“That feels good,” I whispered.
He kissed my temple, his lips brushing my ear. “Rinse.”
Mmmm, that word had never sounded so sexy. I turned around, leaning back into the water as I rinsed the shampoo from my hair. When I opened my eyes again, his gaze was hungry, and my body responded.
“You are so beautiful.”
My face flushed with heat, and I reached out to run my finger along his strong jaw. “You make me feel that way.”
He shook his head. “You really are.” He started to smile. “And I’m not just saying that because you’re naked in the shower with me.”
I laughed and gave him a half-hearted wet swat. He picked me up and dipped me under the shower, kissing me when I squirmed. And again, he made me feel like a woman instead of a cop.
It felt damn good.
Once we were toweled dry, I fired up my laptop while Aren flipped on the news and checked his phone. I started downloading the files on Fonthill while the meteorologist told us about warm temperatures in the background.
Aren got up from the bed and brought his phone over with an email from Lana.
Hi, Sasha –
I didn’t have your email, so I’m sending this to Aren for you. This may be nothing, but I thought you should see it anyway. Be sure to check their donor page. Follow the money.
Lana
I glanced up at him, and he shrugged. “Before Lana met Adam, she supported herself as a freelance journalist. Research was one of her specialties.”
Knowing that, whatever she found was probably far from “nothing.”
I typed in the website from the email on Aren’s phone into my browser. Brightwood Academy for Girls. Nadya’s elementary school.
Dread ran cold fingers down my spine, and I struggled to keep my breath even. Nero couldn’t have anything to do with that school… They just couldn’t.
When the website loaded, I went straight to the donor page. I didn’t see anything that struck me as odd. It was a typical list of names, family trusts, and a few foundations for education.
Nothing seemed unusual to me.
But Lana wouldn’t have sent me the link unless she had found something.
I clicked on one of the education foundations and skimmed their site. Again, nothing suspicious jumped out. I was about to give up when I clicked the “Educational Research Grant” link. It took me to another generic-looking foundation page, but something in the corner of the website caught my eye.
“Hidden talent counts for nothing.”
- Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus
The hair on the back of my neck started to rise. That was the same quote on Nero’s letterhead and on the cornerstone of the main facility building. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Nero funded the school Nadya had attended for gifted kids. For psychics.
“Oh, shit.”
Aren sat up. “What’s wrong?”
I held my hair back from my face. “Nero is involved with Nadya’s old school.” I met his eyes. “Trolling for talent?”
“I know Nero’s been experimenting with psychic women, but using a school for girls to find females to experiment on for their breeding program? They’d have to wait too long for them to grow up.” He shook his head.
I stared at the quote again. “Maybe not.”
But in my gut, I knew.
Nero hadn’t wanted me. They wanted my sister.
I closed the laptop and got up on the bed. Aren lifted the remote to turn off the television but stopped when a familiar face stared back at us.
“That’s Fonthill.” He turned up the sound.
“Police are searching for this man in connection with an attack on a gas station owner. This is footage from the surveillance tape. The victim is in critical condition at St. Mary’s Hospital. If you see this man, call the police. Do not approach the suspect. He’s considered armed and dangerous.”
Aren turned off the television as the reporter changed topics. “Why would he attack a guy at a gas station?”
“Because he’s insane. The drug that altered his DNA is flawed. Eventually it brings out aggression and psychotic episodes until their brain finally bleeds out.” I got under the covers. “We’ve got to find him and stop him. And we need to get to St. Mary’s first thing tomorrow.”
“The hospital? Why?”
“Because we need to know if he bit that guy.”
“Oh, shit.”
I nodded. “Exactly. This could get really ugly and hard to contain if Fonthill is unraveling.”
Aren turned off the light and pulled me into his arms. Listening to the steady rhythm of his heartbeat and the way his thumb stroked my back were comforting. But despite all that, I couldn’t shut my brain off.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Brightwood Academy.
Once Aren’s breathing slowed and he drifted off to sleep, I slid out of bed and fired up my laptop. It took a little while, but through some focused searches, I located a few graduates of Brightwood who had vanished. Two had been “abducted” in grade school, and six as young women at college. Those odds were skewed for such a small school.
Why hadn’t anyone working the cases ever tied that thread together?
Maybe they were “encouraged” not to…
I rubbed my forehead, struggling to connect the dots. Maybe it would make more sense after I had some sleep. I started to close the laptop but stopped.
Follow the money.
Money had led to Fonthill making it into NYPD, but who was really behind making that happen: the government or Nero? My fingers flew over the keyboard. Searching old news stories about Fonthill’s dismissal from the force, I finally found what I was looking for. He had become an officer a month before my parents were killed. My fingertips tingled. I was getting closer.
If Nero had been watching my sister at Brightwood, if they wanted her, they would’ve needed to get custody without any interference from the legal system. My last name was different from hers, and I wasn’t living at home anymore. They wouldn’t have realized she had an older sibling. Just as I’d thought, they’d never known I had a younger one.
A chill shot down my spine.
Then I pulled my sister out of their school and moved away.
Had they been searching for her ever since?
Sebastian came into my life shortly after Nadya started college. It couldn’t have been coincidence. I pulled up her college webpage and started scanning for donors there. It was like searching for a guppy in the Great Lakes. If Nero had a connection to her university, it was well hidden. But if they did, they could have gotten my address and my name off her college application.
Sebastian showed up in my life to get me out of the way.
“Dammit,” I mumbled.
Could it have all been a setup to grab Nadya?
Other than my sister, I didn’t have anything else that connected me to Nero. Maybe Sebastian had been sniffing around my address for my sister and couldn’t find our connection. When he discovered I had weapons training and no family it made me the perfect mark to become a killer for his father.
I ground my teeth together to keep from screaming and waking Aren.
I glanced up and found him staring at me anyway. “Can’t sleep?”
Shaking my head, I closed my laptop. “Too many loose ends.” I got up and grabbed a towel from the bathroom. “A couple yoga poses should help me get a grip. I’m too off-balance to sleep.”
To my surprise, Aren got out of bed. He brought over another towel, and then went to his suitcase and pulled out his laptop. I raised a questioning brow, and he smiled while his laptop booted up.