Page 50 of Heartless

Sucker-punched was the terminology that best fit how Olivia felt. Only by calling on the training that Iris herself had drilled into her was she able to keep her composure.

Hawke took her hand and squeezed in comfort, then used two fingers on her palm to tell her to take a break.

She needed one. Desperately. But if she walked away now, Iris would win. There was no way she would give her mother the satisfaction.

She pressed her thumb into his palm, letting him know she would continue. She would face the pain later. Right now, she had a job to do.

“The divorce didn’t take, unfortunately.” Iris sighed dramatically, and Olivia, who had faced some of the most monstrous people imaginable, knew she had never met anyone worse than this woman.

“Am I really your child?”

Iris laughed again, though there was a sharper edge to the sound than normal. Apparently, that had gotten under her skin.

“Unfortunately for me, you are.”

“Why did you even have a child?”

“What a silly question, Olivia. It was part of the job. Not only did it help with our cover, we believed we could make a good spy out of you.”

“Does the Gonzalez cartel work for these people?”

“Gonzalez?” She tilted her head slightly, as if confused. “I don’t believe I know any Gonzalezes.”

“Since you’d been at a meeting with them when you were captured, you might want to save your lies for something we’ll actually believe.”

She shrugged a shoulder. “It was merely a coincidence that we were in the same building.”

“Was Gonzalez responsible for the attacks on my team? The deaths of Layla Templeton and Mario Kingston?”

“Now, how would I know something like that when I don’t know anyone named Gonzalez?”

“Were you responsible for the emails?”

“Emails? I’m sorry, dear, you’ll have to be more specific.”

“The emails that tried to frame me as a traitor.”

“Ahh, those emails. Yes, I’ll take credit for them. I was just doing what any mother would do—protecting her child.”

“Protecting me?”

“Your team was targeted for annihilation. As a kindness to me—a reward for all of my years of service—you weren’t to be touched. And you’re welcome, by the way.”

“Those people were my friends.”

“Oh, get a grip, Olivia. Friends are a luxury we can’t afford in this life.”

Hawke grabbed Olivia’s wrist, indicating he wanted to ask questions.

“How did you get the intel you revealed in the emails, Iris?” he asked.

“Oh, now, Nicholas, do you really expect me to do all your work for you? It was your team. They were your responsibility. Those things happened on your watch.”

Olivia spared a glance at Hawke’s face. Though his expression never wavered, the tenseness in his body indicated that Iris Gates had scored another point. One of the things her mother excelled at was knowing exactly what poison dart would have the greatest impact.

“Maybe,” Iris added, “you don’t know your surviving team members as well as you think you do.”

That was something that would have to be looked at again. The person who’d given Iris the details to use in those emails knew way too much about the missions not to have been a part of their small circle.

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