Page 17 of Heartless

Always the most sensitive of the group, Jazz apparently sensed Olivia’s discomfort. She touched Xavier’s hand and said softly, “Let it go.”

“Let it go… Why?” His gaze continued from Olivia’s face to Hawke’s. “What’s the deal? What am I missing?”

Olivia refused to allow herself the comfort of silence. It had been her mistake. A stupid, foolish error. “It was our wedding anniversary a few days ago. I imagine they had a standard practice of keeping an eye out on that particular day each year.”

After her statement, the room was quiet for some time. She kept her head high. She had nothing to be ashamed of. There was no crime in being a sentimental, stupid idiot.

“All right.” Eve broke the uncomfortable silence. “So you went off the grid for over two years, Hawke. You want to tell us why you faked your death, why we weren’t allowed to know about it, and why the hell we were made to believe that Olivia was responsible?”

“As you know,” Hawke said, “before Olivia and I came to OZ, we were working with our own team. Olivia almost died on our last op. We knew we had a traitor somewhere. Never found them. We disbanded the team, worked solo for a while, and then came here.”

It was a simplistic retelling of a complicated, multifaceted story. One that seemed to become more complicated as the years went on.

Eve released a frustrated sigh. “We know all of this.”

“Yes, I know you do, but this is relevant.”

“Fine,” Eve snapped.

A lump developed in Olivia’s throat at Eve’s anger. Her former friend had not yet been able to look her in the eyes. Olivia drew in a breath, trying to will her emotions to settle. Out of all the hurt she’d suffered during the faking of Hawke’s death, the treatment she’d received from Eve Wells had been the most painful. Everyone had been quite mean to her, but Eve had been particularly vicious. She didn’t suffer fools gladly and had felt duped by what she had referred to as Olivia’s betrayal.

Even though she had enjoyed a friendship with everyone on the OZ team, she and Eve had shared a special bond. When it had been severed, something had died within Olivia. And the longer she had gone without hearing from Hawke, more parts of her heart had withered away. Now, she felt like a completely different person.

These people were no longer her family. Not like they once had been, but she still considered them some of the finest people in the world. She could acknowledge that without giving them anything back. They were her past.

Last Chance Rescue had been her saving grace, but she had never allowed herself to be fully immersed in their world. They would have welcomed her with open arms if she had allowed them. She liked and respected every person at LCR, and some of them, like Noah and Samara McCall, and Brennan Sinclair and his wife, Kasie, she would even call friends. But there was always something holding her back from getting too close to anyone. Loving meant hurting, and she had been hurt enough for a couple of lifetimes.

“I kept in touch with each former team member,” Hawke was saying, “but it was hit or miss. Everyone started a new life. Deacon retired from active service and started work in the private sector. Mack went back to the Navy as a chaplain. Trevor went to work at the Pentagon. And Layla went completely off the grid. Last we’d heard, she’d moved to Fiji.”

“And Rio started working for a private security company,” Olivia said. “He was killed on an op in Ixtapa, Mexico.”

Rio’s death had been a blow. Even though she and Hawke had grieved, because, despite his faults, Rio had been a valuable team member, neither of them had been surprised. Rio had enjoyed living on the edge and could be reckless. He’d once stated that his goal was to die young and violently. He’d gotten his wish.

“A few months later, Layla…”

Hawke paused. Olivia knew it was not for dramatic effect, but because the pain was still there. He had loved Layla like a sister and blamed himself for what happened to her. Didn’t matter that she was one of the most lethal women either of them had ever known. They both felt like they’d let her down.

There had been no indication at the time that Rio’s death was related to Layla’s. They were told he had died on a mission. But when attempts were made on other team members’ lives, they had taken another look at Rio’s death.

“We didn’t know about Layla’s death for a couple of weeks,” Olivia said. “She was found in her apartment in Nashville, strangled to death. A man she’d been dating found her. He was looked at hard, but was finally cleared. There was no evidence he had anything to do with her death.”

If they had known sooner, they might’ve been better prepared to face what had happened next.

“The other attacks were carefully coordinated,” Hawke said. “A sniper tried to take Deacon out while he was driving down the interstate in Ohio. He should’ve been killed, but he changed lanes at the last moment, and the shooter missed. He didn’t even realize he’d been shot at until the damage was assessed, and a bullet was found in his engine block.

“On the same day, Mack had lunch at his favorite restaurant in Dallas and ended up in the ER with what he thought was food poisoning. Blood samples were taken, and we later found out his food had been poisoned.

“Trevor was mugged outside his business. He’s a former Marine, so they likely didn’t expect the fight he gave them. They got away, but not before he broke some bones.”

“And you’re sure Rio’s and Layla’s deaths are related to the attempts on the others?” Gideon asked.

“Rio’s death happened a couple of months prior to all the other incidents. But yes, we believe they’re all related.”

“Strikes me as strange that the last three attempts weren’t successful,” Liam said.

“Olivia and I considered that, but we couldn’t wait around to see if the attempts were warnings or the killers were just sloppy.”

“What about you and Liv?” Jazz asked. “Were you two targeted back then?”

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