In His Keeping (Slow Burn #2)(97)

“You can’t touch my parents,” she said softly, satisfaction forming her smile.

“Clearly the brain bleeds leeched most of your intelligence,” the lab rat said, shaking his head. “Perhaps a demonstration is in order.”

He turned to Repete, Goon B, and issued an order that would have made Ari’s blood freeze in her veins if she wasn’t certain that she was capable of pulling this off. Now more than ever, as much as she’d asked her parents to believe in her, she had to have absolute faith in herself. There was no room for error or a breach in her concentration. This was the most important stand she’d ever take in her life. She’d die before failing her family.

They turned on the monitor, and to Ari’s relief, her parents were still standing in the exact spot, in the same position as when she’d left them. She breathed a silent thank-you that they’d trusted her and prayed that they wouldn’t react to whatever this * had up his sleeve. Because shit was about to get real.

Goon A barked an order to execute her mother through his radio and mere seconds later, without even opening the cell door, two minions appeared on the periphery of the monitor and opened fire.

Three mouths dropped open when the bullets bounced harmlessly off an invisible barrier surrounding her parents. Her father had instinctively wrapped himself around her mother, turning so he would take the bullets if Ari had failed, but they hadn’t moved from the boundary she’d set. Thank God for her father’s rigid discipline.

The lab rat turned his seething glare on her and began advancing, a syringe in his hand. His two goons also began to close in around her and she let her powers fly.

Every single thing she’d dreamed up while lying in the cell with her parents unrolled with ease. She didn’t dare close her eyes to concentrate on what she was attempting to achieve over a much longer distance because she faced the very real threat of being drugged, which would render her ineffective. The barrier around her parents would simply disappear and they would die.

So one problem at a time. Her parents were safe. She still had faith that Beau would come to the rescue. All she had to do was wreak some serious havoc in the meantime. And right now? After all these bastards had put her and her family through?

She was thinking this was going to be a lot of fun.

Resolve and determination settled over her, cloaking her with confidence she hadn’t imagined ever possessing. And she set about unleashing the hounds of hell on the three men who posed the most immediate threat to her.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” she said in a soft, menacing voice that didn’t so much as tremble with fear.

Gone was the meek, shrinking violet weak Arial Rochester. Yeah, that’s right. Rochester. Her name. Her heritage. Blood meant nothing. After all, look where it had gotten Caleb and Beau and their siblings.

Really shitty parents who didn’t one damn about them. Yet her adoptive parents had given her more love in twenty-four years than most people were blessed with in a lifetime.

“That’s my line,” Goon A said coolly. “I have a score to settle with you, little bitch. And don’t think I’m not going to enjoy every second. The people who pay me may want you alive, and now that we’ve confirmed your powers, your price just skyrocketed, but there’s nothing to say I can’t make you wish you were dead.”

Before she could react, taunt him back or make a wickedly sarcastic remark, he pulled out a pistol and put a bullet in the back of lab rat’s head. Before Goon B could respond to that shocker, he also received a bullet. In the forehead. Right between the eyes.

Holy shit!

Oh God, oh God. Okay the little f*cker had completely stolen her thunder and had temporarily scrambled her brains, and now she was at a loss as to what the hell to do next.

Play it cool, Ari. Never mind you’ve never been a cool kind of girl. You freak at the slightest fright. You’ve always been frightened by your own shadow. Get over it. You’re not that girl anymore.

“Well, thanks,” she said cheerfully, her mind racing as she ran through the possibilities. For once, her photographic memory came through in spades. Yes, it was helpful in her profession as a teacher, not that she’d likely ever have that job again. But now it was going to save her ass because her mind was processing each scenario at the speed of a computer, discarding ones with the least likelihood of succeeding, latching on to the ones with more merit.

His eyes narrowed at her quirky response.

“What?” she asked. “You not used to being thanked? My mama did teach me manners. You just took out two of the guys on my hit list. Now if you’d be so kind as to shoot yourself then I could move on down the list and call it a day.”

She was doing a miserable job of covering her panic and hysteria and the bastard realized it. He actually smiled at her. It was a perfectly evil smile, worthy of any movie villain. But then they could be the lead roles in a sci-fi movie. Hell, they were living a damn movie because who would ever believe this shit?

Her mom was so going to wash her mouth out with soap. Apparently being around Beau and his co-workers had lowered her verbal acuity by more than a few points. She’d never cursed so much in her life, despite her father’s own propensity for F-bombs.

“What I think is that you’re scared shitless, Arial,” he said in a mocking tone. “Not so brave now that you have blood on your hands. Were you playing pretend? Or were you really going to kill us all in cold blood?”