Shock echoed through Beau’s mind as he grappled with the ramifications of what Ari’s biological father had just revealed. God, if they’d done that to Ari’s biological mother—a defenseless woman—then they certainly would do no less to Ari’s adopted parents. He couldn’t face Ari, if one of her parents appeared on their doorstep or in a place they knew the body would be discovered by DSS. They’d want Ari to see—to know—exactly how serious they were and it only made Beau that much more determined that they would never get their hands on her.

There was background noise and then the man spoke hurriedly. “I have to go.”

“Wait!” Beau quickly spoke up. “How do I get in touch with you?” There was a damn lot more he wanted to know from this man, particularly how his own father was involved in this complete clusterfuck.

“You don’t,” the man said tersely.

And then the call ended just like that, leaving Beau frustrated, even more questions than ever vibrating through his mind.

“Goddamn it,” Beau swore, flinging the phone toward one of the leather chairs in the security room, where it landed with a soft thud.

Once more he glanced up to the monitor, fear seizing him as he watched Ari sleep the sleep of an innocent. Someone who didn’t live in a world where women were tortured and then discarded like yesterday’s trash.

The question was whether he should tell her what he now knew to be truth. Or at least what he’d been led to believe was truth. Because it seemed his—and her—lives had been a tangle of lies from the very start.

NINETEEN

“THE first thing I want to do is inject an undetectable tracking device on Ari as a precaution,” Beau said to the gathered members of DSS who had been called in the moment Beau had gotten off the phone with Ari’s “biological” father.

Ari had slept, very likely exhausted from the events of the last forty-eight hours, and only when his brother, Zack, Dane and Eliza had arrived on the heels of Beau’s urgent request for their presence had she stirred. He had gone to the bedroom and told her to take a nice long bath and relax, that he’d call her when breakfast was ready.

He winced over the lie, but he wasn’t ready to fill Ari in on things that may or may not be true and he needed time to go over all he’d discovered with his team before making any decisions with regard to her.

Ramie was in the kitchen, fixing the breakfast Beau had promised Ari, most likely deciding to opt out of what was likely to be a volatile meeting and difficult for her when she absorbed so much of the negative emotions in others. Beau knew for certain he didn’t want to touch his sister-in-law and subject her to his seething thoughts of murder, revenge and utter ruthlessness if it came to that. He also had no intention whatsoever of divulging the potential role his own father had in this clusterfuck until he was certain of the facts. Caleb would be enraged and objectivity would fly right out the window, to Ari’s detriment.

“Good idea. You can’t be too careful,” Dane acknowledged. “We can plan to the nth degree, but with the resources this group has and their utter ruthlessness we can’t possibly cover all angles when we don’t damn well know who and what they are and what their higher purpose is.”

“It’s obvious they have no problem torturing innocent women,” Zack said darkly. “Caleb, I’d think you’d want to lock Ramie down and make damn sure she is under strict guard 24/7 because if these assholes have already made the connection between Ari and DSS, which is obvious given they were shot at coming out of the DSS building, then no one connected to DSS, particularly their loved ones, is safe.”

Caleb’s eyes became glacial, his features carved from granite. “You can be absolutely certain I will protect my wife,” he said in a deadly quiet voice.

“Quinn and Tori both will be under mine and Eliza’s constant guard,” Dane said. “Though Quinn is pretty damn pissed and said he doesn’t need a goddamn babysitter and that he’s more than capable of taking care of himself.”

Beau leveled a hard stare at Dane. “I don’t give a fuck what Quinn says. You sit on him if you have to. Until this is resolved, no one in this family—or DSS—goes it alone. I expect you to inform all your guys, Dane.”

“We’re on it. We’ve got everyone on our end handled. You just worry about yourself,” Eliza said softly. “I’m concerned that you and Zack are basically going it alone with Ari. And she’s the primary objective. Not the rest of us.”

“But they don’t want to kill Ari,” Zack argued. “She’s got to be recovered at all costs, which means all of you are expendable. Ari is not. She’s probably the safest of all of us.”

Silence greeted Zack’s blunt statement and then there was grudging acknowledgment that he’d scored a direct hit. They knew he was speaking the truth. And that the rest of them were in danger because they could and would be used to manipulate Ari.

This mysterious group reeked of fanaticism and yet they operated with patience and methodical coldness. If DSS was waiting for them to eventually fuck up and make a mistake, they were likely going to be waiting a damn long time.

“I’ll take care of the tracking device,” Dane said. “The rest of you should go. Cover your tracks and act as though you’re being followed and monitored at all times. Lose your tails and then make damn sure you use a location that isn’t linked to us in any way.”