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Ash opened his mouth to agree, but before he could, a calm voice said, “I knew about it.”
All eyes targeted Serena. True to her nature, she didn’t flinch or back down.
“What are you talking about?” Sean asked.
Even though she hadn’t flinched, her chin wobbled slightly at her husband’s terse question.
Regaining the little composure she’d lost, she said evenly, “I’ve known for over a year.”
Now all eyes were back on Ash, all accusing. Yeah, he figured they’d be even more pissed when they realized another one of the team members had not only known about it, but had apparently found out much later. Leaving the rest of them in the dark.
“Serena came upon the intel by accident,” he explained. “She came to me and asked. I chose to bring her in—she’s been a valuable asset to the project.”
“Somebody want to fill us in on what the project is, or was?” The worry in Jazz McAlister’s eyes was telling. She was the youngest member of the team, and whether she wanted it or not, every one of them felt protective of her. Ash still remembered how she’d reacted when they’d been told Hawke was dead. He never wanted to see that look on her face again.
Ash took a breath. “I’ll let someone else fill you in.”
“Who would that someone else be?” Liam asked.
“That would be me.”
All heads turned toward the door where a tall, broad-shouldered man stood. A man almost everyone had thought dead.
It had been over two years since Ash had seen Nicholas Hawthorne. Any communication they’d shared had been via texts and encrypted emails. The man had changed—so much so that Ash might not have recognized him if not for his distinctive silver-gray eyes.
“What the—” Eve snapped.
Chairs scraped back as both Sean and Xavier lunged to their feet.
Ash watched each operative’s initial reaction with interest. Sean and Xavier appeared both stunned and not a little angry, while both Gideon and Liam stayed seated. Gideon had a small smile on his face, and though Liam wasn’t smiling, there was no anger in his expression.
The reactions of Sean, Xavier, Liam, and Gideon had concerned Ash the most. These men had known Hawke the longest, and over the years, all of them had worked under his authority. When they thought he’d died, they had taken it hard.
Jazz’s expression was one of both confusion and joy. Thankfully, she appeared, at least initially, to be relieved.
Serena sat quietly, taking it all in, but her eyes never strayed far from her husband. Ash knew she had worried how Sean would react when he learned that she had kept this secret from him.
Eve Wells’s reaction was the most interesting. Her eyes narrowed into slits, and her voice held a quiet fury as she said, “Does Olivia know?”
“Hawke will take care of filling you in on Olivia.”
Eve rose to her feet, fire flaring from her eyes. “Oh, will he? The way he took care of making us believe that she was responsible for his death?”
Ash wasn’t going to defend Hawke or himself. Olivia had been in on the initial plan, but there had been reasons to keep her in the dark about certain things. Hawke had explained his reasons, and while they’d been valid, Ash had lost more than a few nights’ sleep over that decision. Olivia Gates was a courageous, intelligent, and extraordinarily kind person. She hadn’t deserved what had happened. Question was, when the team members learned that she had been in on Hawke’s disappearance initially, would they extend grace to her for that, or would the anger continue?
There were still questions Olivia would need to answer herself. She acted like she knew nothing about what really happened with Hawke, which was the biggest reason Ash believed in her innocence. No one could act that heartbroken or destroyed and it not be real.
“That’s why I need to talk to all of you before Olivia arrives,” Hawke said. “She’s going to need your help.”
Standing, Ash waved Hawke into the room. “We all need to hear this.”
Surprising everyone but Ash, Hawke entered the room with a noticeable limp. A full beard covered half his face, and there were more than a few visible scars on his neck. No one had come out of this unscathed, especially Hawke.
All eyes were on their former teammate as he made his way to the front of the room. Though Hawke’s expression never changed, Ash wondered what was going through his mind. These people, all of them, had been his friends—his best friends—and he had lied to them.
Hawke met each person’s eyes as he said, “I know I have a lot to explain—a lot to make up for—but this can’t wait.”
They had every right to their anger, and it was there. One of the many things he’d always appreciated about his OZ brothers and sisters was their forthrightness. They didn’t hold back with their opinions.
