both safe when I bring the rest of this place down and reduce it to rubble, taking every sadistic son of a bitch with it.”