Chapter 18 #2
If she wanted the guys to study them, she’d almost ruined that by having them all killed.
Which made her think that River really didn't care one way or the other who lived and who died. That was kind of the impression she’d gotten on the helicopter ride, but then the woman had her people bring Rose there, which meant everyone else was likely there too.
Unless …
Was it possible that River had ordered everyone else killed and spared only Rose because the woman was her daughter?
As much as she hated thinking that thought, allowing it into her mind felt wrong on so many levels, but she’d be stupid not to consider it.
There was a chance she was hoping for a rescue that would never come.
A chance that the man she’d only just reconnected with was already gone, and this time she would never get him back.
“Go to the bathroom, sweetie,” she said, trying to keep the fears she felt off her face so she didn't get her daughter worked up. The most important thing right now was keeping Ariella calm, and to do that, she needed to keep alive the possible illusion that Daddy was coming for them.
Ariella climbed off the bed and padded across the floorboards toward the bathroom door. Once it was closed behind her, Rose arched a brow, asking what had changed the shift in her demeanor.
“Your mom, she …” Kate gulped, swallowing down the fear that threatened to overwhelm her.
“She talked about possibly blowing up the farmhouse, killing everyone. When I asked her about it, she said she wanted to bring them here to study them, but I got the feeling that … really, she doesn’t care one way or the other.
She wants to study Ariella, she said she wants immortality, and that your brother’s studies were just to keep attention off her.
But what if she did kill the guys? What if she only kept you alive because you're her daughter, and that’s why the others weren't with you?”
All of a sudden, it felt like there wasn't enough air in the room.
Or maybe the problem was that there wasn't enough oxygen getting into her lungs.
Was she hyperventilating?
No. She couldn’t.
Had to hold it together for her daughter’s sake.
“Shh, Kate, it’s okay. I'm sure they’re not dead. Well, I'm sure Lion isn’t dead at least,” Rose amended.
“How?” She needed someone to tell her something that made sense, a reason she could believe that Leo wasn't lost to her all over again.
“Because if she wants to study your daughter, if she’s trying to find a way to make herself live forever, then she needs Lion too.
Ariella is sick. We were hoping an earlier version of Whitney’s drug would boost her immune system without giving her the same side effects the guys have, but in the end, she still needs her dad to live.
His bone marrow transplant is still the thing that is going to save her life, so Lion is alive somewhere close by. ”
That was reassuring to her, but not so much to Rose. Maybe the other woman was right, maybe River needed Leo, but did she need the others?
“Steel? What about him and the others? Maybe she got rid of them,” she said, hating the words, but knowing they might be true.
Rose closed her eyes, dragging in a breath that told Kate she wasn't the only one desperately clinging to control. When Rose opened her eyes again, there was determination in them. “I don’t think my mom would kill them all. At least not Steel and the guys, or Indigo. Not Whitney either, because in the end, it was Whitney’s drug they were initially working off.
I'm less certain about Cassandra and Maya, but again, I don’t think my mom would kill them.
If nothing else, they're something that can be used to coerce Dragon and Thunder into complying.”
“Complying with what? Who has to comply? What does comply mean?” Ariella fired off questions as she came out of the bathroom.
These were conversations that she absolutely did not want to have with her nine-year-old child in the room, but they were also the reality that all three of them were facing.
As much as she wished her daughter wasn't part of this, Ariella was, and the little girl knew it. She’d heard everything River had said to them on the helicopter ride, so she knew the old woman wanted to run experiments on her, even if Ariella could only understand it in a nine-year-old way.
“We were talking about how we’re going to get out of here,” Kate replied, avoiding some of the questions. “And comply means agreeing to do what someone wants, even if you don’t really want to.”
“Is that what we’re going to do? Agree with what the old lady in the wheelchair wants even though we don’t want to?” Ariella asked.
“Hell no,” Rose replied, then winced. “Oops, sorry about the language. Heck no is what I meant to say,” she added, making Ariella giggle.
While fear was still threatening to overwhelm her, making her want to shut down and pretend none of this was happening, Kate knew she didn't have that luxury. Instead, she dug deep, found reserves of strength she thought she’d used up in the last three years as she watched her daughter fight for her life.
“We are not giving up and letting that woman use us,” she agreed. “So we need a plan.”
“I have one that might work,” Rose said.
“We’re all ears,” Kate said, tweaking one of Ariella’s ears and making her daughter giggle again.
That was the sound she wanted to hear her child make, happy, childish laughs, full of the freedom that died with age.
Her daughter deserved to have a full and happy life, to do all the things kids her age took for granted.
She was going to do whatever it took to give her little girl that chance.
“I don’t know if my mom knows about my …
talents,” Rose said. “She hasn’t been part of my life since I was four, and I don’t know how much she kept in touch with Ridge.
I don’t know if she’s aware of how he raised me.
I'm guessing she isn’t clued in, because if she were, she wouldn't have left me in a room that was so easy to get out of. I'm going to go hunting for the guys, see if I can find where they’re being held, and let them out. If I can pick the lock on the door to your room, you two can hide somewhere. They’ll find you given enough time, but we won't give them that time. Once I get the guys free, we can end this once and for all.”
“I'm good at hide and go seek,” Ariella piped up.
“Yeah, you are, my sweet little piece of pie,” Kate said, pulling her daughter into a hug.
“Mom, I'm not a piece of pie,” Ariella sassed like the preteen she almost was.
“Yes, you are. You're my piece of pie,” she teased, kissing Ariella’s cheek and making the child roll her eyes.
“We can do that,” she told Rose. While she wanted to offer to go with the woman, Rose had been right when she said there was no way she could climb along the side of the house.
And if Rose intended to take the easier route inside, Kate still knew she’d be more of a liability than help.
The best thing she could do right now was protect her daughter and trust in Rose’s … talents.
“Then let’s get that lock picked,” Rose said, heading for the door. “Ariella, can you grab some of the pillows and put them under the blankets so it looks like someone is in the bed, please?”
“Okay,” Ariella agreed, hurrying to do that.
“Kate, make sure you have everything you two will need, a medical bag, and your weapon. Take my lamp, too, I'd rather you both have something to use to protect yourselves.”
Leaving Rose to work on unlocking the door, Kate gave Ariella her medication once she’d put the pillows beneath the blankets, and then made sure her daughter had her shoes on and the other lamp in her hand.
It looked too big in her daughter’s small hand, and she hated that her child, who had already been through so much, was in a position where she had to be armed and told to do whatever she could to protect herself.
Just as she was slipping the strap of the medical bag over her shoulder, Rose gave a victorious cheer.
“Got it,” Rose told them. “I'm going to take the window again, less chance of being spotted. You two go, find a small place to hide, and stay there. We’ll come for you once I get to everyone else.”
“Be careful,” she warned the other woman, giving Rose a tight hug.
“Be careful yourselves,” Rose said, hugging her back. “Take care of your mom, kiddo,” she told Ariella as the child wrapped her arms around Rose’s waist and squeezed.
“We’ll all take care of each other,” Ariella replied. “Because that’s what families do.”
Kate couldn’t argue with that. They were a family, all of them, and it was time to reunite them and then eliminate the threat so they could all finally be free and happy.